Comic conventions are like buses, none for some time and then two come along at once. Our publisher on Seven Shades, Deadstar Publishing, was busy at Cardiff Film and Comic Con so Dave Clifford and I took to the road and headed North to Leeds for Thought Bubble. This was my fourth time at the show, but my first appearance since 2014 and it was Dave’s first chance to experience what has become the largest comic event in the UK. Despite the Friday traffic conspiring to make our drive six hours long, a mix of metal albums and jaffa cakes kept us in good spirits.
As usual with Thought Bubble, the social side is just as important as the convention itself and it was great to spend a couple of evenings with some very good friends, fellow creators Chris Hurst, Chris Lewis, Glenn Moane (all CE alumni), Magnus Aspli and Dan Hill who I was meeting for the first time.
We were sharing a table with Huw “Lem” Davies and his Moon of Chance, who ably managed to put up with Dave and I for two whole days! Our table was in the Comixology Originals Marquee, which had a steady flow of people throughout both days. We launched Issue 3 and 4 of Seven Shades at the show, bringing the first arc of the story to a close. Over the course of the weekend, Dave and I chatted through plot points and made notes that have made us believe we will end up with Seven Shades in Seven Trades eventually! Books sold across both day, as did Dave’s original art.
I wasn’t able to leave our table that often, but I did find time to head to another of the marquees to catch up briefly with Mike Collins and Marc Laming and to finally meet Paul Allor in the flesh, but there were lots of people I didn’t manage to find time to see in the end. We also recorded a quick interview with another old friend, Jimmy Aquino for his podcast Comic News Insider.
Thought Bubble moved to a variety of city centre locations last year and when I heard that news I wasn’t sure at first about it leaving the Royal Armouries, but once we settled in I soon became accustomed to the new locations. Having the show right in the heart of the city made me realise quite how mainstream comic conventions have become, locals didn’t bat an eyelid at the cosplayers roaming the streets and there were a large number of families in attendance, especially on Sunday. My other major takeaway was that compared to conventions of yesteryear, that seemed to be predominantly men of a certain age, this was a truly diverse show on both sides of the table. That’s very good news for the future of the medium.
It was a tiring but inspiring weekend, which we didn’t want to come to an end. After another long drive home, this time helped by Queen’s back catalogue we were soon back down to earth.
