Comix Creatrix Show Sampler Available From Sequential

Comix Creatrix art by Laura Callaghan

Through May runs in London the art show “Comix Creatrix: 100 Women Making Comics“. Leaving aside the too-cutesy title (I thought we’d got rid of aviatrix and the like back in the 1940s), it aims to be “the UK’s largest ever exhibition of the work of pioneering female comics artists”.

The show features original artwork from the 1800s to the present and includes artists Tove Jansson, Posy Simmonds, Alison Bechdel, Dale Messick, Carla Speed McNeil, Jackie Ormes, Kate Beaton, Lynda Barry, Ramona Fradon, Roz Chast, Ellen Lindner, Trina Robbins, and many more. Such a wide-ranging list of contributors aims to “debunk the myth that women have a limited stake in the world of comics…. Highlighting 21st century work by British creators, the exhibition also recognises ground-breaking works from the 19th and 20th centuries, and will highlight the influence of international practitioners on the British scene.”

Comix Creatrix art by Laura Callaghan

Now, I don’t normally talk about these kinds of shows if I’m not attending, but in this case, there’s a tie-in.

Sequential, the graphic novel app for iPad, have released a free digital guide to the exhibition featuring over 100 pages of content, as well as presenting a selection of full-length digital graphic novels on iPads in the exhibition itself.

This sampler makes for quite a nice exhibition catalog, with a selection of the pieces, each accompanied by a description of its place in history. They’re grouped into rough categories, covering the counter-culture, autobiography, comedy, history, fantasy, and relationships, among others. As they say, it’s a “fascinating overview of women’s undeniable and indispensible part in the evolution and growth of the comics medium.” Few of the best-known (at least, here in the US) are included, so I found it quite educational, showing me work by creators I hadn’t previously heard of.



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