Award for Achi Baba
Paul Bristow • April 23, 2020
National Award for First World War Comic
We are delighted to be able to say that Achi Baba - Gallipoli 1915, our graphic novel about the Gallipoli campaign, has won a national award for innovation from the Community Archives and Heritage Group, part of the Archives and Records Association.
Achi Baba was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund Scotland, through the First World War - Then and Now programme.
The CAHG judges commented:
“Magic Torch has been helping create a record of important local events in an easily-accessible and highly-innovative comic-book format; eg, the experiences of a locally-based regiment during the First World War. The group has taken this format into local schools; it clearly has the potential to spark ideas in other groups… and fills a gap in presenting the past in a digestible format to the difficult-to-reach senior schools audience.”
You can read a digital version of the book for free. Our original run of print copies have been distributed, but we printed a short run second edition, which you can also purchase from our shop.
Achi Baba was a challenging project to work on, however since then, we have been able to expand our comics and graphic novel work, within schools, but also with community groups. We're looking forward to sharing our new projects with you soon.
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.