London Film and Comic Con

Well, it's been a couple of weeks since the Con now, and as tiring as it was I won't put the lateness of this post down to that entirely.

It was a two day event thais year, the Fridays of previous events just weren't worth the additional costs and thankfully to show organisers saw the logic in this.

Saturday was a bit quiet we found, and I think this was down to the hordes of people who had paid good money to meet Mel Gibson, for photos .. signings and who knows what else. These people buy the tickets had the knock on effect that not a lot of people interested on comics books were able, or willing, to face the queues.

We were in the smaller hall this years which pushed the comics up to the mezzanine level and whilst signage wasn't great, people did know that there was more to see upstairs. 

I focussed on WesterNoir (the poster with its back to the camera is the WesterNoir banner, letting people down below know that we were upstairs).

There was lots of interest in WesterNoir on the Sunday, comics, figures and the new badges, which was great and Sunday turned out to be a pretty good day.

LFCC is a very well organised and run show. 

The Mel Gibson factor was unexpected and there were many more signature hunters then I'd ever seen before but we still had an enjoyable weekend. 

Our table buddy this year was James Gray and we'll be inviting him back to join us next year, so he must have been ok 😀

Good fun at High Viz

Yesterday Steve, his daughter Sasha and I were at the High Viz event in Birmingham.

It's an event that I think has been going for quite a while, focussed on visual arts and mostly it seems art on buildings (is it still called Graffiti ?).

This year they were adding comics for the first time. 

To me it felt like a merging of the wonderful Portsmouth Con and the hard to get to Lakes event, in that it was very family oriented and spread across the town.

There were professional comic book people on display (Charlie Adlard, John Wagner and Hunt Emerson just to name a few) mixed in with independent comic creators (and a guys selling back issues who took cash off of me in exchange for some issues of EPIC).

I spent a lot of time chatting with Hunt Emerson, a legend of the UK Comic scene and also to a number of other creators whose work I respect. I was humbled to be asked to sign a lot of my old books and when chatting to another guy to be told how our work is respected.

A great day out. 

If you live in the Birmingham area then it's well worth a visit next year. I'll certainly go again if offered the chance.

Next weekend Steve and I will be at MaccPow (on the Saturday) and Bury Comic Con (on the Sunday). No peace for the wicked.

It was great to be back at Copenhagen Comic Con

It's been a few years since we've been to the Copenhagen Comic Con, 8 years in fact for me.

This year however my old partner in AccentUK, Colin, and I decided to go back. To catch up with our many friends over there, and see if they still remembered us :o)

This year we stayed as close to the central train station as we could, as the new venue for the event was out of town and would require us to use a train every day.

The Astoria hotel was originally built for train workers and whilst a little narrow it was exactly what we needed. Clean and safe. And the staff were very friendly and helpful.

The structure on the roof helped me locate it too.

It was a new venue, for the Con and for us, but we found it fairly easily (despite using the Metro which was undergoing engineering works that forced us to use a bus as well... reminded me of the UK). 

We found it well signposted though...

and the venue itself was well attended 

Admin was well managed and we were quickly in the hall with no hassle at all.

The Con was actually good fun, it was great to see that in Denmark the comic scene is very healthy with many comics (from the USA and Europe) having Danish translated versions. 

During and after the Con we met up with our good friend Arnie, who runs the great ArtBubble event later in the year, and he took us for a drink in the Comic Cafe (which has its own bar).

Colin and Arnie

After the event we also caught up with Soren, who used to own the Fantask comic shop. We had a very enjoyable afternoon and evening just chatting and actually found a pub that Soren had never been to before.

Colin and Soren

I really enjoyed the trip and am looking forward to returning next year.

Copenhagen Comic Con

This weekend my old AccentUK partner in crime, Colin Mathieson, and I will be at our first Copenhagen Con for quite a few years. 

Really looking forward to it.

Hope to catch up with a lot of Danish friends.

Do pop by and say 'Hello' if you're in the area.

WesterNoir Volume 1 is being reprinted.

It'll be its first printing under Time Bomb but will also have my WESTWORDS imprint (logo designed by my go-to designer Andy Bloor).

I was going to call it WESTWORLDS but I doubt anybody would every be able to find it when Goggling as WESTWORLD is too established.

And to make the second printing a little different it'll have a new cover (the cover we used for the first issue when we did these as comics).

I've decided to take this opportunity to put it on Kickstarter, and provide people with an opportunity to buy a Josiah Black versus The Gator Boys (as we call them) poster.

The posters will be A3 in height but half as wide as A3 width. Art by Gary Crutchley and coloured by regular WesterNoir colourist Matt Soffe.

Portsmouth Comic Con

What a great event. 

It has always been one of my favourites, well run, well attended and a great diversity of comic and toy related stuff on offer.

I arrived pretty early Saturday morning, you can never predict how motorway driving is going to go so I set off pretty early. I know the area around the Guildhall now though and knew the car park near the event that is easy to get stock between the two.

I was so early I interrupted a fox going about his morning business...

He gave me that kind of 'This is my bin, find your own' look.

The venue is well signposted...

and once you've managed to get your pass (a very easy experience (maybe because I was so early) and you're treated by all ECTO 1 and the DeLorean Time Machine (much bigger than my Lego version)... oh.. and Slimer...

and you're in.

I experimented a bit this year, as I was on my own I didn't have to try to persuade anyone, and only took my WesterNoir related books and merchandise, and Quantum comics.

Happy with the simpler look, sometimes I think less is actually more.

The event was great. Had lots of people spot the figures and come across for a chat (and some purchases) and then the usual mix of new customers and customers returning from previous years to pick up the latest issue(s).

I met up with a lot of people and made some new friends.

Some interesting potential future developments, but I won't jinx anything here and now, let's see how things go.

So, full credit to Kurt and the organisers, another very successfully run and fun family event. 

And the queues outside we long and well managed too...

I'll be back next year...

If they'll have me.

Portsmouth Comic Con.

I'm off to the Portsmouth Comic Con this weekend.

All on my own. 

So do take pity on me and pop over and say 'Hi' .. and also .. apologies in advance if I keep talking at you and you struggle to get away.