Comic fans are set to descend on Barnaby
THE town’s fastest growing comicon festival is returning for this year’s Barnaby Festival.
Macc-Pow! - which attracted hundreds of people to its last event - is a one-day celebration of comics an comic art.
Now in its third year, it brings together local and international creators, with exhibitions, talks, workshops and special screenings from the comic world.
Organiser Marc Jackson, a cartoonist from Macclesfield, said: “This year’s event is going to be bigger and better than ever.
“We’ve got 35 comic art- ists coming - including international guests - and we’ll be taking up more space in the town hall.”
Among the guests on th day are cartoonists Lorenzo Montatore and Genie Espinosa, from Barcelona.
Marc said: “It’s great to have international artists coming to Macclesfield to show us their work. It’s just goes to show how much we are growing.”
The event will also include a special cartoon drawing workshop with artist Jess Smart Smiley, who lives in America and will run a drawing work- shop for children via Skype. Marc said: “It’s going to be great. Jess has got a particularly engaging style with the way he does things - it’s a really great opportunity for any kids who want to have a go at drawing their own comics.”
The event will also include a question and answer session with an expert panel, including Lew Stringer and Tor Freeman, who recently won the Observer newspaper best comic award.
Marc added: “The reason I set up this event was because I wanted to show people what comics area ll about.
“They are not just action heroes, comics can be about family life, about anxiety, about all these different things that affect us.
“Everyone know’s the Beano, which is great, but it’s so much more than that.”
Macc-Pow will take over the assembly and board rooms at Macclesfield Town Hall on Saturday, June 23, from 10am until 4pm. Entry is free.
The team will also present a special screening of Superman II, the director’s cut, at Pinches medical, at Charles Roe House, on Sunday, June 10.
Macc-Pow is also supporting Macclesfield Library’s Summer Reading Challenge, which this year has a comic theme. Nigel Parkinson, an author of the Beano, will launch the reading challenge at the library on Thursday, June 21. For more go to barnabyfestival.org.uk