Orful Comics

It’s that time of year again. The crazy nerd-fest that is London’s MCM Comic Con returns to the Excel Centre next weekend and yours truly will be in attendance!

If you want to come down and say hi and buy some stuff, you can find me in the Comic Village at table J12. I’ll be there with all my usual junk including all current issues of Scene City, Orful Comics, mini comics, original artwork and sketches.

Very happy to be there this year as, tragically, I almost missed out on a table. I’d been so excited to get a table for Thought Bubble in the two hours that they were available that it completely slipped my mind and they had all sold old when I got round to it. Thankfully, brilliant Comic Village organiser Gary let me know when there was a cancellation and now, I will be there. HOORAY GARY!!

Anyways, yes, next weekend, London Excel Centre, MCM Comic Con, Comic Village, J12, come see me!

The 2013 convention run is under-way! Two weekends ago was London Super Comic Con and I must say I had an absolute blast. It wasn’t the most profitable of shows for me but I met some great people, caught up with old friends and had a lot of fun. A truly lovely way to kick off the year.

Next up is Birmingham MCM this weekend at the NEC Centre outside Birmingham. Looking forward to this one since, coming from Coventry, it’s pretty much my home show. You can find me at table A26 in the Comic Village next to Nich Angell. I’ll have the usual array of comics, artwork and bundles with me and it’d be nice to see all your Brummy faces stop by.

There’s then about a month off before my next show, Comiket on 20th April. I’ve done this show a few times now with mixed results but I always like it for its indie focus. I think the new venue at Central St Martin’s behind King’s Cross will be a real step up too.

I’m certain there will be shows in between but the next show I’m officially booked for after Comiket is the fabulous Thought Bubble Festival at Leed’s Royal Armouries. I’m not gonna lie, I love Thought Bubble. It’s always a great mix of creators, the punters are amazing and the party is a fantastic way to close the year of conventions. I’m super excited about this year because tables sold out in roughly two hours!! I was very lucky to get a table and entirely owe that to being sat at my laptop hitting refresh for a good ten minutes before bookings actually opened. I’m sad that certain people I know have missed out but battle on we must.

Speaking of missing out, sadly, I appear to have missed the boat for May’s London MCM. I dithered about it for too long not being sure if I should since I don’t know if I’ll be around London by then and unfortunately, it has sold out. I’ve been put on a reserves list in case there are any drop-outs so all hope is not lost! If anything changes here, I’ll let you all know straight away. Despite its failings, I do love London MCM. I’ve been to every one for the past three years and always do well. I will be very sad to miss out.

Anyhow, that’s all for now!

Better get packing for Birmingham I guess…

-Rob

Aww yiss! It’s convention season again! The suitcase is packed and I am ready to rock! Here’s what’s going on for me…

6 – 7 October: The Entertainment Media Show, Kensington Olympia, London

First convention is the Entertainment Media Show this weekend. Not done this before but from what I gather it’s pretty much the same as London Film and Comic Con that I did a couple of months back. I had a great time there and did far better than I was expecting so I’m tentatively quite excited about this. It’ll be a nice warm-up for the season anyhow. Also, Mike Tyson will be there.

26 – 28 October: MCM Expo, Excel Centre, London

MCM is by far my biggest and most mental convention of the year. Always have a fun time there with so many other creators in the Comic Village. I’ll be there all weekend from the Friday to the Sunday so do come along and say hi. No doubt we’ll have another stupid challenge going on between us for the duration and I might have to rope you in to help.

10 November: Comiket, Bishopsgate Institute, London

A favourite amongst the small press community, Comiket manages to combine the feeling of a small book fair while at the same time feeling like a big convention. It’s not about cosplay or big name guests here, it’s all about lots of very talented creators selling their wares to people who are genuinely interested in the craft. Looking forward to this one.

17 – 18 November: Thought Bubble, Saville’s Hall, Leeds

I LOVE YOU THOUGHT BUBBLE!!! Thought Bubble is my FAVOURITE convention of the year! Such a great atmosphere and so much to see. Here, I will be launching both Scene City 3 and Orful Comics 3 so be sure to come along and say hi. I’ll likely also be collecting for Movember in some form or other but more details on that next week. The Saturday night party here is L.E.G.E.N.D.A.R.Y.

Yes, it’s probably a week late for this but I’ve not had the internet in my new place so you’ll have to deal with it ok?

IT’S AN MCM BLOG POST!!!

Having had a brilliant time at my first MCM Expo back in May, I was thoroughly looking forward to October’s festivities. Annoyingly, it lay right in the middle of a two-week sofa surfing session around London. Having to bring everything I needed for MCM, plus two weeks of clothes and other bits I’d need for my stay was a bit of a nightmare to say the least but despite having the world’s heaviest suitcase, I made it.

I decided to take the day off work on Friday and use that as my set-up time. I know a lot of people don’t really do the Friday but I quite like to set-up as I like and relax a bit so I’m not rushing around like a mental on the Saturday morning. So I decanted all my MCM goodies into the bright orange Comics Wagon I’d been so generously lent and jumped on the DLR.

The Friday was of course slow as expected, made even slower by the fact that my table was opposite the Comics Village stage with no events planned for that day. No passing traffic. Only two other tables set up on my row. Long afternoon to get to work on some drawing. Slight up-side to Friday, my sister was randomly at the Excel Centre too. We ate jacket potatoes. Good vibes all round.

Usual Friday night beers with Graham, Luke, Matt and Mike (and my sister) and then off home to recuperate

Saturday arrives and with it, the onslaught of coffee. Things as expected started off slowly and picked up once the stage got going. Pretty steady all day really. Sold about what I was expecting and had some good chats with people. Great to see so many people come along, old faces and new ones alike. Was nice to see a couple of people buying my original artwork too. I don’t really expect to sell them so much but they seemed to go down quite well.

The day carried on pretty much as normal. Sell a few books, do some drawing, nip out for a cuppa, lather, rinse, repeat. Pretty standard really. What made the day slightly more interesting was the stage mere metres from my table.

The stage was in general a good thing. I enjoyed being able to watch the talks and Q&A sessions without having to go out of my way. There was a great sense of unity around our side of the room when the artists won the writers vs. artists quiz and a few of the talks were surprisingly interesting given they were about things I’m not that into.

However, there was a downside that grated on us all.

Inexplicably, Vic Mignogna, voice actor for various mundane anime shows, was doing a talk on the Comics Village stage. He comes on, a hundred or so children (I repeat, children) start screaming as though he’s some sort of superstar, the volume goes right up and any chance of us being able to speak to anyone or make any sales goes down, dramatically.

I have no idea why this guy was on the Comic Village stage. I have no idea why these kids were going so crazy for him. I have no idea why he was playing up to it so much and generally coming across to us adults in the room as a little bit creepy. The next hour or so was painful for us exhibitors and self-indulgent on Vic’s part. The only joy we could get from it was when his DVD kept skipping.

Oh how we laughed.

When he eventually shut up, the crowds dissipated, the mood mellowed and we were all able to enjoy the final hours of the Saturday. Bell rings, class dismissed, let’s all go to the pub

So, Saturday night, some things happened, I get less than an hour’s sleep. This is all the information I am liable to divulge right now. Safe to say, Sunday morning, I was a mess. A sleepy, delirious, caffeinated mess.

I struggle on regardless again, selling books, drawing away and watching talks. Much as normal. Highlight of the day was seeing Orful Comics super-fan, Boo again. Sorry I had no new books for you but thanks for buying a print anyway. You are a star!

It may just have been the sleep deprivation but I don’t really remember much about the Sunday. It was all pretty much as expected.

Oh wait, no I remember, VIC MIGNOGNA COMES BACK ON STAGE!!!

Halfway through an interview I was doing with some students, the volume once again cranks up to an ear-splitting level and the screams of the fan-girls begin. I was perplexed by his appearance on the first day but to have a second day of this trash?! Outraged. I know for a fact of at least one exhibitor packing up and leaving as a result and it was tempting to do the same.

That said, I tried to keep a cool head and instead asked a volunteer to look after my table while I scurried away from the noise and did some shopping of my own. Kevin, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry I subjected you to that for so long. You’re a real trooper!

It was on my wanderings that things started to get interesting. Talking to many of my friends and colleagues around the Comics Village there was some level of un-rest. It seems that along with Vic Mignogna enforcing his presence on us all, there were a few other topics coming up time and time again.

Now, these issues aren’t something that really affected me at all. In fact my time at MCM has always been fairly straightforward and painless. However it seems it has not for everyone. I will NOT talk about these issues myself as, like I say, they haven’t really affected me at all. However, I will let David Wynne explain to you in detail about what has become known as “The Incident”

Wrap your ears around that and make up your own minds. I for one am un-decided just yet.

But I digress, I had a brilliant time at MCM October 2011. It was, as always, great to catch up with my fellow exhibitors and always ALWAYS fantastic to see so many people come out and buy books or just say hello. I’m sorry this blog isn;t very well written. These shows are always a bit of a blur and I am useless at writing.

I’ll be at Thought Bubble Festival in Leeds in two weekend’s time. See you there?

In other news, I’m supporting Movember by growing a ‘tache all month. Please please please send your support if you can by donating here