CoCo Comic Con is a small press day event taking place in Lancaster, Lancashire next month, dedicated to supporting and celebrating the creative minds behind the UK’s independent comic book community.
The city has previously hosted a number of comic-related events down the years, some run in the past by Lancaster Literature Festival (when I was running it!) and Lancaster Comics Day (also run by me) – but nothing recently, so it’s great to hear about this project.
The free event will be held in Lancaster on Saturday 13th August 2022 at Pizza Margherita, a smashing independent Italian restaurant, which sits right opposite the town’s comic shop, First Age Comics. The event will feature numerous local artists and creatives, selling their comics, stickers, and other bits and bobs, as well as offering comic making courses, for all ages.
Announced exhibitors include the CoCo Comics team, an independent comic book publisher founded in 2020 by James Patricks, creator of The Magician’s Curse, Tom Philipson, creator of the digital comic, StrangeWorld, Theo Pickering and Caio Whitmore, aiming to create comics with Personality, whose current projects include the CoCo Comics Anthology, available physically and digitally.
Other exhibitors are father and daughter comic creative team Matt and Zeke Simmons; local fantasy author A.S.Chambers, Lancaster’s notorious master of the macabre, well known for marking his home town’s place on the horror map of the United Kingdom; Connor Tierney, a Glasgow-based comic artist working on the 6-time Eisner award winning superhero comic, Kid Eastwood; Erika Price, UK-based comic artist whose work is on the experimental end of horror and explores themes of loneliness, Isolation, mental health, dysphoria, and the way society hurts and breaks bodies; and Leeds-based Feff Silvers, creator of the Comedic Superhero Webcomic Saturday Morning Teagirl and Supernatural Thriller Graphic Novel Series The Final Lullaby. Feff is a creator of comics starring women of colour, with heavy influences from obsessions with magical girl series, table top RPGs, phantasmagoria, esoteric groups, and early religions.
Feff is also co-Founder of The Association of Comic Creators, a grass-roots knowledge sharing comic support collective for comic professionals both independent and industry, whose aims are to support talent old and new through the many entryways of comics publishing.
But wait, there’s more! Much more!
Also at the event will be Teesside-based artist Holland Simpson, who’s been drawing since they were a child and creating narrative art since 2017; bare-knuckle cartoonist and perpetrator of the Lucha Libre fantasy action series The Legend of La Mariposa, James Lawrence (The Legend of La Mariposa – Vulcan’s Challenge is currently seeking backing on Kickstarter); Cardiff’s Josh Hicks, creator of Glorious Wrestling Alliance: Ultimate Championship Edition, published by Graphic Universe: Matt Greaves, cartoonist, animator and creator of the one-man-anthology series Blat; Nona Gallery, an illustrator and writer from Liverpool who has two published books and work sold and exhibited worldwide, their work including Horoscope Witches, The Eldest, and their current ongoing project, An A to Z of Modern Monsters; Nick Gonzo, a weird fiction author, performance artist, zine educator, and comic book creator, whose latest project, Black Dragon, is a comic about people who pilot cargo through the blood stream of a giant reptile in space for a mega corporation; Steve Gregson, a North West-based Illustrator and Comic Artist, whose work includes BPM: Beatdowns per minute, Bastard Galaxia, Monster Mates, and the upcoming comic reboot of the 1990s arcade game Ninja Baseball Bat Man; and, last by no means least, mighty Tom Ward, a writer from Liverpool. He has been self publishing comics since 2014 with eight successful Kickstarter campaigns under his belt. Tom is best known for his Victorian pulp adventure series Merrick: The Sensational Elephantman, with artist Luke Parker.
The organisers say more guests have yet to be announced – so stay tuned to their Twitter and Facebook event page for updates.
The best part about CoCo Con? It’s free! (yes, yes, I know we mentioned that already, but hey!)
“Feel welcome to bring friends and family for a fun and creative day out,” say the team, “although we can’t promise that you won’t want to splash come cash on the exhibiting creator’s wonderful artwork.
• CoCo Comic Con 10.00am to 5.00pm, Saturday 13th August 2022 at Pizza Margherita, 2 Moor Lane, Lancaster, LA1 1QD | Free | Follow CoCo Comics Con Facebook Event page | CoComics are online at www.cococomics.co.uk | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Tapas | Patreon
Mask mandates: Although there is no mandate on masks at the event, wearing one is heavily encouraged unless exempt. The team will have have multiple hand sanitiser stations set up throughout, as well as on exhibitor tables, that will be required to be used before picking up anyone’s comics.
Comic Creator? Can’t Make It to the event as a Creator? If you’re a creator who can’t make it in person but would still like to contribute your comic work, Coco Comics have partnered with First Age Comics – Lancaster’s independent comic shop – to create a small press section for you to sell your work at the event.
If you would like to send them your comics to stock, feel free to send them an E-mail at: cococomicspublishing@gmail.com. (First Age Comics will keep 20% of sales, with the rest going back to the original creator). More details about this here
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The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: Art and Illustration, British Comics, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events, Other Worlds
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