downthetubes Event Report: Bristol Comics Expo 2009

After many hours of quiet contemplation I have decided that the success of any mainstream comics event can be judged by how well it performs in seven specific criteria. Allow me to elucidate:

Criterion 1

Comics

A comics convention must have comics. It may seem obvious, but if you'd arrived at the Expo last weekend and found no comics in the main dealer's room you'd have been the first to complain. Despite its diminished stature this year you could still buy comics directly from such fine publishers as Chris Staros' Top Shelf, Mighty Tharg's Rebellion and Panini UK. Harry Markos was on hand with a fine selection of the latest Markosia goods, and Tokypop and Self Made Hero were also there offering new and exciting Manga. A large selection of back issues with prices to suit all wallets and Forbidden Planet's latest stock covered pretty much all other bases.

Small Press Expo

2. Small press

Warren Ellis opined on his site recently that mini comics are ‘the absolute lifeblood of the medium'. If that's expanded slightly to include all small press offerings, then I find myself agreeing with the man. Further, I'd go as far as to say that any modern day comics event which excludes the small press will be stunted and shrivelled, and hardly worth bothering with. (Luckily few comics conventions could afford to proceed without the small press buck, so that's not going to happen anytime soon!)

The small press community were served twicefold this weekend. There was an antechamber within the main venue devoted to self-publishers, featuring people like Factor Fiction, Accent UK and Moonface Press, and there was a separate SP Expo happening just around the corner on the Saturday, and I was blown away by how well-organised and presented it was. I decided to ask writer/artist and part time male model Andy Cheverton, 50 per cent of indie publisher Angry Candy, what it was like to exhibit there.

"Tim Keable and I have had a table at the Bristol Expo since our first issue of West, back in 2005 when much of the perceived wisdom stated that every small press comic would lose its creator money," he says. "Due in no small part to the attentions of [convention organiser] Mike Allwood, and his dedication to generating a level playing field for all publishers, both large and small, we made money on that first issue, and on every other comic we've put out since.

"The downscaling of this year's Bristol Expo event - leading to what was a hastily assembled small press gathering at the adjacent Mercure Hotel - has thrown many assumptions about both the established Bristol Expo and the new Small Press Expo (SPExpo) into the air. Having missed out on a Bristol Expo table, I paid for a place at the SPExpo and crossed my fingers.

"For my part, I was keen to attend this year, despite having no new material to sell, which set my expectations low. This was soon dispelled by the large and well-lit rooms secured for the small press by Fallen Angel Media, and by the attentive staff they employed to help exhibitors set themselves up. The fantastic fifth floor views across the city certainly didn't hurt.

"The first couple of hours were slow, with very few attendees through the doors, due, it appears, to inadequate signage from the Bristol Expo. The feeling was that we were on our own. By lunchtime, however, the crowds started to appear and sales picked up. The strangest part of this was that we sold many of our bargain packs of West; not only the first three issues marked as such, but also the remaining three issues, which weren't marked up, but which we offered verbally to customers for the same three-pack price. In essence, we were selling older stock to customers that had never bought from us before. By the end of the day, many of the comics we had brought along just to show our faces had sold, and all of them to new faces. At a couple of points, Tim even had a queue of people waiting for sketches.

The news that Fallen Angel Media have secured the Mercure for the full weekend next year should be greeted with a sense of relief and more than little hope. From a standing start they gave us a dedicated small press convention in upscale surroundings and managed to bring in new customers for us to meet, and exceeded any expectations I had for the event, both as an exhibitor and a customer. If they can work closely with Mike Allwood and the Bristol Expo team, then next year's event will be well worth looking forward to."

Small press exhibitors at the main event reported the usual mixed bag of sales, but the news that both Insomnia and Orang Utang Comics had their best conventions ever, indicates that there were many interested readers willing to part with cash in return for exciting stuff.

Moonfae Press' Andy Winter

More importantly, the quality of self-published comics available was higher than it's ever been. There's general agreement among interested parties that the small press has been bringing its A Game to these events for the last couple of years, and with people like Jay Eales and Selina Lock (Factor Fiction), Andy Winter (Moonface Press), Dave West and Colin Mathieson (Accent), the Goodman Brothers (Zip Gun Comics), Jess Bradley, Peet Clack and Paul Rainey producing new comics all the time, I think we're in very safe hands.

3. Panels

What is a comics convention without panels? A bunch of tables and a bar, that's what. Expo 2009, despite a lack of space, wisely made room for interesting talks from the big names on the bill. There was a panel about Watchmen, a Vertigo talk, an interview with Tony Lee and Dan Boultwood and a debate about the problems independent UK publishers face today. All of those I caught seemed interesting, but for me there was one that stood head and shoulders above all others, at least in terms of entertainment, and that was the 2000AD panel.

It's just a shame my mate Al Ewing couldn't make it as, for the first time I can remember, The Mighty Tharg himself chaired the discussion. Unfortunately he was suffering from an acute case of Pink Hand (an alien skin disease which caused his normally green hams to turn a ghastly peach colour), which may also account for his snarly temper. Hearing about upcoming 'thrills' from the editor himself was something anyone in that room will remember for, perhaps, the rest of their lives.

4. Drinking

Apparently a vital ingredient in any successful comics event. Whether or not I agree with that, I must admit that I didn't make it to bed until 5.30am on Sunday morning.

Small Press Expo

5. Networking

For those of us hoping to become the next big thing in comics, Bristol is an opportunity to network within what we laughingly refer to as ‘the business'. I somehow manage to transform from a jovial and erudite human being into a stuttering, opinionless automaton whenever I converse with an actual editor, so I turned to two seasoned pros to explain to us how this year's Expo measured up:

Al Ewing

"Bristol's useful in that it means you can actually talk to people over a friendly pint," says 2000AD writer Al, "which is different from talking to them over an email and can spark more and better ideas. Generally I only speak to artists over the email after the work is done, if at all, so it was really great to do a bit of advance planning - I had about three brainstorming conversations with various people while I was there and sat in on at least a couple more, so I know I'm not alone in that. And I did talk about something pitch-related to a real live editor, so I guess that counts as proper networky face-to-face pitching, although even that weak effort would have been a bit daunting if the booze hadn't been flowing and it hadn't cropped up as a natural part of the conversation."

Tony Lee

"Bristol is more of a Comic creator's 'Christmas Party', as we are allowed, blearily eyed from our dungeons and shown where the public are." feels Tony. Of course, sometimes this is what is known as a bad idea, as we are also given alcohol.

A smaller convention this year meant that a lot of the 'freeloader' creators didn't turn up, the ones who did a photocopy book five years ago and haven't done anything since, who sit in the bar all weekend as if they're Johnny goddamned Cool and we must worship them, which meant that people like Dan Didio were left alone, which meant they were approachable.

"Networking at a con is always a tightrope," he feels. "You can push a little, but don't overbalance. Usually it's a 'place the face with the name' affair. Which means that the editor then knows who you are when you follow up a week later."

6. Germs

Comics events are also an opportunity to socialise with those whose immune systems are demonstrably weaker than your own. For many, a run of consecutive months of perfect health is often broken at such events. I somehow managed to escape the ubiquitous 'con crud' of this year's New York Con only to be laid low by Bristolian Badger Flu. Which is a shame as otherwise you'd have been reading this report on Tuesday morning after the event...

7. Fun

At the end of the day it's all about the fun though, isn't it? I asked Leon Hewitt, comics journalist and man about town, if he enjoyed this years Bristol Expo...

"Hell yeah!"

So there you have it -- on all seven vital measures of success this year's Bristol Comics Expo triumphed. While it was a shame that many familiar faces couldn't attend because of limits imposed by heath and safety and fire regulations, I absolutely preferred the smaller, more intimate affair.

Mike Allwood, as always, did a stand up job, and everyone enjoyed themselves.

‘Nuff said.

Special thanks to everyone who contributed to this report.

• Comment on this article on the downthetubes forum (membership required)