Comics for big kids

by John Chan

April 2, 2008

ONCE the childhood bastion of fickle flights of fancy, the humble comic book has grown up and so has its audience.

The Heathcote museum in Applecross will pay homage to the popular artform of the graphic novel with an exhibition exploring the visual interpretation of the written word. The entire creative process from script to final artwork will be on display allowing fans, and budding graphic novelists alike, an insight into the industry.

The exhibition entitled Gestalt: Art of the Graphic Novel will showcase the works of Australian graphic novelists such as Chris Bolton and Justin Randall who respectively have worked on popular titles like Silent Hill and 30 Days of Night.

“It is a fantastic opportunity to see local artists whose work has been recognised in places like Japan,” museum curator Soula Veryadier said. “It will be quite inspirational to local artists to know that others have made it.”

 According to Ms Veyradier, the graphic novel differs slightly from a comic book by its depth and subject matter.

“A comic book tends to deal with super heroes,” she explained, “ while graphic novels tend to deal with the human aspects of characters.”