CamCon 2012 lines up its guests

A new British comic convention will take place in May and has an impressive line-up of guests that includes longtime indie creator Glenn Dakin, 2000AD artist Leigh Gallagher and many others.

The brainchild of Ziggy Newman, CamCon - Cambridge's new comic/cult convention - will take place at the The Junction J2 on 12th May 2012. Guests announced so far include manga creator Sonia Leong, Glenn Dakin, Leigh Gallagher, Emma Vicelli and Murky Depths editor Terry Martin.

"Basically this is a project I have set up and funded myself using money I raised in my gap year," Ziggy tells us. "It is the first of its kind in East Anglia and I have set it up because of my strong interest in pop/geek culture and want to share it with others."

This brand new convention dedicated to comics, anime fandom, gaming, alternative fashion and everything else wickedly cool will include guest talks from manga and other comic creators, a Cosplay Masquerade, Manga Drawing Workshops, Live bands, Gaming Tournaments, an Alternative Fashion Show and more.

- For more information visit www.thecamcon.com or the a facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/camcon/.

 

Age of the Wolf set to return to 2000AD

The claws are out for the return of post-apocalyptic werewolves series, Age of the Wolf, to 2000AD early next year.

Lycanthrope-hunting heroine Rowan Morrigan is to return to the weekly comic in February 2012 in Age of the Wolf: She is Legend.

It's the second chapter in the fast-moving fantasy series – in which a spellbound moon has turned half the earth’s population into ravenous werewolves – by writer Alec Worley (Dandridge, Six Brothers) and Eagle Award-nominated artist Jon Davis-Hunt (Judge Dredd, Transformers), and it stars one of the strongest female characters to emerge from 2000AD in recent years: a reluctant action heroine who’s more than a match for the ‘Big Bad Wolf’.

In the series, London has become a primordial forest in which surviving humans are being hunted to extinction. And there are worse things than lycanthropes lurking among the overgrown ruins of the city. The fortified remains of Buckingham Palace have been taken over by a ruthless gang of slavers, the Skinners: Harry, a hulking neo-Nazi with a sinister secret, his sister Kate, a sadistic huntress with a score to settle, and their merciless matriarch ‘Granny’.

While the forest community face slavery or death, the only thing standing in the Skinners’ way is a mysterious red-haired woman known among those she protects as ‘Little Red Robin Hood.’

With this and more thrill-drenched series launching in 2000AD over the coming year, now’s the perfect time to jump aboard and buy this year’s 100-page Christmas special.

Prog 2012 features a circuit-shattering line-up of seasonal thrills including classic titles Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Nikolai Dante and Sinister Dexter, alongside stories from newcomers Dandridge and Absalom.

This issue also sees the launch of two brand new thrills: sci-fi drama Grey Area by Dan Abnett and Karl Richardson, and ancient Roman action fantasy Aquila by Gordon Rennie and Leigh Gallagher.

• 2000AD Prog 2012 is now on sale. For print and digital subscription details visit www.2000adonline.com

MCM Expo attracts host of comic creators

The first MCM Expo in Manchester, taking place tomorrow (Saturday 30th July) has gathered a strong line up of comic creators alongside its TV and film guests.

Warpaint and 2000AD artist John McCrea, artists Leigh Gallagher, Stephen Downey, Al Davison and writer Antony Johnston are just a few of the creators expected at the event, along with indie creators such as Lizz Lunney, Sergeant Mike Battle creator Graham Pearce, Rob Jackson and Adam Cadwell.

Joining them will be independent publishers such as Time Bomb Comics and Accent UK.

Taking place at the Manchester Central venue, the event will also see appearances by Red Dwarf star Craig Charles; Sarah Jane Adventures actress Anjili Mohindra and actors Warwick Davis and Kenny Baker.

• There's more info on the event at: www.manchestermcmexpo.com

Comic creators rally to help Japanese disaster victims

(with thanks to The Emperor over on the downthetubes Forum): Regular readers will recall our announcement about a Charity Comic organised by the Comic Book Alliance to raise funds for the victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami (see news story).

In addition to that, here's a rundown of just some of the many charity projects or offerings being made by comic creators to raise funds...

From Tharg's droids:

• Leigh Gallagher's contribution is offering to draw your favourite 2000AD character and is contributing to the Genre for Japan, a science fiction, fantasy and horror auction in aid of the Red Cross Japanese Tsunami Appeal which ends today (at midnight BST, Sunday 3rd April)

• Frazer Irving is offering a unique print of the cover he did for the Solaris Books novel Kultus

• Al Ewing is giving his fans the chance to appear in his next Pax Britannica novel Pax Omega

The folks on the 2000AD forum have come up with a few offerings:

• A 4-page Jikan story (the character from Paragon comics) with a number of small pressers chipping in

• Wayne Simmons is offering a number of copies of his zombie novel Flu

• Duncan Fegredo has  a Hellboy drawing up as part of Dark Horse's fund-raising for the Red Cross' efforts in Japan

• Neill Cameron has begun his Awesome Japan A-Z (see news story)

• For the Comic Book Alliance, contributors signed up include Jon Haward and many others

• For more information about the CBA project read our news story; if you would like to take part please contact Tim Pilcher by email via  foundersATcomicbookalliance.co.uk for further details about formats, deliveries, or any other questions you might have. 

• The Comic Book Alliance:  www.comicbookalliance.co.uk

In Review: Thought Bubble 2009

The weather gods seem to have it in for comics conventions. Hi-Ex is already infamous for its snow while this year, despite the rains that brought misery to Cumbria, Leeds was dry on the morning of Saturday 21 November but foggy – very foggy. The road layout in the centre of Leeds is, shall we say, challenging for non-locals but fortunately Saviles Hall is opposite the Royal Armouries museum in Clarence Dock so it was just a case of following the brown Armouries signs as they loomed out of the murk.


It also seems like the flu gods had it in for convention reviewers. downthetubes Matt Badham, after all the good work he had put into promoting not just Thought Bubble but all the other comics conventions this year, was rewarded with a severe dose of the lurgy and couldn't make it. For that matter neither could Forbidden Planet International’s Richard Bruton as he had been similarly afflicted. With the A team incapacitated, welcome to Plan B.


The Dangerous Book For Boys and Scotch Corner artist Graeme Neil Reid had enticed me away from DC Thomson-land and the old comics of Bear Alley into the world of Manga cosplay and American superhero comics to help him out on his table selling artwork, books and sketches, so rather than a full review of Thought Bubble think of this as edited highlights of my few escapes from a sales table.


Clarence Dock has been completely redeveloped over the last number of years becoming a marina surrounded by a multitude of modern flats. Indeed Saviles Hall, for all its size inside, is one of the smallest buildings in the whole complex.


Set-up was simple and swift as we were early, as was Hunt Emerson and a few others at the far end of the artists’ row. That said putting numbers on the sales tables themselves would probably have helped the army of red shirted volunteers find their targets quicker as we soon lost count of the number of them going past muttering “…40, 41, 42, 43…” under their breath as they took yet another artist to their unidentified table.


It was the calm before the storm. The doors opened at 10am and half an hour later the hall was busy and it stayed that way for the majority of the day. Indeed even during the talks in the curtained area at the opposite corner from us, the hall remained busy and the queues for the big name guests turned the far end of the hall into a sea of bodies. Reports from those returning from the distant land of Far End suggested the queues were often an hour long and yet, despite the wait, everyone seemed extremely happy with what they came away with.


Of course part of the fun for those behind the tables is discovering who your neighbours are and we were lucky to be joined by 2000AD artist Leigh Gallagher on one side and Rainbow Orchid’s Garen Ewing on the other.


With copies of his Defoe 1666 graphic novel to sell, Leigh spent the day sketching for fans while being fuelled by Krispie Kreme doughnuts and coffee. On the other side, Garen politely had a cup of tea before beginning to sketch in, and autograph, copies of his bande dessinee style Rainbow Orchid graphic novel.


But there was more going on than just Thought Bubble with the academic comics conference Possibilities And Perspectives being held in the nearby Alea Casino which proudly boasted on its exterior of its 2 gambling floors, 2 restaurants and 5 bars. This began at lunchtime by which time Leeds was being drenched by rain.


The conference had been organised by Ian Hague of the University of Chichester and ran all afternoon beginning with two keynote speeches, “The Use Of Style And Storytelling Techniques In The Tale Of One Bad Rat” by writer and artist Bryan Talbot and the London University Of The Arts Roger Sabin with “Mavericks and Zinesters: Comics Scholarship in the UK before Comics Scholarship”. In this context ‘Mavericks and Zinesters’ were defined as journalists, collectors, fans and academics writing in a non-academic context, in other words virtually everything that has ever been written about comics throughout the years. This then opened up to a debate as to whether academics should disassociate themselves with comics fandom in general and even, remarkably, from comics professionals as well. While no conclusion to this discussion was reached, considering at that point that there were probably a couple of thousand people at the convention with only a couple of dozen at the conference, the academics probably need us rather more than we need them.


Back in Saviles Hall I took the chance to dive into the sea of people at the far end to catch Dan Dare artist and Scotch Cornerer Gary Erskine doing his best impression of Michael Jackson while trying to keep up with the requests for sketches. One of these days a downthetubes convention review will include a photo of Gary’s face and not just the top of his head – but not today.


Moving over into small press territory, Dave Evans (or BOLT-01 if you prefer) was on the Futurequake Press showing off the latest editions of 2000AD zine Zarjaz and Strontium Dog zine Dogbreath which has reached an impressive 21 issues throughout its various incarnations. More details of Futurequake’s titles can be found on their website.


Next came Graham Pearce and his tongue-in-check take on the Action Force/GI Joe style of comics with Sgt Mike Battle: The Greatest American Hero. The Mike Battle title has now reached issue 14 and more details can be found on Graham’s website.


Further up the same row were Steve Tanner and his wife Suzanne of Time Bomb Comics. Steve’s remarkable jackets are almost as bright as Suzanne’s smile and they were showing off their latest titles including the graphic novel The Furies. They also had previews on display of various 2010 titles including artist Keith Page’s London Calling. The artist for Timebomb’s The Sisterhood title, Dan Barritt, was also there selling posters of his work on the title which Steve describes as “space nuns with guns” but could more intriguingly be described as “The Beano does Durham Red”. More details of all Timebomb titles are on their website.


Also over the far side of the hall was Dave Hitchcock selling his unusual horror title Gothic. Gothic has been out for a while now but remains unique amongst British small press in being a 48 page, mainly black and white, tabloid published on newsprint paper which makes it a completely different tactile experience. There are more details of Gothic on Dave’s blog.

Hidden away in one corner was Francesca Cassavetti of Fabtoons. Francesca is best known for her book on new parents, The Most Natural Thing in the World, which got great reviews here on downthetubes and on the FPI blog, but she also had more titles for sale including Striptacular, Party Pieces and Sole Searching which, unsurprisingly, is about buying shoes. More details of Francesca’s titles are on her website.


Just over from Francesca was John Maybury and Space Babe 113. These adult themed, tongue-in-cheek, science fiction comics feature John’s very minimalist art which show just how few lines of art it can take to tell a comic length story. As Space Babe converses with her artificially intelligent knickers, the art often appears to show little more of her than a bikini and her hair do, and yet it has a charm all of it own. More details of the Space Babe 113 titles are on John’s website.


And last, but certainly not least, there was the enormous stall given over to Olivier Cadic’s Cinebook titles. Olivier (in the centre of the photo) publishes English translations of Franco-Belgian bande dessinees albums and in a few short years has grown into a force to be reckoned with. Their titles range from the humourous Lucky Luke to the thoughtful Chimpanzee Complex, via the fantasy of Thorgal and the science-fiction of Aldebaran. With special deals for multiple purchases, Olivier and his team seemed to always be busy with sales as well as fielding the complements of the many purchasers and readers of their titles. With the first of their Spirou and Fantasio titles out now, featuring one of Belgium’s longest running and best known comics characters, as well as the popular espionage thriller XIII due to begin publication next year, Cinebook look as if they have a very secure future ahead of them. More details of their titles can be found at the Cinebook website.


Not having been to a Thought Bubble before I can’t say if it was as busy as in previous years but it didn’t seem to have been too badly affected by the recession as it was bustling with many happy punters.

Congratulations to Lisa Wood and her team of organisers and volunteers for an enjoyable day as well my thanks to Leigh Gallagher and Garen Ewing and their respective partners, Niki and Ellie, for being such good neighbours.

There are many more photos from Thought Bubble on Matthew Kitchen’s Flickr account.

Tube Surfing 6 July 2009: Scotch Corner, Harker, Tom Baker, Bodysnatchers and Cricket

• Those pesky Scottish creators are attempting another coup of downthetubes with a reminder that Scotch Corner, a collection of Scottish artists, is up and running. The fine team from north of the border include Thomas Crielly, Gary Erskine, Andy Hepworth, Jon Hodgson and Graeme Neil Reid.
"Every day there will be a new piece of art posted, each artist posting on a certain day," says Thomas" We kicked off last Wednesday so have a look and feel free to comment on the images."
The blog will also feature the work of guest artists: on Sunday, Leigh Gallagher kindly provided this splendid 2000AD-inspired image.

• A quick reminder that the London Film and Comic Con takes place later this month (Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th July) at Earl's Court 2. As well as media guests such as Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap, Star Trek: Enterprise), Tom Baker (Doctor Who), Bruce Boxleitner (Babylon 5, Heroes) and Eve Myles (Torchwood), comics creators such as Spider-Man artist Lee Townsend, The Beano's Henry Davies, Doctor Who Magazine's Mike Collins, John Charles and Al Davison are also on the guest list, as well as publishers such as Orang Utan Comics. More info via www.londonfilmandcomiccon.com/.

• ComicBitsOnline has a round up of all the new Classics Illustrated titles now on sale in British newsagents, which include digitally enhanced editions of Mutiny on the Bounty, Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. You can also subscribe to the series online via the official web site at: http://www.classicsillustrated.co.uk

• Brilliant British cartoonists news site Bloghorn - for some reason, often a breed apart from comics artists, although I'm never sure why or how that happened - reports the Chris Beetles Gallery in London will stage A Celebration of Cricket: From Ashes to Zooter from 15th July 15 until 8th August.
Encompassing 200 years of cricket and featuring illustrations and watercolours, more than half the show will be devoted to cartoons, including the work of Glen Baxter, Mark Boxer, Tony Husband, Jak, John Jensen, Larry, Nick Newman and many more.
The Chris Beetles Gallery, is at 8 and 10 Ryder Street, St James’s, London (nearest Tube Green Park or Piccadilly Circus) is open Monday to Saturday, 10am – 5.30pm. The gallery’s website can be found at www.chrisbeetles.com

• 2000AD and Star Wars artist Colin Wilson reports he's got his own web site. "After 14 years of maintaining a website, I've finally got myself a domain name. With my old ISP cutting me off a lot quicker than expected, thanks to Wolfgang at Gestalt my comic work, in all its glory, can now be found here (http://web.mac.com/wilco440). Who knows, I might even have the time to update the site one day...."

• Over on the Forbidden Planet International blog, Richard Bruton has given a glowing review to the latest issues of indie detective comic treat Harker, the work of York-basd publishers Ariel Press, which we had no hesitation in plugging earlier in the year. "Harker issue 1 & 2 were reviewed a few weeks back. The verdict: I thought it was great," he opens. "So with issues 3 & 4 I was really hoping it was going to live up to the promise of the first issues. Well, [Roger] Gibson & [Vince] Danks have taken that promise and really gone for it. If 1 & 2 established the characters and setting and dastardly plot, then 3 & 4 are where they relax and open out into the story some more. It’s still completely fantastic genre stuff but it just gets better and better and better here."
Issue 5 is already on the shelves at Traveling Man in York and is winging its way to the other stores Ariel supply over the next day or so. If your local comic shop doesn't supply it, please ask them to drop me an email: roggibson1@aol.com - we'd be very happy to supply them, and will make it very easy for them (and even offer them a really good rate). Read the full review here or find out more about the comic at www.arielpress.com

• Talking of indie publishers, head over to Insomnia Publications blog where, after a whole host of new titles and projects were announced last week, various art trailers for them also now feature. Upcoming titles include Burke and Hare by Martin Conaghan (interviewed about the project here) and Will Pickering, Oz: Fall Of The Scarecrow King by Barry McGowan, Damaged Goods: Manifestation by Mark Chilcott and Butterflies and Moths by Jennie Gyllblad. Head there now, or take a gander at their Burke and Hare preview on myebook...