The Thousands

Comic books and animation tell stories and deliver images to your cerebral cortex that are heartbreaking, intimate, offensive, disgusting, action-packed, surreal, and hilarious in ways words on paper or over-paid Hollywood actors simply can’t.

Graphic is three days at the Sydney Opera House celebrating the ‘ka-POW’, ‘shazam!’ ‘keep on truckin’ and ‘Tetsuoooooooooooo!’. Here’s your chance to peek inside the creative process that makes stories like The Sandman come to life.

Listen to the always energetic, hilarious filmmaker Kevin Smith speak about writing comics. Watch Anime classic Akira with live score by Regurgitator. Hear alternative comics powerhouse Fantagraphics founder Gary Groth talk shop. See Aussie Shaun Tan’s much-loved picture book, The Arrival brought to life alongside Ben Walsh’s Orkestra of the Underground. Four new anime films debut at Tokyo Express. And freak out to chilling black and white animation by innovative graphic artists in Fear(s) of the Dark.

Zoinks! Real life might seem real dull after this.