Thought Bubble official hotel announced, event plans promise snapshot of UK comic industry

The Leed-based comics festival Thought Bubble has just made a number of announcements - includinga remindert that this major comics event has been expanded over a week with a massive two day comic con.

"Since our biggest and most successful Thought Bubble festival in 2010 we have been busy making plans for the 2011 edition," says Festival Director Lisa Wood, "and we think it's going to be an unmissable event for comic book and graphic novel fans all over the country."
The biggest celebration of comic books, graphic novels and animated storytelling in the UK returns to Leeds this November, as Thought Bubble presents its most exciting programme to date. Celebrating its fifth year, the festival has been extended over a week from 14th – 20th November 2011 with a jam-packed programme of events including a fantastic programme of free interactive workshops & masterclasses in venues across Leeds and West Yorkshire for both young people and adults - with activity for beginners as well as more experienced writers and artists.

The centrepiece to the Thought Bubble festival is the massive, annual comic convention and this year it will take place over two days instead of one.

"We'll be using two of Leeds' largest exhibition halls, Saviles Hall and Royal Armouries Hall in the Clarence Dock area of Leeds to present the spectacular event," says Lisa. "The convention is now the largest in the UK and welcomes some of the biggest industry names in comics and graphic novels to Leeds to celebrate their work."

In 2011, over 50 leading writers and artists will attend the convention and guests will include Tim Sale, an Eisner Award winning artist whose work, including concept drawings for the TV show Heroes, has received widespread acclaim and Adam Hughes, one of the most respected artists currently working in the medium and responsible for the most popular and well loved DC comic book covers.

The weekend long convention will also welcome hundreds of exhibitors from brilliant small press artists and writers, to major UK retailers offering something for all comic book fans, all spread across three hundred tables in two halls. Aspiring artists and writers in our region are also encouraged to bring along their art portfolios as representatives from Marvel, 2000 AD and Self Made Hero will be on hand to give advice, and be on the look-out for the next big thing in comics.

The full Thought Bubble festival programme, along with full guest line up and venue details will be announced in Ocotober 2011, but comic con tickets are on sale now and cost just £18.00 for a weekend pass. Day tickets which provide full access to the convention on either the Saturday or the Sunday cost £10.

As with previous Thought Bubble comic conventions the entire event is free for the under 12's with tickets and passes availble on the day.

The official Thought Bubble hotel is the Leeds Marriott Hotel - the exclusive hotel partner of the Festival. The four star, 244-room hotel is located in the heart of Leeds City Centre, a stone's throw from Leeds train station and just a ten minute walk from the Thought Bubble Comic Convention in Saviles Hall and Royal Armouries Hall.

• Tickets are available to purchase online at http://www.thoughtbubblefestival.com/ or in person and by phone at the City Centre Box Office in Leeds on Millennium Square, tel: 0113 2243801. The first 500 people to purchase a weekend pass will also gain entry to the VIP convention after party at the Alea Casino on Saturday 19 November.

• Join the Thought Bubble social networking communities for the latest information and discussion - http://twitter.com/thoughtbubbleuk and http://www.facebook.com/thoughtbubblefestival

• This is the 3000th post on the downthetubes blog. Yay us and thanks for reading!

In Review: XIII - The Night Of August Third

Who is XIII?

Book 1 - Mr Alan Smith?
Book 2 - Captain Steve Rowland?
Book 3 - Prisoner Steve Rowland?
Book 4 - Corporal Ross Tanner?
Book 5 - Agent Jason Fly?
Book 6 - Writer John Fleming?

The seventh book in the XIII series, The Night Of August Third, continues the story begun in the previous book The Jason Fly Case.

XIII is trapped in the small town of Green Falls by an avalanche that has also trapped and injured his friend and ally, Major Jones. Still maintaining his cover of writer John Fleming, he is trying to track down what happened to the young Jason Fly, the person he now believes himself to be, and Fly's father on the third of August twenty years beforehand. Having made enemies of Sheriff Quinn and local bigwig Dwight Rigby, instigated partially by XIII's hitman enemy known as the Mongoose, XIII is now on the run with the town conducting a manhunt for him as he returns to the home of Zeke Hathaway. There he finds a hidden notebook that gives him much more information on his background.

In the meanwhile the Mongoose has tracked down Jones to the house of XIII's friend Judith Warner leading to a scantily clad Jones attempting to escape through the snow before she is imprisoned in the town's police station. This proves to be no safer for her as some of the locals break in with the intention of taking revenge on her for the death of their friend.

The Jason Fly Case and The Night Of August Third are two parts of the one story although, as ever, this book provides a detailed full page catch-up at the beginning. The relative peacefulness of the first book is thoroughly shattered in this conclusion with the series moving back into full blown action adventure mode as the plot twists back and forth from danger to intrigue to explanation.

Two sections standout: the book changes from colour to black and white art as XIII reads the notebook that details the two decade old back story of Jason Fly giving a true flashback feel to the panels, while the normally indefatigable Jones finally gets into a situation in the jail cell that she cannot save herself from. This jail scene, with its racial and sexual overtones, takes the series to a place that it has not previously been to and places Jones into a situation of implied peril that is perhaps more effective, and unnerving, than the multitude of fist fights and shoot-outs that we have seen her in before.

Just when you thought that XIII was giving you a relatively quiet small town mystery with The Jason Fly Case, The Night Of August Third turns the tables and reminds you just how much of an adrenaline rush Van Hamme's writing coupled with Vance's artwork can be.

• Buy XIII Vol.7: The Night of August Third from amazon.co.uk 

• Buy The Night of August Third: XIII Vol. 7 from amazon.com

• There are more details of the English language XIII books on Cinebook's website.

• There are more details of the original French XIII albums on the official XIII website (in French).

• The downthetubes review of the previous XIII book, The Jason Fly Case is here.

• You can read an interview with Cinebook publisher Olivier Cadic and XIII translator Jerome Saincantin on downthetubes at XIII Questions About XIII.

Beano's Derek The Sheep On Stage

While there have been a good few British comics characters that have made it onto the cinema and television screen, from the infamous Sylvester Stallone Judge Dredd to the delightfully unique BBC TV version of Jane, there have been very few that have made it onto the theatre stage. It is good therefore to report that Gary Northfield's Beano character Derek The Sheep will be appearing at Merton's Colour House Theatre over the course of the next week.

As part of the south London Merton Abbey Mills complex's AbbeyFest 2011, Derek will be appearing in The Quest For The Googly Glasses, written by Gary Northfield and performed by the Legend Theatre Company. Already previewed on Sunday 24 July at the New Cross Turn Left small press event, the show will take run from Tuesday 9 to Friday 12 August with a final show on Saturday 13 August. All shows take place at 2pm with adult tickets priced at £7 and concessions at £5.

As for other British comics characters that have appeared on the theatre stage we know of two different versions of 2000AD's Halo Jones from last century plus the somewhat bizarre sounding Dan Dare The Musical in 2003, while 2009 brought us The Sunday Post's matriarch in The Maw Broon Monologues and Kate Brown's The Spider Moon from The DFC. If you know of any others that we may have missed then leave us a comment.

There are more details about the play on Gary Northfield's blog, Stupid Monsters.

There are more details including booking information for Derek The Sheep in The Quest For The Googly Eyes at the AbbeyFest 2011 website.

Tim Booth conquers pages of latest Spaceship Away

Artist Tim Booth has pretty much taken over the latest issue of Dan Dare and Eagle-inspired comic magazine Spaceship Away, delivering not just art and story on most of its strips but colouring on a new Garth reprint, too.

We're sorry to report the issue doesn't include the second part of the new Dan Dare story "Pre-Emptive Strike". Unfortunately, artist Mike Nicoll was injured in a serious workplace accident and damaged his hand. As a result, he was unable to complete the artwork for the in time for this issue. However, it will continue in Part 25.

(Thankfully, although the accident was serious, Mike tells us he'll be back drawing pretty soon once it's healed and is already working on some new strip ideas).

Tim Booth has stepped in to fill the gap with an extra episode of a new Dan Dare tale,  "Parsecular Tales" that really gets his new story going.

Feature-wise, there are more photos from the Bayord Lodge Dan Dare Studio; a follow up on last issue's "Phantom Fleet" speculation; four new Don Harley artworks; and a newly coloured "Garth" story ("Finality Factor" which was drawn by Martin Asbury.

Three features also return: "Models from Dan Dare's World", "Chat Back" and "Readers' Corner".

• To get Spaceship Away delivered to your door, simply go to www.spaceshipaway.org.uk and follow the links. Spaceship Away is also available in some specialist magazine shops.