The Stripped programme as part of the Edinburgh International Book Festival has served up many interesting and engaging events. Earlier in the festival we heard from two excellent creators when Hannah Berry and Sarah Laing were in conversation at the Bosco Theatre in George Square. This evening comic book lovers in Edinburgh are back at the same venue to hear from two very different creators.
Rob Davis has recently released his latest graphic novel The Can Opener’s Daughter. The book is published by Self Made Hero and is the follow up to his succesful graphic novel The Motherless Oven. The book takes place in the same surreal world as it’s predecessor and is a complicated graphic novel to describe. The event is chaired by Young Adult novelist Keith Gray and he leaves it to Rob Davis to explain what The Can Opener’s Daughter is about. Rob admits that “I wanted to do something that wasn’t simple” and that he created a work that could only be a comic book. To describe the images that he illustrates in the book with prose would require too many words and Rob has really embraced the medium of comic books in both The Motherless Oven and The Can Opener’s Daughter.
David Baillie is at the Book Festival to discuss his fantasy comic book Red Thorn. The story is set in a fantasy version of Glasgow and is published by DC Comics, through their prestigious Vertigo range of books. David admits he “created a book that he wanted to find on a book shelf” and confused several editors at DC by putting Glasgow landmarks within the comic. The lawyers at DC were worried that they might get sued by depicting the bright neon lights of the Barrowlands Ballroom, however any comic based in Glasgow would obviously have to include the iconic symbol of the city. Red Thorn along with The Can Opener’s Daughter are two great examples of what comic books can achieve and are very different in their approach to visual storytelling. Both have been made with heart, passion and integrity by two people who love the medium.