Zookeeper: What Does it Mean to be Alone in this world? is the first volume of the story of John, a botanist who has emerged after a year long experiment, into a world devoid of humans. But he is not alone. Never have we been alone.

John has to journey through a new world fraught with many dangers and discoveries to unearth the truth. But the truth can break more than just one man. It can break us all.

To sacrifice one for the many? Isn’t that what being human is all about?

Created by Benjamin Morgan and drawn by Wolf Chi, Zookeeper has been 15 years in the making, and for Cymera, they chat to graphic novel guru Joe Gordon about their publishing journey.

Zookeeper is independently published and you can buy your copy here

About the event:

Chaired by Ann Landmann

Running time: 60 minutes

The event premiered on YouTube.

After the premiere, the event will be hosted on the Member Area of the Cymera website.

From record sleeve design to graphic novels, picture books to fonts, Rian Hughes is one of Britain’s most prolific creators - you probably own a piece of his work, though you may not know it.

His latest work, XX, is his first novel, incorporating NASA transcripts, newspaper and magazine articles, fictitious Wikipedia pages, undeciphered alphabets, and 'Ascension', a forgotten novelette by 1960s counterculture guru Herschel Teague that mysteriously foreshadows events.

Rian Hughes is a graphic designer, illustrator, comic artist, author, and typographer. From his studio, Device, he has produced watches for Swatch, Hawaiian shirts, logo designs for Batman and Spiderman, an iconoclastic revamp of British comic hero Dan Dare, and collaborated on a set of six children’s books with Geri Halliwell. A retrospective monograph, “Art, Commercial” was published in 2001. Recent books include “Logo-a-gogo”, “Custom Lettering of the ’20s and ’30s”, and his book of burlesque art, “Soho Dives, Soho Divas”. His comic strips have been collected in “Yesterdays Tomorrows”, which was launched at the ICA, London. He has an extensive collection of Thunderbirds memorabilia, a fridge full of vodka, and a stack of easy listening albums which he plays very quietly.

“One of the most successful and prolific designer/illustrators of the past 20 years” – Roger Sabin, Eye magazine.

About the event:

Chaired by David Bishop

Running time: 30 minutes

The event premiered on YouTube.

After the premiere, the event will be hosted on the Member Area of the Cymera website.

This event is followed by a Kaffeeklatsch. More info here