Celtic Conventions: Hi-Ex and 2D Return In 2012

We missed out on mentioning Hi-Ex 2012 in our run-up to Christmas so let's set the record straight now. The fourth Hi-Ex will be taking place on Saturday 31 March and Sunday 1 April on the banks of the river Ness at Eden Court in Inverness.

Guests announced so far include writers Jim Alexander, Michael Carroll, Al Ewing and Ferg Handley, and artists Gary Erskine, John Higgins, Cam Kennedy, Colin MacNeil and Tanya Roberts, who has provided the convention with its fun poster art of Tank Girl, Dredd, Dennis and Gnasher riding Nessie.

Tickets are already available from the Eden Court's website.

There are more details of the event and all the guests on the Hi-Ex website and blog.

The downthetubes reviews of previous Hi-Ex weekends are here - 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Across the water in Northern Ireland the sixth 2D Comics Festival will be taking place in its usual location of the Verbal Arts Centre in Londonderry from Thursday 31 May to Saturday 2 June, with the main full day event of the 2D Comics Fair taking place on the Saturday. As with all the previous 2D Festivals, entrance will be free to everyone and, like Hi-Ex, the event is aimed at all the family.

Also free at 2D are the dealers tables which give small pressers from both north and south of the Irish border a great platform to get their publications and work on display to a wider audience at minimal cost. Guests have yet to be announced but in previous years have included well known names from the British mainland.

There are more details of the 2012 2D Festival on their Facebook page.

The downthetubes review of the 2011 2D is here.

Treating Comics Seriously - Belfast's Linen Hall Library

As part of their Northern Ireland Political Collection Lunchtime Lecture series, this week Belfast's prestigious Linen Hall Library will feature talks on comics and political cartoons.

The Linen Hall Library, opposite Belfast's City Hall, was founded in 1788 and is the oldest library in Northern Ireland's capital city as well as being the last subscribing library in the island of Ireland.

On Tuesday 8 November 2011 Dr Gordon Gillespie will examine comic books and graphic novels produced in response and reaction to Northern Ireland’s political turbulence while on Friday 11 November Linen Hall Librarian John Killen will take his audience on an historical tour of political cartoons created throughout the 20th century.

Both lectures begin at 1pm and are free.

There are more details of the Linen Hall Library lunchtime lectures at the Linen Hall Library website.

Belfast 'Barcamp" announced for comic creators

(with thanks to Andy Luke): The date has been confirmed for the second Comics Barcamp in the English speaking world - essentially an “unconference”, a creative business brainstorming seminar, run along communal lines.

To take place at Blick Studios in Belfast in September, who are also co-sponsors of the event,  this free gathering is aimed at anyone who likes. or creates small press/ underground comix or who simply enjoys non-hierarchical events with an emphasis on spirit of creativity, alternatives and co-operation.

"The communal element is essential," says organiser and comic creator Andy Luke, who has posted more details about the event here on comicsbarcampbelfast, "because if a set number of people don’t take part, barcamp doesn’t happen.

"It relies on advance planning, but has an improvisational element that keeps the energy fresh. It also generally has reverberating effects after the event such as a web-streamed presentations and blogging.

A comic Barcamp is a place where no-one is viewed as the 'star' or put on pedestals, where there's a lack of 'industry experts' and a focus on inclusion and giving the underdog and comix small fries a chance to share their experiences and looking at mutual ways to support each other.

"There's no heavy corporate dominance, dog-eat-dog competition, and no tiny little area to put all the small press and underground comix freaks in to make them feel out of their depth," Andy explains. "This is an event where everyone is welcomed to contribute, have fun, relax and share collaboratively together in a warm and friendly environment.

• Comics Barcamp will take place on Staurday 3rd September at Blick Studios, Malone Road, Belfast. Barcamp is a free event

• Find out more here: www.irishcomicnews.com/september-3rd-uk-irelands-comics-barcamp

• Andy Luke's thoughts on Comics Barcamp in 2009

• Irish Comic News: Gar Shanley and Andy talk about the 2011 Comics Barcamp

In Review: 2D Comics Festival

Last weekend saw Northern Ireland's 2D Comics Festival take place within Londonderry's city walls with entrance, workshops and talks all completely free. Patrick Brown, of Belfast Comics, reviews the event for downthetubes.

The weekend just past saw the fifth 2D Comics Festival in Derry, Northern Ireland. I was there for the fourth time, my third as an exhibitor, and my first with my name in the programme.

Derry (or Londonderry if you insist) is Northern Ireland's second biggest city, after Belfast, which doesn't make it especially big. In the middle, on the west side of the River Foyle, is the Walled City, and at the south end of the Walled City, just inside the Bishop's Gate, right at the top of a steep hill that's a bugger to climb if you're carrying a case full of books, is the Verbal Arts Centre, venue for the daytime portions of the festival. All the way down the hill and out through the Shipquay Gate is Sandinos Bar, venue for the evening bits.

The festival is just what you might expect for something split between a community organisation, dedicated to supporting literacy and storytelling, and a pub. 2D is not big or impersonal or corporate. There's mercifully little fan rancour or jadedness, no division between commercial and small press creators. Nothing gets taken too seriously. All of it, through whatever funding miracle David Campbell, of the Verbal Arts Centre, and his team have been able to conjure up, is free.

At the centre of the event is the open day on Saturday at the Verbal Arts Centre. On the mezzanine floor, a handful of lucky artists are stationed to do the hardcore sketching. I did it a couple of years ago and my hand's still sore. This year the mezzaniners included Gary Northfield from the Beano, Jim Medway from the DFC, Belfast legend Davy Francis (above), late of Oink! and Holy Cross, Vicki Stonebridge of Slaughterman's Creed and the Scottish Hi-Ex convention, and 2000AD's digital genius D'Israeli.

The theme this year was robots, and lots of lucky kids got themselves drawn as a droid by a fantastic artist. The rest of us, including Gar Shanley (right), writer of Supernatural Showcase and simultaneously the most miserable and the funniest man in Irish comics, and Tommie Kelly (far right), rock star, writer-artist and hellraiser, take our places upstairs in the main hall, show off our wares, sell them if we can, and do our fair share of sketching as well. The punters range from your usual thirty-something comic book con crowd, to young families, to teenagers, and I recognised plenty of faces from previous years in the crowd as well as behind tables.

Either side of the main daytime event, on the Friday and Saturday evenings, are the panels, held upstairs at Sandinos and lubricated generously with alcohol. There's a quiz, and the winners get a goodie bag of dreadful comics, including Zwanna, Son of Zulu, a breathtakingly racist comic from the early nineties. On the panels crime novelist Denise Mina admits to feeling like a chancer when writing comics, to pangs of recognition from every writer and artist in the room, and shares her delight at having one of her books adapted to TV. DC's art director Mark Chiarello gets a lecture in how to pronounce his own name from David Hine (Mark says it "Cheer-ello", David knows Italian and insists it should be "Keer-ello"), and gets to speak a little less guardedly than he does at bigger shows - he gets a round of applause for saying he hates Green Lantern, before reassuring us he's only joking.

There is, inevitably, a panel on "breaking into comics", during which Will Simpson (left with Adam Law) does an impersonation of Dave Gibbons that starts off as a recognisable caricature and degenerates into a peculiar cockney barking noise, and Glenn Fabry shares a rather revolting story of the unpleasant habits of a former editor. The Sunnyside Comics podcast panel on digital comics and creative ownership gets a bit rowdy and decides piracy is rude but probably inevitable. All the panellists, especially Rufus Dayglo, genuflect before guest of honour Mick McMahon, a modest and unassuming bloke whose choppy lines and memorable character designs just happen to define the childhood reading experiences of all of us over a certain age.

And then the panels wind up, and we stick around inside and outside the bar, spending the specially printed 2D drink tokens, for as long as our constitutions will let us. I'm a bit of a lightweight I'm afraid, but hair-raising stories reach me of the somewhat NSFW permanent marker 'tattoos' drawn by Deirdre de Barra on Archie Templar's torso, and how Archie's going to explain that to his other half when he gets back to Dublin. Finally, a handful of survivors gather on Sunday morning for breakfast in the local Wetherspoons and set the world to rights over an Ulster fry before heading for home, wherever that is.

2D's a great show. Long may it continue.

Patrick Brown has been creating and self-publishing comics since the mid-1990s. The Cattle Raid of Cooley, his adaptation of the ancient Irish epic Táin Bó Cúailnge, has been serialised on the web since 2008 and is about half done. It, and a selection of his other comics, are available at http://paddybrown.co.uk/.

There are many more photos from 2D 2011 at the following Facebook pages -

2D Festival

Vicki Stonebridge

Ciaran Flanagan

Comics NI: The 2D Collective

When we mentioned the date and guests details for the 2011 2D Comics Festival in Londonderry’s Verbal Arts Centre at the start of June, we also mentioned the group of small press creators from the city that go by the name of the 2D Collective. Collective organiser Kevin “Gio” Logue has been in touch to give us more details about the group and what they are currently working on.

“The 2D Collective came together through the Verbal Arts Centre. David Campbell (the Centre’s artist in residence and 2D Festival organiser) had organised a 15 week course entitled Comic and Digital Illustration where he, being a Marvel trained colourist, taught us how to make finished comic art. All those who passed the course where called back a month after finishing and David informed us that the Verbal Arts Centre would like to give us the chance to put together an anthology for the 2009 2D Comics Festival and so we became the 2D Collective.

“The Fear anthology was given way free at the festival that year to promote both local talent and the Verbal Arts Centre having just started their own printing and publishing company. The anthology had a fantastic cover by Gary Leach and also contained one shot pages from the majority of those who were guests at 2D that year, including the six members of the Eclectic Micks blog to name but a few.

“After the Festival we stayed together as a group, meeting up once a week in a library/bar and caught the attention of the Greater Shantallow Community Arts program. They invited us down to their centre were they told us they had the funding to put together a Derry based comic anthology. So with what seemed like a sure thing we started into If Stones Could Speak. The book is now finished but unfortunately the funding that was granted to us at the start of the project was reconsidered as the recession sunk in and cut backs were made. However we have been promised that the book will see print in time for the 2D Festival this year.

“2D, I do love it. It’s not big in any way, a very grass roots festival but this year the guest list is looking fantastic with artist John Higgins and DC art director Mark Chiarello already confirmed. The main craic is with the talks at night in the upstairs of Sandino’s bar.

“The 2D Collective at this moment is on solo missions but still contributing to the blog when we can. But we shall be together at the 2D Festival promoting ourselves, sketching, hopefully brewing some new projects and, all being well, finally letting If Stones Could Speak see the light of day.”

You can see more of the work of the 2D Collective on their blog and see previews of pages from the If Stones Could Speak anthology on its blog.

The 2011 2D Comic Festival will take place in Derry/Londonderry between Thursday 2 and Saturday 4 June 2011 and there are more details on the 2D website and Facebook page.

You can see more of Gio’s work on his own blog.

A Decade Of Irish Comics Events

Having recently featured posts both on Comics In Northern Ireland and Scottish Comics Events, Belfast Comics organiser Paddy Brown has been in touch to effectively combine the two by pointing us in the direction of the Irish Comics Wiki. This Wiki includes a listing of comics events in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland stretching back as far as the year 2000.

The listing for 2010 shows that last year's events ranged from the regular comics pub meeting in Belfast to comic jams in Dublin, from a manga and anime convention in Dublin to a gaming convention in Belfast, from workshops in Belfast to signings by comics artists in Dublin.

The list does show that the events tend to be centred on the two Irish capitals (although much the same could be said of Scottish events which are heavily biased towards Edinburgh and Glasgow) but Paddy does point out that since the Irish events lists are part of a publicly editable Wiki then anyone knowing of an event that is not currently on the list is able to add it themselves.

The Irish Comics Wiki is here with the Irish events listings here.

The Belfast Comics blog is here.

Comics In Northern Ireland

With the good news of the return of 2D, Northern Ireland's Comics Festival, for its fifth year in the Verbal Arts Centre in Londonderry at the beginning of June, perhaps it is an appropriate time to take a look at what else is happening comics-wise in the Province.

In Derry, 2D has inspired and supported local small pressers who have combined into the 2D Collective. As well as a blog the Collective has published, with the help of the Verbal Arts Centre, two collections of comics, Fear and If Stones Could Speak.
There are more details about the 2D Collective on their blog.

Meanwhile Belfast has already played host this year to the Guardian's political cartoonist Steve Bell who gave a talk at the Out To Lunch Arts Festival in January. Also in Belfast the Crescent Arts Centre is currently running two ten week long courses, an illustration class with David Haughey entitled Visual Narrative which runs on Wednesday evenings and a Cartoon Masterclass with John Farrelly which runs each Saturday.
There are more details of the Crescent Arts Centre courses on their website.

For Ulster otaku the Forbidden Planet International store in Belfast (despite still being called "Talisman" by some locals) has joined in with the rest of the UK stores in arranging manga evenings, including quizzes, cosplay and money off offers with the last one being just this week.
There are more details of their events at the FPI Belfast Facebook page.

Also in Belfast there is a regular meeting of local comics people, both small press and professionals, in the Cloth Ear bar at the Merchant Hotel in Waring Street. They also run a well designed and informative blog under the simple name of Belfast Comics using the Belfast Big Fish as their logo. If that wasn't enough they also sell both their own small press comics and those of other creators from both north and south of the Irish border at the monthly Black Market indoor indie/alternative fair at the Black Box arts venue in Belfast. The next Black Market will be held on Sunday 6 March.
There are more details of the Belfast Comics group on their blog and details of their meetings are listed on their Facebook page.

The downthetubes Comics Events calendar is available for Northern Ireland organisers (as well as those in the rest of the UK) to advertise their events for free, and while tagged as British Comics Events, we are more than happy for organisers in the Republic Of Ireland to use it to promote their events as well.

2D 2011: Brush Strokes In Stroke City

2D, held at the Verbal Arts Centre in Londonderry, is the UK's most westerly comics convention and for the last four years it has been the largest comics event in Northern Ireland if not the whole island of Ireland. This year's event will take place between Thursday 2 and Saturday 4 June 2011.

While Derry's recent troubled history overshadow's much of its past, from the 3 month long siege in 1689 to the surrender of the Nazi U-Boats in 1945, as the UK's first City Of Culture in 2013 the city's future looks bright. In a city so full of history it is unsurprising that the 20th century Verbal Arts Centre is in the former 19th century First Derry School located on the 17th century walls of the city.

2D organiser David Campbell works as the artist in residence at the Verbal Arts Centre and, in a move that must leave other UK convention organisers green with envy, is able to get 100% arts funding for 2-D meaning that all the various events and workshops that make up 2-D are completely free. This even extends to the sales tables allowing not just dealers but also local, and not so local, small pressers to get their work seen by the public. Indeed a small press group, the 2D Collective, has grown up around the convention.

We tend to use the term 'convention' to describe many types of comics gatherings from small press get-togethers like Caption to large professionally organised events with major international names such as Kapow - two events that couldn't be more different. The mainland convention that 2D is most similar to is Thoughtbubble in Leeds and, like Thoughtbubble, 2D describes itself as a 'festival' with different events taking place at different times over several locations but with a main weekend daytime event bringing together signings, sketches, cosplay and sales tables which takes place in the Verbal Arts Centre. Evening discussion sessions are held in the less formal surroundings of Sandinos Café Bar at the opposite corner of the city walls towards the banks of the River Foyle.

Previous 2D guests have included major names such as Pat Mills, David Lloyd and Bryan Talbot while many local artists including familiar names such as Will Simpson and PJ Holden also take part. Guests already scheduled for 2011 include DC Art Director Mark Chiarello, writer Denise Mina and artists John Higgins, Dave Taylor, Gary Northfield, Jim Medway, Garry Leach and Rufus Dayglo.

Northern Ireland's physical separation from the rest of the UK has been something of a barrier to 2D being accepted by comics fans as part of the regular convention circuit as it is not a simple car or train journey from the majority of UK addresses. Yet considering that some fans from the opposite ends of the country take flights to get to conventions in Bristol, London or Inverness, the flights (or ferry) to get to Northern Ireland really shouldn't be seen as a step too far.

There are more details of 2011's 2D convention on its Facebook page and website which includes travel advice on how to get to Derry/Londonderry and accommodation suggestions once there.

There are more details of previous 2D conventions at the Irish Comics Wiki.

Comics @ Belfast Urban Arts Academy

With its own comics convention, 2-D, at the start of June and the Belfast Telegraph newspaper having just given away a second set of free DC Thomson reprint comics over the course of a week, Northern Ireland has an active comics culture. To add to this the Urban Arts Academy are running a summer course in comic book art.

Taking place at the impressive Waterfront Hall in Belfast from 19-23 July 2010 the Urban Arts Academy Comicbook Illustration course will be lead by brothers William and Ken Simpson of Rogue Rocket who produce animation, storyboards and comic strips. Will Simpson of course has worked on titles such as Warrior, 2000AD, Batman and Hellblazer as well as storyboards for films shot in Northern Ireland such as City Of Ember and Closing The Ring.

The course is aimed at participants of 15 years and older with some experience of storytelling, design and drawing and will teach the students not just penciling and inking techniques but character development and storytelling as well. The cost is £60 and more details can be found on the Belfast Waterfront website.

In addition there will be short comicbook illustration workshops for children at the Belfast Waterfront on the weekend of 29/30 May 2010 as part of the Festival in a Weekend Urban Arts Akidemy. These four workshops run for half a day each and allow the children to design their own comic book hero and story. The two workshops on the Saturday are for ages 8-11 and on the Sunday for ages 12-14 and tickets are £7 for each workshop. Again more details are available on the Belfast Waterfront website.

Will Simpson will also be appearing at the free 2-D Comics Festival which takes place at the Verbal Arts Centre in Londonderry from 3-5 June 2010.

New Doctor And Companion To Visit Their Hometowns

As part of the pre-publicity for the new series of Doctor Who due to start on BBC1 at Easter, new Doctor, Matt Smith, and Karen Gillan, who plays new companion Amy Pond, will be undertaking a short publicity tour.

As well as Matt Smith's hometown of Northampton and Karen Gillan's hometown of Inverness they will also visit Belfast, Salford and Sunderland.

The tour takes in the five locations in three days beginning in Belfast on Monday 29 March and concluding in Salford on Wednesday 31st March. Each location will have a screening for local children of the first episode of the new series, The Eleventh Hour, written by the series' new show runner Steven Moffat.

• The trailer for the new series is available on the BBC Doctor Who website while there are more details of the tour on the BBC News website.