For some time now the Komiks.dk website has been suffering from a severe case of the flu due to unforseen technological difficulties. We put our best people to work on the problem, which proved to be a bit tougher to fix, than we had anticipated. But fear not – the Komiks.dk website is back with all the information you might need about the upcoming Danish comics event.

The site has been updated with the latest news as well as information on the amazing international guests that have agreed to visit the fair city of Copenhagen and Komiks.dk in May. Over the coming months we will also reveal the uncanny list of Danish comics creators visiting the festival, so keep checking the web site for updates. We may even have more international guests waiting to be announced. You never know.

Gravett started his career in comics manning a stand at a comic mart in London in the early 80s. He later made a name for himself working on such magazines as Psst! Magazine and Escape Magazine. He has since then worked as curator on numerous comic art exhibitions in both Britain and Europe as well as having been the director of Comica, London’s Internation Comics Festival at the Institute of Contemporary Arts. He is the co-author of books such as Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics, Graphic Novels: Stories to Change Your Life, Great British Comics: Celebrating a Century of Ripping Yarns and Wizard Wheezes and The Leather Nun & Other Incredibly Strange Comics. He writes about comics for various newspapapers and periodicals such as The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph, The Comics Journal, Comic Art, Comics International, Time Out, Blueprint, Neo, The Bookseller, Dazed & Confused, New Internationalist, Third Text, 9eme Art and The Jewish Quarterly.

Gravett is frequently used as a consultant on all things comics on British television. He also appears as an interview subject in the documentary The Mindscape of Alan Moore.

Graphic novels from Germany

From Germany Komiks.dk is visited by Line Hoven and Arne Bellstorf, who are among the most promising of the new crop of comic creators and graphic novelists to come out of Germany in recent years.

Line Hoven’s first major work was the graphic novel Liebe Schaut Weg, which deals with the story of three generations of the same family from WW2 through to the story of her own parents German-American love story.

Hoven has also had work published in such magazines as Orang Comic Magazin and Strapazin. She also contributed to the anthology Klassenfahrt. Today she is working as a freelance illustrator and lives in Hamburg, Germany.

Arne Bellstorf’s first major work was the graphic novel Acht, Neun, Zehn. The book takes place in a ghost-like, suburban no mans land and deals with issues such as loneliness and the dullness of modern life. Bellstorf gives no easy answers. Other, shorter works such as Bei Frau Rabe and Irgenwann tuts nicht mehr weh deal with childhood anxieties. Currently Bellstorf is the creator of Vom Leben gezeichnet, which is being published regularly in Der Tagsspiegel. He is also working on a graphic novel about the fifth Beatle Stuart Sutcliff and his time in Hamburg.

Comics and graphic novels are in the middle of a major creative revolution in Germany, and Komiks.dk are happy to introduce two of the most interesting creators from Germany to our audience.

Line Hoven and Arne Bellstorf are presented in cooperation with The Goethe Institute of Copenagen.

Manga from Sweden

From Sweden we welcome the amazing Åsa Ekström.

Ekström is without a doubt the main girl in the growing world of Swedish Manga, which is to say, Swedish comics inspired by the visual and narrative style of the Japanese manga-kas. Her first manga was published in Manga Mania in 2004. It was called Tokyo by Night and was marketed as the first Swedish manga. Other manga work includes Kishako, Sportreportern published in the Swedish magazine Buster. Ekström created this story with Pidde Andersson. In the fall of 2009 Ekström published her first major solo work in the shape of the manga Sayonare September, which is a slice of life story that takes place at a Swedish school for comic creators.

Ekström also did a tour as an assistant to a manga-ka in a japanese drawing studio.

Glasgow based artist Frank Quitely’s first work was on the Scottish underground comic title Electric Soup in 1990. The title was later picked up for national distribution, and Quitely drew the attention of the editor of Judge Dredd Magazine after which he was given work on a number of titles. Quitely’s big international break came with the Doom Patrol spin off Flex Mentallo, which was written by fellow Scotsman, Grant Morrison. The team of Quitely and Morrison would go on to become one of the most critically acclaimed teams in the US comic industry due to such work as JLA: Earth 2, The Invisibles and New X-Men. Lately the duo has received both stunning reviews and several awards on titles such as the highly original science fiction story We3 and the iconic All Star Superman, which many already consider one of the defining Superman stories ever. Quitely is currently working with Morrison on Batman and Robin. They also created the cover art for the 2005 Robbie Williams album, Intensive Care. Other notable work from Quitely includes a highly controversial run on the Wildstorm title The Authority (with writer Mark Millar) as well as a story in Neil Gaiman’s graphic novel Sandman: Endless Nights.

Gibbons was one of the original artists on the British comic magazine 2000 AD in the mid 70s. His work on the magazine includes such titles as Rogue Trooper, Judge Dredd, Dan Dare as well as some of Alan Moores Future Shocks stories. He also worked for Marvel UK and did extensive work on the comic book version of the legendary Doctor Who character. Gibbons later turned his attention to the US where he earned his stripes on such DC titles as The Flash and Green Lantern. At DC Comics he worked with Alan Moore on the Green Lantern story Mogo Doesn’t Sociailze and the Superman story For the Man Who Has Everything.  

In 1986 Moore and Gibbons created what is arguably the defining superhero story of the 80s, Watchmen. The 12 issue limited series has since then been celebrated as one of the best comics and graphic novels ever and was turned into a motion picture in 2008. Watchmen deconstructs the superhero myth in a way that is still a major influence on the genre and plays with alternative history and the narrative structure of comic books. Gibbons worked with another comic book legend, Frank Miller, on the Martha Washington series. 

On top of being an influential artist, Gibbons has also done script work on titles such as Batman vs Predator and Green Lantern Corps. He also worked as both writer and artist on the original graphic novel The Originals.  

Who watches the watchmen? Why not come down and ask Gibbons that question yourself?