The evening of Wednesday 10th August involves a display of comic books and graphic novels, with a local bent, and a panel talk followed by Q & A. The event takes place between 7-9pm.

Among the guests are the Absence team of Andy Luke and Stephen Downey, and the similarly acclaimed Paddy Brown, author of The Cattle Raid of Cooley.

Luke will be appearing on a panel at Oxford’s Caption Austerity festival earlier that week, and following it with a Black Market Belfast appearance. The author denied concerns that he will be taking a seizure.

“I feel it won’t really benefit the book.”

He’ll also be in the final planning stages of the communally run Comics Barcamp, an innovative event which challenges the standard convention approach, and has been applauded by IT pioneers globally.

It’s an exciting time too for Stephen Downey, co-author of Jennifer Wilde. My moneys on the mini-series being a hot topic of talk around the web, and his growing recognition as eligible for a raised page rate. His famous April Fools announcement that he had been hired to work on X-Men looks less and less a fiction.

And Paddy Brown. Is there anyone better qualified to converse on Northern Irish comics? Rumours have reached me that he’s been in talks with Navan Fort about funding and distribution on Cattle Raid of Cooley. It may be that we see both his and Downey’s work in Waterstones, as organiser Emma Graham explains,

“Waterstones has recently been bought over and the new owner is trying to take a new approach to the company.  They are trying to have each store run as an independent bookstore so then we are focusing on what our customers are interested in.  My main section that I have to work on is graphic novels and this is why I am wanting to hold the event.  We have had a huge interest in graphic novel section so I wanted to try and promote it more locally now the concept of graphic novels is catching on more.  Plus my manager loves promoting local work.“

The event takes place at Waterstones, Unit 20/21 of Fairhill Shopping Centre, Ballymena, County Antrim.