The Arts Show on RTE 1 – a public service broadcaster, essentially Ireland’s equivalent to the BBC – has an episode dedicated to discussing graphic novels and comics. In fact I note with some pleasure they are also happy to use the term ‘comics’ and not just graphic novels which sometimes seems to be substituted as a slightly more mature-sounding description when people feel slightly embarrassed about mentioning comics. Katherine Famar of the Irish Times and artist Nik Roche are featured discussing the medium, both in general terms – the role of illustration in storytelling, leading to modern comics, interesting new works – and the personal – Nik discussing how he first started reading comics and how they influenced him (Nik is well known for his work on Transformers and the upcoming new Doctor Who comics), Katherine talking about the many old comics aimed at girls she read when younger and wondering why as she got older the medium seemed less embracing of female readers, at least until the spread of manga and DC’s Minx imprint. It’s a pretty interesting piece and well worth a listen, especially, as Kenny commented to me, as the development of Ireland’s comics scene is still fairly recent (and growing).
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