THE CORBYN COMIC BOOK COLLECTED ANTHOLOGY OF CARTOON STRIPS FROM OPEN SUBMISSIONS
Publication date: 25th September
Earlier this summer, independent UK publisher SelfMadeHero put out a call for submissions: comic book artists and writers were given four weeks to create a comic of up to three pages on the subject of the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. From over 100 entries, the winning submissions are about to be published alongside work by established cartoonists and graphic novelists in The Corbyn Comic Book.
Pollsters called it a foregone conclusion. Columnists said Theresa May’s snap general election wouldn’t just return her a thumping majority but plunge the Opposition into existential crisis. Then something happened. Momentum got to work. Grime4Corbyn gathered steam. Clicktivists were transformed into door-knocking, flag-waving activists. Slowly but surely, the bike-riding, green-fingered Labour leader began to win over a sizeable chunk of the electorate. This summer, he inspired comics artists to pick up their pens and draw.
The anthology includes 34 contributions from artist and writers from the UK, the US and Australia. It features many of the UK’s best-known cartoonists such as Martin Rowson, Steve Bell and Stephen Collins, as well as established graphic novelists such as Karrie Fransman, Hannah Berry, JAKe, David Hine, Mark Stafford and Dix. Also included are strips by the 16-year-old Beano artist Zoom Rockman and the web comic artist Emily McGovern. However, there are also a number of illustrators being published for the first time, including London teenager Joe Henson.
The Corbyn Comic Book captures the qualities and quirks of a man whose startling rise to prominence has been at once the defining story of 2017 and the Daily Mail’s worst nightmare. It’s set to be launched at the Labour Party’s Annual Conference in September 2017.
THE CORBYN COMIC BOOK
Writers/ artist: numerous Publication date: 25th September 2017
Staple-bound comic/ colour/ 56pp/ RRP £4.99 ISBN: 978-1-910593-51-6
