Comics at the National Library of Ireland
"Eamonn de Valera: Hero of Ireland," by F.E. Crandall & illustrated by Joe Sinnott. In Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact, Vol. 24, no. 5, Nov. 21, 1968. NLI cataloguing in progress.
Join comic professionals as they discuss how items from the National Library’s collections reveal the history of comic books in Ireland.
Dr. Sinéad McCoole, Keeper of Exhibitions, Learning and Programming, welcomes Derek Landy, Maeve Clancy, Maura McHugh, and Declan Shalvey, in conversation with comic collector and researcher, James Bacon.
Discover a selection of extremely rare comics dating from the 1930s -1960s, ranging from Greann - “The Only Irish Comic” – published in 1934, by Joe Stanley, 1916 Veteran and Printer, to 1968’s “Éamon de Valera, Hero Of Ireland” as drawn by legendary Fantastic Four artist, Joe Sinnott.
Drawing on their diverse comic publishing backgrounds our panellists will discuss the development of comic art, dialogue and other elements to contextualise these works within a broader comic history, whilst sharing which aspects resonate with them, as modern comic professionals and readers. Share our panel’s passion and delight as they reveal extraordinary historic comics from the National Library’s collection.
"Barney the Bawk Starts a Fire Alarm," from Greann: the only Irish comic; Vol. 2 no. 18, Friday, November 2, 1934.
"Eamonn de Valera: Hero of Ireland," by F.E. Crandall & illustrated by Joe Sinnott. In Treasure Chest of Fun and Fact, Vol. 24, no. 5, Nov. 21, 1968. NLI cataloguing in progress.
Scene from "The Rebellion!," Battle Action comic. Recent donation.
"Space Explorers" (Instalment 4), in The Leprechaun; Vol. 2, no. 2.
Derek Landy is the number one bestselling author of the Skulduggery Pleasant and Demon Road series. The awards heaped upon the epic adventure series include the Irish Book of the Decade and the Red House Childrens Book Award. Before writing his children’s story about a sharply-dressed skeleton detective, he wrote the screenplays for the award winning films “Dead Bodies" and “Boy Eats Girl”. He also writes an increasing number of Marvel comics, including the Doctor Strange of Asgard, Captain America/Iron Man, All-Out Avengers and Infinity Watch series, amongst others. Derek plays too many video games, reads too many comics, and watches too many movies. He lives in Ireland with too many cats.
Maeve Clancy creates work for children and adults using cut paper, pop up, story and drawings. She has worked on music videos for singers Lisa Hannigan and Rhiannon Giddens, mounted solo exhibitions and writes fictional, documentary and historical comics.
Recent commissions include a graphic novel ‘The Irish Civil War’, picture book illustrations for ‘Dingle’s Ashford Castle Christmas’ (Mayo Books Press), and multiple set designs for Branar Téatar do Pháistí including 'Sruth na Teanga', an immersive show for Galway 2020 City of Culture. In 2025, she designed and directed a live shadow puppet version of ‘Peter and the Wolf’ for the National Concert Hall.
Galway-based Maura McHugh has a MA in Irish Gothic and a MA in Screenwriting, and writes across a variety of media, including prose, theatre, film/TV, video games, non-fiction and comic books. Her story ‘Bone Mother’ was adapted into an animated short film, and she writes comics for American and European publishers. She was the lead writer on the point-and-click video game, Jennifer Wilde, from Belfast studio Outsider Games, which was based on the comic book she wrote for Dublin comic book publisher, Atomic Diner. Her original short story collection, The Boughs Withered (When I Told Them My Dreams), was nominated for a British Fantasy Award, and the title story appeared in John Connolly's anthology, Shadow Voices: 300 Years of Irish Genre Fiction, A History in Stories. Her book about David Lynch's iconic film, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, was nominated for a British Fantasy Award for Best Non-Fiction. Her short story ‘Raptor’ has been nominated for the 2025 World Fantasy Award in the category of Best Short Fiction. She writes a weekly newsletter, and regularly appears on podcasts and radio, where she interviews, reviews, and discusses pop culture.
James Bacon is a comic fan and scholar from Dublin. He is active in the fan community and has won two Hugo awards for editing fanzines.
He has written about comics for over thirty years and has just finished his first book, Irish Conflict in Comics, which will be published by Limit Break Comics this year. Other recent publications include the “For Steam Men: Myles na gCopaleen and Irish Rail” in Flann O'Brien and the Nonhuman (Cork University Press) which combines academic research with James’ personal insight from his work as a train driver.
His research in the National Library of Ireland has highlighted several of the comics under discussion in this event.
Declan Shalvey is an award winning artist/writer of comics and graphic novels from Ireland. He is best known for his acclaimed run on MOON KNIGHT with Warren Ellis for Marvel Comics [revamping the character for a new audience with a television series for Disney+], writing and drawing MYSTIQUE and helming the record-breaking THUNDERCATS revamp for Dynamite Comics as well a reboot of THE TERMINATOR franchise for the publisher.
Shalvey has worked on hit titles and characters such as ALIEN, BATMAN, DEADPOOL VS OLD MAN LOGAN, IMMORTAL HULK and the groundbreaking X-MEN UNLIMITED with Jonathan Hickman and has also developed a number of creator owned projects such as INJECTION, SAVAGE TOWN, BOG BODIES, TIME BEFORE TIME and his solo project OLD DOG from Image Comics.
If our team can be of any assistance, please contact us on learning@nli.ie.
Tuilleadh
