Thought Bubble 2013!

So last weekend I went to the Thought Bubble con in Leeds, and I had a fabulous time.  I went with an old uni friend and the Radio Bamf crew.  It was a really good weekend.

This is an image heavy post so I've put a break in.  Please do read more!

I brought loads of stuff up to get signed, and then had a look at the queues for Emma Rios, Jock, Kelly Sue DeConnick and Matt Fraction and thought no bloody chance.  I am just not in the mood to send my weekend queueing for a 2 minute chat with a creator.  I did however meet Richard Starkings and he signed my Superman/Batman: Supergirl trade, and I bought a book about lettering from him:

The message in the Supergirl book is Supes saying: You're really super, Supergirl!  He asked if I was a Churchill fan or a Supergirl fan, then clocked what I was wearing:

He said a few words about how Churchill was absolutely the sweetest guy to work with.

I also met Fiona Staples who signed a Superman/Batman comic and Lee Garbett who signed my favourite Batgirl issue:

I went to 3 panels - How they Work: Oscar Zarate, Frederik Peters and Ilya.  This one was mostly interesting for the people on the panel, not so much the topic.  Having said that, the panel did give me Christmas gift ideas and some of the art was very pretty.  We got to see in progress shots of each of the creators most recent books which focused various aspects of the comics making process.  How the panels are constructed to lead the readers eye in the correct path, how lettering and speech bubbles are important and affect the flow of the story, how to dry out watercolour paint - that sort of thing.  I'd really like to read Ilya's Room for Love now.

The second panel I went to was the Diversity in Comics one, on the Sunday.  There is a full transcript of the panel here.  From that post:

"Moderated by Louise Crosby of Leeds’ Laydeez Do Comics, the panel featured Mariah Heuhner (Angel, Emily and the Strangers, The Witching Hour), Howard Hardiman (Badger, The Peckham Invalids, The Lengths), Barry Nugent (Unseen Shadows), Gillian Hatcher (Team Girl Comic), Gary Erskine (2000 AD, War Story, Dead Boy Detectives), and Fiona Stephenson (Books of Magick, Judge Dredd, The Crow: City of Angels).

[Extra reading: You can read Mariah Heuhner's brilliant blog here; enjoy an interview with Howard Hardiman on The Lengths here; enter the world of Unseen Shadows here; celebrate Team Girl Comic here; catch up with the Roller Grrrls here; and love the gorgeous pin up art of Fiona Stephenson here.]"

The panel was really interesting and I came away from it desperately wanting to buy the Roller Grrls comic.  Number one is out next year so I'll keep an eye out for it.

The last panel I went to was titled Dreams of a Low Carbon Future.  The University of Leeds has worked with artists and schoolchildren to produce a comic about the need for a low carbon life and the effect of climate change.  It looks amazing.  The book itself was free, so I picked up 3 copies and am very much looking forward to reading it:

 Here are pictures of some of the inside art:

In terms of comic shopping, I bought rather a lot.

I got Lament of the Lost Lands Moor and The Empire of a Thousand Planets from Cinebook.  Lament is really rather good, I haven't got round to Planets yet.

I'll put a review of Lament on New readers and, Planets as well if I like it.  I think I will.  It looks like it influenced Star Wars somewhat:

I think my next Cinebook purchase will be Thorgal.  That looks good.

I got the next instalment of Clockwork Watch and Magic of Myths:

Clockwork Watch is a steampunk story and Magic of Myths is a mythic story with a modern day schoolteacher.  Here is a picture of the inside art, just to give you an idea of the amazing colours:

Both comics are darn enjoyable.  I highly recommend you try them out.

I went to @pmbuchan's stand and bought his two latest comics, Blackout: YOLO (friggin wonderful) and La Belle Dans San Merci (based on the Yeats poem).  I want to put a review of YOLO on New readers.

I got the final issue of Sugar Glider, which is bloody great because it's about a Geordie superhero, operating in Newcastle.  They call their mums Mam. I mean, it's just great seeing a well written, well constructed British superhero.  And there's a group of heroes all named after birds.  Rocking.

 Halycon and Tenderfoot is a kid's comic I haven't read yet, but am really looking forward to it:

Daniel Clifford writes both series and is invovled with ArtHeroes, an initiative encouraging kids to do comics.  By all accounts ArtHeroes did pretty well over the weekend, which is great.

I also picked up a free Science Comic, which looks fricking amazing.  And I got 20 Peter David Supergirl issues, only 9 more to go and I will have the full run!

Then I also bought Spandex, which fully deserves it's own New readers review because it is somehow excellent:

I bought one more comic which I won't detail here because it's a gift for a friend.

The last couple of things I bought were not comics at all, but pretty cool nonetheless.
AQUAMAN COASTER!!!

 It's awesome. I just wish I could remember the name of the company selling them.
I also bought this sketchbook primarily for the Wondy and Kara images:

You can find the artist at gazdowna.deviantart.com and drzwi-do-szafy.tumblr.com.
Finally, here's what I wore on the Sunday:

I'm posing with @jessienoochies.
Here's the view from my hotel room:

Here's the ceiling of the evening party venue:

And that is all I have the energy to write about!  If you got this far, thank you!