“I’ve been saying that working on Alice in Sunderland was being like doing a Phd – not something I said lightly as my wife is a Phd and I saw first hand the sheer amount of work involved – it turns out now I was virtually doing one! The graphic novel did take a lot of time and one hell of a lot of research. I’m sure that the doctorate is mainly for producing this book, though they are going to cite the whole canon at the ceremony,” Bryan on his official fan page.

(Bryan, with Jordan Smith, signing copies of Alice in Sunderland in the Edinburgh FPI, pic from my Flickr)

The news item on the same page also mentions Paul Gravett who believes it might be the first time an honorary doctorate has been given by a UK university for the comics medium. I certainly haven’t heard of any other cases – its fairly common for respected writers of fiction in the prose world, but not in the graphical fiction medium. The ceremony takes place on July 17th during the university’s annual awards ceremony. I’m sure it is given for Bryan’s whole body of work, but doubtless, as he says, the fascinating (and heavily researched) Alice in Sunderland must have influenced the university’s decision too. I’m delighted for Bryan and surely it can also be seen as another indicator of the more serious respect the medium is now getting from several quarters in the UK.