COMICS EXPO, BRISTOL - MAY 2005
Above: Comics artists drawing illustrations for eager fans.
Over 2000 comics fans attended the latest Comic Expo festival over two days in Bristol, attendance well up on last year, an event marked by the launch of artist
Liam Sharp's Mam Tor Publishing with an anthology featuring the work of numerous British creators (reviewed below); and a sneak preview of the new UK comics characters revival from Wildstorm, Albion.
Plotted by Alan Moore, scripted by daughter Leah and John Reppion and drawn by Shane Oakley, there's a lot of excitement about the book from longtime UK comic fans. Wrapped in eye-catching covers from Dave Gibbons, Shane Oakley's art is simply stunning, packed with great British comic characters such as Bad Penny, Captain Hurricane, the Steel Claw and more. Plus, you'll have enormous fun spotting one-off appearances by many other IPC heroes, such as Spellbinder and others.
"We've put all the characters in the same universe," explained co-writer Leah Moore, who along with husband John read tons of old British comics for research during the writing of the six issue mini-series (Five books have been written so far). "We've had to change them a little," she reveals, "and grow them up a bit."
"if the design is iconic enough, a character can stand any number of treatments," feels cover artist Dave Gibbons, addressing some concerns thhat the characters would be unrecognisable in their "modern" forms.
Some of IPC's humour characters, such as Grimly Fiendish, will also make appearances. "Humour comics are just as much a part of British comics as adventure comics," John Reppion explained. "That's why Grimly is in the book."
"I've got a good feeling about this book," Dave Gibbons commented at the event. "It's in the right place by the right people at the right time."
"It's ironic that a comic that's reinvigorating these British characters has to be cross-licensed by an American company," Leah Moore commented, addressing questions as to why there was to be no UK new stand reprint of Albion. Wildstorm is owned by Time warner which also owns IPC Media which owns the rights to many of Britain's old comics characters -- but no longer publishes comics.
"The book collides the fantasy world of British comics with the real world of British comics, commented IPC's Andrew Sumner, who told downthetubes.net that magazines such as Uncut will be involved in promoting the comic when it is released on 30 June 2005.
You could try checking out e-bay for a limited edition ash can of the first issue -- only 479 were given away at the event and only 500 have been printed!
Titan Books' Nick Jones was also on hand to talk a little about the IPC hero collections from the company, starting with The Spider: King of Crooks, which is on sale from 24 June. "We're taking a two-pronged approqach," he said. "They'll be good collections for fans and collections for people who are intrigued by Albion and want to know more about the characters."
Titan Books released the final cover for their first "Spider" album, entitled King of Crooks shortly before the event.With strips written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, Titan's hardback edition features a new cover by Garry Leach and exclusive bonus material on the history of the character. A collection of The Steel Claw will follow later in the year.
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Indie creators lead a busy panel on the state of British independent comics. |
The Expo again reflected the incredible amount of small press in the UK. Top of the list has to be the annual release of Gary Spencer Millidge's terrific Strangehaven, a bizarre, partly The Prisoner-inspired tale set in a less than idyllic British country village no-one seems to be able to escape. Strangehaven #17 can also be ordered online via the www.millidge.com shop, or from your local comics retailer.
Other titles to watch out for are Carl Critchow's hilarious sword and sorcery satire Thrud the Barbarian, Zarjaz, a revived 2000AD fanzine featuring the stunning art of David Gray. Watch out for this guy -- I have a feeling he's going to be huge.
A personal favourite at this event was the work of the Blink Twice gang, publishers of Malcolm Magic and Tusk. I picked up a copy of Tusk at the event, a beautifully drawn black and white "funny animal" book -- labelling it like this does the team a disservice, but some of you like labels. Check out their superb web sites, www.malcolmmagic.com and www.studioblinktwice.com for more info and free stuff.
One Last Time is a collection of gorgeous strips from artist/writer Graeme Neil Reid, comprising stories he's written and drawn over several years. Graeme's strong black and white work has wowed the readers of several British fanzines for some time, and he'll be selling copies at one of the many small press stalls at the event, where mainstream comics press and aspiring publishers mingle quite freely with no harm done to either party!
One Last Time
costs £2.50 each in the UK, and will be on sale at the Expo. If you want to order a copy directly from Graeme it costs an extra £1
for postage and packaging. Cheques made payable to Graeme Neil Reid and
sent to One Last Time, 60 Scotland Drive, Dunfermline, Fife KY12 7TN.
Outside of the UK and any other queries folks can e-mail Graeme at gnreid@gnried.co.uk
Also on sale was the latest issue of Devilchild, a terrific strip by Andy Winter centring on the Devil's son who far from happy to have discovered his heritage. Devilchild Volume III: Heaven's Prisoners,
all illustrated by Duane Leslie. The book debuts at the Comics Expo
in Bristol and will be available for the entire weekend at the special
introductory price of £5 (for 92 A4 pages).
In addition to catching up with many old friends and meeting sevral new ones, I finally met the Bailey Brothaz at this event, two creators who have just published their first foray into self publishing. Carl and Craig Bailey are two guys who sent me sample package after sample package of steadily improving, enegetic manga-inspired art over a number of years, taking on board my feedback (and I'm sure, the feedback of many others) to hone their creative skills.
BloodznCripz is a powerful tale, centring on the vicious lives of an LA street gang. Definitely not for the faint hearted but well worth tracking down for the stunning black and white art. Check out their website: www.bloodzncripz.co.uk
The Bristol Comic Expo was a well-organised, thoroughly enjoyable and well attended event, to the credit of its many organisers, including Mike Allwood of Area 51. I look forward to the next one -- on 15 - 16 May 2006!
• Web Link: www.comicexpo.net
EVENT HORIZON
Mam Tor Publishing's first issue of the creator owned Event Horizon anthology is now on sale. Launched at the Comic Expo, it's an eclectic, energetic mixture of strips and art pages from the likes of Liam Sharp (the originator of this project), Chris Weston, Gary Erskine, Rich Johnston, Savetto Tenuta, John Bamber, John Howard, Edmund Bagwell and many others.
As with all anthologies, some stories will appeal more than others but for me Sharp's Steve Niles scripted F******* Savages makes for a great opener and I enjoyed strips such as Weston's H.E.A.D. Trips and Johnston/Tenuta's Chase Variant immensely. Bagwell's beautiful illustrations to Ralph R. Raims The True Adventures of Jed Lightspear, Space Pirate are simply stunning.
The title's been described as pulp fcition for the 21st Century: it certainly is that, in spades. There's an unfettered joy from the contributors involved in this project as they've flexed their creative skills to maximum, doing what they want simply for the hell of it. unconstrained from any ediotorial interference. While some of the contributions left me a little cold -- always the way of anthologies, not every item will appeal to all -- there is more than enough from some terrific creators at the top of their game to justify the high price tag for this quality publication. Nice one, Liam!
Link: www.mamtor.com
Mam Tor creators talk with fans about their work and the new anthology
WEB LINKS
• Bristol Comic Expo photographs by Barry Renshaw and others: www.flickr.com/photos/barryrenshaw/sets/32753
• Rob Dunlop's Expo Report: www.tozzer.com/aboutus/Bristol0505/bristol05.htm