Comics are awesome. Comics are also a powerful tool to
engage audiences of all ages with factual information. This is a blog post wrapping up all
things Asteroid Belter and introducing Applied Comics Etc to show where we’re going next.
Our beloved Asteroid Belter is just over a year old. Here are some facts:
Our beloved Asteroid Belter is just over a year old. Here are some facts:
- We launched Asteroid Belter as part of the British Science Festival 2013 hosted by Newcastle University. This included 10,000 printed copies of a 44-page full-colour newsprint comic (now available to read in full for free online), two exhibitions, a day of workshops, and a school activity pack (free PDF download)
- As editors we've given 3 conference presentations (Graphic Medicine at John's Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, Comics Forum in Leeds, and Engage 2013 in Bristol), two other talks (Laydeez Do Comics and Sparks North East), and written one article (Comics Forum). Full links: http://newcastlesciencecomic.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/tell-me-about-it.html
- Presenting at Graphic Medicine led to receiving this proper awesome email from Eisner Award-winning comics creator Brian Fies: "Asteroid Belter is the best! I’ve never seen anything like it and am happy to know it exists. The breadth of topics covered is astonishing, from poop to quantum physics. It seems to me that everyone who reads it will pick out different comics they like and others they’re not interested in, and those choices will be different for everyone … I also like the tabloid format and pulp paper; they keep it from being too precious. Asteroid Belter is meant to be read, scribbled on, torn up to make science projects out of! Very nice."
- Google's Blogger stats say our project blog (including the online Asteroid Belter) has been viewed over 18,000 times. We're particularly popular in the US, UK, Ukraine, and Germany. The plan is to keep the Newcastle Science Comic blog largely as it stands, as an archive of the project. Our blog posts have started to move on to new projects, which brings us to The Future.
More projects are happening. This means that MORE COMICS are being made and MORE FUN is being had.
Our business identity for this is Applied Comics Etc. You're very welcome to have a look around the new website http://www.appliedcomicsetc.com/. All this is still led by Lydia Wysocki and we’ll still use our Newcastle Science Comic branding when appropriate.
Our business identity for this is Applied Comics Etc. You're very welcome to have a look around the new website http://www.appliedcomicsetc.com/. All this is still led by Lydia Wysocki and we’ll still use our Newcastle Science Comic branding when appropriate.
Applied Comics Etc does collaborative projects that integrate comics
and factual information, particularly comics + research/education/engagement collaborations. This is very much the same approach we took
with the Newcastle Science Comic project: we’re now looking at projects in all
subject areas not only science, and all geographic areas. We’re ‘applied' in the sense of applied arts, applied mathematics, or anything else with an express practical purpose; we also have comics scholarship and educational practice, theory, and research in the mix. We're 'comics etc' because whilst comics are central to what we do, not everything we do will result in the creation of sequential words and pictures. Comics is an excitingly broad and experimental medium, and 'comics etc' shows it can go further still.
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Snapshots of our past projects - including Asteroid Belter - are on our website. We’re currently working with Newcastle City
Libraries as a follow up to the Comics Chaos summer partnership between
Newcastle, Gateshead, and Stockton libraries.
We’ve also run workshops that use comics - both finished comics, and
some of the mechanics of how comics work – to develop communication skills.
We’ll announce new projects when the ink’s dry on the project briefs.
We aim to
use local, national, and international networks of comics creators to bring
together the right artist, writer, and editor for each project. This
offers the flexibility to find a voice and art style that works for what each
project wants to communicate: the only ‘house style’ is awesome comics. Some projects will be by invitation and some
will be open to new collaborators. Our
past collaborators have been fantastic, and we know that there is interest from
equally fantastic people we haven’t yet met.
This has been a long time coming. The first meeting for what became Asteroid Belter was in January 2012, with the comic launching in September 2013. Since then we’ve been running projects and workshops as pilots, presenting about our work, and wrangling Applied Comics Etc into its current form. We’re grateful to everyone who has been part of this process.
The ‘we’ of
this blog post is important in showing that Applied Comics Etc projects are
inherently collaborative projects.
Stepping aside from that for a moment, I (Lydia) would like to thank all
Asteroid Belter collaborators (click here for a list of all 76) and
editors: Paul Thompson, Brittany Coxon, Mike Thompson, Jack Fallows, and Mike
Duckett. It’s been fun so far, and I’m
excited about what comes next.
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Lydia Wysocki is an educator, artist, editor, and publisher. She was Editor in Chief of Asteroid Belter:The Newcastle Science Comic and is the founder of Applied Comics Etc. All that wouldn’t fit on her business card, so it says Comics Boss.
Lydia has
extensive experience of teaching, development, and public engagement in Higher
Education in the UK, US, and China. She has also worked in social and market research, as a retail
buyer, and as the voice of English language textbooks. Lydia’s
Master’s degree is in Education and she is a Senior Fellow of the Higher
Education Academy.
For more about Lydia’s artistic practice in comics, drawing, and
printmaking, visit her website.
