"It's got a guy dressed as a beaver on the cover and I think he's riding a stuffed pig..." Or: Thought Bubble 2010, My Review.

I'll explain that sentence in a moment, but first here's what Thought Bubble is.

For the people who don't know, Thought Bubble is the Leeds Sequential Art Festival! A celebration of art and in particular, comics. It's an annual thing and is part of the Leeds Film Festival, spinning off thanks in part to it's partnership with the comic book chain Travelling Man, and it is brilliant!

Now, partly my reason for raving about it, since most comic conventions take place over a weekend and are usually in some place I have little way of travelling to, Thought Bubble is ace because of it's location! For me at least, Leeds is pretty easy to get to, to and from. Also, being a small convention, there's lots of people there advertising their own small press ventures. Some of them are amazing and all of them love the medium. Which improves everything! The atmosphere was vibrant, kind of like going to a gig! Savile Hall was full of life and cosplayers. Amongst all the various manga characters who I've never seen nor heard of, there was a Manga -looking Robin, Wally, 2 Spider-men, 2 Deadpools, 2 Judges (One Dredd, one McMahon), Darth Vader, Lady Vader and a baby Vader, some Harley's, some Jokers and a single lonely Storm Trooper among others. It was fun.

Of the small press stuff, I saw some great comics on offer, with tables and exhibitions from Reet comic, Orang-utan Comics, John Allison (the man responsible for Scary Go Round), Futurequake Press and many others. A full list can be found here: Thought Bubble Exhibitors
As well, I also picked up some great new reads including a printed version of one my favourite webcomics, Necessary Monsters. Basically concerning a secret agency called The Chain, comprised of a variety of monsters who keep an eye on the others...I recommend this one, if you like your horror films and always end up rooting for the monsters, you'll love Necessary Monsters.

There wasn't just small press people there, oh no. There were also industry professionals attending! Among the many present, there was Adi Granov, Bryan Talbot, Andy Diggle, D'Israeli, Ian Edgington, Al Ewing, Rob Williams, Paul Cornell and Tony Harris! And not forgetting the Guest of Honour this year, Mr. John Romita JR. That's right, we had the man who illustrated Daredevil, X-Men, Spider-Man, Kick-Ass and Starbrand present and signing and sketching and attending panels! And he was one of the funniest men I've ever been in the presence of. And again, many others were there, but I can't remember them all of the top of my head. Still, it was an amazing experience and I had a whale of a time.

One of the only things I do regret about this year was the fact I didn't get to see any of the panels. Now, in part that's my own fault, since they're usually allocated a corner of the hall, I'd poke my head in and have a nosy at who's on and maybe grab a seat as opposed to organising my day around some panels. But then, where's the fun in that?, No, unfortunately this year all the panels had to be relocated to a hall in the Royal Armouries opposite the main con room. This is mainly because the con and the festival on a whole has increased in size since last year. All of the main hall now, was taken up with tables for pros and amateurs alike. In fact, if I recall, there were even tables outside in the entrance! I do hope that the con gets bigger in the coming years (hell, I'd even like a table there at some point...), but I also hope they can contain it as well.

Now about that sentence in the title.... As much as I'd love to keep that out of content, ambiguous and therefore hilarious, I feel I should explain myself. After the main con had finished and it was busy closing up. A friend and I decided to wander along to the Alea Casino to see what was happening after hours at Thought Bubble. Last year, we happened upon a bizarre hybrid of pictionary and instant character creation. This time there was an auction going on... Before I do go any further, I would like to know who was the auctioneer? I reckon normal ones would be a lot more entertaining with someone like him banging the hammer. And having Catwoman and the Silk Spectre being in charge of the items and money collection was also nice. Anyway, as the night went on and things started to venture into daft items, our auctioneer began to talk about a book, which I ended up buying. It does indeed have "A guy dressed a beaver on the cover, I think he's riding a stuffed pig or something..." It was worth the opening bid of a tenner, and I made him laugh which I think only sealed me getting it! I won't tell you what the book was, that'd ruin it but suffice to say I'm still undecided whether it was worth it. Then came the Gorilla Quiz!

Basically, it was a quiz all about Gorillas in comics from the fifties. As well as entertaining the crowd with some witty outbursts, I scored an amazing 3 out of 10! I was impressed despite never reading any of them... And after that more drinking at the after party! In which I noticed I was sat a few feet away from Paul Cornell. Briefly.

Sunday's Masterclass with John Romita Jr was fantastic, he has a lot of stories about working for Marvel and his experiences with other creators (good) and editors (mostly bad...) and he dropped a hint about another upcoming creator-owned project after Kick-Ass and The Avengers! Andy Diggle's Breaking Into Comics talk was also very informative and has helped clarify a lot for me. So, who knows maybe I'll get lucky and be writing comics for a job at some point!

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend and I had an amazing time. The only downside is it's over now and I have to go back to the real world and work. Bugger.

I Believe I Have A Newfound Respect For Comic Artists...

Now, I already had a lot of respect for them. But since I started doing my own web comic (www.mousels.com/tangent), I have a LOT more...

Sequential Story-telling is such a hard thing to master! Personally, I don't think I've quite got the hang of it yet. But it is incredible what some artists out there have accomplished! I'd say personally my stuff's basic by comparison, or just below I don't know. And the speed! It's amazing how fast some of these guys can work. Me and Mike have taken a brief hiatus so I can catch up with myself, if you get me. Because as I've said previously on this mess of a blog, it takes a lot of attention does this baby. I was, for a while rushing a page, so it'd be ready for the next week! And I had work and other commitments on top of that! I'm surprised I haven't abandoned it yet! So, for the next couple of weeks Mike'll be sorting out some sort of filler material for the sole purpose of giving me (and him suppose, what with the colouring and all...) the opportunity to make like tomato sauce! And by that I mean catch up...

That said, keep checking Tangent for updates!