{"id":6767,"date":"2013-04-03T09:00:01","date_gmt":"2013-04-03T16:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=6767"},"modified":"2013-04-03T14:21:50","modified_gmt":"2013-04-03T21:21:50","slug":"comic-convention-to-showcase-camosun-talent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2013\/04\/03\/comic-convention-to-showcase-camosun-talent\/","title":{"rendered":"Victoria comic convention to showcase Camosun talent"},"content":{"rendered":"

Asking students to go to school on a Sunday is the most difficult thing to do in the world. Anything would be easier. It will rain money before a gaggle of Camosun students could be convinced to head back to campus on a Sunday.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Camosun comics and graphic novel students showing off their stuff (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Just don\u2019t tell that to Ken Steacy, program leader of the comics and graphic novels program at Camosun. On Sunday, April 7, the program is hosting the first Camosun College Comics Conference. And he\u2019ll probably prove the Sunday\/students theory wrong, knowing how dedicated comic fans are. As far as Steacy is concerned, those who aren\u2019t comic buffs should head out, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn spite of\u0143or perhaps because of\u0143the proliferation of digital content delivery, traditional media like comics and graphic novels are increasingly filling shelves in libraries and bookstores, attracting legions of new readers, young and old,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s the very nature of holding and interacting with these physical artifacts that makes them so attractive, and the best comics leverage that value to a high degree. Furthermore, the range of content has never been more diverse, so there\u2019s now something for everyone to learn from and enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The main goal of the conference is to showcase the achievements of the 16 students in the comics and graphic novels program. They will have comics on display, and there will also be guest speakers, such as Concrete<\/i>\u2019s Paul Chadwick, The Magical Life of Long Tack Sam<\/i>\u2019s Anne Marie Fleming, Haida Manga<\/i>\u2019s Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, and Sam & Fuzzy<\/i>\u2019s Sam Logan.<\/p>\n

\u201cComic events like these are great,\u201d says Logan, \u201cbecause they\u2019re a rare chance for new and aspiring creators to meet actual working professional comic writers and artists. Being a cartoonist isn\u2019t a very visible job, and because of that a lot of younger aspiring cartoonists get discouraged and just assume right out of the gate that making comics as anything more than a hobby isn\u2019t possible. That\u2019s not true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steacy\u0143who has been a freelance comics artist for four decades and has done work for Batman,<\/i> Spider-Man,<\/i> The X-Men,<\/i> Astro Boy,<\/i> and Jonny Quest,<\/i> among others\u0143says he hopes that the conference helps make the community aware of the power of visual storytelling and also its presence in a global context. He also points out that comics aren\u2019t just ha-ha funny or superhero action-packed.<\/p>\n

\u201cComics and graphic novels are categorically entertaining, but they go far beyond that function, and are now used to educate, inform, and empower,\u201d he says. \u201cWorks can be easily translated for delivery in a limitless number of languages, thereby dramatically increasing their audience and bringing readers together. One of our program\u2019s most important learning outcomes is the creation of edutainment comics, those works whose content educates in an entertaining way; as a wise guy once said, whatever pleases teaches more effectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what does Steacy himself get out of the medium?<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than anything, it\u2019s a fascination with the beautiful language of visual storytelling,\u201d he says, \u201cand the synergy that\u2019s created when words and pictures collide and coalesce.\u201d<\/p>\n

Camosun College Comics Conference
\n11 am to 6 pm, Sunday, April 7
\nYoung building, third floor, Lansdowne campus, free
\ncamosun.ca\/learn\/programs\/vist\/conference<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Asking students to go to school on a Sunday is the most difficult thing to do in the world. Anything would be easier. It will rain money before a gaggle of Camosun students could be convinced to head back to campus on a Sunday. Just don\u2019t tell that to Ken Steacy, program leader of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,99],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6767","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus","category-april-3-2013"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6767","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6767"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6770,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6767\/revisions\/6770"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}