It was a warm balmy sort of night when we closed the alleyway next to Readings. A gentle breeze cooled our faces as we moved garbage bins and lugged over 100 chairs out onto the cobblestones. The screen went up, the projectionist was in place and then the people arrived.

And so many people - more than we expected - huddled into the allocated space, craning their necks to see Graphic Novels! Melbourne!. Kids gave out hundreds of lolly bags, tossing them across the heads of the crowd, who laughed and applauded in all the right moments.

Local comic artist Bernard Caleo and This Is Roller Derby director Daniel Hayward are the brains behind the project, having set out to discover why our city is known universally as a geographical starting place of graphic novels. This feature length documentary is their testament to a growing part of Melbourne culture and is supported by Readings and the City of Melbourne.

The film portrays a number of novelists central to this reputation, including Bruce Mutard, Mandy Ord, Shaun Tan, Nikki Greenberg, Pat Grant and all those people that support and surround these storytellers.

Watching this celebration of graphic novels it felt like we were witnessing the beginnings of a new type of acknowledgement for the form and the important role they play in defining us as a community and as a nation.

Also, it was great fun.

And it didn’t rain.

See photos from the launch

[[chris]] Chris Gordon