Asking students to go to school on a Sunday is the most difficult thing to do in the world. Anything would be easier. It will rain money before a gaggle of Camosun students could be convinced to head back to campus on a Sunday.
Just don’t tell that to Ken Steacy, program leader of the comics and graphic novels program at Camosun. On Sunday, April 7, the program is hosting the first Camosun College Comics Conference. And he’ll probably prove the Sunday/students theory wrong, knowing how dedicated comic fans are. As far as Steacy is concerned, those who aren’t comic buffs should head out, too.
“In spite ofŃor perhaps because ofŃthe proliferation of digital content delivery, traditional media like comics and graphic novels are increasingly filling shelves in libraries and bookstores, attracting legions of new readers, young and old,” he says. “It’s the very nature of holding and interacting with these physical artifacts that makes them so attractive, and the best comics leverage that value to a high degree. Furthermore, the range of content has never been more diverse, so there’s now something for everyone to learn from and enjoy.”
The main goal of the conference is to showcase the achievements of the 16 students in the comics and graphic novels program. They will have comics on display, and there will also be guest speakers, such as Concrete’s Paul Chadwick, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam’s Anne Marie Fleming, Haida Manga’s Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, and Sam & Fuzzy’s Sam Logan.
“Comic events like these are great,” says Logan, “because they’re a rare chance for new and aspiring creators to meet actual working professional comic writers and artists. Being a cartoonist isn’t a very visible job, and because of that a lot of younger aspiring cartoonists get discouraged and just assume right out of the gate that making comics as anything more than a hobby isn’t possible. That’s not true.”
SteacyŃwho has been a freelance comics artist for four decades and has done work for Batman, Spider-Man, The X-Men, Astro Boy, and Jonny Quest, among othersŃsays he hopes that the conference helps make the community aware of the power of visual storytelling and also its presence in a global context. He also points out that comics aren’t just ha-ha funny or superhero action-packed.
“Comics and graphic novels are categorically entertaining, but they go far beyond that function, and are now used to educate, inform, and empower,” he says. “Works can be easily translated for delivery in a limitless number of languages, thereby dramatically increasing their audience and bringing readers together. One of our program’s most important learning outcomes is the creation of edutainment comics, those works whose content educates in an entertaining way; as a wise guy once said, whatever pleases teaches more effectively.”
And what does Steacy himself get out of the medium?
“More than anything, it’s a fascination with the beautiful language of visual storytelling,” he says, “and the synergy that’s created when words and pictures collide and coalesce.”
Camosun College Comics Conference
11 am to 6 pm, Sunday, April 7
Young building, third floor, Lansdowne campus, free
camosun.ca/learn/programs/vist/conference