convention photos with convention reports

Bristol expo 2007

Spot the cruel enforcer of imperial rule.

Eager fans enter the well attended Eighth Bristol Expo

Indy legend Jeffrey Brown - who's comics are available on this very website at: www.smallzone.co.uk/topshelf.htm

Chris and Stu from Monkeys with Machine Guns

bRISTOL 2007

By Shane Chebsey

This year the Bristol Expo saw a marked improvement in attendance. Why? It's hard to say.  I think all the movies being made that are based on comics characters has helped the medium gain a little more respect and interest amongst the general public.

Especially films like History Of Violence and V For Vendetta, which are far less corny than the more superhero based efforts.

This year, as part of the BICS organising committee, I attended the show with my fellow organisers James Hodgkins and Andy Baker.

Of course I was also still selling comics on the smallzone and Scar Comics tables. Andy Richmond, my partner at Scar was not able to attend much of the show this year, so thanks to Sam, Tom, Lauren and Ben for all the work you guys put in over the weekend.

The event itself way also a marked improvement on previous years. The new layout design with booths helped to create a much less 'car boot' type atmosphere and made the expo look much more like a book fair or trade show.

I met up with most of the usual suspects and really enjoyed the whole weekend. Myself, James Hodgkins, Andy Baker, and Staz Johnson all went out for a curry on the Saturday night and had a great time coming up with names for hilarious 'dot. coms', the humour of which would be sure to escape any sober person reading this, so I won't go into details.

As usual the Sunday was much quieter but, as usual, no one minded as takings seemed to be good for most exhibitors and some serious rest was needed after a late night on the Saturday. This day I had chance to go around the exhibitors and meet some old and new friends. I was able to briefly say hello to Chris Staros from Top Shelf Comix, Jeffrey Brown, who I'm a huge fan of, the guys from Monkeys with Machine Guns, Accent UK, and Modern Monstrosity to name but a few. All seemed to be having a great time!

We then headed back home which in itself proved to be eventful when you have a completely drunk Ben McCool in the back of the car. He had us in stitches all the may home.

Thanks to Mike and Dave for another great Expo.

THING 2006 - LONDON

The hustle and bustle atmosphere of the hall was really encouraging, and great to be part of

Andy and Sam,  re-hydrating

Baz Renshaw, the man behind RedEye ...literally in this case

Me and Ricky Jervais, or is it Baz Renshaw?? Whoever he is, he's a big fan of Rant by Andy Coxhead.

Dave and Daley...creators of the super successful Brodie's Law

Jon Anderson, of Soaring Penguin comics, with a lovely cardi from his Nan....ahh. Jon said it's the most comfy thing he's ever worn...bless him.

Rich and Rob from Pantomime Press. 

The creators of the Two Sides Wide web comics. Such nice folks! Visit there web comic at: www.twosideswide.com 

comics expo 2005 - brighton

Paul O'Connell and Jeremy Dennis sign copies of Dead By Dawn at the smallzone table. Jeremy also did some wonderful sketches on some inside covers. These special copies are hidden randomly among my stock, so if you order a copy from me soon, you might be lucky.

Thanks to all the contributing artists who took part and helped at the smallzone booth.

Sally Anne Hickman, Sean Duffield and myself strike a pose...very cheesy.

comics 2004 - bristol

Ed Traquino - one of the most enthusiastic artists I've ever met, and a talented one to boot!

Colin Mathieson, creator of Zulu Water Cart Rescue, and Larry Betts, writer of Trojan - which appears in More Than We Seem from Deva Comics, busy promoting the Accent UK titles.

Mardou and Fortenski, the talent behind 'Stiro' posing very nicley for the camera.

Colin Dinnie - The main man behind Underfire Comics, the self proclaimed "sexy side of small press".

WEB AND & MINI COMICS THING 2004

Anna Rubins, publisher of 'DARK' and complete and utter nutter! (Issue #3 out now by the way.)

Aurther Goodman and Andy Konky Kru at the Favourite Crayon Table, who were my Neighbours and kindly covered for me at dinner time.

Darren Worrow at his table. Darren publishes Toonadelic Times, issue #4, out now!

Roger Mason, and friend. If some one knows who this is, let me know and I'll add his name. Sorry I forgot your name buddy. Roger is a top bloke, because he went and got me some tasty sandwhiches when I was hungry. Hoorah!

Report by Shane Chebsey

This was indeed a weekend to remember for many reasons. It all began with my usual 5 hour trek from Shrewsbury to London on the National Express. Nothing out of the ordinary here, apart from my back hurting far more than usual by the second hour of the journey. I must be getting old.

When arriving at the coach station, I met up with Andy and Sam both of whom are part of Scar Comics. They'd taken the coach from Bristol, so hadn't had to get up quite as early. We then went to the venue at Mile End to set up our tables, expecting to meet up with other exhibitors and go for a drink. However, it turned out we were the only ones setting up on Friday.

We did meet up with Jeremy Dennis and Jess and John Paul who were helping out at the tables. So we went for a drink and met up with a few other folk. We then decided to go check in at our hotel. 

This is were things started to go downhill. After the hotel was suggested by Pat Findlay, the organiser of the event, we assumed it would be close by, and in easy walking distance. However...Jeremy being a woman, and therefore far more organised than us males was the only one who actually new how to get to the hotel....well she had some idea.

So off we went on our 5 mile trek across the wastes of London in search of the legendary Etap Hotel.

After about three trains on various networks, a walk of about 2 miles and phone calls to various publishers, we'd hoped were already there, we finally came across the hotel. It was situated in a charming area of town, were red crosses adorned the interiors of the pub, which could only be assessed as open when one looked through the window, otherwise it appeared derelict. 

Why is it that such areas of towns always have pleasant sounding names, like paradise row, or Utopia Avenue?

"Anyway, enough of these ramblings" I hear you say.

The next morning we all awoke pretty early, although Andy was the only one who wanted to get out of bed. We decided to take a taxi to the venue this time round, and get there about 9.30. By now everyone was setting up, and the atmosphere was starting to develop.

This year thanks to the many helping hands from Scar Comics creators, I was able to have a proper wonder about, and bumped into lots of interesting artists and writers. If there was an award for most friendly table it would surely go to the lovely gang of folks at the Two Sides Wide table. They gave me a free key ring, and were infectiously enthusiastic about comics and manga.

It was increasingly encouraging to see so many young people, and not just lads - showing an interest in comics, and comics other than the mainstream too. I was on the panel for the Marketing Your Comics talk, and the attendance was very high, showing that more small publishers are taking the distribution and marketing of their work seriously.

The whole thing seemed to be over very quickly, and everyone reported good sales, which is amazing when you consider the total attendance was only around 400 punters, and there were over 40 exhibitors. If only this rate of expenditure occurred at the bigger events.

Thanks again to Pat for a superb weekend. We only hope that next time, the recommended hotel is a little nearer the venue.

comics expo 2005 - Brighton:

report by Shane Chebsey

It's always really exciting when a new comics event hit's the calendar. I remember my first Bristol...I was so excited, I think I had about 2 hours sleep the night before. I was going to sell my comic - my little baby - to the unsuspecting public.

As a veteran to the scene, I don't really get that excited anymore, however, at Brighton I met plenty of artists, writers and budding publishers who certainly felt the way I used to, and as Andy Richmond and myself were launching our new book at the event, those old convention tingles started to come back.

The atmosphere was really buzzing on the Saturday, and as well as meeting up with old friends, I met new young creators from the Brighton area, who had never before visited a convention. I got to see some wonderful portfolios and the venue it's self was perfect for such an event.

Unfortunately many publishers reported low sales, which I'd imagine is due to the timing of the event, and the extremely high admission fee.

The whole idea of an Expo is to introduce comics as a medium to a larger mainstream, yet I doubt any passer by would fancy shelling out 10 quid for something they don't normally have an interest in.

Hopefully next year the entrance fee will be lower, allowing the attendance, and exhibitor's takings, to be higher.

I was exhausted the day after the event, so thankfully my 5 hour jouney home went smoothly.

comics 2004 - Bristol:

report from shane chebsey

I've been attending this event since it started in 1999, and some years have been better than others. The one consistency throughout is that it's been terribly hot at both venues, almost unbearable. However the atmosphere has always been electric amongst the small press crowd, and this year was no exception.

Infact I personally enjoyed this year's event more than the last two. Of course having such a great time in the evenings with the Accent UK gang was part of that. A lot of beer ( or Red wine in my girlfirend's case) was consumed each evening in the Holiday Inn Bar, and we all participated in a sketching Jam started by Barry Renshaw on the last night (which was great fun after being intoxicated by alcohol).

But anyway, apart from the fun evenings the event itself was also a great buzz, with yet another packed out small press talk, and a huge self publishing presence at tables. Unbelievably I met even more new publishers and creators and I even got the chance to actually walk around the comics fair which I never usually do, and the diversity of comics goodies both small press and corporate was huge.

Well done to Kev F Sutherland and Mike for yet again organising a really great weekend.

WEB AND & MINI COMICS THING 2004:

Report from Shane Chebsey:

I really wanted this event to be a success, and in many ways it was.

All 40 publishers who booked tables turned up. Also I had three tables, and Gosh the comic shop apparently had a table, but I never actually noticed it. The atmosphere was full of anticipation, and then concern, as no punters arrived at the start time of 9.30am.

This was definately too early to start the event. However, by about 11am people started to trickle in, and I'd guess about 100 paying guests attended over the day.

Much fun was had, and I met up with old friends and missed the presence of a bar and food. Thank god for Roger Mason, who was everyone's stomach's hero when he went out and got sandwishes for the under nourished.

Barry Renshaw hosted a Panel, which explored the merits of Web Comics, and discussed the posiblities of how to make them profitable. This was very interesting and brought up some very valid ideas.

The venue was really good, but was let down by it's location. I was very nervous when going out after dark, after getting off the tube to be greeted by a Police sign asking for witnesses of a brutal attack outside the University Campuss that the Octagon Venue was a part of. Also many people said they found the venue hard to find, although I didn't experience this problem.

The most enjoyable part of the weekend for me was sharing a pint or three with Dareen Worrow in the nearby Oasis Bar on the Saturday evening. A great end to an enjoyable weekend.

Overall, I felt the event was very worthwhile, and with some adjustment should continue. There was no advertising for the event, other than on the net, so I think there is a huge potential for a bigger event next year.

Well done and much praise to Patrick Findlay for organising the whole thing more or less on his own. And well done to all those who supported and attended the event.

If you have any photos or a report of a comics event that will interest small pressers, please email me with the details, and I'll ADD THEM TO THIS PAGE.

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