Snap - first kids comics of term

My Comic Art Masterclasses began the autumn term at Christchurch in Bradford On Avon, who'd also bagged the first slot last year. Their year 6s have already set a pretty high standard in the naming of comics with Colin Bell. As soon as that suggestion came up, being so random, not connected to anyone's name in reality, and being so mundane and Dad-like it just got funnier every time it was read out.

I engaged in a very interesting experiment at Llangynidr Primary in Powys, namely working with the Infants. I have long maintained that I can only run my Comic Art Masterclass only works with year 3 (age 7) and older, because below that age they're too young to get what I'm talking about, and to be able to write and draw enough to produce anything worthwhile. But, after being initially reticent, I agreed to teach one group of year 2s and, for the first time ever, a group of Reception and Year 1s. And by golly we got away with it. I ended up producing two different comics for them, each sharing the same basic cover (the naming of a comic being beyond the Reception/Yr1s, and I couldn't really ask them to add a drawing to the cover either). You can see the two different class names on the different covers - Dos Barth Yr Afon (yr2) and Dos Barth Y Nant (Rcp/yr1). Which was about the only Welsh that occured in the day, apart from the odd Bored Da.

These comics came from the last classes of the summer holidays, from my second visit to summer schools in Walthamstow. They seemed a long time ago by the time I got stuck into the new term. Indeed I found myself straining my voice slightly on my first day, which is a sure sign that I've left a long gap between classes.

The celebrities these six groups chose to appear in my demonstration strip were Michael Jackson, Taylor Swift, Donald Trump, The Queen, Stevie Wonder (chosen by Year 2s) and Jodie Whittaker as Doctor Who.

Kev F Sutherland, as well as writing and drawing for The Beano, Marvel, Doctor Who et al, runs Comic Art Masterclasses in schools, libraries and art centres - email for details, and follow him on Facebook and Twitter. View the promo video here.