Looking forward to meeting lots of comic lovers at this weekend’s Thought Bubble Convention in Leeds.
Thought Bubble Comic Con
Saturday 23 – Sunday 24 November 2013
New Dock Hall
Armouries Drive, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS10 1LT
Come and find me in New Dock Hall at Table 140, and check out the other wonderful creators there too!
I had a great time as always at Comiket this past weekend. Thank you to everyone who bought the new Lucy comic and other Tempo Lush goodies…
Suki Kabuki helped me sort out my new stock to sell.
In case she sat on it I covered it. She did.
Lucy supporter Lily Withycombe took this pic…
I was proud to be table buddies with my WASP and Rosie and Jacinda collaborator Francesca Dare…
Two more collaborators (with art in Tempo Lush titles coming in 2014) and old friends Sally-Anne Hickman and Francesca Cassavetti.
The great Martin Eden, creator of Spandex…
Tim Hassan, artist for a story in the upcoming Tempo Lush Tales and his first comic festival table, despite his art looking like he’s been a pro for years…
Comiket’s Live Drawing Parade featured some amazing talent including Miss Moti creator and Strumpet editor Kripa Joshi…
The buzzing comic-hungry crowd…
A Lucy the Octopus style portrait I was commissioned to do of a very cute baby in boots with dragons on…
Chilling after the show with Saul Taylor, Francesca Dare, Chantel Beaven, Lauren Murphy and Paul Shinn.
Joined by Richard Carter…
Tim Hassan with Karim Flint….
Wu Wei editor and regular rice eating partner Mike Medaglia…
Mike chats to Comica Festival organiser Megan Donnolley. Also in the background is Elliot Baggott and seated is comics podcaster Stephen Lacey. 
Finally check out Chantel Beaven’s accidental cosplay as Zarina Liew‘s human take on Lucy the Octopus…
Looking forward to next Summer’s Comiket at the British Library!
Here’s a sneak preview of a couple of panels from my story in Mike Medaglia‘s upcoming collection Wu Wei.
Click here to find out more and see all the amazing comic creators taking part.
Preorder the collection here! The first 100 books come with a hand drawn original book plate illustrated by one of the contributors.
Last Wednesday 21 November 2012 saw the private view / opening night of an exhibition of pages of art from the very clever John Miers‘ Score & Script project, taking place at the Centre for Recent Drawing, C4RD, 2-4 Highbury Station Rd, N1 1SB) up until 15 December.
30 artists including myself have taken part in the project, creating comic pages from based on an unusual script or a mysterious score, both originated by John. 23 of the artists are showing their work. The others are still working on their entries.
The creators all worked without consulting each other as part of John’s academic research. Since some artists are still completing their work, and I don’t want to influence their final results, I have censored the exhibit photos, but will post the complete images when all is made public.
In the mean time, the only way to see the comic pages is to head to the exhibition! John Miers
himself suggests…
“A really excellent time to visit would be Sat Dec 8th, when we’ll also be doing a comics fair selling other work by the exhibitors, some of whom may even be mooching about in person!… I already have a big stash of Richy’s wares in stock, and will be pimping them aggressively!”
A whole kaboodle of visitors at the private view
Comic creators Francesca Dare and Tim Hassan soaking in the artistic party atmosphere
The great Kripa Joshi in between her own work and a page by David O’Connell
Mike Medaglia and Elliot Baggott by their work with a page by Sally-Anne Hickman behind
Steven Walsh, the writer to Mike Medaglia’s art with Mike.
Me standing in front of my work, proudly hanging between pages by Woodrow Phoenix and Sean Azzopardi
Had a great time heading into Gosh Comics today. Other than picking up my usual standing orders of monthly comic goodness (Marvel and Dark Horse stuff), I got hold of a lovely lot of free stuff, what with this being Free Comic Book Day and all!
Free Comics FCBD 2012
Check out my freebies: the Top Shelf Kids Club, Bongo Comics inc’ SpongeBob Comics, Dark Horse‘s Buffy / The Guild and Serenity / Star Wars, Papercutz‘ The Smurfs / Disney Fairies, Marvel‘s Amazing Spider-Man and Claude TC‘s mini comic, Immortal Ewan and the rod of Rasputin. Claude is a good man and makes hilarious, brilliantly drawn comics.
Ray Friesen and Sarah McIntyre FCBD 2012
Aside from getting to catch up with comic scene buds Karrie Fransman, Mike Medaglia and Josceline Fenton, I got to sit and watch my 4 year old boy Emir draw comics alongside the supreme talents of Sarah McIntyre and Ray Friesen. It was great being introduced to Ray and his wonderful kids comic Pirate Penguin vs Ninja Chicken which me and Emir enjoyed on the tube on the way home. Ray also impressed us with this sketch of Emir’s favourite animal (for today anyway), the anteater…
Anteater by Ray Friesen
Sarah did a brilliant bit of comic work featuring Emir. Click here to see it plus Sarah’s other thoughts on the day!
All this fun inspired Emir to draw his first ever comic strips…
Emir's first comic strip: Two Monsters
Emir's second comic strip: Dinosaurs
When you’re into comics, it’s not hard to get your kid to share your passions!
Had a great time at Spring Comiket in the Bishopsgate Institute, East London on Saturday. The Comica organisers Paul Gravett, Peter Stanbury and Megan Donnolley did an amazing job, as always, pulling such a big shindig together, and bringing in the crowds.
The bustling Comiket floor. Where's Timothy Winchester?
I’ve been to Comiket for the last four years, starting back when all I had to sell was Delicate Axiom and the Lucy the Octopus Mini Comic, when Comiket consisted of around twelve tables of creators selling their wares in a relatively small room in the Institute of Contemporary Arts. Good to see how its snowballed!
This time around I wasn’t selling, but catching up with old comic scene friends and meeting creators. I also managed to pick up a lovely bounty of small press comics…
Suki Kabuki displays small-press comic goodness
Top row:
Sevillana featuring the Alien Battle Monkey of Doom by Marina Williams
Jumping the Shark by Sammy Borras
Middle Row:
Panic Attacks 1: In the Beginning by Francesca Cassavetti
Places I Left You by Douglas Noble
Cafe Suada Vol 1. by Jade Sarson
Wu Wei by Mike Medaglia
Bottom row:
The Human Beings and Social Notworking by Sofia Niazi
Fecal Depot 3 by Aaron ‘Smurf’ Murphy
The Life of Noise by Emma Mould and Andrew Godfrey
The Phoenix Issues 14 & 15
Alex "Smurf" Murphy holds Fecal Depot 3
Very nice running into Aaron ‘Smurf’ Murphy and picking up the latest volume of his compendium of work, Fecal Depot. The issue contains Zardok Infiltration, a story that I’d written for the hugely talented Aaron to illustrate. It was great to see how good his art for the story looks in print.
Marina Williams and Sevillana featuring the Alien Battle Monkey of Doom, plus cup cakes
Nice to meet Kiwi, Marina Williams and get a copy of Sevillana featuring the Alien Battle Monkey of Doom. Note to the Comics Industry: Free gourmet cupcakes with every comic is an excellent idea.
Jade Sarson hides behind Cafe Suada
Next up I spotted future comics megastar Jade Sarson. I’m loving Cafe Suada!
Douglas Noble holding Places I Left You
Picked up a cool looking stand alone comic from Douglas Noble. After the show in the pub, we reminisced about growing up playing games on a ZX Spectrum (coincidentally 30 years old today). We both agreed Horace and the Spiders kicked monkeys compared to Horace goes Skiing.
Andrew Godfrey holdsThe CF Diaries 1 while Emma Mould holds Secret Language 1
Good to see the lovely Andrew Godfrey and Emma Mould again, who despite hailing from Bristol seem to manage to make it to all the London comic events!
Hooligans, Sally-Anne Hickman and Francesca Cassavetti
At every comic show there’s always a few bad apples who spoil the tone for everyone else. See Sally-Anne Hickman and Francesca Cassavetti above.
Alex Fitch interviewing James Turner
My final pic is of the great comics journalist / interviewer Alex Fitch having a chat with Super Animal Adventure Squad creator James Turner. Alex did a marathon session totaling four hours on interviewing various comic talents. You’ll be able to hear the results on Panel Borders (the UK’s only weekly broadcast radio show about comics), broadcast on Resonance (104.4 FM in London and available online everywhere).
It was a good day – always inspiring! In fact, I’m off to draw a comic right now.
