📍 Where: Space Station Sixty-Five
📅 When: Friday, 25th April 2025
⏰ Time: 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Space Station Sixty-Five is pleased to invite you to a special event all about the graphic novel DRAGMAN, by Steven Appleby. Illustrated with drawings, cartoons, comic strips and images from his life, Appleby will deliver a talk about how his obsessions, as well as being a secret cross dresser, fed into much of his artistic work. All these themes ultimately led to the creation of the character DRAGMAN - first in the Guardian (in 2002) and ultimately in the award winning graphic novel (2020).
The talk will be followed by a conversation with broadcaster and journalist Alex Fitch and there will be an opportunity for questions from the audience.
Important Information:
- This event is free to attend, but spaces are limited, so booking is essential.
- Complementary light refreshments will be provided.
- Space Station Sixty-Five is a fully wheelchair accessible venue.
- There are no age restrictions to this event, but adult themes may be discussed.
Space Station Sixty-Five is a gallery operated by Space Art CIO, registered charity number 1188167
About Dragman:
From Appleby comes a superhero epic like no other--an ordinary man gains superpowers by donning women's clothing, saving London and maybe even himself.
August Crimp can fly, but only when he wears women's clothes. Soaring above a gorgeous, lush vista of London, he is Dragman, catching falling persons, lost souls, and the odd stranded cat. After he's rejected by the superhero establishment, where masked men chase endorsement deals rather than criminals, August quietly packs up his dress and cosmetics and retreats to normalcy -- a wife and son who know nothing of his exploits or inclinations.
When a technological innovation allows people to sell their souls, they do so in droves, turning empty, cruel, and hopeless, driven to throw themselves off planes. August is terrified of being outed, but feels compelled to bring back Dragman when Cherry, his young neighbour, begs him to save her parents. Can Dragman take down the forces behind this dreadful new black market? Can August embrace Dragman and step out of the shadows?
The debut graphic novel from British cartoon phenomenon Steven Appleby, Dragman is at once a work of artistic brilliance, sly wit, and poignant humanity, a meditation on identity, morality, and desire, delivered with levity and grace.
To find out more about Steven Appleby visit: instagram.com/thelandofstevenappleby
About Alex Fitch:
Alex Fitch has presented and produced over a hundred hours of radio on Resonance 104.4 FM on a variety of subjects from TV to film, comic books, art and theatre and has also been interviewed by BBC Radio 4 (Word of Mouth) on the subject of comic books.
He has conducted a number of live Q&As, to full capacity audiences, in various locations such as the British Library, Science Museum, Natural History Museum, The Guardian, Lakes International Comic Art Festival, London International Festival of Science-Fiction and Fantasy Film (SCI-FI-LONDON), Apollo West End Cinema, Prince Charles Cinema, Leeds Thought Bubble Festival and Bristol International Comics expo.
Alex Fitch has been published on the subjects of comics and film by McFarland, Intellect Books, University of Chicago Press and University Press of Mississippi.