James Bacon headed to Enniskillen Comic Fest earlier this month and enjoyed the recce…
The fact that Battle Picture Weekly was launched 50 years ago this year is utterly amazing. What is more phenomenal about this comic is the success of its modern day revival in recent years.
Many original readers of the popular war comic will no doubt remember their sadness when it came to an end in 1988, merged into Eagle.
Amazingly, though, 50 years on since its launch, this wasn’t the end of the much-loved comic after all. Battle is back, currently as Battle-Action, and we’re now enjoying a peak period of new stories. The title has always had a fan following, but the 21st Century is proving a fine time to be a fan of this war comic that told stories so brilliantly.
With the return air ace Johnny Red in 2015, and then, subsequently, thanks to Garth Ennis and Rebellion, the publication of a series of Battle-Action comics, war comic fans have been treated to a project that’s really worked to encapsulate the brilliance of the original. It’s a title that’s successfully involved writers and artists from that time, and of the moment, to make it work, and fans have been so lucky with such great work. This is truly a rarity, and it is clear from the enthusiasm, that it is welcomed.
Enniskillen Comic Fest, which, thanks to the enthusiasm and passion of Paul Trimble and his team, energetically embraced this celebration and worked hard to ensure this year’s guest line up represented decades of brilliant comics. There were many panels to choose from at this Festival, and there was a welcome variety to them.
Andrew Sumner (panel moderator) Gerry Finley-Day, Alan Hebden Steve MacManus, Mike Dorey, John Wagner and David Hunt. Photo via Paul Trimble
The trip to the event began for me on Thursday, as a car load treks through Britain, stopping on the way in Chester for some excellent food, including some delicious foreign cuisine, from this writer’s Irish perspective, with Jam Roly Poly and Custard, apparently an appropriate dish, with some of the focus on comics from the 1970s and 1980s. Across the Irish Sea, and it is just a two hour drive from Dublin port to Enniskillen, and in the warmth of the evening the convention began on Friday with a friendly social gathering over pints.
Saturday began in a relaxed fashion, as the hall filled up with guests, traders and fans.
Writer Gerry Finley-Day was suave and sharp, and a delight to listen to, given how many stories that fans love have come from his mind and imagination, from “Hellman” to “The V.C.’s” and “Rogue Trooper”. It was lovely to hear how Gerry went from working in one department over to Battle, before it even started, when 2000AD writer and British comics archivist Michael Carroll interviewed him with fellow author John Wagner. This alone would fascinate, but then former editor David Hunt added some superb insight, about how significant a change Battle actually was, and how it was seen in the office, and beyond.
Alan Hebden is another writer who has provided many favourite stories and the knowledge he demonstrates about his work is very impressive. At one point he kindly helped fans to determine which Commando comics he wrote, and there are many, but the information is helpful.
Artist Mike Dorey was delighted when presented with copies of DC Thomson’s Victor featuring “Strike Squadron” to be signed, a story he recalled, but had not seen for some time; fully painted work from the early 1990s, published near the end of its run. Mike had some incredible black and white and full colour pieces of art available.
Rebellion editor Oliver Pickles from was also on hand, with copies of the final issue of the current Battle-Action maxi series, which features the last installment of “Johnny Red” by Garth Ennis and Keith Burns, and it looked stunning. Keith continues to impress, by the reckoning and agreement amongst fans at the event. His continued and consistent ability with aircraft, action and movement really set him apart at the moment. Issues of Commando with his covers are in great demand, only second to those by the late great Ian Kennedy. Many fans like myself took time to sit and read this excellent finish to a lovely run of comics.
Artist Patrick Goddard‘s clean lines and superb ability to capture an essence of Rogue Trooper was apparent in the desire by fans to peruse his original art pages from both the stories “Happy Valley”, albeit there were only a few pages available, and “G.I. Blues”.
Michael Carroll is a wonderful interviewer, his passion and love of comics comes across, as anyone who has read his Rusty Staples blog would know, but he is also Ireland’s most prolific 2000AD writer, with over 300 stories across the Progs and Megazines. His knowledge and understanding saw some excellent questions draw great answers from the guests.
2000AD artist Eoin Coveney had a selection of his comic art, and some of his illustrations, too, which have appeared in both books and periodicals, and his variety of styles, adept at portraying the subject matter in an appropriate manner, is really very impressive.
It was lovely to see Mary and Bryan Talbot. One forgets, especially with such wonderful work as Grandville and Luther Arkwright how popular Bryan’s work was on 2000AD, especially “Nemesis the Warlock”, although I admit I am really looking forward to The Casebook of Stamford Hawksmoor in November.
With Hibernia Comics celebrating 20 years of publishing comics for the connoisseur, which started with a Doomlord collection, it was delightful to see David McDonald with his latest publication, The Editor’s Cut, full of amazing images, many unseen, and some cracking interviews, especially David’s with artist Mick McMahon and the late Kevin O’Neill. Also available at the event were copies of The Running Man, their latest collection from Action.
Artist PJ Holden had some of his recent work with Garth Ennis available, “The Sarge”, as well as some new work that was really sharply drawn. PJ, like Dan Cornwell, Paddy Goddard and Keith Burns, have all really stepped into the Battle stories over the last while, and the details are there to see as they strive to be accurate in their portrayals.
One of the lovely aspects about Enniskillen is that it is not a “one trick pony”, and the team are always very keen to have representatives of all types of comic stories. Laura Howell, whose lovely work was clearly visible from Beano, was both very engaging and deft with the pencil. Tazio Bettin from Italy has worked on many comics, but it was clear from the stream of younger fans that they all were especially interested in his work on Warhammer comics.
Dan McDaid was doing wonderful “sketches” – although that seems like such an unsuitable term for the amazing full colour painted watercolour images he was producing. His Batman pages from Worlds Finest were also proving popular, and his work was nice to see.
Local representation was very strong, too. Ruairi Coleman‘s work on Marvel continues at pace, he is currently on Contest of Champions, but his work on X-men, both variant covers and the Role Playing Game saw him getting requests for some superbly drawn characters, including a beautiful Gambit. Reese Hannigan‘s breakout Star Wars: Bad Batch work this year was proving very popular with younger readers who know the characters from the cartoons, and were quick to understand that the story featured Mace Windu sending the Bad Batch on a mission made sense to them as viewers.
There were plenty of comics, old and new, to buy at the event. I manged to pick up a full set of Cyberpunk 2077: Psycho Squad, written by Dan Watters, which is drawn by Kieran McKeown. His work is really nice, and his Judge Dredd imagery very impressive. The first four issues, published by Dark Horse, are released in collection in October (AmazonUK Affiliate Link).
Speaking of impressive, Will Simpson was featured in his own room, with dozens of framed examples of his work over the decades: Rogue Trooper, Tyranny Rex, Hellblazer, Judge Dredd, covers and double page splashes… it was a stunningly astounding selection, and really well done.
Forbidden Planet TV host Andrew Sumner did excellent work on a number of panels over the weekend. “Battle Stations Part 1: Fifty Years Of The Frontline’s Finest Comic”, was a panel with Gerry Finley-Day, Alan Hebden, Steve MacManus, Mike Dorey, John Wagner and David Hunt. This was quite a fearsome line up, featuring so many quintessential components to Battle. Andrew also hosted “Battle Stations Part 2: Back To The Front”, marking the release of issue 10 of the current run of Battle-Action, with Garth Ennis, Steve White, Patrick Goddard, PJ Holden, Dan Cornwell and Keith Burns. (currently online here).
There is none of the “crush” or stress and pressure, or long queues that you find at other conventions at Enniskillen. Here, everything moves nicely, and there is a lot of care and effort that goes into both the schedule and the overall convention. The social side is important, and so the Blakes of the Hollow evening is really a nice component.
I was delighted to meet international travelling fans, and especially fans who had been at Lawless and who had made the trek across for the first time, and were obviously delighted to have done so. May and June is a great time for comic book fans, and it was nice to be able to plan with some of those at Enniskillen to meet for a coffee and cake at the 17th Commando and British Weekly Comic Swap Meet, taking place in Stoke on Trent, in the Wolstanton Methodist Church Hall on Saturday 21st June.
The warm welcome, a lovely atmosphere, an incredible guest line up, and finding the unexpected comics, and the wide selection of artwork available, really makes Enniskillen Comic Fest very special.
A special thanks once again to Paul Trimble and his team for a fabulous weekend and for accommodating the downthetubes reporting!
James Bacon
• Follow Enniskillen Comic Fest on Facebook for news on upcoming events
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
James Bacon (he/him) is an Irish fan, a train driver living in London. A Hugo Award-winning editor of the fanzine “Journey Planet”, he is a comic fan and enjoys comic art, war Comics, Star Wars, Irish aspects to comics and railways in comics or otherwise. He has been writing about comics for over thirty years.
Categories: British Comics, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Events, Features, Reviews
A Night Out with Kate Charlesworth and Mary Talbot 
In Review: Thought Bubble 2024 
In Review: Into Battle: The Art of British War Comics 
In Pictures: Gerry Anderson’s Century 21 Exhibition at the Cartoon Museum