Thought Bubble 2009

This was the first time that I had attended Thought Bubble, but it won’t be the last. I’ve been to many conventions in the time I’ve been involved with the Small Press, but I can honestly say that from an exhibitors point of view- this was the best organised, and possibly the most varied I’ve ever seen.

The venue is superb, right opposite the Royal Armouries in Leeds, I managed to guide the Bolt-Mobile there with almost no mistakes at all, a rare feat. As soon as we entered the hall, we were greeted and shown to our table by one of Lisa’s horde of helpers. A change from one convention where I had to go looking for someone who knew where we were, or another where all we got was a numbered diagram that left us to work it out based on the relative position of the moon and the stars….



ANYWAY! We got set up quickly and away we went! As with any new gig I’d not got the slightest idea of what to expect, but for next year I’ll be more prepared for the vast number of Cos-players, both of the slightly scary Manga variety and the more normal Supergirl or Iron-Man type.

It was lovely to catch up with so many familiar faces at the show, and also to meet some folks I’d only ever spoken to via the internet before. Networking wise I managed to get a proper confirmation for an upcoming cover for Zarjaz, discovered a few juicy bits of info that might be of interest to readers of a certain Megazine and saw an upcoming cover for the galaxies greatest comic.

I also got to make a fool of myself in an interview, scoff a donut given to me by an actual Art-droid and even sell some comics!

Overall it was a quiet day, though I did get to sketch Gene the Hackman for one young reader of 2000ad who knew a lot more than I thought he would.

Next year I’m going to be unleashing my newest assistant- Micro-Bolt! Mini-Bolt will be away at Uni (where do the years go? I remember building his kit as if it was yesterday) and so the baton of minion will pass to the younger Micro-Bolt.