ReadCon 2013

Now I've never really been into manga or Anime that much. I've had friends who have tried to get me into various series but nothing ever really took my fancy. But this year I've started to pick up some small press manga at different conventions. I started off with a few books from the Red Garden Artist Group (so if you wanna blame somebody.....) and some other bits and pieces here and there and enjoyed every single one. So when I found out that there was a manga and anime convention in my own town I thought "well why the hell not?" and mosied on over to check it out.
ReadCon is organised by the Reading University Anime Society (www.readingunianime.webs.com/) and is, without doubt, the tiniest  convention  I've ever been to. Yet the talent on show was huge. There were only about ten tables there and maybe only four of those were home to small pressers. But that was okay as they were really cool people, happy to chat not only about their manga but also about making comics. I picked up The Elemals by Josh Clarke (www.JoshClarkeDraws.deviantart.com). I love this guys stuff; it's like someone has taken the cells from an animated movie and made a comic book out of them. It's really a funny book too. I also picked up Crankrats by Katherine Ellis (www.sio64.deviantart.com). It's an amazing amalgam of manga, anime and steam punk and I can't believe she's only been at this comics creating game a couple of years. Manga retailer Frank was there, who, along with his Red Garden Artists Group, is becoming a familiar face on the convention circuit.
Even though it was a small convention it got real busy real quick; so I hope it was successful enough for the organisers to put it on again next year.

   

Those Pages

Don't know why but these were cut off of  one of my previous posts. These are the pages that I picked up at LFCC 2013.

A page of art from Marvel comics series "The Twelve", by Chris Weston.

A page from an issue of What If? by Bryan Hitch.

S'MORE FAN ART

It's been a while since I posted some fan art so here is some based on some recent small press purchases.

A quick sketch of Bubbles and Eliza.
(www.redgardenartistgroup.com)

Another quick sketch of two of the main
characters from Fey
(www.redgardenartistgroup.com)

LONDON FILM AND COMIC CON 2013

Well this was an improvement on last years con. So much more comics related stuff this time. Somebody finally got it - it's the London Film and Comic Con. The panels/talks areas still need improving and the organisers could still make more of an effort to make things a little less confusing in terms of layout and scheduling of events. LFCC is one of the bigger events of the year and yet there is still no convention programme to pick up on the door.

Anyway, I usually go to conventions to pick up small press comics and cool original art, and LFCC certainly delivered on those. I picked up Bearlands #2 from the gang at www.subversivecomics.com,
volume 2 of Rob Curetons hilarious Orful Comics (www.orfulcomics.co.uk), the rather demented Frogman #1 (www.deadcanarycoimcs.com), the stunningly beautiful Only Me Tiny by Jing X. Hu (www.pinkjellyo.deviantart.com) and another cool sketchbook by Huy Truong (www.huy-truong.deviantart.com).

I was also really pleased with the art purchases that I made. One page from The Twelve by Chris Weston and one page by Bryan Hitch featuring the X-Men. I love both of these pages so much. There's so much detail in the Weston page and it's also a really fun piece. One of the many reasons I like the Hitch page is that all the lettering is there on the page. Not only that but there's also bits of zip-a-tone pasted to the board, plus white out    

BRISTOL COMICS EXPO 2013

After checking out several  different cons for the first time these past 18 months I decided that it was about time I went back to my first love - BCE! This was my first regular convention back at the beginning of the Noughties and always jostled with BICS for the title of "My Favourite Convention" (BICS did tend to edge it because the panel shows there were so much fun). It's been a few years since I last went but once i was in the convention hall i soon remembered why I loved this con so much. This year there was a great mix of Small Press-ers and professional comics artists. There were so many artists with so much amazing art on display and for sale that I did spend a lot of the time cursing the paltry contents of my wallet. On reflection it probably was a good thing that I went with a modest budget as I could easily have spent a crazy amount of money without thinking about it. I would have had some lovely artwork to hang on the wall, though......

Speaking of art, I did manage to make my meagre budget stretch to three purchases. I picked up a cute Susan Storm piece by Huy Truong. I saw this piece in his portfolio at EMS last year but didn't have enough money to buy it then; so I was thrilled to see he still had it for sale at BCE.  I also picked up a rather sleek looking Power Girl piece from the very talented John Watson (www.johnwatsonart.com). Finally, I purchased a page of comics art by David A. Roach. It's from the Synnamon - Arc of Light series from 2000AD. I must confess that when I first saw those pages (he had three for sale) I thought they were of the Black Widow! But it didn't matter as the pages were gorgeous and so detailed. Alas I only had the funds for one page. Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll still have the other two next time our paths cross at a convention.

I also picked up some very cool comics, such as Eponymous by Mike Garley, Martin Simmonds and Mike Stock (www.vs-comics.blogspot.co.uk), Razarhawk by Ian Matthews and Dani Abram (www.kittyhawkkicksass.blogspot.com) (it has a kickass heroine called Kitty and it's got monkey scientists! Whats' not to love?) and Bubbles & Eliza, Fey and St. Judes by Stephanie L O'Brien and  Kirstie Edwards from the Red Garden Artist Group (www.redgardenartistgroup.com) (who, as it turns out, live in the same town as me. Surely a collaboration must be on the cards?)

It was nice to meet PB Rainey again, just so I could tell him how much I'm enjoying Thunder Brother: Soap Division, and as always it was a pleasure to be able to stop and "talk shop" with Sgt Mike Battle creator Graham Pearce (who was full of ideas for a sequel to my Small Press United comic). 

 Such an enjoyable convention. Definitely going next year. Just need to remember to take more money!

Teddy Scare Bear Takes On LSCC!

Made my first trip to the London Super Comic-Con yesterday and had an amazingly good time. Picked up sooooo many small press books and sketch books (my wallet says "ouch!" btw.) and purchased a lovely piece of  V For Vendetta art by Dave Stokes. Seek him out whenever he is at a Con, you will definitely find something cool to buy. Managed to get a look at so much fantastic art: it was a real privilege to be able to hold pages by David mack, Mahmud Asrar, Simone Bianchi, John Byrne, Brian Hitch and Jack Kirby! Gosh, some of those Kirby pages were huge!  Oh I seriously need to win the lottery by next years show! I didn't see a David Mack page that went for less than a grand! And i didn't even bother to ask how much those Kirby pages were.

Also, I handed out some copies of "The Nightmare Bear", the collected edition of my Teddy Scare Bear mini-comics. They seemed to find their way into some interesting hands......   

Hey! Isn't this guy supposed to be dead? Well it hasn't stopped
Nightcrawler from checking out his new favourite comic! 

Your friendly neighborhood Spider Man taking a break from saving
the world so he can catch up on his Teddy Scare Bear reading!

The Dynamic Duo investigating a copy of The Nightmare Bear! 

Psylocke, Phoenix and the Scarlet Witch can't get
enough of the Nightmare Bear!

Those spangly shorts made my camera go all blurry!
Zatanna and The Black Canary clearly impressed
by my tales of teddy terror!

Cheetara! From Thundercats! Holy Shit!! And
she's a fan of The Nightmare Bear, too.

Holy smokes! How cool is this? V by Dave Stokes.

The rather talented Tsao Wei was giving out these lovely
skecth prints. 

Some of the swag I picked up at the LSCC

Yet more swag.

Still more swag.

    

Casting Call

We've all done it, haven't we? Sat in a pub/cafe/mates house and discussed who would be great in a film/T.V version of our favourite comic book. Well, I've recently started wondering who could portray my own characters on the small screen. Check out the Casting Call page to see what I've come up with so far (I'll be adding more casting choices as they come to me).
Anyone have any casting ideas for other characters? Justin Bieber for Sgt Mike Battle, anyone? 

Now who could possibly portray the Nightmare Bear? The foul-
mouthed Ted seems like an obvious choice. But what about hard
drinking legend Nookie Bear? or the enigmatic Alan Measles?

EMS!

BLACK WIDOW Vs THE ABSORBING
MAN! By Lee Townsend.

WONDER WOMAN
by Huy Truong



Raaaay!

This past weekend I once again attended a convention that i had not been to before, namely The Entertainment Media Show. Well, I say I hadn't been to it before; It is basically the London Film & Comic Con under a different name. It's the same organisers, same venue and a lot of the same exhibitors. And yet.....it seemed much smaller. Not just because not all of the venue space was used but also because the event drew a much smaller crowd than LFCC; which was surprising considering  some of the names attending (Matt Smith, the Red Dwarf crew, Mike Tyson (Mike Tyson!?)). There wasn't even that many cosplayers there to marvel at. It was all a bit of a weird one, this.

However, there were still some good things that EMS had to offer. Upon entering the show punters were greeted by the presence of a huge Stay Puft Marshmallow Man - a really cool photo opportunity if ever there was one. I was a bit miffed at the organisers decision to close off the balcony area as that would have provided for some great  shots of SPMM. As with LFCC the comics side of things were a bit sparse and there were not many exhibitors selling old or new comics, so I didn't get to waste a couple of hours rifling through longboxes searching for cool finds. I did pick up some cool Small Press comics, though. I picked up, read and enjoyed the first issue proper of Bearlands (www.subversivecomics.com). I also decided to give Bex book 1 and Trojan #0 (www.reapercomics.co.uk) a try. There's a nice mix of techniques in artist Hal Larens' work, photo manipulation, poser work, digital illustration, etc. It all sits together perfectly and isn't jarring at all. The only other small press comic that caught my eye was Tinpot Hobo (www.tinpothobo.com). Boy, this is a lovely book to look at. Really nice cartoony art and printed via ukomics (www.ukomics.co.uk) so it's a book with glossy paper stock and that raised ink feel to the line art. A very professional looking self published comic. My only problem with it is there's too much happening on each page, too many panels and too many word balloons. Jack Lawrence should give his superb art more room to breath.

One of my best buys of the convention was a page of art by the super talented Lee Townsend (www.leetownsendart.blogspot.com) . It's a really dynamic bit of action storytelling, showing The Black Widow laying the smackdown on The Absorbing Man! And it was only £45! I also picked up a rather lovely colour sketch of Wonder Woman by the equally talented (and all around nice guy) Huy Truong (www.huy-truong.deviant.com/). There's some really nice ink-work here, so fluid that I just can't tell for sure if it was done by pen or brush (brush-pen?).

But the highlight of the convention for me was getting to meet Chris Claremont. I read  a lot of Spider-man comics when I was a little kid but it was Claremont's run on the X-Men that really got me bitten by the comics bug. The guy was at the top of the industry for almost 20 years, and while the last 13 yrs has seen him and his characters replaced at Marvel by Bendis and The Avengers, the guy is still a legend. One of the benefits of EMS being so quiet was I got to have a proper 20mins conversation with the guy.  I have met Chis once before (he didn't remember, but that's OK - it was 20yrs ago!) and he was just as enthusiastic and passionate and articulate and generous as he was back then. We talked about the last time he worked with John Byrne at DC (Byrne insisted that there be no actual contact between the two!), the unused pitch for a new Excalibur series with Alan Davis from a few years ago and just about his thoughts on comics in general. I also tried to convince him to team up with Dan Slott on a She Hulk project. I had spoken to Dan earlier that day and he told me about all the story ideas he didn't get to use before leaving She Hulk for The Amazing Spider-Man (something about a character fighting for the right to teach the Marvel version of Creationism - involving the Celestials - in schools). I remembered that one of my favourite She Hulk stories was written By Chris and illustrated by Alan Davis in an issue of Avengers Spotlight so I thought I'd put the idea to him. Claremont? Slott? Davis? On a She Hulk project? I'd buy that.

All in all, not a bad first EMS for me. Not a great convention and not different enough from LFCC. Some more comic Industry guests and comics themed panels would make this worth attending again next year.              

LONDON FILM AND COMIC CON

I've always wanted to go to the San Diego Comic Con, even though I know I would probably hate it (too many people, too hot, moan moan whinge whinge). Still, all that comic book awesome-ness all in one place, plus the glamour and the spectacle that comes with the Film and TV side can be pretty alluring. Personally I like a con to be fairly low-key and entirely comics based. For me BICS is the best con experience; busy but not too busy, good venue, great guests, lots of small press comics and fun and interesting panels. However, going to the same type of con all the time can start to get a little boring. Luckily the UK seems to be catching up with staging big multi-media conventions, bringing a bit more variety and some new faces to comic cons. This year I decided to check out a couple of cons that I'd never been to before (I've already posted about Kapow!)  so this past weekend I had a look at the London Film and Comic Con.

I've seen this con described as the UK's version of SDCC and I can see now why people would make the comparison. It's huge! And quite confusing. I found it quite difficult to keep track of where things were, what stages the comics panels were on or what they were about.   Although there's a big difference in the Film & TV element. With SDCC it's all about new and upcoming product. With LFCC it's all about nostalgia and recapturing past glories. I've never been that bothered about autographs or having my picture taken with someone who was in a film for 5 minutes back in 1975 so the Film part of LFCC  wasn't that relevant to me. No, I was more interested in the Comic part. And what a small part that was!  I thought that, as the con was called London Film And Comic Con, there would be loads of  small pressers, loads of artists doing sketches and panels etc. But, from what I could make out, it was all quite marginal. According to the website LFCC 2012 featured an expanded comics zone! Really? wow, what was it like before? 

It wasn't all bad though. I still picked up some comics from some new faces; Jericho by Fwah Storm and Reload Comics (www.reloadcomics.com) and Bearlands by Biggs + Bakki (www.subversivecomics.com) . I enjoyed both of them so much you can expect to see some fan art up here very soon. I found someone selling some original John Byrne Doom Patrol art for £230. a page. I'm a big Byrne fan and he was one of the first artists whose work I began to seek out and follow. And he's still got it. Just check out some of the commission work he has posted on his website (www.byrnerobotics.com). Anyway, I spent most of the time walking around the convention floor trying to convince myself to purchase at least one page. I eventually decided against it, believing that I might find better pages at a similar price on the web (ridiculous!). Needless to say I am kicking myself  right now. Still it was nice to be able to see those pages close up. Maybe next time.....

As well as finding a few gems in various back issue bins I also managed to find copies of the old  1970s Spider Man live action TV show and the 1994 Roger Corman Fantastic Four movie! So, despite my initial disappointment I still came away with some pretty cool swag. LFCC certainly offered a different con experience to what I am used and that's what this was all about anyway. Would I go again? Probably, yeah. It's still a fun and exciting atmosphere and all those Cosplayers are a sight to behold.   But I would like to see more in the way of comics panels, and clearer information on when and where they take place.        

KAPOW! 2012

I heard so many good things about Kapow last year that I just had to pop along this weekend to check it out for myself - and boy am I glad that I did! A nice, excited atmosphere, great crowd, friendly staff and really well organised. The main convention floor was pretty big and maybe a little confusing (for me anyway). I kept wandering around convinced that there was an aisle I hadn't been down yet. I think it drove me a little crazy after awhile! But there did seem to be a lot to take in, especially all the small press guys & gals along the balcony. Now, I'm a pretty shy person so conventions can be a bit of an ordeal for me. I did my usual thing of going past all the tables several times, stopping long enough to see if there might be something of interest to me but not long enough for anybody at the table to strike up a conversation. My technique is to wait until a table gets busy and then sneak in at the side to buy a bunch of comics whilst the exhibitor is busy chatting to someone else! Pathetic, I know, but it's the only way I can "settle in" to a convention. After doing that for a little while I found myself buying loads of comics and chatting to lots of nice small press people whose work I hadn't come across before. Although I was a bit disappointed that there wasn't many tiny xeroxed mini comics around. Most small press comics seem to be full colour and printed on very nice paper and...well... a bit expensive these days. I kind of miss the days when you'd see Lot's of stuff like Jonbot Vs Martha by Future Socks Comics. Saying that, there's probably lots of cons out there that cater specifically to mini comics. Anyway, I still managed to walk away with loads of comics, some artwork by the mighty Martin Eden (whose Spandex book seems to be taking over the world right now - go Mart!) and a lovely Harley Quinn sketch by the crazy talented Amano Jyaku.
And how about those cosplayers, huh? There were loads of them, gawd bless 'em. All showing varying degrees of costume making skill; from very professional looking custom made jobs to ill-fitting store bought spandex cossies to a guy in a paper mache Thing outfit. It's great to see so many people get so creative about this stuff.
As much as I enjoyed Kapow I do have one complaint. I generally go to cons for small press comics and panels. Kapow delivered on the small press area but the panels were a bit of a disappointment. Don't get me wrong, I loved listening to the likes of Joe Q and Sara Pichelli talk about working for Marvel, but it would have been better if I could have seen them too. I spent over two hours staring at the back of peoples heads and, as funny as Joe Q can be, that got boring pretty quick. So much so that I didn't bother attending the Warren Ellis panel (and I'm a big fan of that guys work). I really hope that next year the organisers set up a stage for the panelists to sit on so that everybody can see them and not just the guys in the front row. I hope they sort that out as I am definitely going again next year. Right, I've got loads of comics to read.  

IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT BEARS Y'KNOW, WE'VE GOT MONKEYS TOO!

Seeing Earth's Mightiest Heroes Assemble on the big screen reminded me of another gathering of unlikely heroic types, one that could be found in the pages of  SMALL PRESS UNITED!! This was a little project I did ages ago, just to amuse myself really. It's a bit of a mickey take of Image United (and a certain Image creator in particular) but with some of my favourite small press characters. Click on the Small Press United page at the top there (just under the NBC banner) to see the full 6 page "story" plus some other bits and pieces. If this inspires anyone else out there to do their own small press jam please let me know; I'd love to see what other people might come up with. If anyone wants a print copy of Small Press United just e-mail me an address to send it to and I'll do the rest.  

BEARMAGEDDON!

It's 2012 - the year of Bearmageddon! And it starts with Teddy Scare Bear painting the whole world with a rainbow - of blood! (that actually doesn't make any sense, does it?) This rather traumatic scene is brought to you by Matthew Craig, creator of such fine small press comics like Trouble Bruin, Trixie Biker and the tear-jerking classic Hondle! This is the first time I've seen one of my characters as portrayed by someone else and I'm absolutely chuffed to bits by it. Thanks Craig! Now is it just me or does it demand a spin-off series? I can picture it now - Teddy Scare Bear: The Hunt For Geoffrey!

'TIS THE SEASON....

....and a happy new year!!

MORE FAN ART - THE O MEN!

I know I said that I wouldn't be doing anymore fan art for a while but I didn't bank on the O Men making a triumphant return in the pages of Spandex #5 (thanks Mart!). I was so thrilled that I just had to draw a little picture. It's based on a panel from page 14 of the latest issue of the O Men. Wanna know how they compare? Well, you'll have to buy Spandex #5 won'tcha?

Definitely the last piece of fan art.

FAN ART - THE ABNORMALS!

So here's my rendition of Grant Springford's The Abnormals, with a slight nod to his previous comic Pest Control. A cast of strange characters uncovering even stranger phenomenon in the UK. Copies can be ordered from theabnormals.co.uk.

Right that's enough of this fan art marlarkey, I've got comics to draw!

FAN ART - SUGAR GLIDER!

Recently picked up issue one of Gary Bainbridge and Daniel Clifford's Sugar Glider from Orbital Comics and loved it so much I just had to do some fan art. I do like me some UK super heroes, especially when they are based in different cities across the country and not just London. Trouble Bruin is based in Birmingham and Sugar Glider is set in Newcastle. It would be nice if all these titles could be published under one roof: a distinctly British super hero comics universe to rival the Americans'.

Anyway, check out the Sugar Glider Comics Facebook page for more info.

FAN ART - TROUBLE BRUIN!

Here we go, Matthew Craig's Mighty Midlander - Trouble Bruin! (with apologies to Frank Miller). This book is one of my favourite small press books of the last few years. It's a really touching story and better than a comic with an aging teddy boy and a kid in a bear suit has any right be! Copies can be ordered from thematthewcraig.com

SMALLVILLE

So long SMALLVILLE, I may have fallen in and out of love with you several times over the last 10 years but I'm still gonna miss ya. C'mon Warner Bros. surely there's room for a Smallville/Justice League spin-off movie?

FAN ART: MIKE NEVILLE VS TEDDY SCARE BEAR!

Some more fan art for ya, this time of the thrilling first meeting of Teddy Scare Bear and Ben Clarks adventurer/crime fighter/local broadcast legend MIKE NEVILLE! Ben is the creator of many crazy funny comics, such as Mike Neville, Punchasaurus and Griefbringer (among others). He's got loads of them up on his blog - magicbeanscomics.blogspot. Check 'em out, your ribs are sure to be tickled!

WORLD WAR BEARS!

Currently working on completing other mini comics but fret not, Teddy will return next year in the comic book event series to end all event series - WORLD WAR BEARS! (with respect and apologies to those whose work I've re-imagined for the above pic). And I'm sure he'll pop up in some of the fan art pieces I've got planned for the next couple of weeks.

I made use of some Computones plug ins I have in Paint Shop Pro to fill out the background on this piece. Not sure how people feel about the use of this stuff outside of the usual grey tones but I don't really have a problem with it. As long as it all looks good it's fair game, I think.