In Photos: Nottingham Comic Con 2015

By Antony Esmond on October 26, 2015

Chris Sides of Redshift Press at Nottingham Comic Con 2015. Photo: Tony Esmond

OK, ladies and gentlemen the time has come. Start your engines. And you! Yes, you, Chris Sides from Redshift Press! You will never silence me!

Now fully part of the UK Comic Convention scene, Nottingham Comic Con is in its third year and growing on its success and the immense good word of mouth between creators, punters and stallholders. This year boasted some cracking guests who all to a man and woman threw themselves into taking part and mucking in.

Cosplayers at Nottingham Comic Con 2015. Photo: Tony Esmond.

By far one of this writer’s favourite road trips, it was a great place to get up close and personal to some big name creators (yeah, sorry about that Mr Fegredo) and buy comics (yup, they were for sale in their box loads) as well as those funky toy things….

Duncan Fegredo. Photo: Tony Esmond

One of the real high lights of the day was getting to spend some time chatting to Duncan Fegredo and watch him work. Just off his ‘Out Flashing the Flash’ on the series M.P.H. with Mark Millar, he is back on a Hellboy book.

Duncan is full of stories from back in the heady Vertigo days of the 1990s and kept us laughing throughout the day. He, Marc Laming and Christian Wildgoose rounded off the day’s panels with some hardcore artist talk about how they approach a script.

Find more out about this guy at www.duncanfegredo.co.uk and on Twitter @duncanfegredo

Briar is on sale now from Improper Books. Photo: Tony Esmond

Speaking of Mr Wildgoose, he was literally not left alone all day by punters. His new book with Ben Read, Briar, has been out exactly two weeks and was selling like hotcakes! It’s not surprising – good god, this book is incredible. Some real next level stuff! I grabbed a copy for myself and my son as I have some insider information that this may well sell out before the end of the month! Grab a copy.

There are some big things happening for this talented artist – watch this space. Christian also managed to include the phrase ‘Your Mum’ into a panel I was chairing – nicely done sir!

Find Christian at www.christianwildgoose.blogspot.co.uk or on Twitter shaking his money-maker @MrRiktus

Head over to www.improperbooks.com and buy a copy or you can download all their books via the Sequential app for iPad.

Sally Jane Thompson. Photo: Tony Esmond

I also managed to grab a couple of minutes talking to Sally Jane Thompson, a supremely talented artist and a big favourite with everyone at the Convention, myself included. If you are ever having a bad day at work I guarantee a flip through some of the art on her website or Twitter stream will cheer you right up. She spoke about how much she enjoyed working on The Phoenix and hinted at some upcoming projects.

You can find Sally at www.attomicsheepcomic.com or www.sallyjanethompson.co.uk or on Twitter @sallythompson

The Brethren Born team. Photo: Tony Esmond

I finally got to meet Jon Laight after really enjoying the first issue of his new series Brethren Born that launched at the event (reviewed here). It tells the story of a gifted vigilante in search of justice in a world of shady government installations and Machiavellian conspiracies and is well worth searching out. Jon is infectiously enthusiastic about this project and it was great to hear that it was selling like hotcakes all day.

Find a copy at www.level8comics.com or www.brethrenborn.com or follow the project @brethrenborn on Twitter

Chris Sides and Chris Travell of Redshift Press. Photo: Tony Esmond

The Redshift Press boys – Chris Sides and Chris Travell – were also there and one of them was wearing a stylish new T-shirt (I’m not exactly sure what the subtext was on that one, although Awesome Comic Podcast listeners just might be able to). They are growing a stable of books that really drill down into some intriguing horror situations and were talking up a storm about the upcoming Whispering Sands comic, previewed here. They’re always worth a chat to and a browse of their books.

Sadly the T-Shirt (featured at the start of this report) is not available to buy but you can head over to www.facebook.com/redshiftpress or on Twitter @redshiftpress, where you may feel free to contact Chris Sides @Sidesy1982 for all your future T-shirt needs.

Art by Marc Laming. Photo: Tony Esmond

This was a great event and I managed to bag a load of small press books, back issues and this great Planet Hulk print from Marvel hotshot artist Marc Laming.

Nottingham Comic Con really is an event that will grow and grow and I strongly suggest that you add it to your yearly calendar of conventions for 2016. Not only is it hugely fun, it is also for charity.

Even though it was up against the hugely popular MCM festival in London (held over the same weekend) it still managed to be really well attended and numbers are up again over last year.

Thanks to Kev and all the volunteers for a superb day (although I can’t blame him for the slightly fuzzy feeling in my head this morning). The day ran like clockwork.

• Keep an eye on www.nottinghamcomiccon.co.uk or at their Twitter feed @NottinghamComic for news about next year

Many thanks for reading.