Hi-Ex in the Highlands: First Report

By John Freeman on 3 February 2008

Over on the Forbidden International blog, Joe Gordon has posted one of the first reports on Hi-Ex, the first major comics convention staged in Inverness held this weekend. Guests included Gary Erskine, John Higgins, Colin MacNeil and many others, and downthetubes contributor Jeremy Briggs was at the event so we hope he’ll give us his insights soon (unless he’s been eaten by reindeer or escaped wolves or something on his way back from the Highlands).

“I asked [the creators and stall holders] how their experience [of the con] had been and had it been worth the trip?” Joe reports. “They all responded in the affirmative – they had all been enjoying the con and, yes, it had been worth it both in terms of exposure and financially (FutureQuake’s Dave happily reported that decent sales meant he would indeed be eating this evening and not trying to pull raw fish from the nearby river like some comics geek Gollum), while Graeme had actually sold out of some of his titles he had brought up.

“Note to some of the other folks in the Brit comics community who were wondering if Inverness was worth adding to their list of cons to try attending – that looks like a big yes from where I am standing and from some of the small press folks who came along, so if you are reading this and wondering if you should think about attending any future one, drop the boys a line and ask them how it went for them.”

• Check the FPI Flickr stream for photos of the Hi-Ex convention weekend starting here
• Read another review of Hi-Ex on Hi-Arts by comics neophyte Georgina Coburn

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as 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.