Our colleagues in our Dublin store (Facebook link) are running a special Christmas charity drive with a number of artists generously giving their time and talents to create their own designs for the hugely popular Munny figures, with the designs being raffled off to raise money for The Children’s Medical & Research Foundation, Dublin Simon Community and the Tempe Street Children’s University Hospital. It’s a lovely though, especially at this time of year when we’re supposed to try and think more of others, so Irish peeps, please give them some support and spread the word.

Best Self Published Irish Artist (includes pencilers, inkers, colourists)

Alan Nolan

Best Self Published Irish Writer

Mike Lynch

Best Mainstream Published Irish Artist (includes pencilers, inkers, colourists)

Nick Roche

Best Mainstream Published Irish Writer

Garth Ennis

Best Irish Webcomic

The Cattle Raid of Cooley

Best Irish Self Published Comic

League of Volunteers

Best Irish Creator Mainstream Published Comic

Thunderbolts

Best Irish Comic Related Blog Or Podcast (ICN is exempt)

The Pubcast

Best Irish Comic Shop

Dublin City Comics

Overall Best Irish Comic

League of Volunteers

Hall Of Fame (individual)

Garth Ennis

Hall Of Fame (comic)

Mister Amperduke

Voting is now open for the 2011 Irish Comic News Awards, with categories ranging over several areas, including best Irish creator in mainstream comics, best self published Irish work (and the small press scene in Ireland seems to be coming along very nicely right now, I’m pleased to say), best webcomic and best Irish comic store – the latter being a category where you can offer up support for not one but two of our branches, FPI Dublin and Belfast (hint!). (link via PJ Holden, who himelf is up for nomination)

That fine chap Declan Shalvey will be forcibly dragged away from his drawing desk this Wednesday (21st September) to sign copies of the brand new Thunderbolts issue he created the artwork for as well as his new sketchbook. Declan will be in our Dublin store from 2 to 4pm on Wednesday so, Irish peeps, come on down and give some support!

Tomorrow, Saturday 3rd, sees the first Nothern Irish Barcamp at Blick Studios, Malone Road, in the fine city of Belfast, from 9 to 6 – organiser and no mean comics creator himself Andy Luke explained what it’s all about here on the blog earlier this week. Look forward to hearing from those of you going along to the Irish Barcamp – let us know how it all goes!

DriveThruComics.com carry the credentials of being “the first download comic shop”. They carry a range of works from high profile publishers. Which is part of the reason why I was particularly glad to receive a mail from their Publisher Relations manager last night informing me DriveThru would be sponsoring Belfast Comics Barcamp.

A Bar Camp is not a tent in a pub. Those in the know will already tell you that it’s an event of intense discussion, seminars and demos with attendee participation at it’s heart. The Comics Camp has been an aspiration of mine since talking it over with Matt Badham in 2008 and attending Apache’s Oxford Barcamp (‘BarCamp’ relates to an IT industry joke from years ago)

Despite the misleading name, Barcamp does have a structure; built from discussions via Twitter, email, or where-ever, topics attendees wish to explore arise. So in a sense, the camp has already begun. At present planning for the #comicscamp is under-way on sessions around writer pitching, portfolio hawking, digital distribution, motivation, funding and sales outlets. For a little extra jazz, the schedule is decided upon on the day, when confirmed group facilitators rush to place post-it notes upon an “open-grid” timetable.

The associated communal management and growth makes a barcamp a more interesting event to me than a comics convention. Also, rather than place a star on a panel with two or three other ‘credibles’, a facilitator will present a topic which an audience will proceed to break down, chirp in, inform, provide and maybe begin to re-shape. Everyone is considered a guest, and an ideal of the camps are for all to be treated this way. The events are mainly concerned with building knowledge, business contacts and solutions. Of course, fill a few conference rooms with creative minds and you’ll most definitely get a multitude of unforeseen and exciting different tangents than those you’d planned. (At the urging of Paddy Brown I’ve proposed a meta-objective of “creating a commercially sustainable Irish comic” which should help as a primer for some)

Traditionally the barcamp is sponsored by several relevant local and international businesses. Venue hosts Blick Studios have given us a reduced rent, refreshments and full use of presentation equipment. The contribution from DriveThru Comics will go towards rent and helps to allows for the event to be free. In exchange, Blick and DriveThru get our thanks online and visibly on-site, as well as on recorded or streamed presentations, merchandise. They also get the opportunity of having flyers available to attendees and the satisfaction of involvement in local community media and business growth.

The event occurs on Saturday 3rd September at Blick Studios, Malone Rd, Belfast from 9 to 6pm. For best results check out the wiki and pre-register if you’re attending. There’s also the obligatory Facebook page and you can keep an eye on the event on Twitter using the #comicscamp hashtag.