One, two, Freddy’s coming for you, three four, better lock your door... Yes, folks, we have horror icon Robert Englund coming soon. Englund has been well known and beloved of SF and horror genre fans for many years, appearing in a large number of productions from playing the good alien in the original V mini-series to the knowing nods and winks of the silly and highly enjoyable Zombie Strippers and voice acting for some great superhero animations like The Spectacular Spider-Man and The Batman. Of course to legions of fans, especially those of us who grew up on the 80s horror boom, Robert will always be forever linked with the razor fingered Freddy Kreuger, the monstrous slaughterer of teens who strikes in their dreams who has gone on to become a huge icon of the genre, taking his place alongside the venerable array of famous monsters of filmland (to borrow a phrase from the late Forry Ackerman), thanks in no small part to Robert treating the role with respect to deliver such a memorable monster (not least in the clever and disturbing New Nightmare where he played both himself as the actor playing Freddy and Freddy as ‘real’ too).
Robert will be appearing in the Manchester Forbidden Planet (65 Oldham Street, Piccadilly) on Thursday November 26th from 4 to 6pm, then at our Nostalgia & Comics store in Birmignham on Monday November 30th from 4 to 6pm, so please do come along and enjoy a rare chance to meet one of the genre’s truly iconic stars (we accept no responsibility for cuts sustained if shaking hands). Please note that there will be a fee for autographs.
Thought Bubble, The Leeds Sequential Art Festival has been going on for a couple of days now, featuring some wonderful events across the city of Leeds. And tomorrow sees the centrepiece of the festival; the Thought Bubble comic convention. It features a host of comic creators with the complete list here and a lot of small press creators – as featured on Hugh “Shug” Raine’s poster:
The things that most marked out Thought Bubble 2008 were the huge number of non-traditional customers and visitors that seemed to be wandering the halls, clearly enjoying the vast variety of material available – material that had a far greater breadth and variety than usually seen at comic conventions. In fact the overwhelming experience of Thought Bubble seems to be that it’s a very different sort of show, with a feel somewhere between a comic convention and a handmade crafts show. It also seemed to be a much younger crowd from the usual conventions – and that has to be a great thing for comics.
Last year’s convention was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, (read my report here) and I’m looking forward to repeating the experience tomorrow.
Matthew Badham’s interview with one of Thought Bubble’s organisers, Lisa Wood went up on the blog earlier this week.
This weekend sees not one, but two great comic events. First up it’s the Comica 2009 final week – which looks rather good with a trio of conversations happening at the ICA:
First up on Sunday 22 November; Reinhard Kleist, author of the great I see A Darkness, the biography of Johnny Cash, published recently by Self Made Hero is in conversation with Charles Shaar Murray. I See A Darkness was much loved by both myself and Joe – see Joe’s review for more details.
On Monday 23 November, Comica welcome Flemish cartoonist, Willy Linthout in conversation with Michael Rosen. Linthout’s autobiographical Years Of The Elephant, has been much acclaimed for it’s difficult and emotional tale of the author’s grief following his son’s suicide.
And finally, after his appearance at Thought Bubble Leeds on Saturday 21st , Ben Templesmith will be appearing at the ICA on Tuesday 24 November. Templesmith’s particularly graphic artwork has featured on 30 Days Of Night, Fell, Wormwood and Welcome To Hoxford. He’ll be tlking with writer/director Philip Ridley who will then go on to introduce a preview screening of Heartless, his “dark, horror-tinged urban fantasy starring Jim Sturgess as a young photographer who feels as if his life has been blighted by the birthmark that covers half of his face”.
Comica certainly looks and sounds like it’s been a huge success. Congratulations to Paul Gravett and everyone else involved with Comic 2009.
Just because it’s a lovely, happy image on a rather miserably grey day with rain sheeting down here – Sarah McIntyre’s next children’s book, written by Gillian Rogerson:
When King Cupcake is kidnapped by hungry aliens, it’s up to his feisty daughter, Princess Spaghetti, to save him from becoming their dinner. She blasts off into space to show those naughty aliens who’s boss – and introduces them to a delicious alternative to people: chocolate! This hilarious romp will delight chocolate lovers everywhere! (From Scholastic’s PR)
There, doesn’t that make you feel better? It’s out in March 2010. Her current book, Morris The Mankiest Monster is still available (and a perfect Christmas present). Meanwhile you really should pop along to Sarah’s blog, which frequently delights and lightens a day.
Back in March 2009 I reviewed Thomas Wogan Is Dead as a self published comic (right here in fact). This Tabella version is effectively just a very nice re-packaging of the small press self published comic with a few extra pages and a general neatening up. So everything I said there applies here including this:
Thomas Wogan has had a rather miserable and empty life. He’s a lonely soul whose days seem to consist of working a nothing job at Perriman Plastics in Chudley, perfecting his favourite meal of beans on toast (the perfect combination of sensation and nutrition, butter and Marmite, follow with fruit cocktail, tea and Baywatch before bed) and obsessively editing Delia Smith’s wikipedia entry. It’s not much of a life but it’s the only one he knows.
He finds himself sharing a waiting room with a cuckoo, a toad, an egg, a sea urchin, a bat, a fish and an LCD display with an incredibly large number that’s gradually counting up to the number on the ticket in Thomas’ hand. And since the book’s called Thomas Wogan Is Dead, we can assume that we know the answer to Thomas’ questions. But the far more interesting question, the one they all spend the rest of this the only question they all want to know is: what happened to you to get you here?
In the pages that follow every animal has their moment to reveal the manner of their demise ….. And in between it all, we get to find out a little more about Thomas’ life and the manner of his death. Just as pointless, tragic and faintly ridiculous as the rest of the creatures in the waiting room.
(The pertinant question and two nice examples of the art & snazzy new commercial font from Thomas Wogan Is Dead by David Hughes, Tabella Publishing)
This Tabella Publishing edition is a step up for Thomas Wogan – a spine and commercial lettering add a nice professional touch to the book. The art sits well in a more professional format, with all the grotesques of the original still there, and all of the sad, lonely existence of Thomas’ life portrayed just as well. The extra pages flesh out a little more of his life, and add to the sense of poignancy of the tale.
Thomas Wogan is still dead, but this new edition shows that there’s life in the comic still. I like it just as much as I did the first time around, except now, this better dressed, better presented Thomas Wogan is something I can sit on the shelf where it belongs.
Orbit has this little teaser video for what I can only describe as one of the most unusual fantasy novels I’ve read in recent years, Jesse Bullington’s The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart, which they’ve just released this month. I’d never come across anything by Bullington before but there are times when you pick up a book and just know right away that you’re going to love it before you’ve even read a word; I’ve never been sure exactly how that works, presumably its an Awesome Power booksellers and heavy readers acquire and we should not enquire too deeply into it but simply accept it (for my part I think it comes from a papercut from a radioactive book as a child).
All I know is when I get that tingle about a new book its rarely steered me wrong. Then in SFX recently they lavished some attention on Bullington and mentioned how one of our smartest writers, Jeff VanderMeer, had been mightily impressed with the Brothers Grossbart. Regular readers will know I hold Jeff’s writing in high esteem and he’s equally respected for his reviews and championing of good new SF&F books and comics, so when he recommends a new author, we should pay attention (on a related note Jeff informs us that his new work Finch will be coming out in the UK next summer from Grove Atlantic). Yep, seems that tingle was once more leading me true.
The story itself is a gritty take… No, strike that, not gritty -- dirty; deliciously so. Its rude and vulgar and nasty in places, but for appropriate effect, not just shock (it suits the historical period and characters perfectly), as it plays brilliantly with Medieval mores, foklore and the old fairy tales before they were cleaned up and sweetened for the delight of children. The brothers are an ugly pair, both physically and ethically, drawn from a line of grave-robbers and the tale starts with vicious, brutal, almost casual murders before more fantastical elements flutter in, from the darkened woods which every child knows is home to other worldly creatures and to be avoided, to bizarre creatures in a snowed in village and more. Its not for the easily offended but for those who do pick it up its one of the most original fantasy novels I’ve read in years (if you loved SF writer Richard Morgan’s hardboiled, noir take on fantasy the other year then this is for you) and, much as I love the genre, it’s fair to say it has more than its share of interchangeable generic series, so its immensely refreshing when someone comes along and kicks the genre up its leather britches-covered behind like this. The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart will be making my list of best books of the year; highly recommended.
As gales ravish the land and men with wigs daren’t step outdoors here’s Alex Fitch to give us an excuse to stay inside where its warm and listen to some show; as ever check the Panel Borders site for more details and links to podcasts of previous shows:
Strip! – Ctrl Alt Shift: Lightspeed Champion and Savage Messiah, tonight at 5pm on Resonance FM, podcast afterwards at Panel Borders
Continuing ‘British Mavericks’ month on the show, Alex Fitch looks at the new charity anthology: “Ctrl Alt Shift unmasks corruption”, a collection of short comic strips that mixes seasoned professionals with the work of small press artists and creators from other media who are less well known for working in comics. From the latter group, Alex is talking to Dev Hynes*, better known as the musician Lightspeed Champion, who has a sincere interest in comics that led to the creation of two strips in the anthology. Alex also talks to the cover illustrator Laura Oldfield Ford, whose work can normally be found in fine art galleries in the fields of collage and traditional illustration, but also creates sequential art ‘zines under the name of Savage Messiah…
*(If you want to quibble, Dev was born in Texas but raised in Essex since the age of 2, so he’s an honorary British Maverick)
I’m ready for my close-up: The films of Joseph Strick, Firday 20th at 5pm on Resonance FM
To coincide with the ‘Directorspective’ of the work of Joseph Strick, currently at The Barbican centre in London, Alex Fitch talks to the Oscar Winning director about his career from working as a U.S. Airforce photographer during the Second World War to directing adaptations of challenging texts such as James Joyce’s Ulysses and Portrait of the artist as a young man, Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer and Jean Genet’s The Balcony. A selection of six of Strick’s films will be screened on consecutive days at The Barbican from 19/11/09 and there is also an additional daily screening of a new print of Ulysses (1967) until 26/11/09.
Continuing our month look long at ‘British Mavericks’ – interviews with artists whose work brings aspects of the avant-garde to mainstream comics – Alex Fitch talks to artist Al Davison about his career so far, from early graphic novels based on autobiography such as The Spiral Cage and The Minotaur’s Tale which depict Al’s struggle with his identity as an artist with spina bifida to his most recent book Hokusai: Demons which explores Japanese erotic art and bestiaries based on the artist’s dreams; and also writer Tony Lee joins Alex and Al to discuss the latter’s collaboration with the artist on the American Doctor Who comic which depicts David Tennant’s alter-ego having adventures in 1920s Hollywood. Interviews recorded last month at the British International Comics Show in Birmingham.
In the first of two episodes recorded at this summer’s Alternative Press week, ‘zine creator Dickon Harris talks to a couple of small press creators about their work: writer / artist Paul Rainey, whose comic book paperback The Book of Lists sees the cartoonist collating events from his life into thematic order and poet Ceri May who self publishes her writing at alt. press events. The podcast includes Ceri’s reading of the poems: “All the lost gloves of London”, “There are two types of women” and “When I grow up” and was recorded at The Miller pub on Snowsfield, Borough during Collaborama!… (Edited by Alex Fitch)
In the second of two interviews recorded during the Alternative Press Fair, Dickon Harris talks to comic book writer and artist Paul Ashley Brown about his work outside the St. Aloysius Social Club in Somers Town, London. Dickon and Paul discuss the latter’s latest small press comic – Browner Knowle – and the small press scene in London from Fast Fiction in the 1980s to the present day.
The 15th annual Cartoon Art Trust Awards were given out this week in London’s Mall Galleries, reports Bloghorn. The occasion also marked the 21st birthday of the Cartoon Art Trust, the body behind the Cartoon Museum.
(Climate Talks by and (c) Morten Morland who won the Political Cartoon Award, cheekily pinched from Bloghorn’s article)
The award winners were:
Strip cartoon award: Graham Dury, Davey Jones and Simon Thorp, the artist/editors of Viz
Pocket cartoon award: Matt Pritchett MBE (Matt) of the Daily Telegraph
Joke cartoon award: Robert Thompson of Private Eye, The Oldie, The Spectator and others
Political cartoon award: Morten Morland of The Times
Caricature award: Howard McWilliam of The Week
Young cartoonists of the year: Alex Shaw (under 18) and Nick Edwards (under 30)
The Pont prize for drawing the British Character: Annie Tempest of Country Life. The Pont Award was set up five years ago in memory of Graham “Pont” Laidler, who drew the series The British Character in Punch in the 1930s and 40s.
Lifetime achievement award: Michael Heath of The Spectator, Private Eye and Mail on Sunday. Previous winners of the award have included Raymond Briggs, Ronald Searle, Gerald Scarfe, Fluck and Law, and Trog.
Boilerplate is a fascinating concept – a mockumentary coffee table book dealing with the heroic exploits of Boilerplate – a Victorian Era mechanical man. He crops up everywhere from his creation in 1893 until his disappearance in 1918; possibly making it to the South Pole way before Amundsen, meeting Lawrence of Arabia, serving in WWI and much, much more. Indeed you may well be wondering after a little while why you’ve never heard of Boilerplate before.
Well, the reason is simple; Boilerplate never actually existed. He’s not actually an invention of one Professor Archibald Campion, but the creation of Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett, the husband and wife team most often remembered for their work on Heartbreakers. And with Boilerplate, they’ve created a very unusual book indeed.
(Professor Archibald Balthazar Campion (1862-1938) and his greatest invention: Boilerplate. Chicago, November 1893. From Boilerplate by Guinan and Bennett. Abrams Images.)
The idea of inserting a completely fictional character into key moments in history is in no way new – indeed Woody Allen, with Take The Money And Run and Zelig is credited with inventing the “mockumentary” idea, but it’s been done in literature countless times before then. So Boilerplate is by no means the first book to play with this idea of fictionalised reality. But that really doesn’t matter. What really counts is how well this book reads – and personally I thought it was very good indeed.
We follow the life and times of Boilerplate here from his creation through to his disappearance, taking in much of the major historical events of the times. And in fact, the book is so packed with historical reference that lesser scholars than myself will find themselves scurrying to wikipedia within a few pages. (Okay. I admit, that was me scurrying to wikipedia. My history has never been that good. I blame the teachers). But within Boilerplate you do actually get a nice little history lesson, full of colourful characters, from Teddy Roosevelt to Nicolas Tesla and more, all seamlessly worked into the Boilerplate legend without having to alter the actual facts all that much.
Obviously, as you’d expect now the digital manipulation of the images to put Boilerplate in these situations is perfect, seamless stuff. That’s not the clever bit though – the clever bit is in the writing; Guinan does such a convincing job of mooring Boilerplate in the reality of historical fact that it feels very likely that Boilerplate really existed, and it’s necessary to remind yourself throughout that the robot is a complete fiction – and that, to my mind, is a definite proof that the book does exactly what it’s authors wanted it to.
(A double page spread from Boilerplate to give you an idea of the great design sense at work throughout the book. From Boilerplate by Guinan and Bennett. Abrams Images.)
It’s a beautifully presented Steampunk artbook, every page packed with details in both text and illustrations, and with a nice design sense running throughout. Full of details, illustrations, manipulated photo reference, maps, posters, cartoons, maps and more, all designed to create a completely immersive experience. It really does feel like a historical coffee table book and it’s an engrossing, absorbing, ridiculous read of a book. Full of marvellous history, full of ridiculous invention and a very enjoyable bit of nonsense.
We may have to wait until next year for the promised new edition of Dave McKean’s brilliant Cages, but meantime there’s something rather lovely in this week’s new releases to keep McKean fans going: Pictures That Tick is a large-sized collection of Dave’s shorter comics work from the 90s and early 2000s. And as you’d expect from Dave the art styles and techniques he uses to spin his tales vary enormously in look, feel and method, which is one of the qualities in his work I’ve always admired (and the large size means you can enjoy the art). Treat yourself or else drop very heavy hints to someone close to you that a certain Yuletide season is fast approaching and this would make a person very happy were they to receive it as a gift…
(a panel from one of the short tales in Pictures That Tick by and (c) Dave McKean, published Dark Horse)
As well as playing host to the Eclectic Micks crew the Dublin Forbidden Planet also had the trio of Karl Kerschl, Cameron Stewart and Ramón Pérez signing for fans and creating sketches in the store last weekend as part of their TX Comics European tour, which will also see them at Thought Bubble this weekend (thanks to the FP Dublin crew for the pics, Karl, Cameron and Ramon for coming along and to fans for their support; more pics on our Flickr stream here, click on the pics for the larger versions).
Earlier this year Wim posted on the growth of the French language comics blogosphere (see here), which has now reached a level where even the holies of holies in the Francophone comics calendar, the Angoulème Festival, added a special award recognising online comics work. In his introduction to some of the more interesting French language BD creators online now one of the artists Wim singled out as someone we should be watching out for was Lord Yoyo, who he described as “semi-autobiographical anecdotes from the life of cartoonist and illustrator Johan Vinet, Him Of Orange Hair. Quite funny, often zany or absurd, but never bland.” Well, Lord Yoyo has since been in touch with us to say that he’s also now posting some of his comics blog work in English as well as French, so even if you don’t know any French at all you can still go and enjoy it.
(part of the new English language blog comics from and (c) Lord Yoyo)
by Kieron Gillen, art by Steven Sanders (backup strip by Jamie McKelvie)
Marvel Comics
It’s not that I dislike superheroes, more the fact that I really haven’t got the time to decipher the vast, inter-connected-ness of the modern Marvel or DC Universes. So these days I tend to only dip into the Marvel Universe when I’m confident that I don’t need a Marvel encyclopedia at my side just to figure out the first 4 pages. Hence, this is one of the first Marvel books since Captain Britain and MI-13 and the first Ellis Astonishing X-Men I’ve picked up, purely because the whole Civil War, Secret Invasion thing just turned me off – life really is too short.
But having Kieron Gillen write a space opera featuring characters and situations following on from Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men run seemed a nice idea to me. After all, this is the same Kieron Gillen who writes the oh-so lovely Phonogram. All the pre-release press worked for me as well, with Gillen saying all the right things about S.W.O.R.D. – memorably describing it as:
“My Spacegirl Friday. Fury Nick and Green-haired Nora. Joss Whedon writes Deep Space 9. West Wing in orbit (plus zap-guns). 24 with the neo-con-agenda swapped for gags. The fastest-paced comic Marvel puts out, I think. We move at escape-velocity. IN SPACE NO-ONE HAS TIME TO BREATHE.”
(Kieron Gillen on S.W.O.R.D. in this Newsarama interview)
(Two people who really don’t want to work together; Agent Brand and Agent Gyrich, co-commanders of S.W.O.R.D. From issue 1, by Kieron Gillen, art by Steven Sanders. Marvel Comics.)
In this first issue we get a fastpaced intro to everyone, a lot of character stuff, crackling dialogue and a host of subplots all juggled nicely. The green haired lady on the cover is Agent Abigail Brand; half human, half alien head of Sentient World Observation and Response Department (S.W.O.R.D.) that protects Earth from alien threats. She’s currently dating The Beast; supersmart, blue, furry mutant X-Man (who, for reasons unknown is drawn on John Cassady’s cover as the cat headed version from Astonishing X-Men and inside as some equine/goat faced thingy. That really needs sorting out).
Brand, following the events of Secret Invasion, has to share chairmanship of S.W.O.R.D. with Henry Peter Gyrich, the old Avengers National Security Advisor who seemingly exists in the Marvel Universe to annoy people and be an asshole. Gyrich is up to his usual tricks and is manipulating S.W.O.R.D. against Brand with the aim of ridding Earth of every alien he can, including Brand. So while Brand micro-manages every little problem and jets off into space chasing the old Marvel UK bounty hunter Death’s Head who’s nicked off with her half-brother, Gyrich puts his grand plan into action.
(Beast and Brand’s relationship at work – all based around muffins. Maybe the rejection explains the long face? From S.W.O.R.D. issue 1, by Kieron Gillen, art by Steven Sanders. Marvel Comics.)
We also get reacquainted with Lockheed the dragon, who is far smarter and dangerous than people give him credit for, but is currently pining (and drinking) for his companion of many years – Kitty Pryde, last seen phasing her way out of the solar system inside a moon sized bullet. The whole Kitty/Lockheed thing features more in the Jamie McKelvie illustrated backup story, with Brand filling Lockheed in on the things they’re doing to rescue Kitty and Lockheed secretly visiting UNIT, the super smart, alien robot thing kept locked up in the max security brig and used by Brand as an intelligence source. UNIT is obviously very bad news and will feature again somewhere down the line.
As hopefully will Jamie McKelvie, since his artwork is just lovely. Not that Steven Sanders’ art isn’t good, but, just like his work in Five Fists Of Science (review) it comes across as overly simplistic in places and a bit rushed in others. He’s very good with the sci-fi stuff, but his character art lets him down more often than not. Thankfully there’s enough good in the art to make the comic readable, and with a fun, fast-paced script like this, that’s enough to make it work.
S.W.O.R.D. begins very well indeed – fast, witty, silly, big sci-fi stuff with the characteristic scattershot dialogue of the Ellis, Whedon school of superhero sci-fi writing. If that’s your sort of thing, you’ll be along for the ride. I certainly shall.
S.W.O.R.D. issue 1 is out right now, issue 2 is due mid December.
Over the last few months the Forbidden Planet International blog, Down the Tubes and Fictions have been cross-posting Q&As by Matt Badham with the organisers of various British comic conventions. Our aim is to give the conventions themselves some well-deserved publicity and also to, hopefully, spark a wider debate about what’s good and bad about the convention circuit in this country. (Answers have been edited only in terms of spelling, punctuation and grammar, and not for style or content.)
For this ninth instalment of the series, Matt chatted to Lisa Wood of the Thought Bubble comic convention, just head of this year’s Thought Bubble, which kicks off this weekend in Leeds. (NB: this will be the last of these interviews for the foreseeable future)
MB: Please tell us about a little about the history of the Thought Bubble.
Lisa: Thought Bubble started in 2007. I had been toying with the idea of running some kind of comics based exhibition or a series of workshops and the idea grew from there. I was really keen to bring a comics festival to the UK that was in the same vein as some of the European festivals; something that wasn’t just a convention but a celebration of comics on lots of different levels.
I feel really passionately that comics should be recognized as a valid art form like in France, when they are called the ninth art and regarded very highly. The public’s perception of comics and graphic novels is changing at the moment due to the popularity of comics-based movies. We are not only seeing superhero comic movies at the moment but films such as Road to Perdition, Scott Pilgrim and A History of Violence too, which are all based on great graphic novels.
MB: How is the Thought Bubble funded, by ticket sales, the exhibitors, a grant, some other means or a combination of these?
Lisa: Thought Bubble is funded by Ticket sales and exhibitors. We have also just found out that we have Arts Council funding which is amazing! It is great to know serious funding bodies such as The Arts Council are recognizing the benefits of comic books for learning and literacy. Hopefully this is the beginning of something really special.
MB: What are Thought Bubble’s overall aims?
Lisa: Our aim has always been to bring comics and graphic novels to the mainstream, and to show they can be an excellent educational tool to be embraced by libraries, schools and local councils. We want to put on a great show celebrating the amazing art and writing in comics.
MB: Who is Thought Bubble aimed at? What sort of punters do you hope to attract? Are you family-friendly?
Lisa: We are very family-friendly. We pretty much aim the con at everyone! We try and programme events that will appeal to all ages and types. At our Alea event we host panels, screenings and talks, which are for adults. However, we also run lots of workshops and events especially for young people! We recognise the importance of introducing young people to comic books so the art form can keep growing and growing.
(Yishan Li taking the first Thought Bubble workshop of 2009, pic borrowed from the TB blog)
MB: How effective have you been in getting those kind of people to attend?
Lisa: Because we run as part of the Leeds International Film Festival we tend to get a wide range of people attending our events. We also tend to get people coming along who are just curious, which is great for us because we have the chance to introduce newcomers to this wonderful art-form, this is what we always intended to do.
MB: Can you give a projected (or actual) attendance figure for the Thought Bubble?
Lisa: Figures for our festival and one day convention were: first year convention 500, festival as a whole 1100, our second year convention was 1500, festival as a whole 2500 and we are hoping this year will be 2200 for our convention and 3000 for our festival as a whole.
MB: What lessons have you learned during your time running Thought Bubble, in terms of its marketing and advertising?
Lisa: I think we are still learning how best to approach these areas. We will probably concentrate more on online advertising this year rather than printed matter, just because costs can be so high. The way we have approached this in the past is where possible find in-kind sponsorship. We have worked with various magazines to promote ourselves and in return we have helped promote them. We also work with various shops around West Yorkshire to promote our event as much as possible. Getting people on board to help us spread the word and our brand is invaluable.
MB: Do you use emerging technologies to spread the word about Thought Bubble? Do you have a website or blog, or use email mailing lists?
Lisa: We are really into using social networking sites to spread the word. We are also currently setting up a Youtube account, where we can post our favourite clips and hold competitions. We also have a Wordpress blog that is updated daily at the moment and a Twitter. Our next goal is to record all of our workshops and talks to build up an online library of educational information for anyone and everyone to access.
MB: What about print? Do you use print advertising, have a newsletter, anything like that?
Lisa: Because these cost tend to be fairly high we try and avoid buying adverts in magazines and work on in-kind deals as I mentioned before
MB: What’s the mix in terms of exhibitors at your con? Do you even have exhibitors?
Lisa: We have over 170 exhibitors. The mix is usually, small press 50%, guests and pros 20% and retailers 30%. It changes year on year though.
(last year’s over-16s comic art competition winner by and (c) Kristyna Baczynski)
MB: What are your thoughts on the small press comics scene in this country? Does Thought Bubble support the small press and what form does that support take?
Lisa: We absolutely support the small press scene. We love it! We hold weekly small press features on our blog, highlighting some of our favourite small press people.
MB: How much are the tickets for the Thought Bubble? How did you arrive at that price? Please tell us about any concessions.
Lisa: Our tickets are £8 full price this year, half price for cosplayers and under-12s are free. For this price you get to spend the whole day listening to various talks and have the chance to take part in workshops, watch screenings, meet artists and writers and ask for sketches. It is a tough call trying to keep prices low. venue costs can be really high. There are also lots of hidden costs such as insurance and trading licence, the stage, tables. Running a convention can end up being very pricey. When dealing with ticket prices you need to look at your own costs and what your competition is charging.
(Dan Lester and Oliver Lambden at TB, pic from Richard’s 2008 report)
MB: How much are exhibitor tables for the Thought Bubble? Again, how did you arrive at that figure?
Lisa: Again we try and keep this low where possible, especially for small press as most of the time they end up losing money attending cons. Our small press and professional tables are £40, retailer and publisher tables are £60.
MB: Do you run workshops/events/panels at the Thought Bubble? Please tell us about those and how they are organised.
Lisa: Most or our programme is full of free workshops for young people and adults, our Arts Council funding helps us to do this. We invite industry professionals to come along and let people know how they write or draw and how to get in to the business. Our workshops have been incredibly successful, with most of them selling out before our brochure comes out. So far workshops have been run on a voluntary basis by industry professionals who are kind enough to give us and the public their time.
(video of Thought Bubble by and (c) Russ Entwistle, borrowed from RJaymoon’s YT Channel)
MB: As you’ve been kind enough to answer these questions, please fell free to big the Thought Bubble up a bit. Tell us what you do well, what the Thought Bubble’s main attractions are and why our readers should attend the next one.
Lisa: Thought Bubble is a four-day annual event which celebrates sequential art in all its forms, including everything from superheroes to independent small press. We are a non-profit making organisation dedicated to promoting comics and graphic novels as an important cultural art form. Taking place at a variety of venues across the city, our aim is to cater to both long-time comic book fans and those who have never picked up a graphic novel before!
Thought Bubble will take place 19th -- 22nd November 2009 with a centrepiece one-day convention on Saturday 21st. Thought Bubble will include art and writing based workshops for young people and adults, panels and talks lead by industry professionals and a programme of sequential art related film screenings. The special one-day convention includes an incredible line up of leading artists and writers, and over 150 tables selling comics and merchandise. The day will also feature portfolio viewings and competitions. This promises to be one of the best events of its kind in the UK, where you’ll be able to meet some of your favourite comic book creators and browse the huge selection of memorabilia on sale -- brought to you by the biggest and best exhibitors and dealers from across the country. Keep an eye on the website for more updates, or join us on MySpace or Facebook to share your thoughts and ideas.
FPI would like to thank Lisa for taking time out from a busy schedule to talk to us and Matt for a fascinating series of interviews. This year’s Thought Bubble takes place in Leeds from the 19th to the 22nd of December (you can read Richard’s report on last year’s TB here on the blog). You can read the previous Q&As with other British comics con organisers in this series here on the blog: Comica’s Paul Gravett, Patrick Findlay of the UK Web’n’Mini Comix Thing, Jimi Gherkin of the Alternative Fair Press chats with Matt, Matt talks with Bristol’s Mike Allwood, Hi-Ex’s Vicky Stonebridge, BICS’ Shane Chebsey, Caption’s Jay Eales and LUC’s Oli Smith.
Just as we were preparing this interview the Thought Bubble crew updated us on a whole raft of (mostly free) comics classes that will be running during the weekend for children and adults:
Digital Colouring Masterclass with Peter Doherty. 14:00-15:00, Carrigeworks, FREE, 16+. Famous for his work on The Wachowski Brothers’ Shaolin Cowboy, and Judge Death, Peter will take participants through the stages of how to digitally colour line art in photoshop. A basic understanding of photoshop is required. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com
Sequential Art and Literacy Workshop. 14:00-15:30, Leeds Art Gallery, 12-18 year olds, FREE. Award-winning artist, curator, and academic Sarah Lightman, who trained at ‘Slade School of Art’, will go through the stages of creating your very own publication. She will explain how young people can use the comic format to reflect their own feelings and experiences. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com
Yishan Studio Shojo Manga Workshop with Yishan Li. 14:30-15:30, Leeds Central Library, 7-12 year olds, FREE. Yishan Li, a leading manga artist, and creator of the Yishan Studio ‘How To Draw Manga’ books, will run this fun workshop for younger children. Yishan will take them through the steps of how to create characters and figures. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com
Creation of Computer Game Concept Design. 14:50-16:50, Leeds Central Library, 16+, FREE. Steve Beaumont, character design and storyboard artist, will look at how the two are produced within the video games industry. There will be an opportunity to work from a typical client brief to create a gaming character. Steve will also touch on what the gaming industry looks for to give you a heads up in this ever growing field. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com
Manga Character Art Workshop with Emma Vieceli. 14:50-15:50, Leeds Central Library, 12-18 year olds, FREE. Sweatdrop Studios’ Emma, is well known for her presenting on Anime Network, and her fantastic art on the Manga Shakespeare series. In this session, Emma will demonstrate techniques used in manga styled pages and show participants the foundations needed to create their own characters. This workshop will be fun and informal. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com
Frank Quitely Art Masterclass. 15:15-16:45, Carriageworks, 16+, £5 Entry. Thought Bubble is delighted to welcome Frank Quitely, one of the world’s most respected comic book artists, for a special insider look at his art. Frank is best known for his work on Grant Morrison’s New X-Men, Batman and Robin, and We3. Talking to Peter Dohert of 2000AD fame, Frank will reveal the creative process he employs in this fascinating masterclass. For tickets go to www.thoughtbubblefestival.com
Young People’s Comics Writing Masterclass with Adam Lowe. 16:00-17:00, Leeds Central Library, 12-18 year olds, FREE. Local author Adam Lowe’s first novel, Troglodyte Rose, mixes sequential art and prose. In this workshop for young people, he gives tips on writing scripts for comics, including dialogue, pace, and visual cues in this fun and informal masterclass. Places are limited, book soon to avoid disappointment, email thoughtbubblefestival@googlemail.com
Icelandic singer and all round engima Björk is working with Sjón to create a song especially for a new film being made by the Finnish Filmkompaniet studio and due next year, “Moomins and the Comet Chase”. Hard to think on someone more suitable to sing for a Moomin Troll! I’ve been loving the really beautiful Tove Jansson Moomins collections that Drawn & Quarterly has been publishing over the last couple of years, how lovely to hear of a film too, although I wonder if we will get it in the English language cinema world? Fingers crossed.
(a scene from the first volume of the Complete Tove Jansson Moomin from D&Q)
Fri, Nov 20, 2009 posted by Joe
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