Comics In Schools - Ghost Train!

Across the nine arches...

We're delighted to report that we've been awarded £1950 from the new Scotrail Cultural Fund to work with a local school to create a spooky comic. This was the first time we had come across the Scotrail Cultural funding – and it’s a really excellent fund for smaller projects. We liked the challenge of creating something quirky that would fit with the Scotrail priorities, but also get people involved in our own areas of interest, comics and heritage.

We'll be working with Newark Primary School, Port Glasgow on the comic after the summer holidays. 'A Journey on the Ghost Train' will be released in time for Halloween, and will form part of our Galoshans celebrations this year, along with a few other projects still to be announced...

I'm really pleased that comics are increasingly recognised within school settings as a way of encouraging visual literacy and also as a creative way of engaging pupils who are less confident with traditional reading models. We've really enjoyed our Comics in Schools work over the last few months, we've tackled all sorts from French sci-fi mysteries to Gaelic songs and footballing robots. All the finished comics are being launched at schools throughout June, and we'll share the online versions with you soon.

We'll be expanding our comics work over the next year to include after school comic clubs, sessions for teachers and some community group sessions too. To keep up to date with all our comics news, and to read some of the work produced by local pupils, check out our Magic Torch Comics site. Or you can contact us directly on info@magictorchcomics.co.uk.

Pupils at Whinhill Primary in March, working on "Le Mystere de la Princesse Sorciere"

Character design with Artist Andy