Britstol Comics Expo 2006:
Pros and Cons

Alan Woollcombe reports on the Comic Expo, feeling a little jaded by the experience...

"Indie Alley" at the Comics Festival: a hive of activity, with plenty of brilliant indie titles for sale. Read a round up of some titles on sale here. "For me, the indie press section gets better every year at the Expo," says John Freeman. "It's what makes the event so unique." Photo: John Freeman

Simon Bisley signing for fans on the stand of independent publisher Full Circle Publications. Photo: John Freeman

Anthem #1, on sale 28 June from Heroic Publishing, written by Expo guest Roy Thomas. Anthem, by Roy Thomas and artists Daniel Acuna and Jorge Santamaria Garcia, is a darker saga of an alternate Earth -- and of the super-heroes who were created to save it. In this world, "Pearl Harbor" wasn't just an attack by Japanese planes on a sleepy Hawaiian base--it was a full-blown assault on the US West Coast by Imperial Japanese forces spearheaded by a towering monster that could mop up the ocean with Godzilla--and on the East Coast by Nazi shock troops--and ray-firing flying saucers!

Terry Molloy (Davros), Damaris Hayman (guest star in The Daemons) and Sixth Doctor Colin Baker entertain Doctor Who fans young and old. Photo: John Freeman.

Suydam Fires Up Bristol Comic Con: Marvel Zombie cover artist (and the creator of Mudwogs and Cholly and Flytrap). Arthur Suydam brushed a limited edition poster for the Bristol Comic Expo. Copies of the poster were displayed around the historical city, as Suydam made his first appearance at a UK comic con. As a featured guest of England’s largest comic book extravaganza, Suydam marked the event by previewing several new Marvel Zombie covers, while also signing copies of Mudwog, Cholly and Flytrap, and The Art of the Barbarian as well as the highly acclaimed covers of Marvel Zombies and being a featured presenter at the prestigious Eagle Awards ceremony on Saturday night. The central image of the Phoenix poster, produced jointly by the Bristol Comic Con and Incognito Comics, is a dynamic image of X-Man Jean Gray, mesmerized, and rising above her fellow X-men in a fiery and sensual scene. The poster is available via www.comicexpo.net For information on Arthur Suydam and to see more of his work, check out: www.evainkpublishing.com

Despite high attendance -- some 1800 visitors on Saturday alone -- this year's Bristol Comics Expo was, for me, very much a mixed bag.

First of all, the downside: this two-day event took place over two distinct locations - one largish dealer's hall (the British Empire and Commonwealth Hall, near Bristol Temple Meads Railway Station), filled to capacity with stalls. The other venue was a hotel (the Ramada Plaza) with a bar and two lecture halls. Unfortunately, there was no signage outside either location or maps to indicate where the other place was: and nothing to lure in the casual passer-by or general public.

Once inside either venue, neither were there any large posters or tannoyed announcements to promote the panels and signings. In fact, no promotion of any kind other than the A5-size programme booklet, which was most disappointing. There was no costume parade or contest. No big closing attraction. No auction. Apparently, children under a certain age were admitted free, but who knew? Unlike previous events, there were very few kiddie comics on show. Not surprisingly, very few kiddies were at the show either. (One does wonder exactly where the industry – the retailers and, particularly, the show organizer in this instance – anticipates their next generation of customers will be coming from).

But it wasn't all bad by any means. The dealer's hall had a wide range of stalls catering for most interests (Doctor Who, Tokyopop, MamTor, computer games, assorted indie publishers), although sadly no major American publisher had a stand. Big names were in abundance (Roy Thomas, Howard Chaykin, Geoff Johns, Dave Gibbons, Alan Davis, Gilbert Shelton, Colin ‘Doctor Who' Baker) and DC Comics sent their usual suspects (the ubiquitous Bob Wayne and senior Vertigo editor Shelly Bond). There was a definite buzz around the place, and the dealers I spoke to had had a profitable weekend, and attendance levels were good on both days.

So much for the statistics, but what about the events – meaning the signings (fully attended, with long queues) and the panels (not the Eagle Awards – they were a separate operation this year)? With 26 panels to choose from, I was hard pressed to catch more than a few of them.

For me the main unmissable one was Guest of Honour Roy Thomas's Q&A session: for those of you who don't know the man or his work, he was Stan Lee's lefthand man (in-joke) at Marvel, responsible for getting Conan and Star Wars into comics, Marvel chief editor after Stan, publisher of Alter Ego magazine, and writer of Conan, Red Sonja, The Invaders, The Avengers and countless other comics from the 1960s onwards. In person, he is witty, self-deprecating, candid (his comments about DC editor Mort Weisinger were far from flattering) and a joy to listen to. Afterwards, he spent over an hour signing fans' comics: that's a true professional for you. Go buy his newest series (Anthem from Heroic Publishing) now.

Thomas was also on the ‘Barbarian Alter Egos' panel with renowned barbarian painter Arthur Suydam and writer/editor/colourist Renee Witterstaetter. This was the antithesis of the fan-favourite panels showcasing the latest multiple-team-up titles, and was consequently poorly attended, but for an insight into interesting careers further away from the spotlight it was well worth the price of admission.

Another guest with his own panel was American Flagg creator Howard Chaykin. Chaykin is the human personification of ‘painful honesty': as he admitted in a very candid interview, he is never any editor's first choice when it comes to a project but always turns in a good result when let loose on one (such as his current Hawkgirl and Guy Gardner mini-series). He also confessed he can be prickly, calling himself “the Van Morrison of comics.” As one who always liked his work, I ended up liking the man more. The industry could do with more Chaykin.

Finally, I can't omit a mention of the Hypotheticals panel, that wonderful what-if, behind-the-scenes peak at what real-live editors, writers, artists, suits and retailers do in certain situations. Presented as ever by “Earth-Dave” Gibbons and scripted by Lee “Budgie” Barnett, this institution was better than ever, with one retailer (Jon Browne of They Walk Among Us), one artist (Liam Sharp), two writers (Geoff Johns and Tony Lee) and two editors (Vertigo's Shelly Bond and Jamie Boardman from Titan Books) on board. Egged on by the increasingly manic – and well-oiled – Boardman, the panel soon went off-script, with gags and interruptions aplenty. Emcee Gibbons was seen helplessly laughing as he desperately searched for a way to bring his increasingly unruly panel back in line, and the event closed with the hysterical audience fleeing before a ranting Boardman. Definitely worth every penny!

These are only a sampler of what was available, and to be fair, most people had a good time at the Expo. But I am concerned at what seemed to me to be the near-total lack of effort put into making the event accessible and known to the wider public.

Perhaps next year a few costumed characters could be patrolling outside, handing out flyers, posters, comics, bags of goodies, along with – ooh, let's stretch the imagination here – some large posters by the main entrance saying COMIC EXPO HERE!

Money might be tight, but there's no excuse for not laying out the welcome mat.

This article is the opinion of and © 2006 Alan Woollcombe and must not be reprinted in whole or in part without his express permission.

Web Links:
• Read Dave Hine's review of the Festival on Comicon's The Pulse: Click Here

• Read a report on the Festival on the Moonface Press web site from an independnet publisher's point of view: Click Here

• Cartoonist Lew Stringer's photographs from the Festival: Click here

• Next year's Comic Expo will take place 12 - 13 May: Comic Exp in Bristol, again at the Ramada Plaza Hotel & British Empire and Commonwealth Hall, Bristol. For details of the event and the latest line-up, visit our UK events page.