No barcodes pics

Eagle award-winning
Tom Humberstone
Richy K and "Smurf" Murphy
leering at the ladies

For the rest of Saturday's pics click here

Oli Rocks!

Did you have to eat that kebab, Oliver?
NO BARCODES was a resounding success. Between forty and fifty exhibitors showed up and mingled happily in an atmosphere of bonhommie and camaraderie, meeting old friends and new faces, checking out each others work, and even selling comics to passers by. I shared a table with the charming Marc Ellerby and sparkly Sally Anne Hickman who did very well with her very tactile productions - fur, flock and glitter certainly draw the punters in, there's a lesson for all of us here... Sean and Oli were on our table too but spent the day being mine hosts, introducing people, recording the event and running the regular stall round the corner.
Due to being stuck in the middle of a row, I had to squeeze past Jake H quite a few times as he beavered away inking his magnum opus. He never complained once and put us all to shame with his cheerful industriousness.
I met Paul Rainey whose excellent No Time Like The Present I had picked up in Bristol, I bought a copy of Tom Humberstone's My Fellow Americans, and sweet Mikey made me sing on camera (view the shame here) .

The very low table price meant there was minimal pressure and I imagine everyone will have recouped their costs,and made a profit, unless they travelled a very long way. The weather was clement and the rain held off and we all wandered round to the pub and downed pints by the canal feeling all warm and fuzzy from the good vibes.
And Ned finally got to meet Gary Northfield.

NO BARCODES approaching fast

Been a bit remiss, not done much posting recently.
A few things to report. Dropped by the stall saturday morning. Went to the theatre in the evening to catch Mr Phill Jupitus' fine performance in Life Coach at Trafalgar studios, his first venture into straight acting in the West End. He was excellent as was the whole cast and the play was both amusing and quite touching.
Been beavering away for the last three days in readiness for the big event this weekend. Caught up with the lads at Tom Humberstone's book launch in King's Cross last night. Had a couple of beers with Oli, Sean, Oliver, Dan, Alex and met Sally Anne Hickman.
David Baillie has done a grand job interviewing some of us exhibitors and posting the results. You can read mine here
Looking forward to seeing all you fabulous people in Camden at NO BARCODES this Saturday! Click here for info and map.

Neither shipshape nor Bristol fashion

Feeling a bit bummed as Bristol is looming and I had hoped to have a new mini comic for it and instead I keep having to do WORK!
Still shouldn't complain. After all I do like sleeping in a house, eating decent food, wearing clothes and stuff like that but why oh why must the pesky details of real life like paying mortgages and bills and shit have to interfere with the joyous business of comic making.

Although if truth be told I mostly like my paying work - it's just there's never enough TIME!

Anyway, Sean has done a splendid job and produced a poster for The Camden Con and Oli dazzled us with his brilliance on Radio 4 yesterday (you can hear it here).

Bristol is only ten days away and it's pissing down with rain.

No Barcodes announced

Things seem to have got busy again, with regular strips and recurring freelance jobs fitting in and around subbing shifts.
Met up with Oli, Sean and Dan on thursday for a little reconnaissance mission in Portobello for a future convention site.
That one will be taking place later in the year,
but the exciting news is the official announcement of NO BARCODES, the London Underground Comics convention on Saturday May 31 2008 at Camden Lock Market.

Should be a fantastic day with all the jolly crowd from the stall plus all you lovely small press creators out there who want to come along and join in the fun. It will be free to punters and only about £7 to exhibitors – much better value than your average convention!
Check out the fabulous trailer video and further details of how to take part at www.londonundergroundcomics.com