Can You Support Comic Creator Al Davison’s Crowdfunding Campaign for a Wheelchair Enhancement?
Ace comic creator Al Davison, the creator of The Spiral Cage, and, more recently, Future Echoes and Muscle Memory, is raising funds to get an electric attachment for his wheelchair, so he can be more independent, and get out the house on his own.
Al Davison is best known for his graphic autobiography The Spiral Cage, featured in Tony Isabella’s 1000 Comic Books You Must Read, which describes his lifelong struggle with Spina Bifida and his life as a comics creator, martial artist and multimedia artist.
You can read the follow up, Muscle Memory, on his official website.
A comic book writer and artist from Newcastle, who now resides in Coventry, he runs TAG!artworks, his studio and comic shop, in Fargo Village with his wife Maggie. He is also known for his work on IDW’s Doctor Who comics, and numerous titles for DC/Vertigo including The Dreaming, The Unwritten and Hellblazer.
He is currently working on I’m Walking Backwards for Christmas, a wordless book about the human form as storyteller, combined with his own mobility journey as a person with a disability. (Find out more about this if you catch up with him at Thought Bubble next month).
Longtime downthetubes readers will know Al is a long time wheelchair user who has Spina Bifida and M.E. He had to self isolate during the pandemic and I have never managed to regain his fitness or health.
“I got Covid after lockdown, and now have Long-Covid, which exasperates my other health issues,” he says. “I used to push myself too work, and make my own way into town: now I can only push myself a few yards, and can’t get out the house without the aid of my wife or support worker.
“Recently I had my access to work support cut from 29 hours a week, to nine, so have even less opportunity to get out.”
As you would expect of Al, challenges are there to overcome – but your support, on this occasion, is welcomed, hence his launch of a crowdfunding campaign, to secure an electric attachment for his manual wheelchair.
“A friend recommended the Batec mini 2. It attaches to the front of the chair and allows you to effectively convert it to a scooter. I recently got to test drive one, and I think it will help me a lot, it easily switches back to manual, so I can still get exercise, while being able to travel more independently.
“Batec have kindly agreed to honour the original offer price, as I’m having to raise the funds to purchase it.”
Several comic creators and fans of Al’s amazing work have already contributed nearly £1000 to his £5000 target – but if you can chip in, please do!
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who MagazineandOverkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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