Join Eisner Award-nominated comic artist and graphic designer Rian Hughes for the launch of his book XX. Rian is joined in conversation by prolific comic author Grant Morrison! Purchase a copy here: https://www.strandbooks.com/search-results?page=1&Rian%20Hughes%20xx&searchVal=Rian%20Hughes%20xx&type=product
At Jodrell Band in England Observatory in England, a radio telescope has detected a mysterious signal of extraterrestrial origin—a message that may be the first communication from an interstellar civilization. Has humanity made first contact? Is the signal itself a form of alien life? Could it be a threat? If so, how will the people of Earth respond?
Drawing on Dada, punk and the modernist movements of the twentieth century, XX is assembled from redacted NASA reports, artwork, magazine articles, secret transcripts and a novel within a novel. Deconstructing layout and language in order to explore how idea propagate, acclaimed designer and artist Rian Hughes’s debut novel presents a compelling vision of humanity’s unique place in the universe, and a realistic depiction of what might happen in the wake of the biggest scientific discovery in human history.
RIAN HUGHES is a graphic designer, illustrator, comic artist and typographer who has worked extensively for the British and American advertising, music and comic book industries. He has written and drawn comics for 2000 AD and Batman Black and White and designed logos for the Avengers, the X-Men, Superman, record label Hedkandi, MTV and James Bond. He has edited books on mid-century lifestyle illustration and custom typography, and written on semiotics, culture, and collecting vintage science fiction pulps and paperbacks. In 2020, he was nominated for an Eisner Award for his book Logo-a-gogo. He lives in London.
Over the last 30 years, Grant Morrison has proven to be one of the most successful and inventive writers to have worked in the comic book medium. He has written best-selling stories for Marvel and DC Comics, creating definitive runs for iconic characters. In film he recently co-wrote THE FLASH for Warner Bros with Ezra Miller. In 2011, his experience and insight into the myths and traditions of comics resulted in the release of the New York Times bestseller book, SUPERGODS, a groundbreaking psycho-historic mapping of the superhero as a cultural organism. In 2012 Morrison was awarded an MBE for services to film and literature. Barely educated at Mosspark Primary and Allan Glen’s School for Boys, Morrison now lives and works between homes in Glasgow, Scotland and Los Angeles.
Recorded November 12, 2020
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