Our colleagues in our Dublin store (Facebook link) are running a special Christmas charity drive with a number of artists generously giving their time and talents to create their own designs for the hugely popular Munny figures, with the designs being raffled off to raise money for The Children’s Medical & Research Foundation, Dublin Simon Community and the Tempe Street Children’s University Hospital. It’s a lovely though, especially at this time of year when we’re supposed to try and think more of others, so Irish peeps, please give them some support and spread the word.

That fine chap Declan Shalvey will be forcibly dragged away from his drawing desk this Wednesday (21st September) to sign copies of the brand new Thunderbolts issue he created the artwork for as well as his new sketchbook. Declan will be in our Dublin store from 2 to 4pm on Wednesday so, Irish peeps, come on down and give some support!

To celebrate the launch of the second volume of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century, the new volume 1969 artist Kevin O’Neill will be in FPI Dublin on Saturday the 6th of August from 3pm.

But even if you can’t make it on the day, just get in touch with the Dublin store (fpdublin@eircom.net or join their Facebook group) with details of the dedication you’d like and they’ll see what they can do – then just drop in to collect or have them mailed out to you.

The Dublin Comic Jam takes place on the last Thursday of each month from 8pm onwards in the Lord Edward pub by Christchurch, organised by Phil Barrett and Paddy Lynch, a chance for creators to get together chat, drink and draw; more details to be found on their blog. Link via the Irish Comic News, which is a pretty new site that should be added to your bookmarks. It’s only been going a short time but already has reviews, events news and more from the Irish comics scene, plus some short interviews with both Irish creators and others, including, I note, one with Michael Avon Oeming.

Irish comics collective the Eclectic Micks paid a successful return visit to the Dublin Forbidden Planet at the end of last week (thanks to Kev and the FP Dublin crew for the pics; no Irish comics artists were harmed during the making of this event).

Attention otaku! Grab your diaries and circle this date: Monday the 22nd of November. The Edinburgh (40-41 Southbridge), Hanley (48-52 Stafford Street), Belfast (52-54 Ann Street) and Dublin (5-6 Crampton Quay) Forbidden Planet Internationals will be hosting Manga Nights from 6 to 7pm those evenings, with fun for all, quizzes, cosplaying (with a prize for the best cosplayer) and with 20% off everything in store (excluding existing special offers or multi-buys) it’s going to be a good night for all comics and SF fans as well as our otaku brigade! The Glasgow FPI held a Manga Night recently and it was huge fun, so don’t miss out on this antidote to the long, dark nights! More details will be going on the Facebook pages of the participating branches – you can find details for your local branch’s Facebook here and address details here – so check them out for more info and start planning those costumes, we want to see them!