Martin Conaghan first discussed comic book characters from the past and present, pointing out Lanarkshire success stories, and gave some good advice on keeping a share of the profits for any would-be authors and artists in the audience. He and Will Pickering then outlined the process of creating a graphic novel, from the highly detailed script, to the covers.
Will also explained the amount of research involved in this novel, which involved visits to locations, searching for contemporary portraits of the characters and examining old Ordnance Survey maps. Even the clocks drawn show the correct time!
Pupils were particularly interested to see the finished article and pored over the original A3 artwork. Questions at the end ranged from financial enquiries and careers advice, to requests for information on other work, both in art (Will) and on BBC Sport (Martin).
Everyone then headed downstairs to the main library to check out the graphic novel collection before walking back to Our Lady’s.
Copies of Burke and Hare are now on sale in bookshops or through Motherwell Library, price £13. If anyone is interested in purchasing a signed copy, please see Mrs Macfadyen.
October 8, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Hi folks,
it was fantastic to meet everyone at the talks on Tuesday and I was really pleased with the response we received to the book.
I think it demonstrated that comics-books and graphic novels are not always about super-heroes or goofball characters, but can also incorporate abstract themes or concepts and expand to include stories of a historical nature, like the ghoulish story of the Irish serial killers Burke & Hare.
As Will said in our talk – comics are words with pictures, so whatever you want to happen, can happen – and the knock-on effects can include the widespread exploitation of the source material, such as in film, television and computer games.
It would be great to do another talk at some point in the future on one of my other forthcoming books.
Thanks again to everyone for their time and enthusiasm!
Martin