If you’re after a free digital comic and a history lesson about the north east of England, then Freedom City Comics have just the book for you! Their new anthology, which put together by Newcastle University alongside some of the team from Applied Comics, presents snapshots of the history of civil rights and politics on Tyneside, and you can read it for free now!

Each chapter focuses on a different era of the history of people and events in Newcastle and the North East. The 7 chapters are linked by the themes of freedom highlighted by Dr Martin Luther King Jr in his 1967 Newcastle speech.

Made as part of Freedom City 2017, this 16-page comic is a collaboration between comics artist-writers and academic researchers including:

Cover artist Paul Peart-Smith, working with alumnus Paul Barry and Brian Ward
Terry Wiley, working with researcher Rachel Hammersley
Patrice Aggs, working with researcher Brycchan Carey
Mack Chater and Ian Mayor, working with researcher Joan Allen
Sha Nazir, working with researcher Matt Perry
Ragavee Balendran, working with researcher Matt Perry
‘Brick’, working with project lead Matthew Grenby
Managing editor is Britt Coxon; Editor in Chief is Lydia Wysocki

You can read the full comic FREE on their project website here. And look out for each standalone digital chapter over the next few months, too.

If you’re in the north east the they’re distributing 12,000 FREE printed copies of Freedom City Comics to libraries and other venues and events around Tyneside as part of Freedom City 2017. Click here for a list of venues where you can pick up a FREE printed copy!