The late Steve Whitaker's cover to the very first Caption Programme Booklet. Scanned by Martin Hand.

My first memories of CAPTION were the the events held in Oxford's St. Michael's Union, where it was based for many years.

"Coming up with the venue was what made the whole thing work," recalls co-organiser Jeremy Dennis, a female cartoonist and the publisher of largely autobiographical Weekly Strip  online at Alleged Literature."
(www.alleged.org.uk) "Adrian [Cox] had the idea, I said yes, we should do it, Jenni [Scott] knew loads of comics people and Damian [Cugley] could do all the publicity and stuff.

"But it was Gideon [Nisbet] who, back in 1991(!), said to me, while were were in our uni room studying for some exam or other, "We should do it in the Oxford Union". Enough of us were members that we could run it as a private member's event for very, very little money indeed.

"We did it in winter, early 1992 just before the start of term. It was cold, rained, and people invaded from some other event (which was to be a characteristic of pretty much every year we spent at the Union)."

While the building was lavish, other things about it were endearingly basic. "The cheap beer (often drunk dry)," notes Jeremy, "a random selection of tables we had to pull around to make up tables, and lights barely bright enough to see the panellists!"

Although the bar were quite small, word of CAPTION's reputation as a friendly informal festival (with seating) quickly spread.

"That first year, we got 100+ people, to our surprise," says Jeremy. "The finances hung together at that scale, and we increased steadily to the 160-ish it's on today. The bar was a reasonable size, and the garden lovely. There was lots of space to sit, and once we got CAPTION in the summer, we had fabulous weather every year except the year Jenni was away."

On the committee of CAPTION these years, its movements seem to me like an achievement of the gameplay theory Milhaly's Flow - somewhere balancing anxiety by challenge, beyond the ability of boredom. With lots of great pictures and great interaction. Detailing that, what examples or anecdotes could comics journalist and academic Jenni Scott, who edited the Caption magazine for many years to some twenty-five issues, recall from early days Caption to the present that offer a take on its, alchemy?

The Caption Auction, 2007. Photo by Damian Cugley

The Caption Auction, 2007. Photo by Damian Cugley

"I might be adding a historically rosy tint in remembering the CAPTION committees of the past but looking back on the initial years I seem to remember us working together in a great synergy," recalls Jenni. "Ideas unfolding as we sat together, turning into something fantastic that no one individual could have come up with. Or turning up to CAPTION itself and discovering that hey, there was this great mail-art exhibition just hanging there — how did that come to be? — and realizing that while you'd been working hard on one end of things so, just as much, had others.

"It's not only the committee, of course," she acknowledges. "How could it be. It's also down to the the attendees, the workshop creators, and all. For instance, I've always thought that the panels should crucially involve the audience as a part of the discussion, not just bringing them in for questions at the end. To me the whole point of CAPTION is precisely that none of us are "the experts" to be put up front as pundits. We symbolized that quite neatly, though not initially intentionally, in CAPTION95 when the surrealism panel was chaired by, literally, a chair. (Admittedly, I did do a lot of talking from the audience — no surprise there)."

This sort of lunacy were well prevalent around CAPTION around the late 1990s, too. Here I was, this lower working class Belfast lad, in an elitist looking bar and conference rooms. Memories blend with others across rhe years -- little comics, for example, they must have been A8 or A9 size, hanging from thin wire with some form of fish hook at the end. or the time I was in in the bar with Ralph Kidson, who cracks open a Kinder egg to reveal polar bear pornography. It all blurs into one comics induced funfair... The National Theatre of Earth Prime performing the X-Men film years later. (The actor playing Wolverine has actually managed to affix Weetabix to the side of his face).

Things look a little different in the suburban community centre venue where, a year ago, CAPTION ran alongside activists sawing up bits of wood to take to the now famous Climate Camp, and where Oli Smith asked me against dark skies over ciggies and beer about distibution monopolies. Glow in the dark claymation and magic lightshows tell me I'm wrong suspecting the fun of CAPTION was restricted to its earlier years.

Jenni served on the first committee, and nowadays on the third with myself. Does she think the Caption spirit and style has been influential in comics festivals, and with the way things are going?

The 24 Minute Comic at Caption 2007. Photo by D'Israeli

"This actually is something I have a better perspective on now that I've been both a punter and an organizer," she says. "When I was first involved with organizing CAPTION, I was never sure whether it was really something to be properly proud of. I mean, yeah, we did it for quite a long time, which was impressive in itself, and people who came enjoyed it and said good things and came again and again. But you could literally run a convention in a pub and if you told the right people you would get people coming again and over again — like having a fun party, it was enjoyable and worth doing, but not necessarily earth-shattering or notable."

"Also, we never tried to make it grow big," she adds. "We couldn't face the work of it and wasn't sure it was what we wanted to do, but wasn't it sort of what we ought to try to do, or something?

"There's a bunch of stuff that have led me away from that thinking. People's reactions and memories of it, for one — in 1997 we had people from various European countries who came along and loved the spirit of it despite coming from a part of the world where they really know how to do conventions on a big scale. If those lot, who knew about big conventions, valued a small, friendly, integrated convention then hey, maybe there really was something to the idea that CAPTION has some special stuff going on?

But surely she's immensely proud of the contribution she, among others, have made?

"I think our themes and panel/workshop ideas, with the focus on inclusivity and creativity, set us aside from other conventions in a good way," Jenni feels. "I don't suppose people are going to come away from the programme items with their views revolutionised, but at worst they will have been fun and at best truly thought-provoking. They won't have been a waste of time, which is something you can't always say about the ordinary items at a big convention where quite often the creative thought won't have gone into it and it's just ticking the boxes. (And other events often don't even have workshops at all, so there's a big difference right there.)"

How has she seen aspects of CAPTION manifest beyond the yearly event ?

From Caption 95 Mail Art Exhibition, designed by Jeremy Dennis. Photo: Jenni Scott

"I'm not so sure about its influence on other events," she considers. The obvious recent things to point to are things like No Barcodes and its sibling Low Energy Day, which are great ideas, but I would have figured on Oli and his lot doing those anyway without any influence from CAPTION. I think we're still a pretty unique item actually."

What comes next ? A weighty question five days before all the running around makes its impact. Though are there ideas present chairman Dan Hartwell has foreseen for Caption, and this UK comics scene in general, in the times ahead?

"Oh crikey, this year's one isn't done yet!" Dan exclaims. "We'll follow the usual pattern of deciding on the theme for next year, once we've recovered from the stresses of putting this year's on. Caption's relaxed (yet doggedly small press) attitude gives it a uniqueness compared to other cons. So I don't see any need to change it. 'If it ain't broke...'

"I think it's a very interesting time for small press comics right now. The Camden London Underground market stall is a significant development. Not just because it's a new event, but because it's people selling their stuff to the general public. The comics scene has been too insular for too long. It's nice to see people getting their stuff out there for people to see."

As any CAPTION bod will tell you, the weekend is a central generator for ideas which ripple across the shape of UK comics, a good place to receive reports without spending all your time on the interweb, and a great with opportunity for friendship fun.

CAPTION 2008 also has an affiliated art exhibition over August at The Jam Factory near the station, and the event itself takes place this weekend at the East Oxford Community Centre on Cowley Road. You can find out more details from the various weblinks listed on this page.

• Caption 2008: Timewarp runs on 9 - 10 August 2008 at the East Oxford Community Centre, Oxford. In the year that celebrates Deadline's 20th anniversary, Escape's 25th anniversary, Luther Arkwright's 30th anniversary and The Beano's 70th... Contact Jay Eales for more info at: jay.eales AT googlemail.com.