I am more than a little late with this month’s edition of our (sometimes) regular look behind-the-scenes at Broken Frontier. And, as you’ll no doubt have noticed, we have been very quiet on the posting front over the last few days. Since I took over the site nearly a decade ago I’ve made it a point to ensure at least one article went up every single weekday and, barring Christmas closure, the time we migrated the site to a new host, and the odd technical downtime, we have kept to that. But preparation for LICAF (more on that below) and sheer exhaustion this last week after months of working on dedicated events on the site finally caught up with me. We will be in a quiet phase anyway now as we work away on Thought Bubble Month stuff in the background. But apologies for the non-posting days anyway. I really needed a breather…
BF Six to Watch artists Rein Lee and Shri Gunasekara at LICAF
And on to the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival where we had a huge Broken Frontier-related presence. Not only was I there hosting three events but we also had seven BF ‘Six to Watch’ artists in the Comic Marketplace (Beatrijs Brouwer/Beastly Worlds, Daisy Crouch, Kamila Krol/Pigeon, Manon Wright, Rein Lee, Shane Melisse/Shanefaced and Shri Gunasekara), another in the form of Mollie Ray taking part in an event, and former BF team members Tom Murphy (Colossive Press) and Jenny Robins (Biscuits (assorted)) exhibiting and running a workshop respectively.
Andy chats with Belgian graphic novelist Joris Mertens. Photo via LICAF’s social media
On Saturday I was in conversation with Belgian artist Joris Mertens (Beatrice, Dry Cleaned) as part of the Belgian Comics Now strand of programming. A very entertaining hour with an energetic and witty subject that also took in Joris’s career in film and set design. This also felt very appropriate given that BF was born in Belgium in 2002 , and Joris even shares a publisher with our founder Frederik Hautain.
Bim Eriksson and Petteri Tikkanen drawing live
With a quick break it was up to the Studio Theatre for a live drawing event where I chatted with Bim Eriksson (Baby Blue) and Petteri Tikkanen (Kanerva and Eero). This was the most informal of my three events and Bim and Petteri were great fun. (As a sidenote why hasn’t an English language publisher picked up Petteri’s work? It’s a crime against comics that we can’t read his albums in English!)
Six to Watch-er Daisy Crouch at LICAF
Then it was time for a short break, a last look at my interview notes in my hotel room, and then a return to the Brewery Arts Centre for the ‘Inspirational Comics about Neurodiversity and Disability’ panel. This was an absolute privilege to moderate and fits in neatly with BF’s ethos of platforming socially relevant work and stories that focus on marginalised voices. The books all approached the subject of graphic medicine from very different directions – graphic novel, graphic biography and graphic memoir. And panellists Gemma Plum (The Great Marc Evers, SelfMadeHero), Francisco de la Mora (The Most Amazing Saturday Morning Rubbish Club, SelfMadeHero) and Zara Slattery (Coma, Myriad Editions) were so engaging, eloquent and thoughtful in their responses. As I said, a privilege.
BF Six to Watch drinks night at Kendal. The Six to Watch have a hand signal now. Hand signals are cool.
And then the festival was mine to enjoy without worrying about fluffing an interview! The highlight of the weekend was hanging out with our #BF6toWatch artists (and friends and partners) on the Saturday night for a special ‘Six to Watch’ drinks evening. There is nothing that brings me more joy in comics than seeing all the many talented people to have been a part of the programme since 2015 going on to ever bigger and better things. They’re an inspiration to me and the reason I keep on doing what I do at BF even when things behind the scenes at Broken Frontier Towers get tough.
Shane Melisse and that much-travelled sloth-drawing sign!
So those were my LICAF adventures. I am always impressed by the programming at the Lakes and all the many satellite exhibitions and installations (and especially their outstanding work platforming Palestinian artists). There’s room for so many different ways to celebrate comics and those who work in the form after all, and I’m very grateful to the LICAF team that the wider BF family got to have such a strong presence at the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival this year.
Manon Wright – another Six to Watch star at LICAF
And speaking of the big Autumn line-up of happenings… Thought Bubble is coming and our related month of coverage will begin in less than two weeks. An apology to begin… we are woefully behind (entirely down to me) and, as a result, interview questions are still going out. But hopefully we’ll make up time along the way much in the way my late-running train from Oxenholme to Euston did on the Sunday evening back from the Lake District.
Beatrijs Brouwer/Beastly Worlds – yep more Six to Watch magic!
There will be no ‘Andytorial’ in November because I’m sure you’d all prefer an extra Thought Bubble review to me droning on and time will be at a premium. So I’ll see you in December (if not in Harrogate before!).
– Andy
