City of News – ‘Brighton: The Graphic Novel’

Brighton: The Graphic Novel takes its inspiration from a work by the Costa-award winning graphic novel artist and writer Bryan Talbot. Talbot’s ground breaking Alice in Sunderland (voted one of The New Statesman’s book of the year in 2007) features the city of Sunderland as its muse: exploring its history and legends as well as its links with writer Lewis Carroll. As creative advisor on Brighton: The Graphic Novel , Bryan Talbot has been hugely supportive of QueenSpark’s ambition to produce a work (spanning 300 years of Brighton & Hove’s history) using artists and writers living in the city. The 26 volunteers have been mentored throughout the process by two comics industry professionals: writer and editor Tim Pilcher, co-founder of the Comic Book Alliance and graphic artist Paul Collicut, creator of Robot City.

Author(s)
Jim Holland (art, Chris Hagan); Jon Sapsed (art, Pete Katz); Rosanna Lowe (art, Ottile Hainsworth; Rob Simpson (art, Jaime Huxtable); Jules Craig (art, Rob Simpson); Tim Pilcher (art, Maria Parra); Dr David Bramwell (art, Aneurin Wright); Robin Tulley (art, Kathryn Miller); Tom Johnstone (art, Joe Blann); Tom Harrop (art, Iain Buchanan); Mark Pembrey (art, Adam Moore); Glenn Stevens (art, Emilie Majarian and Collette Tarbuck); Jonathan Stearn (art, Paul Stapleton) and Ottilie Hainsworth (art, Salka)

Abstract
With nearly 300 years of history, twenty eight writers and artists, and fourteen fantastical tales featuring unheralded characters and true events from the city’s fascinating history, Brighton:The Graphic Novel is a unique collaborative collection. Featuring pioneering drag queens, doomed pleasure gardens, smugglers, arsonists, obsessed inventors, aspiring actors, corrupt policemen, cantankerous barbers, sea swimmers, hands of death and mysterious sea forces, the stories — complete with historical footnotes — will ensure that you never look at Brighton in the same way again… As Bryan Talbot, 2013 Costa Biography Award winner, says: “This is an original anthology of entertaining and intriguing tales, at times funny, chilling and poignant – a mixture of fact and fantasy, told in a wide and refreshing gamut of illustrative styles, but all firmly rooted in the history and culture of Brighton.”

(source: QueenSpark Books)