It’s Official … BICS is back for 2010!
Britain’s largest and most popular event devoted to comics and graphic novels of all kinds returns this year with a truly international flavour as the organisers welcome renowned creators from as far a field as America, Japan and Europe.
Over the weekend of October 16th – 17th at the state of the art Think Tank, Millennium Point in Birmingham, visitors can look forward to a full program of events celebrating the medium of comics and manga including panels, competitions, book launches and a huge trade fair featuring the UK’s most well known publishers and dealers.
This year the guest list includes the complete creative team from Vertigo’s runaway success “Unwritten†including award winning illustrator Yuko Shimizu, writer Mike Carey and penciller Peter Gross. There will also be a special appearance by Artist Jimmy Broxton as visitors have the chance to take part in an exclusive “Unwritten†panel at the show.
Vertigo editor Pornsak Picheshote will also be at hand conducting portfolio reviews and taking part in events.
Other big names flying in from across the world include Turkish creator Mahmud A Arsar and American Superstar Tommy Lee Edwards who’s work can be seen in the new Jonathan Ross penned series “Turfâ€.
Along with a whole host of UK creators such as Duncan Fegredo (Hellboy), Alan Davis (X-Men), Charlie Adlard (Walking Dead) and Sean Phillips (Criminal) to name just a few – BICS 2010 boasts the most diverse and impressive guest list of any UK event.
To find out more, book tickets or to keep up with all the latest updates visit the official website at: http://www.thecomicsshow.co.uk
The British International Comics Show 2010
Re: The British International Comics Show 2010
Canadian artist Yanick Paquette and the legendary Charles Vess are now confirmed as special guests at this year's BICS.
Re: The British International Comics Show 2010
Now confirmed... superstar artist BRYAN HITCH will be at BICS 2010 for a special one day appearance!
This is Bryan's first UK show appearance for quite some time and he'll be launching his new book to the delight of fans, signing most of the day (day to be confirmed) and taking part in an exclusive panel in the theatre.
This is Bryan's first UK show appearance for quite some time and he'll be launching his new book to the delight of fans, signing most of the day (day to be confirmed) and taking part in an exclusive panel in the theatre.
Re: The British International Comics Show 2010
Hoping to make it to both days this year. (Only managed the Saturday in 2009.)
I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't been before - maybe the focus is on American comics more than this forum would like, but there's always the chance to browse some small press titles - and who knows what you'll find in the back issue bins?
I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't been before - maybe the focus is on American comics more than this forum would like, but there's always the chance to browse some small press titles - and who knows what you'll find in the back issue bins?
Re: The British International Comics Show 2010
Yet another International guest is added to this years BICS roster in the form of Australian artist Nicola Scott who's eye catching work can be seen in Wonder Woman and other titles from DC Comics.
Re: The British International Comics Show 2010
Hot British writer Paul Cornell has now confirmed for BICS 2010 and along with artist Jimmy Broxton will also be taking part in an exclusive panel talking about his career in TV and Comics and about his new series for DC Comics.
Check out the BICS website now, for more updates on events and guest signings at: www.thecomicsshow.co.uk
Check out the BICS website now, for more updates on events and guest signings at: www.thecomicsshow.co.uk
Re: The British International Comics Show 2010
The extravaganza that is the BICS Friday Night Launch Party is now to be held at Oceana in Birmingham City Centre
The exclusive party will take place in First Port, a welcoming room dressed with warm lighting and cushioned seats. This informal lounge, based on a cruise ship lounge, creates a fashionable yet classic feel. There will be an exclusive V.I.P area; the Aspin Ski Lodge, a log cabin reconstruction, complete with fur carpets on the walls, candle style lighting, wooden structure and it’s own mounted moose head!
“How do I get to go to this sophisticated shindig?†I hear you cry.
I’m glad you asked, all you have to do is pre register your tickets for the show at: www.thecomicsshow.co.uk/tickets and you’re in…Simples!
The exclusive party will take place in First Port, a welcoming room dressed with warm lighting and cushioned seats. This informal lounge, based on a cruise ship lounge, creates a fashionable yet classic feel. There will be an exclusive V.I.P area; the Aspin Ski Lodge, a log cabin reconstruction, complete with fur carpets on the walls, candle style lighting, wooden structure and it’s own mounted moose head!
“How do I get to go to this sophisticated shindig?†I hear you cry.
I’m glad you asked, all you have to do is pre register your tickets for the show at: www.thecomicsshow.co.uk/tickets and you’re in…Simples!
Jonathan Ross Confirmed for BICS 2010
TV presenter and comics writer Jonathan Ross will be joining us at BICS this year as our very special guest.
He'll be signing copies of Turf and taking part in a special event involving a digital version Of Tommy Lee Edwards which we think could well be a UK Comic Convention first!
He'll be signing copies of Turf and taking part in a special event involving a digital version Of Tommy Lee Edwards which we think could well be a UK Comic Convention first!
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Lew Stringer
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Re: Jonathan Ross Confirmed for BICS 2010
Now that should guarantee BICS plenty of publicity! Well done.chebbo wrote:TV presenter and comics writer Jonathan Ross will be joining us at BICS this year as our very special guest.
He'll be signing copies of Turf and taking part in a special event involving a digital version Of Tommy Lee Edwards which we think could well be a UK Comic Convention first!
The blog of British comics: http://lewstringer.blogspot.com
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/
My website: http://www.lewstringer.com
Blog about my own work: http://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/
Re: Jonathan Ross Confirmed for BICS 2010
Indeed, Thanks LewLew Stringer wrote:Now that should guarantee BICS plenty of publicity! Well done.chebbo wrote:TV presenter and comics writer Jonathan Ross will be joining us at BICS this year as our very special guest.
He'll be signing copies of Turf and taking part in a special event involving a digital version Of Tommy Lee Edwards which we think could well be a UK Comic Convention first!
Re: The British International Comics Show 2010
Sneak peek at the new Walking Dead TV series at BICS hosted by Charlie Adlard ... check the site for more details
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felneymike
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Re: The British International Comics Show 2010
I decided to come to this tomorrow! Though mainly to get "The Iron Moon" and because there's a sushi resturant between it and the station. Oh well hope i'll find some interesting bits and bobs while browsing.
Re: The British International Comics Show 2010
I'm only going to make it down on the Sunday this year, and I intend to spend most of the day in the events room - a cracking line-up this year!
Hope to get to have a good browse too, even though I'm a bit too broke to buy much. Still, looking forward to it.
Anyone else coming along?
Hope to get to have a good browse too, even though I'm a bit too broke to buy much. Still, looking forward to it.
Anyone else coming along?
Re: The British International Comics Show 2010
I made a fleeting and greatly enjoyable visit to BICS (Birmingham International Comics Show) this weekend, chatting to a handful of folks at Friday night's launch - good venue, good beer prices, we could hear ourselves talk, and I got a hotel room literally 100 paces from the bar - and on Saturday afternoon.
Although I didn't catch any talks, I managed to fill three or four hours of Saturday with solid comics talk around the tables.
The movie, Pulp, which had dressed one aisle of the dealer room as a film set, with fake comic artists sat behind fake comic displays, was a nice buzz. The chance for costumed fans and geeks to appear in an actual real life film is the sort of thing that would have made my head explode with excitement as a kid, and I hope the kids there felt the same.
I didn't see many kids there, ie under-18s, but I'm told that they were around and if so there was certainly more stuff for them than before. In particular the new titles from the DFC library, which will be going to the top of my list of recommended reading for schools (top of my Things-to-Find list were graphic novels & comics suitable for primary school kids, and Mo-Bot High and Monkey Nuts are perfect). Good talk with the Etheringtons about art classes in schools, they've been very proactive working with kids, doing the double of getting kids enthused about comics and (the bit I miss out on) then selling lots of books to them. Genius, more of that please.
Another very positive stand was Poot! comic. I was pretty sure I'd not seen Poot! since I was was working for the comics that shared a shelf with it in the early 90s (the Viz-alike titles Gas, Brain Damage, Zit, UT, remember them?). And I was right. The guys had run Poot as kids, folded it when the bubble burst in 1991, got proper jobs as accountants and the like and, last year, revived the comic for fun. And now, after a dozen issues, they have a distribution deal with Seymour, they've been accepted by WH Smith's travel outlets, and are currently selling 16,000 copies a month. On newsstands. I don't know about you, but I find that one of the most heartening stories in comics I've heard this year. An independent publisher is selling a comics magazine, printed on paper, in good old fashioned newsagents, and people are buying it.
Their starting point was simply looking at the shelves, seeing that Viz was the only funny comic there, identifying a hole in the market, and filling it. They're not making a fortune, but they are paying their contributors, breaking even, and enjoying themselves creating and publishing comic strips. If others could replicate this success I'd be delighted, and I get the feeling it's possible.
With these stories, and the tables of exciting looking new comics and art - I loved the manga style pictures drawn on sheets of cardboard and selling at a tenner each, a genius mix of comics and art, I love the guy who etches classic comic covers into sheets of copper and sells them as book covers, and I adore poring through Phil Clarke's pages of 1960s and 1970s comic art by everyone from John Burns and Don Lawrence to Joe Colqhuhoun and Jesus Blasco. Of course I never buy any, but I like to know it's there.
So, a fab time, and I'm sorry I had to rush away so soon. Did I miss something good on Saturday night? And are we all having fun with Jonathan Ross today? Let me know.
Anyone else have BICS thoughts, and did we all come away as re-enthused about comics as I did?
Kev F
Although I didn't catch any talks, I managed to fill three or four hours of Saturday with solid comics talk around the tables.
The movie, Pulp, which had dressed one aisle of the dealer room as a film set, with fake comic artists sat behind fake comic displays, was a nice buzz. The chance for costumed fans and geeks to appear in an actual real life film is the sort of thing that would have made my head explode with excitement as a kid, and I hope the kids there felt the same.
I didn't see many kids there, ie under-18s, but I'm told that they were around and if so there was certainly more stuff for them than before. In particular the new titles from the DFC library, which will be going to the top of my list of recommended reading for schools (top of my Things-to-Find list were graphic novels & comics suitable for primary school kids, and Mo-Bot High and Monkey Nuts are perfect). Good talk with the Etheringtons about art classes in schools, they've been very proactive working with kids, doing the double of getting kids enthused about comics and (the bit I miss out on) then selling lots of books to them. Genius, more of that please.
Another very positive stand was Poot! comic. I was pretty sure I'd not seen Poot! since I was was working for the comics that shared a shelf with it in the early 90s (the Viz-alike titles Gas, Brain Damage, Zit, UT, remember them?). And I was right. The guys had run Poot as kids, folded it when the bubble burst in 1991, got proper jobs as accountants and the like and, last year, revived the comic for fun. And now, after a dozen issues, they have a distribution deal with Seymour, they've been accepted by WH Smith's travel outlets, and are currently selling 16,000 copies a month. On newsstands. I don't know about you, but I find that one of the most heartening stories in comics I've heard this year. An independent publisher is selling a comics magazine, printed on paper, in good old fashioned newsagents, and people are buying it.
Their starting point was simply looking at the shelves, seeing that Viz was the only funny comic there, identifying a hole in the market, and filling it. They're not making a fortune, but they are paying their contributors, breaking even, and enjoying themselves creating and publishing comic strips. If others could replicate this success I'd be delighted, and I get the feeling it's possible.
With these stories, and the tables of exciting looking new comics and art - I loved the manga style pictures drawn on sheets of cardboard and selling at a tenner each, a genius mix of comics and art, I love the guy who etches classic comic covers into sheets of copper and sells them as book covers, and I adore poring through Phil Clarke's pages of 1960s and 1970s comic art by everyone from John Burns and Don Lawrence to Joe Colqhuhoun and Jesus Blasco. Of course I never buy any, but I like to know it's there.
So, a fab time, and I'm sorry I had to rush away so soon. Did I miss something good on Saturday night? And are we all having fun with Jonathan Ross today? Let me know.
Anyone else have BICS thoughts, and did we all come away as re-enthused about comics as I did?
Kev F
Kev F - Comic Genius
http://comicfestival.co.uk
http://comicfestival.co.uk
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felneymike
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Re: The British International Comics Show 2010
I went, just to wander about on the Saturday, didn't see any talks... or even know where they were!
Unfortunatley the printers of The Iron Moon hadn't come through in time, but i was able to look through a sample copy which looked great. I also got another book illustrated by Keith Page called London Calling, a pretty confusing tale of vampires, psychics and gangsters... i think i'm missing something. And the thing i think i'm missing is the online strip which introduces the main character in it. To the web!
I also got several issues of Crikey, as penance for letting my subcription lapse. As well as a hardback book of West, which is a western series that's been running for several years now. I also got a book about "Captain Winston Bulldog", who appeared in self-published comics back in the 'photocopy and mail order' days. It looks pretty good, there's certianly a lot in it! I got another self-published, wierd, comic from 1998 that was being given away free... the artwork is great but it's strange seeing one with a postal adress to write to, with email and the internet not even mentioned! And i got issue 4 of Vampire Freestyle, which is drawn by a very dedicated artist who seems to attend pretty much every self-publishing, comic and craft fair going!
Oh and i talked to a girl that i met off the forums of Sweatdrop Studios, who are a manga-making group from Cambridge that i somehow didn't contact before now, until a month ago when i joined thier forum. She could work miracles with coloured pencils! And the comic i bought off her looks pretty cool too.
Oh and i had lovely sushi afterwards. Eventually! I couldn't find the place to start with. It's not listed on the shopping centre maps because it's actually inside another shop.
Unfortunatley the printers of The Iron Moon hadn't come through in time, but i was able to look through a sample copy which looked great. I also got another book illustrated by Keith Page called London Calling, a pretty confusing tale of vampires, psychics and gangsters... i think i'm missing something. And the thing i think i'm missing is the online strip which introduces the main character in it. To the web!
I also got several issues of Crikey, as penance for letting my subcription lapse. As well as a hardback book of West, which is a western series that's been running for several years now. I also got a book about "Captain Winston Bulldog", who appeared in self-published comics back in the 'photocopy and mail order' days. It looks pretty good, there's certianly a lot in it! I got another self-published, wierd, comic from 1998 that was being given away free... the artwork is great but it's strange seeing one with a postal adress to write to, with email and the internet not even mentioned! And i got issue 4 of Vampire Freestyle, which is drawn by a very dedicated artist who seems to attend pretty much every self-publishing, comic and craft fair going!
Oh and i talked to a girl that i met off the forums of Sweatdrop Studios, who are a manga-making group from Cambridge that i somehow didn't contact before now, until a month ago when i joined thier forum. She could work miracles with coloured pencils! And the comic i bought off her looks pretty cool too.
Oh and i had lovely sushi afterwards. Eventually! I couldn't find the place to start with. It's not listed on the shopping centre maps because it's actually inside another shop.