Bahala Na!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-19T11:34:00.000Z

Seasons Greetings to ye.

Or at least, I think it's supposed to be a Christmas picture.

Don't forget, I'm updating the archive with new old strips every Wednesday over on Bahala Na!.

There will be new new strips in the New Year, I promise.

Archive Update - Venus Needs Men!

2011-11-16T18:23:00.000Z

I've been slowly filling up the archives on the Bahala Na! website.

Venus Needs Men! is the latest addition.

New (old) updates every Wednesday, I've been lax in mentioning them here.

New strip up on Bahala Na! - La Vie Quixotic

2011-10-05T18:52:00.000+01:00

New strip on Bahala Na!
La Vie Quixotic

There's also a bunch of strips in the archive.

New strip up on Bahala Na! - Time Police

2011-09-28T16:00:00.000+01:00

New strip on Bahala Na! -
Time Police

There's also a bunch of strips in the archive.

Bahala Na! website under way

2011-07-25T22:59:00.000+01:00

The main website is now more or less back up and running. New strips will be posted over there, in a slightly bigger size, and I will be retroactively updating the archive. A selection of strips from BN!07 have recently been added and the rest will be posted later.

Bahala Na! - Closed for renovations

2011-07-05T20:26:00.000+01:00

My main website is currently undergoing renovations while I tinker with a Wordpress set up.

At some point, I'll discontinue this blog in favour of the main site, but until then I'll be using this for important information.

Manchester MCM Expo - 30th July

2011-07-01T12:23:00.000+01:00

I'll be appearing at the Manchester MCM Expo on the 30th July, along with Square Eyed Stories.

Rocky in the Lost World

2011-06-26T17:20:00.000+01:00

Reality intrudes

2011-03-25T15:26:00.000Z

What, no news since January? Unfortunately, despite all my best efforts to avoid it, I have been lumbered with a case of Real Life. Nothing serious, but inconvenient for the drawing of comics.

Normal service (or what passes for it) will be resumed eventually.
Meanwhile, have a snippet of a Work in Progress:

Year of the Tiger: January 2011

2011-01-02T15:47:00.000Z

Happy New Year.

And so the Year of the Tiger draws to a close, making way for the Year of the Rabbit.

Year of the Tiger: December 2010

2010-12-22T14:13:00.000Z

Santa Tiger.

Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to you all.

Animal Bubbles

2010-12-04T12:50:00.002Z

Item! Comical Animal has launched, "a bi-monthly online publication for comic, cartoon and kids books afficianados" that is, as you might guess from the title, all about animals.

I've got a couple of strips in it that have been coloured especially for Comical Animal (or in one case, recoloured since the colour version was lost to a computer mishap).

Item! While at Thought Bubble, I was filmed by Geek Syndicate where I got to plug Bahala Na! and Square Eyed Stories. Video at the link.

Year of the Tiger: November 2010

2010-11-29T17:52:00.000Z

November's tiger is dedicated to all those people working to tight deadlines.

Bahala Na! 10

2010-11-22T15:24:00.000Z

Bahala Na! 10 is officially available and made its debut at the Thought Bubble comic festival.

The atomic number of neon is 10.

Thought Bubble 2010

2010-11-22T14:29:00.000Z

My brother and I were at the Thought Bubble comic festival again this year. A Bad Event on Friday night kind of put a downer on the weekend, but we stuck with it. We were late to set up on Saturday, but I arrived to find a box of Bahala Na! 10s waiting for me so I was able to have something new for the table.

I didn't get to take many photos, but here are some tiger sketches I drew:

Some of these were given away free with purchases. There were a few more, but I didn't record them.

And that's that for convention season 2010. Now to start preparing for next year.

Year of the Tiger: October 2010

2010-10-31T00:00:00.001+01:00

Halloween pumpkin.

The Call of Cthululu

2010-10-25T11:30:00.000+01:00

A Lady and A Tiger

2010-10-23T19:07:00.000+01:00

British International Comics Show 2010

2010-10-19T21:30:00.001+01:00

I managed to get a table share for BICS 2010, with Soaring Penguin and the Comics Creators Guild. Sales were abysmal- traffic seemed to be very low and the few people who passed by were just browsing. On the plus side, I got some more tigers for my Year of the Tiger sketchbook, got a bag full of loot, and got some help shaping an idea into a viable form. So things worked out well in the end.

Photomographs:

British International Comics Show 2010

Fragments

2010-10-14T13:22:00.000+01:00

Tales of the Internet Surveillance Spooks

2010-10-01T15:41:00.000+01:00

Year of the Tiger: September 2010

2010-09-26T19:40:00.002+01:00

The White Tiger is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. It represents the west and the autumn season.

News: BICS, Bulldog Clips and Furrlough

2010-09-20T19:57:00.000+01:00

Long time no update. What news do I have?

Hopefully, I'll be at the British International Comics Show again, where Bahala Na! 09 will be on sale.

BN!10 is still in the pipeline, but coming perhaps a little sooner is Bulldog Clips, a new collection of Captain Bulldog strips by Jason Cobley and several artists, including myself:

If you really can't wait for a funny animal fix, out NOW is Furrlough #190 from Radio Comix in a bigger, perfect bound collection of strips by myself and others.

Trip Trap: Day One

2010-09-20T18:40:00.000+01:00

Script by Jay Eales.

Year of the Tiger: August 2010

2010-08-27T19:13:00.000+01:00

More playing with Photoshop brushes.
Jim McGee suggest Cubism, but it ended more abstract.

Caption 2010

2010-08-06T13:48:00.000+01:00

Photos from Caption 2010

Caption 2010

Mad Science

2010-08-04T12:18:00.000+01:00

Produced for the Caption 2010: Mad Science programme booklet.
I think all the (currently) scientifically impossible technology in Science Fiction should be called Space Magic instead.

Year of the Tiger: July 2010

2010-07-29T20:44:00.002+01:00

Mad Science tiger, in honour of Caption.
Trying another brush.

Recently Read: The Anime Club

2010-07-14T22:44:00.000+01:00

Recently Read: The Anime Club by KC Green.

The epic adventures of a group of dysfunctional nerds. Also a great source of Reaction Images.

Year of the Tiger: June 2010

2010-06-29T21:03:00.000+01:00

Tiger cub with an incredibly wonky back leg.

Still experimenting with different brushes.

Mad Science Caption - teaser

2010-06-27T13:13:00.000+01:00

Teaser for a 2 page strip for Mad Science Caption 2010. Work in progress.

MCM Expo 2010

2010-06-08T12:56:00.000+01:00

After hearing how great it was, and being told that our stuff would fit right in, we decided to give MCM Expo 2010 a try. Normally, we'd go one year as visitors, just to get an idea of what it would be like, but this time I jumped straight in and booked us a table.

Arriving on Friday evening for set up, we discover how big the Excel actually is. The place is huge, compared to previous convention locations (bigger even than the Bristol train shed), and I'm already beginning to feel overwhelmed. Our hotel is conveniently located next to a Docklands Light Rail station, so it's easy for us to get there. The DLR goes up and down and shakes like a rollercoaster, sans loop-the-loops.

Arriving early on Saturday morning, the queue is already long. I have no idea how long they've been waiting. There is no-one at the VIP booth, but we have the entry tickets/badges so we can go straight in. We've brought nearly all our stock with us and we're hoping to shift some of the older titles this weekend.

There are lots of browsers over the day, but not many sales. Certainly, not as many as I'd been over-optimistically expecting. Perhaps this is because we are unknown first-timers and our books aren't strictly anime/manga material.

The Anime and Manga presence at MCM is immense. Most of the merchandise dealers seem to be selling Japanese pop-culture goods of one form or another. MCM is also about the cosplay, more so than any other con I've been to. While the Stormtroopers make an appearance, most of the cosplayers seem to be Naruto/One Piece/Final Fantasy/Schoolgirl/Maids and many of them carry "Free Hugs" signs. I keep my eyes and camera ready for some of the less common costumes. However, having to watch a table for most of the day, I'm limited to those who pass by or are within chasing distance.

On Sunday, we decide to brave the trains back instead of staying over until Monday, which means we have to pack up before official closing time. The bekilted Gary Erskine generously distributes doughnuts in the morning. The Sunday sales we'd been hoping for don't emerge. Things are as slow as Saturday. I'd heard there would be Furries present, so I've brought a heap of Furrloughs in which I've had strips printed - but only a few get sold! It seems the UK Furries aren't into print comics any more.

In the end, we made our table costs back, but it wasn't the sales success we'd been hoping for. It was all so overwhelming as well! I couldn't get it together enough to have a proper look around and forgot to get sketches and buy stuff. Or perhaps I was experiencing convention burn-out, with SPExpo only the week before?

It was an interesting experience, but sales weren't so good. I'd have to think hard about going again - certainly I don't think we'd be back for the October Expo! Now, back to the drawing board, to prepare for the end-of-year conventions...

Thanks and acknowledgements to Emma Viecelli, Al Davison, Gary Northfield, Karen Rubins, Willie Hewes, Gary Erskine and everyone who bought something or stopped for a photograph.

Pics or it didn't happen:

MCM Expo 2010

Year of the Tiger: May 2010

2010-05-25T13:58:00.002+01:00

It's comic convention time, so here are some comic and cartoon tigers: Tygra, Tigra, Shere Khan and Hobbes.

Small Press Expo 2010

2010-05-24T13:59:00.000+01:00

We were back at the Small Press Expo in Bristol this year. This time it was on all weekend, instead of just the Saturday.

Again, the convention was split over two hotels - the mainstream comics in the Ramada, and the small press and independents in the Holland Mercure, although Nintendo had a display in the Mercure too. I think the Mercure is the better of the two venues; it's bright, with actual windows, and the air conditioning makes it nice and cool - just the thing for a hot and sunny weekend (although it got a bit too cool and slightly chilly in there!). We were also staying in the Mercure this year which was very convenient, especially as we missed the Friday evening set up time due to a delayed train. Certainly, our room was very nice.

Sales wise, on Saturday we managed about as well as we did last year, which was okay. Sunday was a much quieter day, but we managed to shift a few things.

Photos:

Bristol SPExpo 2010

SPExpo time is over.
MCMExpo time is now.

Convention time

2010-05-14T11:30:00.000+01:00

It's time for the summer comics conventions, and naturally, I'm leaving everything to the last minute to get ready. Not to worry too much, though, I've already got my tables booked so I can sit back and relax until two days before I have to leave. And then the panic sets in.

So where am I going?

Small Press Expo - May 21-23. The Bristol Comic Expo has split into two parts, the mainstream comics event in the Ramada and the Small Press Expo in the Holland Mercure. Naturally, I'll be in the SPExpo all weekend, sharing a table with Square Eyed Stories.

And one week later is London MCM Expo - May 29-30 - where I will again be sharing with SES.

I'll have copies of Bahala Na! 09 on sale, as well as back issues and other comics.

Year of the Tiger: April 2010

2010-04-17T14:46:00.000+01:00

An attempt to emulate Chinese Watercolours in Photoshop.
I think I need to find the right kind of brush.

Recently Read: Tozo #3

2010-04-15T15:00:00.000+01:00

Recently Read: Tozo the Public Servant #3, by David O'Connell.

While investigating a murder and the disappearance of a scientist, Detective Inspector Tozo enters a world of political intrigue involving several powerful factions within Nova Venezia and the Spider Empire.

Quest

2010-04-14T15:01:00.000+01:00

Manga Studio.

Recently Read: Gunnerkrigg Court vol 2: Research

2010-04-07T16:48:00.000+01:00

Recently Read: Gunnerkrigg Court vol 2: Research, by Thomas Siddell.

Between science and magic, man and nature, stands a very unusual school compound - and in the middle of it all is Antimony Carver, her best friend the technological genius Kat and the shape-shifting Reynardine.

Joke about a dog

2010-04-07T16:45:00.000+01:00

Manga Studio. Looks like I can get grey shade tones as well as dots/shapes.

Dinosaurs

2010-04-06T15:37:00.000+01:00

Produced for and printed in the UK Web & Mini-Comix Thing Anthology 2010.

The UK Web & Mini-Comix Thing 2010

2010-03-28T19:08:00.001+01:00

Back from the UK Web & Mini-Comix Thing 2010. Sales were good, we met some new people, got some sketches, fun was had.

UK Web & Mini-Comix Thing 2010

I was on door duty for an hour in the morning, collecting entry fees. My partner was a first-time exhibitor who had only got into drawing comics recently. Passing by his table later, his comic had space to draw custom character faces, so I opted (naturally) to get a tiger.

While on door duty, a girl comes in. She's not here for the show, she just wanted to see what was going on. She marvels at the scene for a few moments, then leaves.

Sunday morning we passed by the British Museum to see some prints and political posters from the Mexican revolution, then to the Cartoon Art Museum for a Ronald Searle exhibition.

Year of the Tiger: March 2010

2010-03-11T13:02:00.002Z

Chalk-type brush in Photoshop.

Aggadon on Myebook

2010-03-10T12:53:00.002Z

My 24 Hour Comic from 2004, Aggadon, has been out of print for a while but is now available on Myebook.

(I really ought to get round to doing another one.)

Candyman

2010-03-08T23:55:00.000Z

My first attempt at a full strip using Manga Studio debut.
I've still got a lot to learn, but I think I'm getting it.

Bahala Na! 05 on Myebook

2010-03-02T14:28:00.000Z

First published in 2005 and long out of print, Bahala Na! 05 is now available on Myebook.

Why The Little Frenchman Wears His Left Hand In A Sling - promo

2010-02-19T13:26:00.000Z

Promotional sampler- the first two pages of my submission to the Comics Creators Guild 2009 Annual, adapting a short story by Edgar Allan Poe:

Also printed in Bahala Na! 09. The annual should be out soon.

Catgirl Comicbook Convention Crisis! on Myebook

2010-02-15T14:45:00.000Z

My 2006 mini-comic, Catgirl Comicbook Convention Crisis!, has long been out of print, so I've made it available through Myebook. I'm still figuring everything out, but I'm planning to have some other comics available in the near future.

This was the first appearance of the Crisis! catgirls.

UK Web & Mini Comix Thing 2010 - Dinosaurs

2010-02-14T20:51:00.004Z

The UK Web & Mini Comix Thing is coming up, March 27th.

This year, the anthology's theme is Dinosaurs. Have a promotional sampler for my submission:

I'll be there on the Zip Gun Comics table (#42), where you'll be able to buy copies of Bahala Na!, Square Eyed Stories and other comics.

Year of the Tiger: February 2010

2010-02-14T20:45:00.003Z

Kung Hei Fat Choy - it's the Year of the Tiger!

Maganda and Malakas (also works for Valentines day).

This is my own personal zodiac and will be my convention sketchbook theme for 2010.

Website Updated

2010-02-03T17:30:00.003Z

Finally got round to making an update to the website.

My 2010 convention schedule is in place, keep watching for updates.

The comics are now arranged by the issue in which they appear. As Bahala Na! 05 is now out of print, all the strips are available on website.

I'll eventually get round to putting some of the other strips online too. But should I put up the very early strips, now that my art has progressed and developed so far?

Recently Read: Beanworld vol 1

2010-01-03T17:41:00.001Z

Recently Read: Beanworld: Wahoolazuma!, by Larry Marder.

A small community, a peculiar ecosystem, and a journey of discovery.

(Actually I'm re-reading it, and rediscovering why I love it so much.)

Seasons Greetings

2009-12-17T17:59:00.003Z

Merry Christmas 2009.

Octopus theme suggested by Jim M and Ste C.

Thought Bubble 2009

2009-11-22T13:37:00.002Z

The Thought Bubble Festival took place at the Saviles Hall, Royal Armouries in Leeds, on 21st November 2009.

This was our second year visiting Thought Bubble and the first year Zip Gun Comics had a table. The new Bahala Na! had come back from the printers earlier in the week, so we were all set.

BN!09 sold well, I was able to finish off my convention sketchbook, speak to a few people in person, pick up a bunch of new comics and take some photos:

From Thought Bubble 2009

Lots of cosplayers, although the Stormtroopers were conspicuous by their absence.

The City Inn hotel was certainly the nicest one we've stayed in this year, even though the view was of Leeds train station.

That's convention season over for this year, but the next one will be starting all too soon. See you then.

Bahala Na! 09 - available now

2009-11-16T12:53:00.003Z

Bahala Na! 09 is now available and will be making its debut at the Thought Bubble festival.

Featuring 24 pages of short comics (well, 22) with a full colour centre spread.

Recently Read: Grandville

2009-11-16T12:51:00.002Z

Recently Read: Grandville, by Bryan Talbot.

Anthropomorphic steam-punk thriller as a mysterious murder sends Detective-Inspector LeBrock of Scotland Yard to the capital of the French Empire: Grandville.

Recently Read: The Best of Bulldog

2009-11-03T15:49:00.001Z

Recently Read: The Best of Bulldog, by Jason Cobley and various artists.

Collecting some of the stories from long running small press comic Bulldog Adventure Magazine. In a world populated by humans, sentient animals and plants, Captain Winston Bulldog of the Aerial Defence Force defends Blighty against all threats, from without and from within.

Recently Read: Dungeon

2009-11-03T15:47:00.002Z

Recently Read: Dungeon by Joann Sfar, Lewis Trondheim and others.

The Dungeon is a formidable black fortress - a maze of rooms and passageways, filled with treasure, populated by hordes of monsters - and the people who work behind the scenes to make sure it all runs smoothly.

A celebration and send up of D&D Fantasy tropes, with engaging characters and sly humour.

Deadline 2009 - Progress update 4

2009-11-03T15:42:00.003Z

There are/were:

2 weekends until Thought Bubble.

Bahala Na! 09 has:
22 completed pages including 3 full colour pages. At least 1 of those will be printed in colour.

Bahala Na! 09 needs:

Front Cover

Back Cover - this will be one of the colour pages

Introduction/contents

The front cover is in production, the page order needs to be finalised and the pages sorted. Hopefully everything will be ready to go to print by the end of this week.

Deadline 2009 - Progress update 3

2009-09-26T16:35:00.003+01:00

There are/were:

1 weekend until BICS
8 weekends until Thought Bubble.

BN!09 will not be ready in time for BICS. My next target is Thought Bubble, so I have about 5 weeks until the end of October to get it ready for print then.

Bahala Na! 09 has:
17 completed pages including 4 full colour pages. At least 1 of those will be printed in colour.

Bahala Na! 09 needs:

Front Cover

Back Cover

Introduction/contents

4/8 more completed pages

There is 1 completed page in limbo. I might not include it unless I need to.
There is 1 strip in production, accounting for 6 pages. This is also for another project, also aimed at Thought Bubble.
There are 2 scripts waiting for production, accounting for 3 pages each.
One script has been taken out for rewriting.

This will require some juggling and/or filler before the day is done.

Recently Read: Where's it at, Sugar Kat?

2009-09-26T16:31:00.003+01:00

Recently Read: Where's it at, Sugar Kat? by Ian Carney and Woodrow Phoenix.
Slave Labor Comics

Sugar Kat, the most popular girl in the world, joins her more intelligent and less fashionable private detective sister Rebecca. Together they crisscross the country solving mysteries, and wherever they go, people shout "Where's it at, Sugar Kat?"

I recently re-read all the Sugar Buzz books and was reminded of how retrorifficly awesometastic they are.

Recently Read: Skadi

2009-09-13T14:06:00.004+01:00

Recently Read: Skadi by Katie Rice and Luke Cormican.
Every week at Dumm Comics.

Brainless barbarian maiden seeks glory in her quest to "eat of every beast".

Deadline 2009 - Progress update 2

2009-09-13T14:02:00.001+01:00

Not had one of these for a long while. Progress has been a bit slow lately, with nothing much to report, not helped by my computer getting borked and requiring a complete reinstallation.

There are/were:

3 weekends until BICS
10 weekends until Thought Bubble.

BN!09 will not be ready in time for BICS. My next target is Thought Bubble, so I have about 7 weeks until the end of October to get it ready for print then.

Bahala Na! 09 has:
12 completed pages including 4 full colour pages. At least 1 of those will be printed in colour.

Bahala Na! 09 needs:

Front Cover

Back Cover

Introduction/contents

9/13 more completed pages

There is 1 completed page in limbo. I might not include it unless I need to.
There is 1 strip nearing completion, accounting for 5 pages.
There are 3 scripts waiting for production, accounting for 6/3/3 pages. The 6 pager has high priority because that's for another project, also aimed at Thoughtbubble.
One script has been taken out for rewriting.

This will require some juggling and/or filler before the day is done.

Recently Read: The Rainbow Orchid volume 1

2009-08-31T13:44:00.004+01:00

Recently Read: The Rainbow Orchid volume 1 by Garen Ewing.
The Rainbow Orchid

The race is on, with much at stake hinging on the existence of a legendary flower. Period adventure in a Euro-comics style.

Recently Read: The Erotic Adventures of Space Babe 113 #7

2009-08-23T14:12:00.003+01:00

Recently Read: The Erotic Adventures of Space Babe 113 #7 By John Maybury.
Space Babe 113

Saucy sci-fi scenarios starring stylised siren sporting subversive sentient scanties.

Recently Read: Schmurgen's Uncompromising Comic!

2009-08-23T14:08:00.005+01:00

Recently Read: Schmurgen's Uncompromising Comic! by Schmurgen Jonerhaffs
Schmurgen's Blog

Autobio/Slice of Life in an uncompromising style. More than you could ever want/need to know about this legendary cartoonist.

Recently Read: Necessary Monsters #4

2009-08-23T14:05:00.006+01:00

Recently Read: Necessary Monsters #4 by Sean Azzopardi & Daniel Merlin Goodbrey
Necessary Monsters

Espionage Thriller with a cast of post-70's Horror film antagonists.

Recently Read: Red Fox #2

2009-08-17T22:58:00.004+01:00

Recently Read: Red Fox #2 by Richard J. Smith
hitlersbrain.deviantart.com

Much Superhero parody as urban vagabond discovers a costume and sets out to fight for justice as... The Flying Fox!

Recently Read: Queen Mum Adventures No. 1

2009-08-17T22:50:00.005+01:00

Recently Read: Queen Mum Adventures No 1- Mine's a Gin and Tonic by David O'Connell
Queen Mum Adventures - Scroll down to the bottom to start.

It's the 1990s and the Queen Mother is having adventures.
Gawd bliss yer, ma'am.

Recently Read: Mister Amperduke

2009-08-17T22:40:00.006+01:00

Mister Amperduke by Bob Byrne.

Amperville is a thriving miniature city built by Sherman Amperduke in his basement. But the idyllic lives of its tiny inhabitants are thrown into chaos when his grandson arrives...

(Actually I re-read this because I got it last year.)

Omnivistascope vol 5 and Space Lord

2009-08-04T23:12:00.004+01:00

Volume 5 of the sci-fi anthology Omnivistascope is available now, featuring (amongst other things) the diminutive dictator Space Lord, who faces his most formidable foe yet:

Space Lord is also published in Bahala Na!

Rejoice! Red Eye Returns.

2009-08-02T18:44:00.000+01:00

After a hiatus, UK independent comics magazine Red Eye is back, and available as PDF over the electronic Interwebs for just £1.

Highly recommended if you're at all interested in the UK independent/small press comics scene.

Deadline 2009 - Progress update 1

2009-07-19T18:18:00.002+01:00

There are/were:

4 weekends until Caption
7 weekends to complete Bahala Na! 09 before it goes to print in September
11 weekends until BICS

Bahala Na! 09 has:
10 completed pages including 4 full colour pages. At least 1 of those will be printed in colour.

Bahala Na! 09 needs:

Front Cover

Back Cover

Introduction/contents

11/15 more completed pages

There are 5 scripts waiting to be completed accounting for 13 pages, with one script yet to be determined (but estimated to be 5-6 pages).

That's approximately 2-3 pages per week. I'd better get a move on, hadn't I?

Her Majesty

2009-07-15T13:41:00.002+01:00

I've used this colouring technique on small doodles, but this is the first time I've used it on a full size strip. I don't know if I'll be doing it much in future. I still have no idea whether this will print okay in greyscale.

Update: After my computer got borked, I found out that the orignal work file hadn't been backed up properly, and the coloured version had been lost. This picture is all that remained and obviously isn't print quality. I'll eventually get round to recolouring it at some point.

Take Ten

2009-06-17T13:40:00.003+01:00

Small Press Expo 2009

2009-05-09T00:00:00.000+01:00

Anyone who's been following the news on the UK comics convention scene will be aware that the regular Bristol International Comic Expo had to relocate to a much smaller location this year (the Ramada hotel) and that as a result, not only were the number of exhibitors much reduced, but also the number of attendees. Pre-order tickets were rapidly sold out, and there were no tickets available to buy on the door.

A lot of the Small Press publishers who make up a significant proportion of the regular Bristol exhbitors were left out in the cold, until Fallen Angel Media stepped in to set up SPExpo (in partnership with BICE) at the nearby Holland Mercure hotel. As a result, Zip Gun Comics, a lot of regulars and some new faces were back in the convention game, at least for one day.

SPExpo 2009

The Ramada hotel bar was practically deserted on Friday night, compared to previous years. There were several people around, but it wasn't a dense wall of noise and comics folks (fans and creators).

SPExpo, I think, had the nicer venue. The Forest suite was a nice big, bright room on the top floor of the hotel. The aisles were spacious and there were windows. We also had proper, laminated lanyards instead of the BICE paper tickets. What we didn't have was the foot traffic. The day was quiet compared to other years in the big hall of the Train Shed.

Compared to previous years, sales seemed slow. Passersby seemed rare, we didn't see many of our regular customers and there were very few families with children (I was also suprised at the distinct lack of Rorshachs wandering around). Part of the appeal of the previous Bristol events is that it is open to the public and many of the attendees are passersby who aren't necessarily comics fans. Maybe they're there for Doctor Who or the Beano, but they also get a chance to look around the rest of the UK comics scene, including all of us in the Small Press. While SPExpo had tickets available on the door, the restriction on BICE tickets may have put many regular attendees off coming altogether.

The Saturday night Ramada bar was back to its usual self. The bar staff were even in costume, including 2 Iron Men, a Joker, a Cowgirl and Indian, and a female-to-male crossdressing Pirate (with mustache and drawn-on hairy chest). Sadly, I didn't take photos. We saw the Joker delivering a tray of food upstairs and thought he was just a costumed fan taking his dinner back to his room until we saw him behind the bar. We amused ourselves by imagining the reaction of a regular hotel guest on finding their room service being delivered by an overly-theatrical psycopath.

Sunday was a strange day for us. We didn't have to get up early and we didn't have the refuge of a table to retreat behind. BICE was so small this year that I'd seen all of it I wanted to see on my flying visits on Saturday. I'm very much of the alt/indy/small press side so the 2000AD/DC/Marvel artists didn't really appeal to me that much.

So on Sunday afternoon, we decided to leave much earlier than we normally would, especially as there would be several changes to make on the way back.

So that was our Bristol convention for this year. Good in some ways, but disappointing in others. Time to prepare for the next one.

No RPG for Dean Dee!

2009-04-22T00:00:00.003+01:00

On The Mutalist Relationship Between Ants And Aphids

2009-04-05T00:00:00.002+01:00

Who says comics can't be educational?

First published in Square Eyed Stories #22.

Stinky Puppy

2009-04-03T00:00:00.002+01:00

An exercise with a different art style.

First published in Square Eyed Stories #22.
Also published in Bahala Na! 09.

The Canals of Mars

2009-03-28T00:00:00.007Z

First published in the UK Web & Mini Comix Thing 2009 anthology. Also published in Square Eyed Stories #22 (in B&W) and Bahala Na! 09 in colour.

The UK Web & Mini-Comix Thing 2009

2009-03-28T00:00:00.005Z

28th March was the UK Web & Mini-Comix Thing, and as usual Zip Gun Comics had a table.

Fun was to be had on leaving the hotel, with us forgetting trivial things like keys to padlocks and comics that had been left in a backpack, thankfully only within yards of the hotel and not halfway across the London Underground.

UK Web & Mini-Comix Thing 2009

After the event and the post-Thing Thing, we dropped in on the nearby Schmurgen-Con where several other Small Press stalwarts were gathered (but not, alas, Schmurgen himself).

Sunday we saw some ancient Chinese jade and bronze artefacts, and visited the Cartoon Museum.

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-14T00:00:00.001Z

World Peace Through Tiny Horses

2009-02-09T00:00:00.002Z

First published in Square Eyed Stories #22.
Also published in Bahala Na! 09.

Peons of the Stone Age

2009-01-25T00:00:00.004Z

First printed in Square Eyed Stories #22, appears in Bahala Na! 09.

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T00:00:00.001Z