On Saturday 10 December City Library hosted the hugely successful Canny Comic Con – a convention to celebrate comics, sequential art and graphic novels. We had over 500 visitors of which 161 people attended the talks and nearly 100 children took part in workshops.
Some of the best creative talent from the region hosted talks and panels, including Simon Donald (Viz), Brian Talbot (Alice in Sunderland) and Doug Braithwaite (Marvel, 2000AD) but there were many, many more!. Judge Stewart was also on hand to distribute free copies of 2000AD and remind children of the importance of getting their books back on time!
Then there were the wonderfully creative workshops hosted by Art Heroes, TeesToons and Cuttlefish.
Press and online coverage has been fantastic! There has been a full page feature in the Evening Chronicle, a review on the Forbidden Planet International website, several blog posts by the artists/writers who attended and too many positive Twitter comments to mention! If you use Twitter you can search for the hashtag #cannycc or follow @CannyComicCon.
We were very pleased to raise £123 for the NSPCC which is one of the Lord Mayor’s charities this year. Speakers and guests kindly donated prizes for the raffle including Viz memorabilia, vouchers from the local shops Travelling Man and Forbidden Planet, signed books, CDs, artwork and more!
Don’t worry if you missed it. Get involved by joining the graphic novel reading group ‘Readers of the Lost Art’ which is held at City Library every two weeks on a Tuesday. And watch this space for more exciting comic creating workshops in the future!
We had a bit of time during the jam packed day to interview Dr. Mel Gibson, Bryan Talbot, Mary Talbot and Alex and Stace (the brains behind Canny Comic Con!). Listen to the interviews below or access them via iTunes.
Canny Comic Con 2011 was such an enjoyable day. Feedback from visitors has been overwhelmingly positive and we would like to thank everyone who was involved in the organisation and promotion of the event for making the day so brilliant!