a2f1e8d9

Multiverse Academy - The Game!

Thu, 17 Apr 2025 17:46:24 GMT

It's Game On for our comic heroes...

We've had enormous fun with our Multiverse Academy project, experimenting with different story, art and comic styles - we've even managed to include music and audiobooks. But something we weren't expecting, was for the characters to turn up in a video game.

Almost everyone involved in the project enjoys playing games, so when we got the opportunity for students from Glasgow Caledonian University to develop a side scrolling platformer as a whole extra chapter of the story - we jumped at the chance.

It's been great to watch the creative process of the game development team over the last few months as they have pulled it all together - and now you can play it online for free!

Check out the trailer below - and then see how far through the school day you can get by clicking here to play the game.

Devil's Mark

Thu, 26 Sep 2024 11:16:17 GMT

The Inverkip Witch Trials

Our new graphic novel ‘Devil’s Mark’ launches on Wednesday 23 ^rd October. The comic shares the story of Marie Lamont, a young girl caught up in the horrors of the witch trials in Inverkip. It was created in collaboration with pupils of Inverclyde Academy (many of whom live in Inverkip today) with the support of Lorraine Murray, archivist at The Watt Institution. The comic is illustrated by Julie Campbell.

It's Galoshans Festival time in Inverclyde, and so free copies of the book will be available exclusively throughout the festival while stocks last, and you’ll also be able to read it online for free. We’ll share more details soon.

‘Devil’s Mark’ is the first publication from our Distant Noises project. Distant Noises is exploring, recording, illustrating and sharing stories from a range of community archives throughout 2024 and 2025. The stories will be shared as a range of graphic novels and audio dramas / podcasts / soundscapes.

The project is delivered by Magic Torch Comics CIC with the support of National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The stories will include tales of the Inverkip Witch Trials, the journey of a Jewish refugee in World War 2, the people of the Glasgow Panopticon ‘freakshow’ and folk tales from the School of Scottish Studies.

All of the material will be available to read and download for free on our website.

If you would like to find out more about the project, please email

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk

Castle Zoo

Mon, 24 Jun 2024 10:02:47 GMT

Sharing Accessible Stories 1

Today we are pleased to share the first of FOUR new publications made possible via the Youth Arts Fund.

Castle Zoo is a sensory storybook, created with pupils of Craigmarloch School in Inverclyde, telling a rhyming story based on an unusual piece of history from Newark Castle. At one time, the castle in Port Glasgow was used as storage space for an exotic animal trader, and the young people imagined a story about the animals that might have lived there.

The book is part of our Accessible Stories project, sharing stories and comics in a variety of different ways - including BSL and audiobook formats - and with additional resources to help share them with wider audiences. You can access the book and the resources for free online and we will be adding to them over the coming weeks.

Additionally, after the summer break, all Inverclyde schools will be gifted a copy of the book and a sensory resources box - created in partnership with the lovely folks at Inverclyde Shed.

You can enjoy a singalong version of the book, with the wonderful artwork from Kai J Cockburn.

The Youth Arts Fund is administered by Youth Link Scotland and supported by Creative Scotland and the Scottish Government.

Multiverse Academy

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 13:31:07 GMT

One year. One story. Unlimited ideas...

On Monday April 1st, we'll be starting one of our most ambitious comic story journeys to date...a year long comic, telling one story, one panel at a time, one day at a time.

Multiverse Academy is an epic action adventure tale of weird alien objects and an extremely unusual school timetable, and it is created in comic workshops being run as part of our Storyworks project , supported by National Lottery Community Fund.

Every month will see a new chapter of the story, illustrated by a different artist, but with all the ideas and action created by Inverclyde young people. The story will also be told in some unusual and unexpected ways which will be revealed as the story progresses....

For now, the first chapter starts on our Multiverse Academy Page on April 1st and if you want to get involved in some of the workshops, you can book on via Inverclyde Libraries Eventbrite page .

Storyworks

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 15:27:40 GMT

Introducing our new project...

Magic Torch Comics CIC are delighted to have received over £67.000 from National Lottery Community Fund, to support our new 2 year project, 'Storyworks', running from Summer 2023 - 2025.

The project will work with young people to create a whole range of stories and publications, developed in collaborative workshops delivered all across Inverclyde. In addition to our traditional comics workshops, we'll also be creating escape rooms. storymaking card games, storymaps, an illustrated storybook, a podcast audio drama, a choose your own adventure style game book and a collaborative comic sharing one panel a day over a whole year. It's our most ambitious project to date, including lots of things we have wanted to do for ages. And of course, all the things that we create, we'll be sharing for free, online and at community events, so even if you don't want to get involved directly, you can still enjoy all the stories we'll tell.

Our first workshops are already scheduled for over the summer, with Inverclyde Libraries and Mind Mosaic Child & Family Therapies and we've been in touch with a few other Inverclyde groups about projects in the Autumn - but we're looking to work with as many people as possible, so if your group or organisation would like to be involved, drop us a line via the form below. We'll be working with lots of groups and organisations across Inverclyde, but we'll also be running open sessions which anyone will be able to book up for, so if you would like to be kept up to date on those opportunities, then please also sign up below.

We look forward to telling stories with you soon...

Underground Comics

Fri, 24 Mar 2023 10:19:55 GMT

Comics out on the streets...

Magic Torch Comics were pleased to be able to donate some artwork from our previous comics projects to be used by Inverclyde Council to help brighten up two local underpasses.

If you are strolling around Greenock, you can now find local myths and legends celebrated in the Regent Street / Ann Street underpass - featuring our storymap artwork by Tony Pickering and pages from our classic Tales of the Oak comic (ten years old this year!) with artwork by our late collaborator Andy Lee. While down by KFC under the bullring roundabout, you can explore the story of the Galoshans Play locally, with artwork from Zu Dominiak and Robin Henley.

The council design team have done a lovely job of putting the pieces together, the definition and colours are superb, really brightening up the spaces - we're particularly pleased to see a few full pages represented to encourage comic reading. The pieces are printed on heavy laminate and are able to be moved to other locations if required.

Check them out if you are passing - and watch out for our new anniversary digital edition of the Tales of the Oak comic, coming soon!

A Year of Stories

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 15:19:05 GMT

Going Into The Woods in 2022

It’s important to have things to look forward to in January. Especially these days.

So we’re delighted that 2022 is the Year of Stories in Scotland , and so hopefully, a whole year of events and adventure awaits. We’ve lots of story projects lined up over the next few months, which we’re looking forward to sharing. We’ll have more information and sneak peeks to share from all of them soon, but they include…

Not one but TWO comics created as part of the ‘Rediscovering the Antonine Wall’ project, created by schools from the five local authorities the wall passes through. We’ll be exploring Roman Caledonia, the women of the wall, Syrian Archers, mysteries in stone and much more.

Occupy! A graphic novel exploring the history of occupation to create community change in Scotland. The project is part of Govanhill Baths ‘Occupy! ’ project, supported by the Foyle Foundation and the Govanhill Baths Archive and Heritage Fund. From rent strikes and shipyard work- ins, through to the occupation of the former Hamish Allan Centre during Cop 26, these are all stories that made a difference.

In March, we’ll have two publications launching on World Book Day – our Clyde Crew comic, created with 21 Inverclyde Primary Schools and Climate Heroes , a storybook featuring characters designed through an Inverclyde Libraries competition.

Also back in our home town, we are working with Inverclyde Community Development Trust to explore Legacies of Slavery . It’s an amazing project with all sorts of events and opportunities – we’ll be working with Proud2Care on a history book with a difference, taking time to look at stories we don’t know so well about our area’s connections to the slave trade.

And in June we’ll be having a Story Ceilidh ! Launching a new storybook created with New Scots families and Your Voice Inverclyde. The project is supported by Museums Galleries Scotland.

Plus, we’ve more pages and publications on the way from our Common Good Comics project, and the last few months of our Outside The Box project. And if we’re lucky – even more surprises and stories to share after that as the Year of Stories continues.

Looking forward to getting lost in the woods this year!

(And finally, if you haven’t already, one story you need to read right now, is our Captain Kidd graphic novel raising funds for Man On Inverclyde )

Clyde Crew Assemble!

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 15:03:44 GMT

Local heroes to the rescue

Over the next few weeks, we'll be working with ALL TWENTY ONE Primary Schools in Inverclyde, to create a brand new comic story.

The project has been developed with the Inverclyde Attainment Challenge Literacy CMOs, to encourage reading and creativity. We've created a team of new Inverclyde heroes, The Clyde Crew, and every school will develop a one page story which pitches these heroes against a series of environmental catastrophes! From droughts and volcanic eruptions to tornadoes and blizzards, it sounds like we will all have our work cut out for us.

The finished comic will launch in March 2022, in the meantime, here's the first page which will introduce the schools to our heroes. Artwork by Norrie Millar. What happens next, will be up to them...

Tales of the Oak

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Sun, 21 Nov 2021 14:47:13 GMT

Inverclyde Storytelling

You can now watch our full Tales of the Oak comics / storytelling performance, presented in association with The Beacon Arts Centre as part of the Scottish International Storytelling Festival and funded by Traditional Arts and Culture Scotland.

Inverclyde young people reinterpreted and reworked folk tales, urban myths and legends from the area, into a new collection of stories which we produced as comics

You can also read or download the comic which collects all the stories.

Major Taylor

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 11:22:52 GMT

Black History Month

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.

Digital Open Studios

Mon, 18 Oct 2021 11:05:20 GMT

Magic Torch Comics Director - Behind the Magic!

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...

Stories of Hope

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Fri, 18 Jun 2021 12:58:38 GMT

Refugee Week 2021

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.

Starbound - Get Involved

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Thu, 11 Mar 2021 11:48:19 GMT

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 .

Ghost Town

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 12:29:41 GMT

What scares us?

In Inverclyde, Hallowe’en is celebrated with a programme of community arts events which takes it’s name from an old Scottish tradition, Going Galoshans .

In 2020, the festival was mostly online, and as part of our Outside the Box project, we ran a number of comic sessions and courses. Throughout September and October we pulled together a collection of scary stories, including a comic adaptation of ‘ The Buried Alive ’ a Ghost Story from Greenock born writer John Galt, first published in 1822.

We also ran a number of competitions, asking people for their suggestions about what ghosts would be doing while we all stayed indoors, and many of these ideas appear in the comic. Unsurprisingly, pandemic themes weave in and out of some of the stories, the real world worries of the virus blending with traditional supernatural fears. Winter is an ideal time for telling and sharing scary stories, and we hope you enjoy while staying safe.

You can download Ghost Town here, or read online via our ISSUU page.

We would like to thank Youth Connections, Inverclyde Libraries and RIG Arts for their help, support and promotion of this project.

You can also download another Outside The Box comic, exploring young people's experience of Lockdown .

The Outside The Box project is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund and is continuing to work with young people in Inverclyde throughout 2021. During the current cornonavirus crisis, we are able to work with organisations and groups remotely if required, with all materials provided.

Please get in touch to discuss how we can continue creating and collaborating in these challenging times.

Stories from a strange time

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Mon, 14 Dec 2020 10:44:54 GMT

Comics in Lockdown

Before the year ends, we are sharing two publications created as part of our National Lottery Community Fund project, Outside The Box, working with marginalised young people in Inverclyde to create stories which reflect their lived experience. And obviously, in 2020, there was one lived experience it was hard to avoid. One that we all shared in different ways. So throughout spring and summer of 2020, we continued to work with as many young people in Inverclyde as we could, to create comics which explored their experiences of lockdown.

Sometimes that would mean working via zoom, other times, with stories and text collected via other organisations or at school sessions set up for keyworker families. A whole archive of material has been collated across Inverclyde during lockdown and this is our contribution to that collection - some of those stories, retold and reimagined as comics.

What we enjoy most about them is how honest they are. And how beautifully colourful.

We would like to thank Inverclyde Libraries, Aileen Wilson - Childrens Rights Officer at Inverclyde Council, Erin Power - Children and Young Peoples Development Officer at Your Voice and Grace McKelvie at Great Place Scheme Inverclyde Council for sharing some of the material collected for their Lockdown Life Project from Saint Ninian’s Primary School and Saint John’s Primary School.

You can download the comic here or read online on our ISSUU page .

Our second comic, Ghost Town, is a collection of ghost stories created during the Galoshans Festival and it will be shared later this week.

Our Words

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Mon, 09 Nov 2020 11:41:55 GMT

Scottish Parliament Comics

Over the last year, we worked with eight schools across the eight parliamentary areas in Scotland, to create 'Our Words', comics which explore the work of the Scottish Parliament. It's been an amazing project to be involved with and we are delighted that the comics are now available to read online.

There were four primary schools and four secondary schools involved in the project - each working with the Scottish Parliament Education and Outreach team to find out more about their chosen topic. The schools visited parliament, talked to MSPs, the returning officer, the information team - a whole range of practical activities to help improve understanding about their topic. Our job was then to work with each class group to create a comic based on what they had learned.

The first session was delivered just over a year ago in Skye, the final session, in Ayr just before lockdown. Over the last few months an amazing team of artists have worked to complete their pages and we could not be more pleased with the project or the results. Each comic is available in English, Gaelic, a version for screen readers and as a power point presentation, alongside teaching resources for each topic.

You can read and download the Our Words comics from the Scottish Parliament website now .

We would like to thank Katherine Hemmings (Bees Eye View, Hawks Eye View), Alex Assan (Parliament Tales, FMQs), Norrie Millar (Canogate Wall), Dylan Gibson (Committees) and Tony Pickering (Language in Parliament) for their work - especially during a challenging time.

A big thank you too to Cara Slater and the Scottish Parliament Education and Outreach team who initiated the project and pulled it all together.

Going Galoshans

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 08:38:25 GMT

Hallowe'en in Inverclyde

For the last few years, Inverclyde has celebrated a more traditional type of Halloween with its Galoshans Festival. The festival takes its name from the play which used to be performed around the houses on Halloween - you can read, download and perform a version of the play I created a few years back .

This year, Inverclyde’s Galoshans Festival is obviously having to adapt to the even scarier realities of Covid-19 – and so much of the activity has shifted online for now, but there are still lots of events, activities and performances to enjoy. Check out the programme and facebook page .

On Saturday 24th, we’ll be running AIEEE!, a spooky comics workshop. You can book spaces at the workshop via email . The workshop is part of our Outside The Box project which has also been delivering some online workshops with local young people, which have helped create some scary stories for a comic we’ll be releasing later in the year. The comics include an exploration of the Galoshans Play story and an adaptation of ‘The Buried Alive’ a Victorian horror story written by Greenock’s own John Galt and illustrated by the awesome Robin Henley .

Throughout October, you can also read and download our original Greenock horror comic Tales of the Oak for free via ISSUU – Curse of Crow Mount, Ghost Pirate of Lunderston Bay, The Ballad of Auld Dunrod, Claws of the Catman, a ghastly smorgasbord of local folk horror for you to enjoy.

And finally, I’ll be sharing some ghost stories online at 8pm from Monday 24th October until Saturday 31st October. These will be up on the Magic Torch Comics facebook page and also on my own soundcloud page.

Merry October, stay safe and take care.

Common Good Comics

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Wed, 08 Jul 2020 08:55:06 GMT

Stories that matter...

Glasgow Caledonian University and Magic Torch Comics CIC have secured £76,300 funding from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, for a two year project which will share stories of social enterprise and community action.

Common Good Comics will work with organisations from across Scotland to record oral histories and explore community archives and then present the material in two comic collections which will be shared in schools, online and at comicons and other national events.

Magic Torch Comics director, Paul Bristow, explains

“I’ve worked in and around social enterprises for most of my life, Magic Torch Comics CIC was developed as a social enterprise – our focus is generally history and literacy. A few years back, we were asked by Professor Michael Roy at GCU to adapt a case study in comic form, and it just seemed a great way of sharing stories about the good work of organisations. We’ve been working on getting this project off the ground since then.”

The project also wants to help groups tell their own story and maintain their own archives more effectively. Dr Gillian Murray from Glasgow Caledonian University Yunus Centre for Social Business is part of the project team, recording and sharing oral histories.

“The opportunity to collaborate with social enterprises and community groups to tell their stories in a way that supports them to take ownership of their history and heritage is really exciting. The current crisis means this is a particularly challenging time for the social enterprise and community sector, we hope that sharing stories of how people came together in the past will be uplifting and empowering for groups and organisations today.”

The project builds on the work already undertaken by GCU Archive team in pulling together a Social Enterprise Collection as GCU Archivist Carole McCallum explains.

“Archives are peoples’ stories and the social enterprise and labour history strands of this project will be inspired by the material we already hold in GCU Archive Centre. Giving voice and vision to these stories opens up our heritage to new audiences and allows people to better understand and take pride in their own story. As well as a hands on connection with the material we will be sharing our skills, offering basic training in caring for and digitising records to the communities involved. We are delighted to be part of this cross domain team and look forward to learning from the project as much as giving to it.”

Caroline Clark, Director Scotland of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said:

“The appeal of comics span the generations so what better way of telling the stories of one generation to another. Thanks to funding from the National Lottery, communities will be inspired to record their diverse social histories for others to learn from and enjoy.”

Work on the project has just started, with a number of organisations already signed up to tell their story, but the team is looking for more groups and organisations from across Scotland to get involved.

“We are ideally looking to work with groups who have a bit of history behind them, who have been around for a while, maybe forming to deal with unemployment during the 1980s or who took part in a specific piece of community action – there are lots of stories out there and we are ready to listen.”

To find out more and get involved, check out our new project page .

Telling Tales

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 13:35:13 GMT

We enjoyed telling tales for the Sharing Stories project, it certainly made lockdown just a little more fun - there was some nice coverage in the Greenock Telegraph .

You can now view all the stories in both English language versions and Arabic / Kurmanji - there's playlists of both below.

The book will be launched later in the year, with free copies distributed across community venues and libraries in Inverclyde before being made available to read for free online - we will be sure to let you know when.

Time to Talk

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Mon, 25 May 2020 12:57:12 GMT

Comics and mental health

On Saturday May 23rd, we were due to launch our third book of the year, I Thought I was Undone – The Ballad of Captain Kidd .

The book is a special one for us, as it was the last project we completed with artist Andy Lee – the first artist to create comics for Magic Torch, and a regular contributor to so many of our projects.

Sadly, Andy took his own life in November 2018. And i t took us a while to return to the book, but we spoke with Andy’s family, and agreed that we should publish it, but with all profits to charities supporting mental health in Inverclyde. And that is what we had hoped to do this weekend – however we have decided to postpone the release for now, and hope to rearrange later in the year.

From today though, you can read a free preview of the book, and add your name to our mailing list to be notified of the new release date and launch event.

Given everything that is going on just now, and the impact we know that is having on peoples mental health and wellbeing, we also wanted to highlight an excellent project being run in Inverclyde by Mind Mosaic – a Covid 19 helpline for keyworkers for which we were asked to create a short video, which you can see below.

Sharing Stories

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Mon, 18 May 2020 08:38:08 GMT

Community and folklore

For the last year, we have been working with Inverclyde Community Development Trust on their Sharing Stories project – which is funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund. Our part in the process, was to create a book of illustrated folk tales with stories from Scotland, Syria and Sudan.

The project developed directly from a comic we worked on a few years back , which had young people from recently arrived Syrian families, learning about the myths and legends of their new home town and creating a story and a learning resource related to Children’s Rights.

At the time that project felt like the first part of a conversation; we’d told our stories, and now, it was time for us to listen and hear stories back. We all know that stories, folklore, heritage – culture, can be lost during displacement, and we all felt this was one way of keeping elements of culture alive, and finding out more about one another in the process.

One of the things that worked well about the Sharing Stories project was it being housed within an organisation which was already running some services with Inverclyde’s New Scots community, in particular, a befriending programme – so we were able to tap into that. For example, Roijin invited us along to her house a few times for amazing coffee, to tell us all about Newroz and Kurdish culture. Eventually she chose the story of Shengay and Pengay, two sheep who are left alone in the house when their mother goes out. It’s a “wolf at the door” style story, where a character, is trying to trick their way into a house. We heard a few different variations.

And what we had set out to do, was hear as many stories as possible, find some with some common themes or symbols and then find a few Scottish tales that would also echo those themes. Because there’s a universality to stories, symbols and archetypes obviously repeat across cultures and we wanted to produce a book that reflected that.

Obviously, the language differences were a challenge in the project – that was almost the whole point. We spent a fair bit of time with an ESOL group supported by Inverclyde Community Learning and Development - and the first few weeks were just polite chaos, but gradually we established a rhythm. Members of the group would come in with written down texts of stories, which they would read and then another member of the group would translate into English and I would scribble it down, or we’d use google translate to try and figure it out, and all the while, Mhairi would be sitting sketching the characters we were talking about and checking if this is how they should look in our story book.

Eventually we whittled the group of stories down to 8 – which was tricky, because towards the end we were suddenly getting more and more suggestions. And the stories we chose all feature water or rivers in some way, which seemed fitting given that we’re down in Greenock, right on the banks of the Clyde.

I think genuinely my favourite day in the project, was when we finally convinced Tamadour and Amal to record their stories. You can hear their versions of The Old Man and The Apple Seller and Fatima on soundcloud.

The book was due to launch in April at our local library at an event with families of everyone involved – of course, that’s been put on hold for just now. Hopefully we’ll get that happening later in the year.

Meantime, The Trust’s project worker Ilona proposed getting them online in a few alternative formats, so for the next two weeks, we will be sharing a story each day in two different versions – one read by me in English and the other read in Arabic or Kurmanji. Here’s the first one below, from Sudan, the story of Lion and Rabbit.

Comic Boom

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Mon, 27 Apr 2020 16:14:49 GMT

The Joy of Comics in Schools

This article was originally published in Children in Scotland Magazine September 2019.

Every Wednesday after primary school, I would run to the newsagents just down the street to buy a comic. Sometimes it would be superheroes, sometimes robots and spaceships, sometimes something with more jokes, like The Beano. Back then, in the 1980s, there would have been no chance of me being allowed to read a comic in school, never mind get involved in making one, but happily, schools and school libraries are now much more aware of the benefits of reading comics.

I work for Magic Torch Comics CIC, and we work with schools and community groups to tell stories using comics. That can mean anything, from a short workshop which helps young people generate comics characters and get started with stories, through to longer term projects, when we involve classes in scripting full length comics which are then illustrated by our team of professional artists. We’ve had schools adapt historical stories and folk tales, use archaeological objects as inspiration for comics, even produce comics in Gaelic, French, Arabic and Scots. Along the way, we have seen first hand the value that comics have as texts in school, but also the positive ways they can encourage reading and writing for pleasure.

Comics will often be suggested as an entry point for reluctant readers, and while the immediate visual appeal of comics can be a great way to engage people, that doesn’t always mean they are an “easier” read. One of the first things we do, is spread dozens of comics over all the desks in the class and get everyone looking at how a page works – it’s important to understand that you are not just reading the words, you are reading the pictures too. Everything on the comic page, from the shape and size of the panels and speech bubbles to the art style and the colours is a creative choice. Comics are a medium, like poetry, or drama or film – with techniques and styles that can be learned and appreciated. And when we get young people discussing and understanding that, they are better equipped to make their own creative storytelling choices.

There is most certainly the potential to develop literacy and visual literacy using comics, and that underpins everything that we do – but the most popular element of the process, with young people, parents and teachers is definitely the opportunity for creativity. There’s something quite punky about how quickly you can get people making comics. And it’s good to know that you only need a pencil and paper to keep doing it, telling a story on your own terms. Comics are often a collaborative medium, with teams of writers, artists, letterers and colourists working together on pages – and we often see writer / artist teams developing in class, generating new friendships and cooperation. When we are able to get a class creating a story together, we draw upon the ideas of the entire room to make the story happen. Finally, when we have a finished product to display in class or online, there is a sense of achievement in seeing the process through from start to finish, from idea to publication. Even better, the more popular comic making becomes, the better the networks to share it – schools and community groups can sign up with partners in other parts of the world to do comic swaps, sending off bundles of home made comics and getting stacks back in return.

There is another benefit too, which certainly does not go amiss in these challenging times. Comics have perhaps existed “on the fringe” for a long time, and as a result, they have long been a place to find diverse voices and characters, especially in books and comics from independent publishers. The explosive popularity of the Marvel superhero films may have created new interest and new audiences for comics, but there is much more to see and read than superhero stories. Some of the most amazing middle grade and young adult fiction of recent years has been happening in comics. So it’s great that so many more schools, libraries and community spaces are finding room for these stories on their shelves. Some of our favourite projects of the last few years, have been about helping schools develop their own comic libraries or comic clubs, providing a whole new range of options to explore and when it works well, to encourage a culture of creativity, of making and sharing stories.

2020 Visions

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 09:50:48 GMT

Upcoming Projects

We’re looking forward to a busy 2020, and it’s off to a flying start, as Magic Torch Comics were named one of The Big Issue’s Top 100 changemakers for 2020. It’s a great list, full of amazing people and projects, and we are delighted to be a part of it.

We’ve lots of projects and comics happening in the first few months of 2020, and we thought we would share them with you now, so you know what to look out for.

In March, we have two books launching on World Book Day – a collection of Gaelic Folktales created with the Callander’s Landscape project, and a story book of Syrian, Somalian, Kurdish and Scottish folktales produced with Inverclyde Community Development Trust with input from Inverclyde Community Learning and Development ESOL team.

In April, we’ll be launching 1820 – The Paisley Radicals at Paisley Comicon. The book is illustrated by Dylan Gibson and the project was funded by Paisley CHEF fund. It will be previewed at Paisley Book Fest in February.

In June, we will be at Glasgow Comicon, launching the first of our Outside The Box comics. Outside The Box works with marginalised young people in the Inverclyde community, to create comics which share their ideas and lived experiences. The project is supported by National Lottery Community Fund and you can see a promo video for the project below.

Back in 2018, we lost our colleague, Andy Lee, who had worked with us since we started making community comics. We had completed a comic with Andy about the life of Scottish Pirate Captain Kidd, but decided to shelve it. However, with the blessing of Andy’s family, we will be releasing the book, I Thought I Was Undone later this year as a charity publication. More details soon.

We will also have a huge range of information comics releasing – created with schools and community groups and sharing information and stories from the Scottish Parliament, Health and Social Care Partnerships and the Poverty Truth Community. We are so delighted with the diversity of projects that we are asked to get involved with. Please keep them coming!

And in the unlikely event that’s not enough comics for you, we also hope to launch our first Kickstarter this year, for a comic which explores the story of The Stone of Destiny , released in time for the 70th Anniversary of the theft of the stone this Christmas. Fingers crossed.

There’s more on the slate, but that’s what we can tell you for now. As ever, if you are interested in getting involved in our projects, would like to know more about what we do or even have a potential idea for collaboration, please get in touch.

Making Waves

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 09:46:10 GMT

Splash Panel Comic Club

Magic Torch Comics will be starting a new comic club, The Splash Panel, in Greenock Central Library on Saturday 26th October. The group is for 11-15 year olds, and as well as reading and discussing comics, the group will work to develop and create their own comics which will be launched next year.

For further info on how to sign up head to Inverclyde Libraries Online .

The Splash Panel is part of Inverclyde Libraries new Making Waves project, which recieved £25,570 from the Public Library Improvement Fund. The project will help transform local libraries into centres for culture and creativity, offering sessions on art, creative writing, songwriting and comic creation. You can read more about the project here .

After the first Splash Panel session, we will be popping down to the Oak Mall for Inverclyde Culture Day , part of the Galoshans Festival being run by RIG Arts. We might do some more comics or maybe even some storytelling. Who can say? Certainly, we'll have some of our spooky local comics and books available.

This also seems like the ideal time to remind you to get rehearsing for going your Galoshans by downloading Magic Torch's local adaptation of the play which used to be performed around the houses at Hallowe'en and other winter festivals...

Scottish Parliament Comics

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 09:40:48 GMT

Exploring and Explaining Parliament

Magic Torch Comics are pleased to announce that we recently won a contract with the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body to create a series of comics focussing on different aspects of life and work in the Scottish Parliament.

Working with Primary and Secondary schools from each of the Scottish Electoral regions, the comics will explore everything from First Ministers Questions and language in Parliament through to the beehives which sit on the Scottish Parliament roof and the quirkier stories behind the building.

Work on the comic started this week in Portree High School on Skye and we’ll be sharing updates on the stories and classwork as the project progresses. The resources will be produced in English and Gaelic, and will be freely available from next year.

We were also pleased that our local MSP Stuart McMillan took the time to lodge a parliamentary motion on 19th September, to congratulate Magic Torch Comics on our new Young Start funded project Outside The Box. We’re used to working with historical documents in our projects, so it’s a nice change to become part of one.

Aye, It WIs Aabody

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 09:37:47 GMT

A Story of Scotland's Role in the Slave Trade

Earlier in the year, we worked with Birse Community Trust and Finzean Primary School on a fascinating project exploring the realities of Scotland’s role within the slave trade. Aye, it Wis Aabody is funded by Heritage Lottery Fund and Aberdeen Council, and it investigated the links between Birse and chattel slavery in the Caribbean. In particular, the project focussed on the establishment of Finzean Primary School (then Bankhead Endowed School) in 1732, with funds from the sale of enslaved people in Barbados.

The project was supported by Professor Sir Geoff Palmer OBE who is widely recognised for his work as a human rights activist, as well as being Jamaica’s Hon Consul in Scotland and Professor Emeritus in the School of Life Sciences at Heriot-Watt University.

With the help of the community heritage group, pupils in Finzean explored the history of the school, the lives of past pupils and links with the Caribbean over the centuries. They also studied the slave trade and its legacies and made contact with Sir Geoff’s former primary school in Kingston to learn more about their shared history with Jamaica.

We feel genuinely privileged to have worked on this project – and it was great to work alongside Sian Loftus from Birse Community Trust and Matthew Lee from Aberdeen University on refining the script. The BCT team developed lots of additional historical material for the book to allow people to delve further into the story. The book invites other communities to begin to explore their own areas connections to the slave trade too.

For us, the challenge was to find a way that we could tell the story in a voice that we felt was appropriate but still legitimate. It is clearly not our place to adopt the voice of enslaved people, so instead, we chose to focus on Scotland’s ongoing conversation with itself over the reality of our connections to the slave trade. A personification of Scotland narrates the story, questioning the readers as we question ourselves. Too many folk are still inclined to dismiss Scotland’s shameful part in the slave trade and the realities of how much it helped build our economy, everywhere from cities to villages – “It was a different time”. It was. But that does not excuse it. It is a matter of historical record. And if ever there was a time to be learning lessons from history, it is here and now. We are pleased to have been able to be a small part of that conversation.

Aye, It Wis Aabody will be distributed to every primary school in Aberdeenshire, every pupil at a partner school in Jamaica and will be available online.

Young Start Project Funding

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 09:33:51 GMT

Outside the Box - Community Comics Project

Today we are delighted to be able to announce that Magic Torch Comics CIC have recieved £62,708 funding support from Young Start for our new Outside The Box - Community Comics project. We will have lots more information to share on the project soon, if you have any questions or would like to get involved, please contact us. You can read all about the projects Young Start National Lottery Community Fund are supporting below.

YOUNG SCOTS DANCE TO THE TUNE OF £1.3 MILLION FROM THE YOUNG START FUND

An intergenerational dance company that helps young people creatively connect with older generations through dance is amongst a number of groups sharing in 1.3 MILLION of dormant bank account funding.

Across the country 19 youth-led projects are celebrating £1,334,561 from the Young Start fund, which aims to help young people build confidence, skills and take an active role in realising their own potential. See a full list of projects here .

Young Start is delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund and awards dormant bank and building society cash to projects led by and for young people.

One of the groups celebrating today is Barrowland Ballet, based in Glasgow, which receives £98,314 to deliver intergenerational dance workshops and performances. The project, which is called ‘Wolf Pack’ will also provide three young associates places to volunteer and gain group facilitation and leadership experience.

Natasha Gilmore, Artistic Director of Barrowland Ballet, said: “We are thrilled to have been awarded three-year funding from the Young Start Fund. We passionately believe that dance is for everyone and Wolf Pack is a celebration of different generations collaborating. We provide a chance for young people to creatively engage alongside other members of their local community, develop new skills and create dance performances that give each of them an opportunity to express themselves.”

Also welcoming the funding is Isaac, 10, whose confidence has come on leaps and bounds since joining the dance company in 2017, he said: "Before I started in Wolf Pack, I didn’t really think I could dance but now I know I can. I have so many good friends too. I feel much more confident than I used to. Last week I stood up in front of 100 children at my school and gave a speech because I wanted to be house vice-captain of my school house. I was up against seven others and I won the vote! Without the confidence gained at Wolf Pack I wouldn’t have gone for it.”

Also sharing in today’s cash boost are Magic Torch Comics in Inverclyde. Their £62,708 award will enable them to run Outside the Box – Community Comics, which will empower young people from marginalised groups to create comics that reflect the imagination, lives and stories in their community. The young people will design, create and distribute their comic books at this year’s Comic Con.

Paul Bristow, Director of Magic Torch, said: “Magic Torch Comics are absolutely delighted that we have this new opportunity to provide free comics workshops across the Inverclyde community. Over the next two years our Outside the Box - Community Comics project will work with young people to help them share their stories, life experiences, hopes and ideas using comics. We're looking forward to discovering lots of new writers and artists - everyone has a story to tell."

Announcing today’s funding, National Lottery Community Fund, Chair, and Maureen McGinn, said:

“Young Start aims to support projects that are led by, and for, young people, giving them the best possible start in life. All of today’s projects share an ambition to help young people grow in confidence and play an active part in realising their potential, and so it is with great pleasure that we announce this latest investment totalling £1,334,561.

Groups wanting to know more about Young Start should visit https://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/funding/programmes/young-start or contact 0300 123 7110.

Riddle Me This...

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 09:28:34 GMT

Stories in Stone

Throughout December and January, we we were lucky enough to be working with the wonderful team at Riddles Court in Edinburgh.

Riddles Court sits near the top of the Royal Mile, a beautiful, enigmatic courtyard house which is home to The Patrick Geddes Centre. The building has been around since the 16thCentury and so of course, there are lots of stories and amazing characters to discover, from Kings and Princesses to social reformers and polar explorers.

We worked with the team and teachers and pupils from Trinity Primary School in Edinburgh, to tell stories from the Victorian period of the building, when it was home to dozens of families in cramped conditions. Russell Clegg who works at Riddles Court, helped the children explore the history of the building and create characters, which we used as the jumping off point for our group stories. It was a full day session for all three classes, lots of work – and it was the first time we combined drama with comic making, hopefully not the last! (Just don’t ask us to do the acting…)

With so many different stories and historical periods, we decided to tackle the project as an anthology – and were lucky enough to work with a team of amazing artists; Michael Kennedy ( Tumult , Sidewinder) worked on The Great Feast ; Hannah Sackett ( The Cochno Stone ) shared the story of The Great Princess (artwork below); Tony Pickering ( Diabetes - Year One ) explored the polar regions, the life of George Riddel, and also created the cover; Gordon Shaw ( Rick , Bitter Sweet) got the lucky gig of creating all the pages written by Trinity Primary School in his home town of Edinburgh; and our Magic Torch Comics regular Mhairi M Robertson showed us the Bash Street Kids going bad in The Gentlemen Bairns , a cautionary tale of what happens when we let privileged people run the country and make the law (SPOILER – privileged people do well and it’s all fine and shut up pleb). Mhairi also provided additional artwork of the book’s narrator, Patrick Geddes. We’re delighted with how it’s turned out.

Riddles Court – A Comic History is published as part of the Riddle’s Court, Royal Mile restoration project and creation of the Patrick Geddes Centre for Learning, funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and delivered by Scottish Historic Buildings Trust.

The book will be launching soon – keep an eye on the Patrick Geddes Centre website for details.

Callander Comics and Story Maps

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 09:21:00 GMT

Language and Landscape

There are exciting times ahead for Magic Torch Comics CIC over the next year, with so many amazing projects, comics and books lined up. So, we’ve decided to get better at sharing the stories of some of the projects we are working on via our blog…

Last month, we were delighted to win the contract to deliver a Gaelic Art programme for the Callander’s Landscape project, which is supported by Heritage Lottery Fund. The project will work with schools to create a dual language comic, in English and Gaelic, retelling some of the folklore, myths and legends of Callander. An illustrated story-map of the area, charting the history of place names and their associated stories will also be created in partnership with Creative in Callander. Workshops start in September, and the comic and story map will be released in 2020.

We look forward to introducing you to Ceat Mor, hostess of the Tigh Mhaide, who will tell us tales of giants, waterhorses and family feuds.

And you can also read a Gaelic language comic we created with Argyll and Bute Council.

2018 in Review

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 09:14:38 GMT

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 .

Stonesongs

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 15:19:12 GMT

Archaeological Inspirations

Pupils in Port Glasgow have been celebrating the year of History, Heritage and Archaeology by creating poetry, photos, comics and music, inspired by the archaeology of Inverclyde – in particular, Craigmarloch Iron Age Hillfort. The project was supported by Heritage Lottery Fund.

We’ve delivered projects on so many different aspects of Inverclyde’s history and heritage – but we had never used archaeology as the starting point, so this year seemed like the ideal time. Craigmarloch Iron Age fort is a site which isn’t all that well known and in fact, there’s not much of the site to see physically, you have to wander across two fields and up a hill covered in bracken to even find it. But that meant there was lots of scope for inspiration and interpretation.

We worked with archaeologists from Scotland’s Urban Past, who introduced pupils from Newark Primary School, Port Glasgow High School and St Stephen’s High School to the history of Craigmarloch Hill Fort. The stories of Iron Age life and Roman occupation were the starting points for creative projects. Pupils also looked at other archaeological and historic sites in the area for inspiration.

Pupils from Newark Primary P5 and P5/4 worked with poet Julie Anne Douglas and photographer Louie Pastore to create a book. St Stephens High School worked with the Magic Torch Comics team to produce a comic inspired by archaeological finds and Port Glasgow High School worked with Erskine Media to develop a piece of music featuring sounds inspired by Iron Age objects.

The book and comic were launched during Book Week Scotland. Over 80 young people were involved in the project and all received Heritage Hero awards from Historic Environment Scotland.

You can now read the Stonesongs Comic online and listen to the music created in the video below...

Comics in schools - Domate

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 15:14:31 GMT

Comic Anthology from Notre Dame High School

Earlier this year, we worked with pupils from Notre Dame High School Communications and Language Department to create a comic anthology. Six pupils developed their own stories and characters ranging from unlikely superheroes to the tragic folktale of the Last Great Auk. The completed comic is totally unique.

The project is a great example of how sometimes, it's good not to go with too many fixed ideas about how things should be done, the comic and the stories all evolved in a wonderfully natural way over a series of sessions and in a way which absolutely reflected the individual styles and personalities of the young people involved. It was great example too, of a school choosing to be flexible in how pupils can achieve and attain outcomes.

We asked filmmaker David Newbigging to come in and talk to the young people involved about the process, and you can watch a video about the project below.

You can also read the full comic online .

Comics and History

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 15:08:16 GMT

Picturing Yesterday

This post originally appeared on the excellent Scottish History Network blog, but we've shared it again here as it nicely sums up why we do what we do...

Visual storytelling is one of the first ways histories were recorded – from the caves of Lascaux to Sauvet or Sulawesi. We see it too in Trajan’s Column and the Bayeux tapestry. My own personal introduction was reading Charley’s War in Battle comic – in which writer Pat Mills and artist Joe Colquhoun tell the story of an underage soldier in the trenches of the First World War. To my eight-year-old eyes it was an absolute revelation. The unflinching horror of war was laid bare – in a comic my parents could never have realised was so terrifying, stacked as it was alongside Whizzer and Chips, Nutty and the Beano. It kick-started a lifelong interest in history and comics, and over the last few years I’ve had the opportunity combine both those interests, working with schools and community groups to tell stories.

As part of an Inverclyde-based heritage group called Magic Torch, I’ve been involved in collecting and sharing stories since 1999. But it wasn’t until 2013 that we decided to use comics as a way of reaching new audiences. Inspired by the classic EC horror comics of the 1950s, we researched folktales and folklore from the area, filtering those old stories into the traditional grim “twist in the tale” strips. The resulting comic, Tales of The Oak , was released just in time for Hallowe’en. The title comes from our home town of Greenock, which is said to be named after the Green Oak Tree.

Our three hosts were straight out of local myth and legend: Auld Dunrod, a local landowner who was accused of witchcraft, Granny Kempock, a personification of a local standing stone, and Captain Kidd, a Scottish pirate who is claimed by both Greenock and Dundee. Tales of the Oak featured ghost stories, ballads, and urban legends – a particular favourite of mine is a bogeyman from the area, The Catman. Sightings and mentions of The Catman stretch back to the 1970s, all centred around a specific narrow lane connecting what was the industrial “East End” of the town to the town centre – one of those interesting crossing points at a self imposed division line, very often the focus for folklore and fairy stories. Throughout the boom years of shipbuilding, many local shipyards informally employed a “cat man”, someone who kept cats around the yards to keep rats at bay. The first mention of the vagrant Catman in Greenock coincides with the decline of the shipbuilding industry. Perhaps there is some connection. Regardless, what was striking when researching the folklore was how many of those stories were actually about the same thing: the urbanisation of places, or decay of old spaces.

Our next book, Achi Baba , explored the Gallipoli campaign, and in particular, a failed attempt on the hill of Achi Baba in which a local battalion, the 5th Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, were involved. It was funded by Heritage Lottery through the Remembering the First World War fund.

Commemoration is of course a hugely political issue; even how you choose to react to remembrance can become a political act. We ended up a bit caught in the headlights on this point, as almost as soon as the grant was approved, we were suddenly unsure of how to approach the comic in a way that was respectful to the memories of those in the community, but without being jingoistic or celebratory. Ultimately, we chose to use words from those involved, letters home, poems, military records, war diaries, as varied a range of sources as we could find, threaded across the timeline of the campaign.

What struck us across all these sources was how the campaign at Gallipoli was so immediately associated with the battles of the Iliad thanks to geographic location of the battles. This association wasn’t attached retrospectively, with generals, academics and war poets packaging the campaign in these classical terms as it unfolded

Of course, it’s easy to argue that what we chose and how we presented it suggests an anti-war sentiment. Certainly, our artist did not shy away from more realistic depictions of death than might be found in Commando comics. Interestingly, this seems to have struck a chord with secondary school pupils and teachers – where it has found an audience beyond Inverclyde, in other schools across Scotland. In 2016, the book received the Community Archives and Heritage Group award for innovation.

Over the last year, with the support of Firstport Scotland, our work has developed into a social enterprise. We have worked with schools to create comics that adapt the Gaelic songs of Mhairi Mhor nan Oran, explore the history of an old railway line and retell a tragic tale of young stowaways.We’ve also staged an exhibition in which 22 scenes from Scottish History were reimagined as classic comic covers. A historical comic strip even turned up in my first children’s book The Superpower Project, published by Kelpies last year. Upcoming projects include a comic for the Year of History, Heritage and Archaeology and I Thought I Was Undone , a graphic novel which explores the history and mystery of Captain William Kidd.

Art Spiegelman, the creator of Maus , a seminal graphic novel about the holocaust, famously describes comics as “the gateway drug to literacy” over the last two years in particular, our work has expanded to include running awareness raising sessions with schools and teachers to promote the ways in which historical comics can be used as texts in class. From Congressman John Lewis’s March , which explores the civil rights movement, to Marjane Satrapi’s autobiography Persepolis about her experiences as young girl during the Islamic revolution in Iran, comics tackle a hugely diverse range of historical stories. And these stories have the power to engage new audiences not just in history, but in reading.

Perhaps we can help tell your story too.

Paul is more than happy to attend your meeting / event / conference to explore and explain his thoughts on comics, history and the work of Magic Torch - you can reach him via the contact form .

Artwork for Tales of the Oak and Achi Baba by Andy Lee

Artwork for The Stowaways and Stone of Destiny by Mhairi M Robertson

Award for Achi Baba

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 14:58:23 GMT

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.

Comics in Schools - The Doom That Came To Gourock

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 14:53:03 GMT

Gourock Primary Attacked by a Witch!

Throughout March, we worked with Gourock Primary school P4/5 to help them create a crazy comic adventure based on the local legend of the Granny Kempock stone. We have featured witches and Granny Kempock in a few of our previous projects, but this new version was something rather special.

The adventure was ideally suited to the awesome cartoon style of Gourock based artist Mhairi Robertson - who also delivered a workshop to the class on creating comic sound effects which can merge language and artwork to help tell stories. Bam!

We worked with the class to create our Granny Kempock story, and then, the class created their own comic strips featuring dinosaur spacemen, ninja wizards, spooky dolls...all sorts of amazing characters.

You can read the comic online now.

Comics In Schools -Le Mystère de la Princesse Sorcière

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 14:48:35 GMT

French Science Fiction Comic

During March, we worked on the second of our 1+2 Language comics – with Whinhill Primary P7, but this time, creating a French language comic. The class decided to create a science fiction mystery comic this time around – and were very clear that it had to feature a massive food fight and a Cat Ninja. Also bananas.

Lots of the young people involved were already comic fans – and there was a particular enthusiasm for manga - which came across in some of the comics the pupils created themselves. There was already a real understanding of the visual language of comics, and the ways in which comics can be used to tell stories.

As with the Gaelic comic project, speaking French isnt exactly Magic Torch's speciality. In fact, unless you want to know how to ask directions to the beach or tourist information office, we're stuffed....so we were really fortunate to have the assistance of Julia Sanchez Grim in class to help us along with our French phrasing and show us some of the bande dessine (French language comics) that she reads. And a big thank you to Richard Tallaron who translated the class script from English to French.

As ever…some wonderful comics created by the pupils…both in English and French.

You can read the comic online now.

22 Pages - Scenes from Scottish History

info@magictorchcomics.co.uk (Paul Bristow) — Thu, 23 Apr 2020 14:43:50 GMT

Comics and Scottish History Exhibition

A new exhibition, sure to appeal to fans of the comic-book medium is now open at Paisley Museum.

22 Pages – Scenes from Scottish History depicts historical events presented in a graphic novel style.

The exhibition is FREE and will run from Saturday 2 April to Friday 20 May.

Thanks to the success of the superhero genre, graphic novels and comic illustration have gained immense popularity and respect in recent years. But of course, the medium is not new. The cave paintings of ages past and hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt were the first examples of storytelling through pictures. Inspired by this tradition, this exhibition features 22 scenes from Scottish history, presented in graphic novel style, connecting popular culture to traditional heritage in fun and vibrant ways.

The exhibition was created by Magic Torch Comics, and features 22 pieces of original work by artists Andy Lee and Mhairi Robertson. The works have been inspired by classic scenes from graphic novels and comics of the last fifty years.

The exhibition, will also give visitors the chance to try their hand at creating their own comic book page or character.

Neil Bristow, Creative Learning Co-ordinator and organiser of the exhibition states ‘This is a fascinating exhibition, presenting events from Scottish history in a new way, that we are sure will appeal to visitors of all ages’

Comics in Schools - Camanachd Ghrianaig

Thu, 23 Apr 2020 14:37:41 GMT

Creating a Gaelic language comic with Whinhill Primary Schools, Greenock.

For the last few weeks, Magic Torch Comics have been having a blast working with Whinhill Primary School in Greenock, creating a comic using Gaelic language - no mean feat considering no one from Magic Torch can speak Gaelic. Thankfully however, Gaidhlig Primary 4 - 7 are really good at it, and were able to help us out.

The comic is the first of 3 we will be creating with the support of Inverclyde Council Education Services 1+2 Language Development programme.

The 4 week project has involved the class learning about the language of comics and then researching a Gaelic song with particular relevance to the Greenock Highlanders, Camanachd Ghrianaig by Mairi Mhor Nan Oran - it tells the story of a Shinty match played in Greenock in 1877 between the Greenock and Glasgow Gaels. The class then helped adapt verses from the song into a comic strip for our artist Andy Lee.

The next step was for each member of the class to create their own characters, and tell a story about them getting to the shinty match too. Here are just a few images of some of the wonderful comics created below.

You can read the full comic online now.