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2018 in Review
Paul Bristow • Apr 24, 2020
Our projects from 2018
Throughout 2018, we had the opportunity to work on more varied projects than ever before - exploring language, social history, shared memories and creativity with comics and communities.
Here's a quick look back at some of the comics and projects we worked on this last year, celebrating the creativity of the people involved, but especially our artists, Mhairi Robertson and Andy Lee - both of whom have defined the visuals for Magic Torch Comics. Sadly, we lost Andy Lee at the end of 2018 - a shock to us all. We hope to be able to pay proper tribute to him in 2019, with the final publication Andy completed for us.
Andy's work this year, included working with a group of P6 / P7 in Lady Alice Primary School to create a Scots language comic which reimagined The Catman as a local supervillain. The completed comic is displayed in Lady Alice Primary School and Greenock South West Library. Enjoy a reading of the comic by the class below...
Throughout the springtime, Mhairi and I visited Islay, Jura, Mull and Tiree to work with Primary Schools on the islands to create a Gaelic language comic based on local folktales
chosen by the schools. The comic
was presented in both Gaelic and dual language to help Gaelic learners. The islands were inspirational, and we hope to be visiting again in 2019.
As part of the First Ministers Reading Challenge, we worked with the amazing Renfrew High school on A Trip Frew Time, a comic inspired by objects and stories from their local museum. The comic characters even ended up in an animation produced by West College Scotland. Renfrew High's delivery of the First Ministers Reading Challenge was so impressive, that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited to congratulate them on all the great work their library team had done - so we got to meet the First Minister!
Back in May, the BBC News website
ran a story exploring the sad tale of the Arran Stowaways - and asked to use Mhairi's artwork from our comic alongside some information about the project. The story was the most read on the BBC that day, and it opened out our work to lots of new audiences who got in touch as a result.
In June we launched Light Years
at Glasgow Comicon - our comic created with people over 65. This amazing collection of personal memories, fiction, folk tales and funny stories was supported by the Peoples Postcode Trust, and rather neatly proved the point that comics storytelling is for everyone, not just kids.
One of our most major projects for the year, was being Graphic Novelists in Residence in Inverclyde Academy. We've worked lots of times with Inverclyde Academy - they were one of the first schools to get us in and engage with comics storytelling, but this Scottish Libraries and Information Council funded project allowed us to spend ten weeks with a class, putting a comic adaptation of the classic Old Greenock Characters
together. We provided the framework, and the pupils worked as writer / artist teams to produce the strips. It's a lovely piece of work. Inverclyde Academy is so awesome, that they even ran their own comicon this year, organised by a range of different departments across the school. And the project featured in the new National Strategy for School Libraries.
Early in 2018, we worked with Inverclyde Community Development Trust, Your Voice and Inverclyde Council on Project 22, working with New Scots to improve integration and understanding. Our part of the project was to help the young people involved create a comic - Inverclyde Adventures
-which could be given to new arrivals in future. We chose to focus on exchange of stories and culture. The comic also included interactive elements using HP Reveal, which unlocked photos of the creative process, and even a song which had been created during the project. The whole programme won a Cosla Award in September 2018.
One of our most unusual projects of the year, was to work with Cloch Housing Association to help them celebrate 50 Years of Cloch using comics. Using minutes dating from the formation of the association, old photos, memories from tenants and staff and the archive of noted antiquarian Sir Glen Douglas Rhodes, we worked together to create a truly unique publication, somewhere between Scot's Magazine and The Beano - it even had a board game. The book was fully funded by Heritage Lottery Fund Scotland, and delivered to over 2000 homes across Inverclyde in November. A small exhibition, copies of the book and a short film formed part of the 50th Anniversary Celebrations for Cloch at the Scottish Parliament in late October - where we were delighted that the work of Sir Glen Douglas Rhodes was formally recognised.
And that's not even half of all the smashing places we got to visit and people we got to meet in 2018. It's been a joy. All in, an extremely productive year, and 2019 is already looking good; in April we'll be launching the book we are creating with Riddles Court in Edinburgh, throughout the Spring, we will be working in Aberdeenshire on a project exploring Scotland's links to the slave trade, we'll also be doing an illustrated folk tale book with Project 22.
Thanks to everyone for all their support, interest and involvement this year - it has meant a lot.
If you have an idea for a project or any questions about how we can help you tell your story, drop us a line.
MTC Project Blog
Earlier this month, we were asked to produce some artwork for the Afrowegian Project , imagining an Afro-Futurist version of the story of real world cycling superhero, Marshall 'Major' Taylor. The comic display panels form part of an exhibition by the riverside in Glasgow throughout October. You can read more about the work of the project and how to get involved. We're looking forward to doing some more collaborative work with Afrowegian's Jim Muotone, down in Inverclyde over the next few months.
Earlier this year, our director Paul Bristow spoke to Tall Tale films as part of CVS Inverclyde's Digital Open Studios project. Check out the short video below to hear Paul chat about storytelling, communities and his creative process for his own writing and his work with Magic Torch Comics CIC. You can also see his fairly messy home office under the stairs...
Back in 2019, artist Mhairi Robertson and myself, spent some time with a group of women in Glasgow, who told us about their experience of the asylum process, and the welcome they had found in Scotland. The project was pit together by the Poverty Truth Community, and the women all wanted to focus on the positive things that had happened to them since arriving, and the actions that other could take while in the process. A booklet of their stories, which also shares information on the support which is available for people, was launched during Refugee Week 2021 at an online event. The book can be downloaded for free on our website or read on our ISSUU page . A narrated version of the book, recorded by one of the women is also available to view and there is a short preview below.
Magic Torch Comics CIC are asking local young people to get involved in creating a science fiction adventure comic online. The comic, Starbound, is part of our ‘Outside The Box’ project, supported by National Lottery Community Fund. Over the last year, the project has delivered online workshops and involved young people in creating comics about life in lockdown and a collection of spooky stories for Galoshans. For this project, we wanted to do something a little different. It’s a choose your own adventure comic, where local people help create and shape the story on instagram. Every Monday evening, a short video will introduce the story so far and offer people choices for what happens next. People have 24 hours to vote, the artist creates the page and the next week we choose again, spinning the story off in unexpected directions each time. Right now, it’s still impossible to deliver face to face workshops, but if you’ve been online learning all day, you maybe don’t want to come to another online workshop in the evening. So we wanted to provide an opportunity that was easy for everyone to engage in, whatever way they want. Some people might just vote or comment on the story, or email in ideas, other people might want to get more involved and share their creations which we’ll then put out on the blog or in the weekly workshop videos. Although the focus of the project is comic storytelling, we want people to get involved in other creative ways. We’ll have story prompts and tips in the weekly workshop videos, there’s a whole world to explore, so we hope people will get inspired to create and share all sorts of work – Minecraft builds, music, moments of drama – whatever you like. Part of the reason we decided on science fiction was to open up possibilities to imagine. The last few months have been really confined, and it’s easy for your imagination to become confined too, so we wanted to help people break out of that a bit. Starbound launched on Monday 8th March on instagram , there's a new story vote every week. People can get involved on Magic Torch Comics Instagram page or by submitting ideas and suggestions directly on the project page .
About us
Magic Torch Comics CIC
Company Number SC568827
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07757 112 332info@magictorchcomics.co.uk27 East StreetGreenockPA15 2RL
info@magictorchcomics.co.uk
27 East Street
Greenock
PA15 2RL