Festival celebrates 10 years of the power of comics
Every two years, the magic of comics in Aotearoa comes alive at the National Library of New Zealand with ComicFest. It’s a chance to come together with our event partner Wellington City Libraries and celebrate the power of comics, to share and connect, and hopefully inspire some new creations.
This Saturday, May 4, ComicFest celebrates its 10th anniversary. The event holds an important place in my heart, not just as a comic creator, but as someone who has the privilege of helping as an organiser.
We have an incredibly vibrant comics community, rich with diversity and comics created by Kiwis that have an enormous reach. Huia Publishers, an important publisher of Te Reo Māori comics, among other works, recently won the 2024 Bologna Prize for the Best Children's Publishers of the Year, Oceania.
New Zealander Ben Stenbeck has had enormous success producing Hellboy and has recently launched his own creator-owned series Our Bones Dust – leading a change in mainstream comics industries by owning his own work.
Toby Morris and Siouxsie Wiles’ Covid-explainer graphics (which drew heavily on comics language) were touchpoints for many in receiving accurate, up-to-date, and relevant information as the pandemic unfolded. Their work was so successful here that the World Health Organisation picked it up.
Ōtautahi-based creator Rachel Smythe consistently tops the most-read webcomic charts with Lore Olympus, which is in its final season. As of March this year, it had 1.4 billion views and 6.5 million subscribers.
I’ve been in my role for the past three years working with the Cartoons and Comics Archive at the Alexander Turnbull Library, getting to explore, collect and share the incredible treasures in the collection. In its now over 30 years of existence, the archive has played an important role cementing cartoons and comics as a uniquely important source for understanding our histories.
Good cartoons and comics combine and elevate visual and written elements to provide a really rich array of information about the topic in hand. The reader can get insights around who is being depicted and how, the setting, the clothing, the topic, as well as what they are doing and saying. Each element adds a layer of information a reader or researcher can use as an added source to the thinking being expressed at the time.
From political cartoons, to infocomics, graphic novels of every genre, webcomics and manga – cartoons and comics cover a variety of topics and share stories from all corners of our communities. Because of its low barriers to entry, cartoons and comics are often a way for marginalised voices to be heard.
Putting together a festival like ComicFest is an absolute dream because we get to work alongside some incredible artists. ComicFest has something for everyone – established comic artists like Dylan Horrocks and Sarah Laing, who have been pillars of the New Zealand comics community for years, incredible multi-faceted artists like Poet Laureate Selina Tusitala Marsh (whose graphic series Mophead is not to be missed), current Arts Foundation Laureate Giselle Clarkson, and Daniel Vernon who is changing the face of political cartoons in Aotearoa.
It’s a great opportunity for those interested in comics, for artists who are keen to learn more and get some inspiration, or those new to the format who are curious to learn more, to come along for a free day at the National Library with heaps of activities for the whole family including comic giveaways, panels, workshops and live drawing.
This event, from 9am to 4.30pm on Saturday, couldn’t happen without our amazing partners, Wellington City Libraries as well as our sponsors and supporters Graphic Comics, The Turnbull Endowment Trust, Read NZ/Te Pou Marama and Gecko Press.