Ok. So you know what? It's kinda hard to describe properly what a typical meeting of the Islington Comic Forum consists of (relax: - I'm not going to use that hoary old cliché about there's not really any such thing as a typical meeting of the Islington Comic Forum because - we're better than that - right?) - I mean: in the strict physical sense - it's a big table full of comic books (at a rough guesstimate I'd say there's usually around - what? - 150 books available for people to take home at each session) and a bunch of people (typically we get about a dozen or so people turn up) all from various walks of life and all with different backgrounds (yeah - I know you're thinking that's it probably all nerdy white guys - but seriously - we're as multicultural and diverse as a corporate video - with an age span from 6 to 90) all sitting around and discussing / arguing / sharing their thoughts and ideas about one of the most exciting and diverse mediums on the planet (nowadays if you're talking about something that's just "all about superheroes" my first guess is you're talking about films - but whatever). It's a little bit more chaotic than a book club but with the same sort of relaxed and open friendly atmosphere: all presided over by an excitable librarian (that would be me - hi!) who has pretty much read every comic book out there (even the terrible ones) and is willing to tell you where you're going wrong with whatever you're reading (and is most happy when people disagree with him). If you're curious as to what sort of books we discuss - then take a look around this blog - every book here has been included at one point or another. And if you want to know what sort of things we talk about: - well - it's never really that properly thought out but we touch upon everything from the best way to construct a story, to how far genre limits can go all the way to if Frank Miller was right about who would win in a fight between Batman and Superman.
Books available this month will include (unless - of course - they are reserved by other people): The Avengers: The Avengers (2011 - 2012) / Saga / The Nao of Brown / Solanin / The Big Guy and Rusty The Boy Robot / Aetheric Mechanics / Y: The Last Man / The Walking Dead / B.P.R.D.: Hell on Earth / Stray Toasters / Superman: Red Son / The Unwritten / Batman: Knightfall / Signal to Noise / The Avengers: Secret Avengers: Run the Mission, Don't Get Seen, Save the World / DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore / Stardust / Red / Grandville / Batman: The Black Casebook / The Chimpanzee Complex / A Taste of Chlorine / Superman: Secret Identity / Prophet / Jar of Fools / Batman: Earth One / Locke & Key / Thor: The Mighty Avenger / Mezolith / Chew / Point Blank / The Silence of Our Friends / The Bulletproof Coffin / Nikolai Dante: The Romanov Dynasty / JLA: Earth 2 / Breakdowns / Understanding Comics / plus many, many, many (many!) more.
There's also a book of the month (so that at least we can all talk about something we've all read). This month it's: Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere Written by Mike Carey Art by Glenn Fabry . If you get a chance please read it. You can reserve yourself a copy here. (For those of you that don't get the chance - don't worry - you can still come and join in with the discussions).
The next one is: Tuesday the 7nd of May / 6:00pm to 7:30pm in the Upstairs Hall at North Library Manor Gardens N7 6JX. Here is a map. Come and join us. It's free. All welcome.
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For more information (or if you have any questions and/or would like to be added to our email list: we send out a reminder a week before with a list of the books that are going to be available) you can email us here.
All comments welcome.
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