Award for Achi Baba Graphic Novel

We are delighted to be able to say that Achi Baba - Gallipoli 1915, our graphic novel about the Gallipoli campaign, has won a national award for innovation from the Community Archives and Heritage Group, part of the Archives and Records Association.

Achi Baba was supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund Scotland, through the First World War - Then and Now programme.

The CAHG judges commented:

“Magic Torch has been helping create a record of important local events in an easily-accessible and highly-innovative comic-book format; eg, the experiences of a locally-based regiment during the First World War. The group has taken this format into local schools; it clearly has the potential to spark ideas in other groups… and fills a gap in presenting the past in a digestible format to the difficult-to-reach senior schools audience.”

You can read all about the awards and other award winners on the CAHG website.

You can read a digital version of the book online for free on our Magic Torch Comics website, and also via ISSUU. Our original run of print copies have been distributed, but we printed a short run second edition, which you can also purchase on our website.

Achi Baba was a challenging project to work on, however since then, we have been able to expand our comics and graphic novel work, within schools, but also with community groups. We're looking forward to sharing our new projects with you soon.

Every town has a story to tell, find out how Magic Torch Comics can help you tell yours...

You can read our progress / process blogs for the Achi Baba project here.

Doors Open Day - Cool film and free book!

There's lot's to see at this years Doors Open Days - Fergusons, Tobacco Warehouse, an exhibition from Dark Side o' Inverclyde...it's all good.

We'll be at Dutch Gable House, where you have another chance to see our short film Restorations (in fact edited by Louie 'Dark Side' Pastore) which will be showing throughout the day.

There will also be some original artwork on display from Achi Baba, and your final chance to grab a free hardback copy of the graphic novel. We may do a 'not for profit' edition at some point in the future, but for now we have a limited number of copies left. Various other Magic Torch publications will also be available for sale on the day.

Dutch Gable House is open Saturday only this year. We hope to see you along on the day, or maybe even out and about over the weekend.

Achi Baba - Gallipoli 1915 : Graphic Novel Launch

We're all prepared for Glasgow Comicon this weekend, when we will be distributing copies of Achi Baba - we'll be in the Renfield Centre, come say hello if you're in town. You can get the book locally on Saturday 11 July from 10 - 2 at Dutch Gable House. It will be released digitally later in the month.

There's a really passionate blog piece on the Inverclydes Great War site which expresses the frustration of trying to ensure recognition for the battalion involved in the hostilities of 12 July. However, Inverclyde Council and the McLean Museum are doing an excellent job of commemorating the centenary locally in a number of ways over the weekend of 11 / 12 July. Be sure not to miss the opportunity to be involved.

UPDATE : Please note, in the lovely Greenock Tele piece about the book launch, it says the book will be available from Dutch Gable this Saturday (4th July)...wee miscommunication, it is most certainly Saturday 11 July at Dutch Gable House. Hopefully see ye then.

Achi Baba - "Stand in the trench Achilles..."

Our projects tend to focus on myths, legends and storytelling, and in researching Achi Baba, we were really struck by how, even at the time, the whole effort was associated with The Iliad - turning it into this heroic epic. There's an immediate and obvious contrast with the much less romantic reality of life and war on the peninsula and comics are an especially effective medium for blending those contrasting views and voices together.

We have adapted verses from one poem in particular, Patrick Shaw Stewart's 'I Saw A Man This Morning', which perhaps explores this classical link more explicitly than any other. The poem was written by Shaw Stewart while in hospital in Imbros, preparing to return to the theatre of war in Gallipoli. He links the campaign with Helen of Troy both directly and through rhyme and repetition, and then imagines Achilles in battle.

There is a grim foreshadowing in Shaw Stewart's poem, in hoping that Achilles will 'shout' for him, he is referencing the moment in the Iliad, when Achilles learns of the death of his comrade Patroclus - and lets loose a terrifying battle cry, while the Gods crown him with fire. The narrator of the poem, in identifying himself with Patroclus, is imagining himself soon to be dead. Shaw Stewart did in fact survive the Gallipoli campaign, but not the war.

There is an excellent book about the many ways the Iliad was referenced in the poetry of the First World War, which takes its title from Shaw Stewart's poem - 'Stand in the Trench Achilles by Elizabeth Vandiver'. Of course, The Iliad continues to be referenced and reframed in war stories and was even used as a way of studying post traumatic stress disorder in Vietnam veterans. It has inspired many graphic novel adaptations, including the wonderful Age of Bronze by Eric Shanower.

If war poetry is of interest to you, then Above The Dreamless Dead, edited by Chris Duffy, provides an entirely different way of experiencing those works, it is a collection of comic adaptations of World War One poetry, and was certainly inspirational in our development of this project.

Gallipoli - 'Lest We Forget, The Facts'

In telling the story of the Gallipoli campaign, we have not avoided the grim reality of the war, and so our Achi Baba graphic novel is suggested for mature audiences due to scenes of warfare some may find upsetting or disturbing. Arguably of course, there is no other way to view warfare. However a recent piece in the Guardian explored some of the difficulty in producing artwork which tries to confront the horror of the First World War.

The short film below is from the website No Glory In War. The No Glory campaign aims to to use the first world war centenary to promote peace and international understanding, rather than simply nationalistic commemoration.

Our Achi Baba project was supported by Heritage Lottery Fund - First World War Then and Now programme. The graphic novel will be available from Glasgow Comicon on Saturday 4 July and from the Dutch Gable House in Greenock on Saturday 11 July.

And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda...

In our exploration of the Gallipoli campaign for our Achi Baba graphic novel, we have focussed largely on the British forces. However Gallipoli is most usually associated with the Anzacs and the sense of national identity which subsequently developed in Australia and New Zealand - though of course, soldiers from many nationalities fought as Anzac soldiers.

While specifically associated with the Anzacs, the song 'The Band Played Waltzing Matilda' recognises the universal horror faced by everyone who fought and died on the peninsula, and the broken world that remained for many who survived.

When I was a young man I carried my pack
And I lived the free life of a rover
From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
I waltzed my Matilda all over
Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done
So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
And they sent me away to the war
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we sailed away from the quay
And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
We sailed off to Gallipoli

How well I remember that terrible day
How the blood stained the sand and the water
And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
He chased us with bullets, he rained us with shells
And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
Nearly blew us right back to Australia
But the band played Waltzing Matilda
As we stopped to bury our slain
We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
Then we started all over again

Now those that were left, well we tried to survive
In a mad world of blood, death and fire
And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
But around me the corpses piled higher
Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
And when I woke up in my hospital bed
And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
Never knew there were worse things than dying
For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
All around the green bush far and near
For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
No more waltzing Matilda for me

So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed
And they shipped us back home to Australia
The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
I looked at the place where my legs used to be
And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
To grieve and to mourn and to pity
And the band played Waltzing Matilda
As they carried us down the gangway
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
Then turned all their faces away

And now every April I sit on my porch
And I watch the parade pass before me
And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
Reliving old dreams of past glory
And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
And I ask myself the same question
And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
And the old men answer to the call
But year after year their numbers get fewer
Some day no one will march there at all

Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
And their ghosts may be heard as you pass the Billabong
Who'll come-a-waltzing Matilda with me?

Achi Baba - Old Gallipoli's A Wonderful Place

There are many famous songs from the First World War, and while they have a universal appeal around the experiences of the troops or the families left behind, most of them are associated with the Western front. Old Gallipoli's A Wonderful Place is one of a smaller number of songs and tunes which are related to the Gallipoli campaign.

It is sung to the tune of Mountains of Mourne, we've used a version of the tune in our promo trailer for our Achi Baba graphic novel, although we have used a reading of the poem 'The Vision' by Patrick MacGill in place of the lyrics below.

Oh, old Gallipoli's a wonderful place
Where the boys in the trenches the foe have to face,
But they never grumble, they smile through it all,
Very soon they expect Achi Baba to fall.
At least when I asked them, that's what they told me
In Constantinople quite soon we would be,
But if war lasts till Doomsday I think we'll still be
Where old Gallipoli sweeps down to the sea.

We don't grow potatoes or barley or wheat,
So we're on the lookout for something to eat,
We're fed up with biscuits and bully and ham
And we're sick of the sight of yon parapet jam.
Send out steak and onions and nice ham and eggs
And a fine big fat chicken with five or six legs,
And a drink of the stuff that begins with a "B"
Where the old Gallipoli sweeps down to the sea.

The Achi Baba project was supported by Heritage Lottery Fund - First World War Then and Now programme. Copies of the book will be available from The Dutch Gable House on Saturday 11 July from 10 - 2.

As we move closer to the centenary, Inverclyde's Great War project is tweeting the progress of the the 5th Argylls on their journey towards Gallipoli/Dardanelles using #5argylls

Achi Baba - Cover Reveal

That's the cover all sorted, so our Gallipoli graphic novel Achi Baba is almost ready to head off to the printers - in terms of production, tone and content, the book is much different from anything we have tackled before, and we are looking forward to sharing it with everyone this summer.

For now, we thought we would share some more of Andy Lee's artwork with you...

The Achi Baba project was supported by Heritage Lottery Fund - First World War Then and Now programme..

Achi Baba

We are now in the final stages of our major project for this year, a graphic novel based on the attempts to take the hill of Achi Baba during the Gallipoli campaign in the First World War. We will be looking at the final effort of July 12th 1915, which is commemorated locally, but also the context of the broader campaign.

We are incorporating a range of sources and voices in telling the story, from war poetry, letters and field reports to contemporary articles from the sensationalist magazine The War Illustrated.  We will be sharing some artwork with you over the next few months, and also looking at the history of World War One comics.

The graphic novel, produced as a hardback, will be launched this summer and be available at Glasgow Comicon on Saturday 4 July. It will also be available for free at various community venues across Inverclyde during the centenary. Please contact us if you would be interested in receiving / distributing copies.

The Achi Baba project is supported by Heritage Lottery Fund through the First World War Then and Now programme, which is supporting many projects and programmes across the country. The fund is allowing people to learn about the Great War in a whole range of formal and informal ways, from new materials made available through museums and archives to new reflective / interpretive materials produced by schools and community groups for non-traditional audiences.

Inverclyde's Great War project, also supported by Heritage Lottery Fund, will be commemorating the Gallipoli campaign and Achi Baba with a number of publications, exhibition and a specially commissioned drama. You can now read the project exhibition book free online.


UPDATED : The book will be launched on Saturday 11 July 2015, in Dutch Gable House, Greenock from 10 - 2. Free copies of the book will be available.

Andy's very first pencil tests for the project earlier this year...

A more recent page, looking at the Gallipoli landings



Dig Where You Stand...

A hard time we had of it...sleeping in snatches, with the voices singing in our ears saying that this was all folly. But 2014 is behind us now...this is the all new, all action 2015. Totally different.

Over the last year, I had the chance to undertake a study into heritage and social enterprise, interviewing lots of interesting and clever folks from places like New Lanark, Falkirk Community Trust and the Scottish Storytelling Centre...as well as clever and interesting folk from local heritage projects. I was mostly looking at the ways in which heritage can be used to generate income, either with a social purpose, or with the profits reinvested in ways which directly benefit communities - from the refurbished 18th Century watermills and looms of New Lanark, the bricks and mortar of old buildings finding new uses, to the intangible cultural heritage of Scotland's songs, stories and traditions. Often when looking at ways of using heritage to generate income, the natural inclination is to think no further than tourism, which is itself, fraught with challenge, but I was lucky enough to discover and hear about many other examples of heritage being used to assist with social end objectives.

Anyway, one of my favourite things I discovered while blethering with folk, was the principle of Dig Where You Stand, the community driven approach to exploring heritage, which is separate from academic historical research, and critically, no less valid. The phrase originates with Swedish activist Sven Lindqvist, who was initially talking about ways in which workers could empower themselves within workplaces...

“The experts might each be experts in his or her own field but when they are talking about your job, you are the expert. That gives you a measure of self-confidence and a basis for amateurs and professional researchers to meet on equal footing.” [...] Until workers understand where they stand...and how to use the resources/tools available to dig with (local library, county museum/archives, local/state labor history society), they will be forever in the background of the “official” version of events...[E]very worker in every country has the power and potential to create a new image for labor, one “that puts workers and their work in the foreground.”
[Sven Lindqvist, “Dig Where You Stand,” Meddelande Från Arbetarrörelsens Arkiv Och Bibliotek (Stockholm: Vol. 16, September 1980), pp. 42-47]

This is no less true within communities, as beautifully demonstrated by the Kist o Riches project, which challenges you to find your own folklore first. The community is custodian of that heritage, it determines how it should be best used and celebrated. None of this was a new principle, I was just really pleased that something we had been involved in for so long had a proper name ;) As such, I'm going to blog about it a bit more in the coming months...you have been warned.

All of which is a long way round to talk about how Magic Torch will be digging where we stand this year...

Our first project, Time and Place will be running at Dutch Gable House in February and features a short ten minute film and exhibition, Restorations, recut from Greenock Plans Ahead with an exclusively produced soundtrack from the band British Sea Power. Visitors will also have the opportunity to reflect on how place and time have affected our community. We won't be putting Restorations online, its a one off installation.

Our other major project this year, is focussed on the attempts on Achi Baba during the First World War. A reportage style graphic novel telling the story of the battle through contemporary documents will be produced and distributed for free during the centenary this July. You can keep up to date on other commemoration plans on the Inverclyde's Great War site.

We have a few other potential publications and projects on the horizon too, including two comics, Galoshans, a horror tale with a wee sprinkling of psychogeography and Tales from the Kist, another of our vintage horror comics, but this time featuring national myths and legends. We are also hoping to publish Battle of Largs with the text of John Galt's poem and some new commentary alongside the artwork from last year's exhibition. We are also looking very closely at Maps...

I'm sure, just like last year, lots of other projects will be digging where we stand as well - and we'll keep you up to speed on those too. Keep digging.

All The Things...

the volunteers of magic torch are delighted with a busy year

We have been really fortunate this year to receive support from a whole range of funders. We have loads going on over the next few months, and so we felt it was important to just stop, take a wee breath, and remind you about each of our projects individually...but yknow, also all at the same time.


13 Commonwealth Tales is supported by the Celebrate Fund, created to help communities recognise the Commonwealth Games in different ways. We've already had some storytelling days and right now the project is just finishing production on two books, 13 Commonwealth Tales, an illustrated childrens book collecting traditional stories from Commonwealth countries and Uncommon Tales, a comic in which Sir Glen Douglas Rhodes explores some of the darker folklore of the Commonwealth. Thanks to Lottery funding, limited copies of both of these books will be made available for FREE in September and October.


Time and Place is supported by Awards For All Scotland, and is sharing creative responses to Inverclyde past, present and future. Exhibitions and music created by the project will be on display in The Dutch Gable House throughout October and November.


Achi Baba is supported by Heritage Lottery Fund and will explore an important part of Inverclyde's World War One history in comic form. The comic book will be published in July 2015, on the centenary of the battle.


Alongside that, we have our own self supported project, The Battle of Largs, which has created an exhibition based on John Galt's gothic poem, using artwork from Andy Lee and woodcraft created by local social enterprise Newark Products.

And of course you can still access our kids book Wee Nasties on scribd and ibooks, and our vintage horror comic Tales of the Oak, from last year's project Tales of the Oak, supported by Heritage Lottery Fund Our Heritage.

So aye, busy times. Good times too. Probably our most action packed year since we started. It's worth noting, that all of the grants above, are under 10k, awarded through funding streams which are ideal for smaller groups. I wrote a wee blog post at the start of the year with my own thoughts about funding, and if you, or your group has an idea for projects, why not try making them happen?

Hopefully we'll see you at some of our events over the next few months.

Achi Baba

Achi Baba, Gallipoli, seen from a point near the French lines
www.firstworldwar.com

Magic Torch have secured £8900 from Heritage Lottery "First World War - Then and Now" fund, to retell an important story from Inverclyde's World War One history.

We will explore the various attempts to take Achi Baba at Gallipoli in Turkey, and in particular, the final attempt on 12 July 1915 which over 300 Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, fell in a battle in which only 350 yards were captured.

A book, telling the story of Achi Baba, will be released in July 2015, to mark the centenary of the battle. As ever it will be made freely available in physical editions and online.

As with some of our more recent projects, the story will be re-told as a graphic novel. There is rich tradition of war comics which explore the horrors and human aspects of war, without seeking to glorify those battles and sacrifices; we will be drawing from that tradition.  In addition to the Achi Baba comic, an online audiobook and short online comic vignettes exploring other aspects of the war will also be created by volunteers and shared online.

Initial research and writing on the project begins shortly, and we will be sharing more regular updates and further information on how to get involved throughout August.

Our project is one of a number of World War One Centenary projects going on around Inverclyde, including the digitisation of WWI Propaganda posters at the McLean Museum, and Working The War at The Dutch Gable House.

A service will be held at Gourock War Memorial this Saturday at 11am to honour the men of the 5th Argylls who fell at Achi Baba.