UK COMICS NATION

The bank holiday weekend came and went and, with it, the first of the Comics Nation events. Though organised in a relatively short space of time, they have appeared to gone well, thanks to the dedication of the creators taking part and their hosts. It was an experiment in guerilla marketing, proving how the UK comics community can start to reach out to the general public without having to spend a crippling amount of money on advertising or marketing, and should pave the way for similar events in the near future. A full report will appear in REDEYE 5 out on 1st November, but for now some comments from the creators themselves:


BLINK TWICE ad courtesy Bob Etherington

ROBIN ETHERINGTON, BLINK TWICE STUDIOS, BRISTOL
My brother and I were lucky enough to be invited to hold a signing session with the great Paul Grist, at Area 51 Comics in Bristol. Mike "Mr Expo" Allwood (who needs no introduction I'm sure) was really keen to promote Indy and British titles in the store (just as he is at the cons) and set up a cool raised area for the tables. With a bit of Jack Staff and Malcolm Magic... er... magic, the store looked great! Paul and my brother spent the day chatting to customers about creating Independent comics, and signing anything we could get our hands on (if I remember correctly Paul even tried to pass himself off as Jim Lee, and one bemused customer walked out thinking the price of his Batman comic had risen considerably!). We were so chuffed when the last of our limited edition signing sketchbooks walked out the shop in the arms of a happy punter. Our new range of Art Products also got the creative types buzzing and we sold a few packs of our own comic book board, and a few sketchbooks. The day WAS quite quiet, but we were expecting this as Area 51 is a little out of town. We've been asked if we'd like to do a signing later in the year in the Bristol Travelling Man, which would be a much more congenial location to catch intrigued passers-by, and we'll naturally tie it into the 365 event.

I want to state for the record that Paul Grist is one of the nicest guys I've met in this business. Not only is he irritatingly talented but he seemed genuinely happy to chat away to us all day about the ins and outs of making a living from comics, how he writes his stories (a strange approach I can tell you!) and a plethora of anecdotes regarding his convention experiences. Top bloke. Well done to all the other creators who made this weekend such a positive start to the promotion of the little guys and girls writing and drawing everywhere."

COLIN DINNIE, UNDERFIRE COMICS, BRIGHTON
"I really enjoyed UK Independants Day at David's Comics in Brighton but whether it was a success or not depends on how you want to measure it. In terms of raising public awareness I don't think we achieved that much - there was no advertising other than in the shop itself and although we were hopeful of some media coverage it failed to materialise. But for the customers of David's who were shopping there anyway (a fair few over a Saturday) most looked at, and some even bought, independent comics when they wouldn't normally! In more commercial terms however the day was a big success. The takings for the small press section were well above average, Steve consquently agreed to keep the comics in their new position by the door rather than at the side round the back - which means higher sales all round are pretty much guaranteed. I personally turned over more Underfire comics in the last week than I would normally expect to in a four week period. It also cemented the relationship between David's and the local small press community. The amount of work and dedication the staff put in was tremendous and I would like to thank Steve who worked past his normal hours the night before arranging the displays and Ginny who enthused about indy comics to all the customers all day long (including making one guy who spent a over a hundred pounds on a Thor statue buy a small press comic with his change!). Ginny's dedication went as far as booking the top room of a pub for a small press party on the Sunday night which unfortunately I couldn't attend but I'm sure went well. I think in Brighton this could well become an annual event. Roll on next year!"


DIY Comics panel courtesy David Goodman

DAVID GOODMAN, BAHALA-NA, LIVERPOOL:
"This was the first time I'd ever tried to arrange something like this, so I had no idea of how it would turn out. There were some things that, on reflection, could have been better organised, but in the end we managed to get things together. A table and a display was set up in the foyer of the library. The talk took place in one of the conference rooms at the Library. As it was, only a few people turned up but we managed to get a cosy little chat going. It might have been a bit more daunting if there were more people there! Hopefully, we'll see some of them again when the Comics Workshop starts up again.The panel consisted of Carl Critchlow, Dave Willacy and myself. Arthur Goodman was our photographer and the photos can be found at http://img217.imageshack.us/gal.php?g=comicsnation20050010zb.jpg. Thanks also to Iain Thomas and to Janet Goodwin for arranging things at the library.
http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/5325/comicsnation20050102il.jpg. Behind the desk - Carl Critchlow, David Goodman, Dave Willacy (sitting on table)


ALBION Signed LtdEdition Print (courtesy moorereppion.blogspot.com)

LEAH MOORE, ALBION, MANCHESTER:
"We had a good turnout, sold quite a few comics and had a very nice afternoon hanging about and chatting to the boys [at Travelling Man]. Thanks to Dan, Tom, Adam, and Haroum for making us welcome, and for the drawings! ;) We gave away twenty of the signed limited edition 'prints' which Shane sent along in his absence. This means we have a few left, so we'll ask Shane what he wants us to do...watch this space! The Travelling Man got us to sign a few copies to send out to their other branches in Newcastle, Nottingham, Leeds and... somewhere else i forgot. No need to miss out! if you have a comic shop in the country and you'd like us to do a signing get in touch and we'll see if we can do it."