Scholars had a creative start to the term with a session lead by Julian Lawrence, an award-winning cartoonist and educator specialising in comic books, who joined us from Teesside University. Julian took the students through the process of developing characters, backgrounds, props and storyline until they had each sketched out an 8-frame comic page of their own. It was great fun seeing how the ideas developed, and how simple shapes can be turned into great things.  Students also found out that a degree in Comic Book illustration is available in the Northeast and it is possible to gain a PhD in Comic Books, so you really can follow your passions!