Enniskillen - it was all about the Comics (and Subbuteo)!!

Hard to believe that its already a week since I set off to the second Enniskillen Comic Fest but here I am back in wet and windy Manchester after a whirlwind weekend in the South West of Northern Ireland. The whole trip was hugely enjoyable and took me to parts of NI I'd never been to before and the freedom of hiring a car more than justified the costs.

Belfast City Hall view from top floor of the car park!

Having a car and a reasonable knowledge of Belfast from recent visits meant I was soon whizzing my way round the city and parking up to have an Ulster Fry the early flight demanded at the delightful Spires centre. We'd discovered the Spires cafe during one of our first Belfast visits which coincided with the opening of the adjacent Comic Book Guys comic shop which I always try and visit. I caught up with Flanagan senior, Daniel for a good catch up on the shop's imminent move (following the Spire's planned redevelopment) to newly fitted premises further up Gt Victoria Street, and also later with Aaron, who was also going to Enniskillen.

Then it was back in the car and as I was still ahead of time an unplanned stop - prompted by losing a tooth! - I ended up by Portadown Football Club's Shamrock Park ground! This was quite a moment for me as years and years earlier as a wee boy I'd 'adopted' Portadown as 'my' football team as they played in the same red as my hometeam, Aberdeen. Our basic Subbuteo set only came with a red and a blue team so when we were bored of playing Aberdeen against Rangers, we looked for alternatives and (of course) I chose Manchester United and also Portadown with no real understanding of who or where they were. I had a Portadown fixation for a wee while afterwards even inventing my own football team and making football cards for them but that's a story for another day (I think I was only 9!), so for me standing at the ground was really something special!

 

 

With my little detours I arrived at sunny Enniskillen late afternoon and soon found the impressive Enniskillen Castle Museum where the event was to take place. I quickly popped in and the very helpful caretaker, (also Colin), showed where I was likely to be but they still had a bit of setting up to do when the museum closed so I left to check-in at my B&B and grab a bite to eat. It was a little odd having tea on my own but I was tired after my early start and grateful for a bit of 'down time'. The Fest had organised a special 2000AD event at a local theatre that evening which I understand was very successful and busy but I was happy with an early night.

Yep, Enniskillen Castle, venue for the Comic Fest!

The following day after another big breakfast fry I headed to the castle and met Paul Trimble the busy event organiser and his team of volunteers and was soon set up in the visitor centre above the museum entrance. It's always a little strange when you set up in a new unfamiliar venue but any worries soon passed as I discovered that I was to be in the same section as longtime comic buddy, Jenika Ioffreda, who in fact was the one who had recommended the show to me after guesting in its debut last year. Also in our little snug (or greenhouse as some referred to it) were artists, Ian - Rico - Richardson, Davy Francis and one of Scotland's comic legends Cam Kennedy who with his wife, Isobel were a delight to chat to all weekend and get my copies of the Kidnapped and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde graphic novels signed!.
 

 

Cam Kennedy hard at work in our 'snug'

Dan and John both 'Rok' !

Close by too were John Wagner with Rok of the Reds artist Dan Cornwell and the hard working Carlos Ezquerra who had a huge queue all day long, popular chap. This was, truth be told, the only real downside of  'flying solo' while both being a comic fan and exhibiting your own work. You can't sneek away from the table to join a queue for signatories and if you do, then you potentially lose sales so its quite a dilemma. In this case, my travel, accommodation and car hire costs necessitated that I stay behind the table as long as possible which I did until very late in the afternoon when I finally had my first cup of tea and snack of the day, forfeiting the chance to have writers Alan Grant and Alan Hebden sign the books I'd brought and missing out on Steve MacManus book which I heard had already sold out very quickly.

Don't feel sorry for me though I had a great time chatting to the many interested attendees who filed past my table. The event was free admission and had been well advertised locally so, despite the glorious sunny weather outside, there was a fine steady stream of visitors all of whom were interested in what was going on even if not active comic readers themselves. This is testament again to Paul and his team in making the event 'all about the comics' so folk could see and experience actual comics themselves and not be distracted by the merchandise and pop culture noise that can sometimes dominate events.

I did though also venture out early doors, shortly after the event opened for the 'Breaking into Comics' panel which I was pleased to be on along with the aforementioned Jenika, Grainnie McEntee and Ciaran Marcantonio, ably hosted by writer who draws Andy Luke who is one of the few folks out there that can beat Accent UK's independent comics pedigree, being a late 1990's inductee compared to our early 2000's! It was a fun wee panel and I think covered a lot of informed ground for those attending - with its early start, the panel gathered more and more attendees as it progressed which was satisfying to observe.

I did make one very quick run round the site as the charity auction commenced which was a signal for most folk to pack up and was rewarded in catching up with Danny McLaughlin and Nathan Donnell of Revolve Comics , Steven Young and Richard Davidson of Back Pocket Comics, Tim Stampton and David McDonald so as well as catching up on the Irish scene managed to at least grab a few new comics to add to my Cam Kennedy signed ones.

That evening, after I'd dropped off the hire car I had a splendid evening at a downtown bar where the guests, creators and fans had gathered for a wee drop of food and some good old fashioned Irish craic and that, together with the chats at the show with fellow creators and visitors helped remind me what a strong welcoming inclusive community, comics are. So despite the show not being an economic success for me, I had a super time and had a big warm smile on my face as I drove through the sunny countryside the following day, slowly making my way back to City airport.

Happy Comic Chappies all - Paul Trimble, Ciaran Marcantonio & Me!

If I can make the numbers work I would dearly love to return next year and again be part of something which "Is all about the comics!".

My farewell airport gift to myself!

New Comic Market Show added!

Jings, no sooner are we back from enjoyable and successful trips to Birmingham and Belfast (and see Dave's timely reports for both here and here!) with our comics crew than we've added another local show for next Saturday at The inaugural Warrington Market Comic-Con!

This show has been spoken about for a little while but gathered pace on our return from Belfast so all quite exciting. I understand that its part of the Council's regular initiative's to spotlight the market which is soon to be fully refurbished.

So if you are in the area next Saturday you can pop down to enjoy, among other attractions, a life size Star Wars X-Wing Fighter (really!), Back To The Future's De Lorean Car (great Scott!), a real walking talking Robot, several comic and memorabilia stalls and the Accent UK team! It's on from 10 am to 4 pm in the Market Hall and, weather permitting, outside, free entry!

The convention season is really underway now as Warrington will be the first of four consecutive shows taking in London, Aberdeen and Copenhagen so nice perhaps to start with something local!

Belfast 'catch up' comic report

Okay been busy, busy these last few weeks and sadly no room to properly catch up with many of the fun things we've been up to, so I'll stick to the recent comic shows attended, starting with Belfast!

A Belfast view from City Hall

The trip for the new MCM show there was amazing, I didn't expect Belfast to be such a great wee city nor the people to be so friendly and really into their comics. It's strange as, despite being fairly well travelled, Belfast just wasn't on my radar at all and if it wasn't for the MCM show I doubt I'd ever think about visiting. That's me being honest as growing up in the 70's you have a negative view of the place which, now having been there, I feel really guilty about. I'm sure, like most cities, it still has problems but don't let that put you off visiting its got much to offer.
 

Colin n Dave try to hide the fact they'd not packed the AUK banner!

Dave, as always, did a timely report on the show here, so I'll just add that, yes we did have fantastic sales, second only to the recent MCM London, so were pleased to discover a new audience. Special mentions to MCM regulars Jenika and Jeremy Biggs for also making the trip and being good company and also new friends, Leeann Hamilton, Danny from Uproar Comics (The Voice of Derry!), 2000AD's own P J Holden and Patrick Brown, whom I've long admired his work since his Tamara Knight days and was chuffed to catch up with his long running historical series, The Cattle Raid of Cooley and many more. It seems there's a really healthy indie comic scene in Northern Ireland, although maybe more creators were from Derry than Belfast?

Paddy Brown himself!

Jeremy Biggs surveys his dwindling stock...

The talented Cool Bean lady herself - Leeann Hamilton

Special thanks to our old friend (the original) Jeremy Briggs who had flown home to his native Belfast for the show and cordially gave us an informative tour of the city and introduced us to the delights of its Red Panda Chinese restaurant - see Jeremy's Down The Tubes reports here & here.

When Jeremy's collide - Jeremy Biggs meets Jeremy Briggs!!

Several titles sold out including these last copies of Zulu!

The show had a great atmosphere with many families in attendance and everyone seemed so upbeat that Belfast finally had its own big comic show. Exhibiting there had a great sense of comradery that you don't always get at the bigger shows (although with over 16,000 attendees this was clearly still big!). There was lots of banter amongst punters and exhibitors themselves and both Dave and I found ourselves moonlighting at other folk's tables to gave them a break and there was much sharing of food and coffee runs etc. It reminded Dave and I of the early Bristol shows when you pretty much knew everyone and supported each other and its a credit to both the organisers and the people of Northern Ireland that this big show had the same fun informal feeling. We'll be back!

Dave moonlighting at Jeremy's Subversive comics table

Col moonlighting at Leeann's Cool Bean table

My Belfast haul - all books not just Irish creators but Irish based stories!

Belfast Bound...

Very happy to be heading off to Belfast later this week for the inaugural MCM Comic-Con this  weekend. Its been held at the King's Hall with full details here on MCM's site.

As I've been reporting, Dave and I under our Accent UK disguise have really embraced the MCM shows these last couple of years starting with the local Manchester, then Glasgow and Birmingham culminating in the recent London extravaganza.

These 'multi-media' shows are good fun and exceptionally well attended and combined with more 'traditional' comic shows like Glasgow Comic-con, Thought Bubble and the like give us a great platform for our books. We approach each show differently which (usually) works in improving sales and also keeps things fresh and exciting for us.
 

Although I've not seen Game of Thrones, I understand its a great programme and is filmed not far from Belfast and I think James Cosmo, (of GoT, Highlander, Braveheart and others fame) will be there. Actually I spotted Mr Cosmo at both the recent Birmingham and London shows and a thoroughly decent bloke he seems to be. Strangely amongst the thousands of fans around he didn't seem to recognise me from our short chat in my hometown Stonehaven some 10 odd years ago, mind you I didn't have the beard then! 

So its off to Northern Ireland for the very first time and we've been having fun wangling with the baggage allowances and the like to see how many of which titles we can bring with us, sadly I don't think they'll all fit into a single suitecase......

Comic Calendar!

 

 

Hi the 2014 comic calendar is starting to shape up with a few shows now confirmed. At the moment, the definite ones are all within the mighty MCM Comic Con brand with the Accent UK tour bus calling at; 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We of course are very familiar with the MCM Manchester and Glasgow shows but Birmingham and Belfast are both new to us. We've not been to the MCM London show since 2010, when I think they had a mere 14,000 or so attending which was pretty impressive but I understand that they're now up to some 60,000+ !!

 

It's numbers like that and the recent success we've enjoyed at Glasgow and Manchester which helped convince us to make more of an MCM effort this year. It also helps that MCM themselves are expanding with some of these events being new or extended from before. We also quite fancied their Dublin show in April but it clashes with something else, but I think we're doing okay!

 

This doesn't of course mean that we're only doing MCM shows this year, we're aiming to match last year's total of 11 events, out of a long list of 24! Not all these shows have yet released tables/confirmed dates but we have applied for a further 3 and should find out soon if we're confirmed or not.

 

It is a fine art deciding which ones to attend and there's a number of factors that determine whether an event is right for us. Sometimes even informed choices don't work out so it can be a bit of a gamble and we've had to carefully look at the calendar and 'drop' a couple of our normal events to accommodate these newer ones. Particularly it was with regret we decided not to apply for this year's London Super Comic Convention and New York's MoCCA. These are both great shows and ones we'd enjoyed becoming regulars at but you can't do them all and its good to freshen things up.

 

Watch out for more announcements and see what new goodies we can take with us!