Comic adventures: Cheapside’s recommendations for an affordable cultural fix!

One of the great things about London is the abundance and diversity of cultural events.  It is a hive of galleries, clubs, collectives and museums. An added bonus is the accessibility of all this culture.

Most galleries and museums are free of charge (for the permanent collections) while temporary exhibitions usually have student discounts and there are plenty of cheap musical shenanigans to be had too. Here at Cheapside we’re going to start giving you the lowdown on some of the free or cheaper cultural events.

There is quite a bit happening in the world of graphic novels and comics this month. No longer the domain of the caricature comicbook anorak, this genre has recently been reaching wider and more diverse readerships. It is a format which is now being exploited by social and political commentators and used as a journalistic tool à la Joe Sacco.  The recent Comica festival in London celebrated the publication of Ctrl.alt.shift, a compendium of social injustice stories.

One exhibition worth checking out is at The Cartoon Museum near Russell Square -  30 years of Viz. Viz is a British staple on the comic scene and leads the way in toilet jokes and that dark surrealistic humour the Brits do so well. It’s been around since 1979 and is still going strong with a loyal following. It features such charming characters as Sid the Sexist, Johnny Fartpants and regular columns like the Profanosaurus. The names speak for themselves – Viz is not for the easily-offended.

The  exhibition will be showing over eighty original drawings from the last thirty years and there is plenty of guffaw-inducing merchandise to pore over in the shop on your way out. Tickets cost £5.50 but The Cartoon Museum offers a discount to students. So at a mere £3 for an enlightening insight into the British sense of humour, it’s a bargain.

Also, this Friday sees the opening of ComiXmas – when worlds collide, an exhibition of illustrations from some of the best-known contemporary graphic novels and comics. Amongst others on show will be works from Hergé, creator of the bequiffed young detective, Tintin, and Osama Tezuka, one of the founding fathers of Manga and anime. The exhibition is free of charge and runs until February 6th at the London Print Studio Gallery.