Dundee residents and visitors have thrown support behind a proposal to turn the old Dundee College building into a comic strip museum.
The idea for a comic strip museum in the derelict Constitution Road building was floated to the public on Dundee Culture’s social media pages this week – to a resounding cry of approval.
Andrew Batchelor, the man behind the idea, feels Dundee should showcase its strong and ongoing relationship with comic books.
He explained: “I wanted to build a conversation – that’s what I do at Dundee Culture.
“And I’ve often thought since the V&A opened, that it would be good to see an exhibition dedicated to Dundee comic books. I know the McManus has done stuff before. But I think one that’s dedicated to DC Thomson and the way they’ve inspired people to collect and read comic books could be great.
“You’ve got Dennis the Menace, Oor Wullie, The Dandy, The Beano… it just seems like Dundee should have its own museum.”
And it’s clear from the response so far that Andrew is not alone in his thinking. The posts showing his mock-up of a design have well over 350 “likes” and more than 50 people have commented in support of the fledgling idea.
He said: “I took it upon myself to design this and posted it on Dundee Culture to see what people thought about it. And the overwhelming response was: ‘Yes, we want to see it’.
“People were like ‘why have they not done this before? This is a good idea’.”
Drawing tourism
Comic strip museums are by no means a new idea, as Andrew points out. The Comics Art Museum in Brussels boasts (outwith lockdown) more than 200,000 visitors per year, showing there is a market for comic tourism.
“One of my followers got in touch with me regarding the post saying they’d been to the Brussels one and it was absolutely brilliant,” said Andrew. “So I think it’s good to have this conversation.”
And although the idea has been pitched for various locations in Dundee before, none of the proposals have come to fruition. So what makes this time any different?
“Dundee’s got this very unique thing with comics,” Andrew explained.
“And I feel like with the Eden Project happening and the prospect of other stuff down at the Waterfront, there’s so much opportunity right now to redevelop old buildings into something that represents the city’s culture of art and design.
“It all ties in. I think a comic strip museum would be really cool, and make Dundee an even better place to visit.”
New future for the ‘Conshy’
Andrew’s idea was initially sparked by the Reimagining The ‘Conshy‘ project, a zine devised by Dundee-based architect Fíona Canavan.
Fíona explained: “The zine looks at alternative uses via collage and other visual representation for the derelict former Dundee College of Commerce on Constitution Road. And it includes a pull out empty drawing where the readers are asked to contribute their own ideas.
“The aim is to get people chatting and thinking about what their built environment could be, using the former college building as a starting point.
“I tweeted a digital copy of the drawing yesterday and Andrew was quick off the mark with a fantastic idea for comic museum.”
Reimagining The ‘Conshy’ is part of the 2021 Architecture Fringe, running until June 20.
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