Thought Bubble 2009 report!
Thought Bubble 2009 was even better than last year. But that's probably because I was prepared for the cosplayers this time around. I was also prepared for the fact that Thought Bubble-goers seem to prefer merchandise about comics to the comic themselves, so I had items that fit the bill. Although I decided against selling my Jenny's Weird Friend desktop calendars at all thanks to major incompetence over the simplest job at my local printers.
It was a grey morning, but it made for a cosy atmosphere inside the Savile Hall venue. It's a nice walk from the train station along the river to get there, too.
I found two huge toothpaste marks on my jumper when I got into Leeds but I had a pass to cover it with...
Here's seanazz apparently raving in the hall.
I was sharing a couple of tables with Al Maceachern and joedecie. Poor Al was all set up when I came in to find he'd been put in the wrong place, but he was soon set up again at table 105. Traditionally, Al was enjoying a banana at his neatly set up table.
Al's new comics include A Friendly Demon and Animal Paper, both highly REET!-commended!
Joe swaggered cockily in later, without a table cloth or much change.
12-Eyes Comics was in full-force.
Here's Joe considering his layout:
Joe's new mini, Pissing Into The Wind is both nice to look at and funny. Look out for it. Or anything of his. It's all good.
And Joe's tactic of gesturing and saying 'comics?' to everyone tickled me.
We were all coerced into being interviewed in one form or another and I don't think I'm out of line in saying we all did it under duress. But the Leeds Film Festival ladies convinced me (can't think why...).
Here's Al talking about his comics on YooToob!
We all promise to be better interviewees at your next function...
As per The Thing (the convention, not the monster), we had our mascot, daleof, all the way from The Emerald Isle. Dale was sketching all day and talking about creators I hadn't heard of but are probably very good. He was also manning my table when I nipped out for the occasional snout. Cheers, Dale! I asked him to pretend to be me and be realy nasty to everyone but he's much too nice to do that.
Steven Tillotson and Gareth Brookes were nearby with a smile.
Thanks to an emergency delivery from Steve's parents, they were selling the likes of The Manly Boys' Annual, plus The Banal Pig Landscape Anthology, Ethel Sparrowhawk's Terrible Hangover (which I'll read soon), Man-Man and my fave Gareth Brookes book, The Smell of The Wild.
Here's Steve who was brandishing a massive book that he seemed quite chuffed with at just thirty quid:
Being from near Leeds, and having made the free comic-zine, REET! for nearly four years, Thought Bubble's quite a good con for me because there are still some die-hard readers of mine knocking around. It was great to see you all when you stopped by to say hello.
Friendly-faced Clark from the Thought Bubble team was rushing up and down all day (and rushing around at the after party, too!) but he still found time to keep everyone well looked after. Cheers, Clark! Those free Red Bulls went down a treat!
The staff are always extremely helpful. Lisa answers Thought Bubble e-mail inquiries quicker than you can say 'eeh by gum, lad!' and Tamsin is always nice to see, even if it's just a quick hello as I rushed off home for dry socks!
(A wee poster I did for the small-pressers in attendance!)
Sales were slightly better than they seemed when I greedily counted up later. So all in all it was a nice, steady day, with good sales.
I didn't really look around so it's a shame I didn't get round to David O'Conell's tozocomic table in particular, since he did the rounds and kindly bought me new mini!
But I saw all the usual crowd, like Oliver Lambden, Marc Ellerby, Lizz Lunney and Adam Cadwell, Aaron 'Smurf' Murphy, Ryclaud, Philip Spence, Andy Sykes, Dr. Simpo, Mike Rouse-Deane (at what he says is his last ever con) and Jack Fallows, plus newbies like Kristyna Baczynski, who said she was a bit nervous, but she needn't have been, since her table looked really cool.
Nice to finally meet Tom Humberstone, who was just next to Joe, Al and me. I picked up a copy of Paper Science, which looked great on newsprint and chatted briefly about the Solipsistic Pop anthology.
Hi-lights include the guy in the green costume with the grey wig from last year, a bemused look from Paul Gravett when I said hello (did our beautiful train ride from Sarah McIntyre's jabberworks party mean nothing to you, Paul? *sob!*) and the ladies from Glyndŵr University... Ahem.
As mentioned earlier, I nipped home to Dewsbury, dumped my stuff, changed and charged my phone, ready for the after party at the Alea Casino.
I had an irrational fear about being too early so I stood outside with a Fruit Shoot for a few minutes in the rain...
The casino bar's a bit pricey, forcing a few people elsewhere, but it's just about the right size for such an event.
I forgot to take my camera back with me so I wasn't able to capture the hilarious sight of comic-makers dancing, which never ceases to amuse me.
I'm not sure I have all the facts straight on this but the word on the street was that there was a Phonogram vol. 2 set list, which if true, is admirable and I love the comic theme... but it meant bollocks-all to a lot of us! Luckily, we had Al Maceachern on-hand to tell us who was playing, although he'd occasionally run off to the dance floor in a fit of excitement when the likes of Kenickie were on.
The night ended in abusing the flip chart and pens that were left out for us to doodle on with Al, Steven and Gareth while Mrs. Shug looked on unimpressed. Nice touch TB! But I apologise for one drawing in particular... And whoever did the drawing of Garfield next to someone's Superman cracked me up.
A brilliant convention. I'll be back for more next year.
Thanks a lot to the lovely people at Thought Bubble and to all of you who stopped by our tables.
Hugh 'Shug' Raine REET!