The UK’s longest running comic book festival returns to East Oxford this weekend, with a host of writers and artists on hand to talk about their latest creations.
Caption 2011 takes place at the East Oxford Community Centre, in Princes Street, on August 6 and 7. This year’s guests include Doctor Who and Torchwood comic illustrators Al Davison and Paul Grist, plus Paul Duffield, artist of the popular web comic FreakAngels.
Among the other star attractions is I.N.J. Culbard, a Sherlock Holmes illustrator, whose new graphic novel adaptation, A Princess of Mars, is also the source of the forthcoming Disney film John Carter. A writer of Doctor Who on TV, Paul Cornell, gave a talk last year and is currently writing DC Comics’ flagship title Action Comics, featuring Superman.
He said: “Caption really connects the world of comics to the wider arts community. It’s good to have a comics event that feels right in a church hall with a tea urn. It’s a down to earth event that says that comics should be a part of everyone’s reading experience.”
One of the founders of the event, Jeremy Day, helped launch the festival 19 years ago. “Official conventions were very much ‘here are the stars, here are the fans’ and you’re either a star or a fanboy,” she said, remembering the festival’s origins in 1992. “We didn’t like that – we said we’ll make a workshop that has no barriers - and it proved really popular, given that it’s still running now.”
Artist Al Davison is a regular at Caption and last year contributed original artwork of “mad scientists trying to steal Charlie Chaplin’s charisma” to the festival’s auction. He said: “it’s such an important event in the calendar in terms of supporting self-publishing, a lot of creators are very keen to remember their roots and keep coming back.”
Doors open at 10am both days and events include art and writing workshops with Al Davison plus interviews with creators. Day tickets cost £5. For more information, visit www.caption.org
