Friday 7 December 2012

Dandy 75th birthday bash


From Matthew Jarron, Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee:

On Saturday 8th December at 2pm there will be a special event to tie into our latest exhibition in the Lamb Gallery at the University of Dundee, celebrating the 75th birthday of the world’s third-longest running comic, The Dandy, created by Dundee publishers DC Thomson. The exhibition looks back over the Dandy’s past, with original artwork featuring much-loved characters such as Desperate Dan, Korky the Cat, Brassneck and Winker Watson by great artists such as Dudley D Watkins, Eric Roberts and David Law. It includes material dating back to the earliest years of the comic, much of which has never been shown in public before.

The event will also look to the comic's future, giving an exclusive behind-the-scenes glimpse at the creation of the new Digital Dandy, with a discussion led by Dr Chris Murray of the School of Humanities, with contributions from former Dandy editor Morris Heggie, new Digital Dandy editor Craig Ferguson, Digital Production manager Mark Hunter, writer Dan McGachey, long-time DCT artist David Sutherland, and one of the artists who is very closely involved in the direction of the Digital Dandy, Stephen White.

The exhibition and launch have been created as part of an on-going partnership between DC Thomson & Co Ltd, the University of Dundee Museum Services and the newly established Scottish Centre for Comics Studies based at the University. All are welcome for what promises to be an informative and engaging series of talks about The Dandy’s history and its future.

The event takes place on Saturday at 2pm in the Baxter suite, room 1.36 (on the first floor of the Tower Building). The exhibition will be on show until 12 January (except when the University is closed for Christmas 23 December – 2 January).   Admission is free.