Sharjah International Book Fair: Creating your own superheros with comics writer and illustrator Karen Rubins

Karen Rubins. Courtesy Sharjah International Book Fair

A group of Sharjah based students experienced an interactive workshop by acclaimed British comics creator and illustrator Karen Rubins.

Titled Superheroes, the Thursday workshop focused on how to create your own comic character.

When students were asked what super-power they wanted their hero to have, answers ranged from being “super strong” to martial arts and being a whizz with gadgets.

The students then worked together to create a new crew of super-heroes with various powers and capabilities.

At the end of the class the students named their group The Justice Team.

“It is amazing to see people from all age groups, communities, ethnicities and cultural backgrounds to react in very similar ways to comics and superheroes – a world that defies linguistic barriers,” Rubins said, after the session.

“Art is visual and has the quality of expressing an entire narrative using minimal amount of text. In that sense the language of comics is universal.”

Based in London, Rubin's most popular works include The Shiver: Norman's Conker Quest, The Shivers' Duck Pond of Doom and The Phoenix.

The Sharjah International Book Fair ends on November 12 visit www.sharjahbookfair.com