the thing!

Hurrah for the UK Web & Mini Comix Thing! Here’s my table with my two fantastic table-mates, David O’Connell and Woodrow Phoenix. I’d stayed up way too late the night before, bashing together my mini comics, but we had a great time and got to see loads of fabulous comics people. This was the first time I stood behind a table at the Thing (and my second-ever table, after the Alternative Press Fair), so I didn’t pick up as much loot as I did the last two years, when I had more time to wander around. But I still managed to buy and trade a few things:

Barbs; A Nice Day Out in Klkley by Shug – shug_comics
Cards by Darryl Cunningham – tallguywrites
What I Drew, volume 2 and The Hourly Comic by Joe Decie – joedecie
Bigger Ruffs for Everyone by Kate Beaton – beatonna
Curtis and Terrorist 2 by Oliver Lamden
The Sea, part 3 by Will Kirkby – chamonkee
Chloe Noonan: Monster Hunter by Marc Ellerby – burnt_jamb
Mine’s a Gin and Tonic; Nasty, Brutish & Short; Man & Troll; Nice Cat Evil Cat and badges by David O’Connell – tozocomic
A Music Paper by Alastair Maceachern
Beaver and Steve 2 by James Turner – eruditebaboon
Sketchbook 1 by Sean Azzopardi – seanazz
Kendal Calling by Jim Tyson
Gary the Blu-tac Dog by UK comics news Bugpowder‘s Dan Fish
Sushi Karaoke by Lizz Lunney (Is she on LiveJournal or did I just dream that?)

The DFC’s Super Comics Adventure Squad had a good turnout: James Turner, Emma Vieceli (emmav), Dave Shelton, Laura Howell, John Aggs, Gary Northfield, Woodrow Phoenix and me. (Find links to all those fab people on our new group blog.) Ellen Lindner – ellenlindner – was doing a brisk trade, selling all her copies of her new novel, Undertow (I’ve written about it here.).

I wasn’t thinking too much about my camera, so I missed a lot of pictures I would have like to have taken, including the amazing Wanted posters behind the table hosted by Will Kirkby, Lou and yunni. And I got to meet the amazing Warwick Johnson Cadwell for the first time, but also missed getting a photo.

DFC’s Gary Northfield & Dave Shelton

I was excited to meet Swedish Anna who appears in Marc Ellerby’s comics, yay!

Hugh ‘Shug’ Raine, Joe Decie and Al Maceachern

Dale O’Flaherty with his brilliant sketchbook – daleof

DFC’s Laura Howell, Stuart and Kate Beaton. Kate came all the way over from Canada to exhibit, and I managed to get in early to nab a copy of her comic, which unsurprisingly sold out very quickly. If you haven’t seen her history comics, do go have a look, they’re brilliant: beatonna Kate bought a copy of Airship, which made me feel happy. She must have been well tired after flying over and being mobbed at the fair, but she put in a great appearance, along with Scary Go Round’s John Allison.

This was Stuart’s first time at a small press fair, and he didn’t quite know how to begin. But he emerged from the fray, triumphant, with one comic he’d bought, Train to Shanghai by Rob Jackson. I hadn’t heard of Rob, and the comic looks good, so I look forward to having a read of that. (After Stuart, of course.)

Laura Howell’s a big fan of Kate Beaton’s and managed to get a drawing of Tesla, the celibate scientist.

ratherlemony, tallguywrites, bandersnatch_02 and Maartje Schalkx. I was very glad to be able to give Maartje the portrait I’d drawn of her.
bandersnatch_02 with contraband brought all the way from America. (Thanks, Ben!)

Two of Oxford’s Caption comics festival co-ordinators, Selina Lock (girlycomic) and Jay Eales, with their latest Girlycomic anthology (which I mentoned earlier at Zine Fest here).

Convention stalwarts John Maybury (Space Babe) and Siobhan Hillman from the Comics Creators Guild.

Jeremy Dennis holding a signed copy of a picture book by Woodrow Phoenix.

Also no photos, but a big thanks for stopping by, to Oxford’s jinty and tortipede, cdave, harveyjames, mondoagogo, Piley, mangazebra, phlebas, Mark Stafford, the peanut-butter-and-jam-superheroes guy and his dad that I met at the Cartoon Museum, and those who had their own stands: smurf_uk, ryclaude, moovok and venkman_project. (Let me know if I missed you out!) Please do send me a link if you post a write-up or pictures!

Thanks, ztoical, for organising a great drinks session afterward! Ireland was well represented.