Bristol - a table and some comics by Sabrina Peyton
Once a year in Bristol, England, comic book fans come together for the Bristol Comic Expo. The past few years I’ve been there as a comic fan myself, not doing anything more than complaining about the lines for sketches or finding the nearest bar as quickly as possible. Last year there had been talk about the possibility of getting a table. This year, after a chat with Mark Millar, a table for Millarworld was booked.
The idea behind having a table was that people from the Millarworld Forums would have a place to, meet up, sit down and store any bags. Plus of course somewhere to sell their comic books. After a few emails to Mark Millar and a thread or two on Millarworld we were well on our way.
First thing to do was make sure that we were able to get a table booked. A quick look on the Expo website and an email later it was confirmed that there were tables available and I got the information on how to book one sent to me. A few emails and a cheque in the post later we had our table.
Next up it was time to get comics to put on the table. After about five threads on Millarworld people started getting interested and we ended up with quite a few comics, a few posters and even postcards. Everyone was sending things by different routes so I didn’t have everything for the table until Saturday morning, although as small press we were allowed into the convention area on Friday. Things were a bit jumbled, but on Saturday everyone got their items on the table
One of the few things you need to have for your table at a convention is a table cloth, though table and chairs are provided. Once you’ve found which table is yours it’s pretty much up to you how you want it. We had simple black fabric for our table, whereas one table had white with orange polka-dots on their table cloth. The black backing boards however were denied to us as we were sat behind a retailer who had a towering display from which things kept falling off. Food and drink is another idea to have behind the table, and, as not many places in the UK are well air conditioned, it can get pretty warm. A box of sorts to keep money in is also helpful. This can be anything from a proper money box to a small cardboard box, whichever you have handy.
I’ve been to a few comic conventions in the US and though I knew Bristol was different, smaller for one thing, I didn’t realise until I was behind the table how different it really was. At the cons I’ve been to the small press and artist areas have always had a boisterous atmosphere, with each artist or small press table practically competing for attention, either by using gimmicks or their own very loud voices. Now I’m in no way saying it’s wrong to have a model dressed up as comic book character or food around to help promote your work, I’m just saying that you might want ear plugs or a napkin to wipe away the drool. At Bristol there were a few folks in costumes and I saw a table giving away gummy bears, but on the whole the con is a bit quieter.
Due to this observation I leaned more toward the quieter aspects of running a table at Bristol, but not as much as the tables around me. I did my best to engage the random comic book fan in conversation to get them interested in what was on the table, but as I watched the tables around me were barely speaking to anyone unless asked.
The second day of the con was much like the first, except it was a lot shorter since not everyone could stay around until the end. There were some of the antics by Irish Millarworlders who started using Transformers to help sell comics, a gimmick almost worthy of one of the US cons. It did manage to make a few sales, and scare off a few other people.
Will there be a Millarworld table at Bristol 2006? It’s almost certain, although the next time around a few things might be done differently, such as booking the table a bit earlier to make it easier for last minute things to get done. Along with more preparation on the tablecloth, to include a proper Millarworld Logo, and possibly badges made up, which we failed to get sorted this time as we couldn’t decide on or create a good design. Who knows, maybe one year we can get Mark Millar to attend Bristol even for just a day.
Malsaine #1
Writer - Manny Blacksher
Artist - Barry Hughes
Publisher - Imprint Comics
Release date - Out Now
Price -$2.95/£2.25/€3.80
Reviewed by James Dodsworth
Thrust into my hungover hands at Bristol was the first comic from new small publishers Imprint Comics. Malsaine immediately strikes you as a quality piece of paper, seriously. Compared to the amount of hand-made comics competing for your attention at a convention, this comic has some serious gravitas about it.
Malsaine should be a familiar story; new kid in town struggles at school to fit in. Behold! The harsh realities of being a teenager, etc, etc. This isn’t really like that at all. Last time I remember the misfit kids didn’t have crows hurling verbal abuse at them, or being approached by semi-naked old men. There is also a great scene where James Carter (our protagonist) actually questions what is being force fed to him in lessons and undermines the structured approach of the school teachings by thinking for himself – in doing so questioning the embodiment of society and how it perceives itself.
The design and layout of the comic has obviously been very seriously considered. Such items as a mocked up local paper for the town contains an article that is basically a self-promoting tour of the town that gushes with praise for the place - a wonderful example of how much effort has gone into the comic. It is at once a glimpse at selfless self-promotion for the town, but also an indication that the times ahead may not be as promising as the journalist thinks: the Malsaine Journal talks about Malsaine to be “likely [to] surpass even great Atlanta for power and magnificence”. I think we can assume that things are not as they seem.
The story is presumably set in the 1950s, the use of spoof adverts, such as “Own Your Home” and tonics that cure all but never specify what “all” is, replicate the goofiness of the period. In actual fact there is no date given to the reader when the tale is actually set. It is prompts such as the discussion of popular music that simply falls between Chuck Berry and Miles Davis that dates it, alongside a shot of James on a bus where racial segregation still exists.
The artwork is wonderfully quirky, the use of panel structure is promising and the colouring effects are impressive. The lines of the artwork are simple, but yet seem to follow a jazz free-form style that echoes one of the backbones of the story; strange negative panels respond to the characters rants about their love of music.
The whole issue is laden with ominous foreshadowing about fairy tales and their conventions. The allegory of a forest is used as the means to discovering the sort of person you are, because adversity is the catalyst to proving yourself. As the comic itself states:
“You have to go into the forest with the attitude that you’re a hero, and that you’re going to triumph. Of course, you don’t really have a clue whether you’re really the hero or not. Not until the end anyhow.”
This stance pushes this title up against the glut of other work trying to get noticed, I would recommend picking it up to try it. I have no idea where the series is going – I’m not even sure what it’s trying to achieve. That would possibly be my only criticism of the book, the vagueness of its approach. For the whole though it’s looking cool, not square, so far.
Contact info for Malsaine:
Web : www.imprintcomics.com
e-mail : info@imprintcomics.com (for general and press enquiries)
malsaine@imprintcomics.com (to order malsaine)
To order make cheques / postal orders out to Imprint Comics for the cover price €3.80 / $2.95 / £2.25, plus €0.75 / $1.00 / £0.50 for postage and mail to; Imprint Comics,
c/o The 3rd Place,Unit 3 Sprangers Yard,
Crow St,
Temple Bar,
Dublin 2,
Ireland.
For credit card orders contact the 3rd Place on 0035316336964
Just One Page
Writer - Various
Artist - Various
Publisher – N/A
Release date – Out Now
Price - £5.00
Reviewed by James Dodsworth
Just One Page is a charity comic that first appeared in 2001, and the second incarnation following last year. The concept is as its title suggests, showcasing art with the stipulation that each contributor gets just one page to do their thing. As well as enabling new and upcoming writers and artists to submit their work, bigger name creators who have contributed to previous editions have included Warren Ellis, Bryan Talbot, Jock and Gary Spencer Millidge.
The theme for this year’s effort was Battle and Team-ups. This invariably led to some very strange combinations of characters. Nestling amongst the obvious efforts such as Daredevil and Elektra (Jason Sobol), Superman and Batman (Daniel Lundie) are pieces such as Thor vs. Asterix & Obelix (Charlie Adland), and Minnie the Minx vs. Resident Evil (Gene Poonyo). Being a particularly British affair, there is an abundance of British comic characters like Dennis the Menace (not the rubbish American version, the proper one) and Billy the Cat.
There are too many pages that I absolutely adore in this book; honourable mentions go to Flash vs. Quicksilver vs. Roadrunner (Alan Davis) and brilliant Lobo vs. The Littlest Hobo (Mike Collins). Written pieces shape up in the form of Spider-Man meeting The Spyder by Mike Carey & Harry Webb, and a wrestling event pitting Alan Moore against Grant Morrison with Bill Jemas and Rich Johnson commentating by John Mazzeo.
Also crammed into the 80 pages is a reprint of a comic that was produced in 24 minutes at the UK Web & Mini-Comix event in March. Mike Carey drafted up 24 rhyming couplets and a squad of artists had 24 minutes to produce a page based on the rhyming couplet assigned to them. The result was put together as a 24 page comic and printed all in under 3 hours!
Just One Page is well worth the money, of which a vast part goes to this year’s charity of Childline. The auction of the original artwork will take place on July 3rd.
Springheeled Jack
Writer and Artist: David Hitchcock
Publisher: Black Boar Press
Release date: Issue 1 and 2 released. Issue 3 out in August via Previews
Price: £2.50
Reviewed by Mark Peyton
Monsters plaguing Old London Town. The Prince Regent is sick with some bizarre affliction. Women grabbed from the very streets.
One of the highlights of the last few Bristol Cons has undoubtedly been the Springheeled Jack miniseries. Following on from the acclaimed Whitechapel Freak, Hitchcock once more returned to the Victorian era this time to deal with a bizarre twist on a folk legend. Whereas Whitechapel was disturbed on a human level, Springheeled sees alien infestations and bat like creatures prowl the rooftops of London. The fantastical feel is increased through an extended cameo by Henry Jekyll and the very alien design of the creature.
Hitchcock’s art is its usual highly detailed self with a beautiful use of the black and white format. Because of the enormous level of detail he puts into making the Victorian world come to life the creature’s presence is all the more striking. I’d imagine that Dave twitches when you mention rooftops given the work that has gone into the cityscapes in the book, but believe me you won’t have seen a rooftop chase like this anywhere before.
Springheeled Jack is available as a 3 issue mini series, though Dave also put out a special limited edition final chapter showing our hero after the events of the series at Bristol. This is a series that demands to be collected. I know there have been some plans to colourise it, in much the same way that Reeds Comics collected and colourised Whitechapel Freak, and the covers show this would be lovely. It doesn’t need it though and you need to hunt down this series direct from Black Boar and demand more work from the incomparable Dave Hitchcock.
Sabrina Peyton - Newly migrated to the UK to be with her husband. After working for Diamond Comics for a short time she ended up immersed in a few comic book forums and ended up moderating two of the largest, the Warren Ellis Forum (WEF) and Mark Millar’s forum (Millarworld).She’s written for Sequential Tart, and The Vampirella Magazine, Editor and Chief of Nerdbait.com and Wickedinclinations.com and is now a contributor and editor for The.Magazine.
Mark Peyton – has a MA in History and Research from the University of Hull specialising in the Hundred Years War. In a complete departure from that he now runs communications and membership for a UK based Trade Union as well as being a part time writer/journalist. He is a founding member of Millarworld acting as a moderator and as an editor for the magazine.