Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie Speaking at Episodic

hugh garry
Jul 28, 2017 · 3 min read
The Wicked and the Divine

What can a BBC journalist learn from a comic writer and artist about story structure? What can a podcaster learn about the rhythm of comic publishing that gets people to hit the subscribe button? What can we all learn about new funding models by looking at the behaviour of comic fans?

Our thinking behind Episodic was to bring together storytellers from as many fields as possible to share learnings. We’ve already announced S-Town’s Starlee Kine from the world of podcasting and Adrian Hon and Rebecca Levene from the games world talking about Zombies, Run!.

When we discussed who we wanted from the world of comic books there were two people that everyone in the team wanted — Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie.

Phonogram Issue 3 (of 6)

With Kieron providing the words and Jamie providing the art the pair have built an obsessive fanbase for their award winning Phonogram, a series about music and magic, fandoms and youth culture, and The Wicked and the Divine, a contemporary fantasy series about fame. The pair also teamed up for Marvel’s Young Avengers series. Their understanding of youth culture and fan behaviours is evident in everything they turn their hands to.

Individually Kieron has been writing for Marvel since 2008, working on pretty much all of their major icons and has recently taken on the writing duty for their flagship Star Wars title. Jamie has provided the artwork for various Marvel comics, including a run on Defenders and the X-Men: Season One graphic novel.

Between them they have a huge amount of experience of how to shape stories with words and pictures. They know what turns audiences into fandoms, create work that people return to again and again, and importantly have built businesses off the back of this understanding. We are delighted have them joining us.

The response to Episodic has been fantastic and the line-up we have planned will make this one of the most unique storytelling conferences you will go to. We’re announcing more speakers next week so get your tickets now before they all sell out.

Young Avengers

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Storythings Ltd

We are a narrative design studio based in the UK with a global team. We can help you tell better stories.

hugh garry

Written by

Director at Storythings. Ex-BBC. www.storythings.com

Storythings Ltd

We are a narrative design studio based in the UK with a global team. We can help you tell better stories.

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