As promised, here's a brief report on my trip to Stoke for the latest Comic Mart — The Commando and British Weekly Comic Mart to give it its full title. This is the 19th organised by the folk who run the similarly named
Facebook page.
Being a fan of few means, I rely greatly on the generosity of others, and in this case I was offered a lift up to Stoke by local collector/dealer Karl Kennedy, and accommodation by collector/dealer Andy Yates, proving that without a doubt, collectors and dealers in comics are the finest of men. Kindly, clean in mind and limb, and good to dogs.
I had four boxes of books to take with me, including a handful of proof copies of the first two volumes of the Mytek books, but not the number of copies I wanted to take thanks to late-running printing. Still, it meant that I could take a few indexes and examples of all the comic reprints I've put out over the years, as my intention was to let people see the range of titles we publish, and not just flog the latest book. So I had about twenty different titles with me (not all visible in the photo above).
We left Wivenhoe around 8.45am and had a problem-free drive up to Stoke, arriving in Hanley about three and a half hour later. After negotiating the car park — badly laid out, poorly marked, with tight turns into walled ramps only inches wider than a modern car — we headed off to a local museum to see one of their exhibits: a spitfire. As I'm in the middle of designing the
Air Ace Companion, I'm chock full of Battle of Britain lore and images from the comics, so to see the real thing was hugely impressive.
After a tea and cake break, we wandered around Hanley, which was somewhat depressing in the humidity and heat of the early afternoon. Lots of empty shops, a few semi-busy chain shops, people slumped over in shop doorways and on benches, out of their brains on
monkey dust (MDPV). We didn't find many charity shops (which was my sole reason to visit the town centre) but did find the local Forbidden Planet and a place called Geek World, which had some old British comics among the shelves of toy figures and boxes of DC/Marvel.
We headed off to Wolstanton where the show was to be held at the Methodist Church Hall, and met up with Stuart Steele and Ed Walker, who had just started to put up the stands on which they would be displaying artwork. The art show has been a highlight of the two Colchester shows that I have attended, with examples of
Air Ace covers, and some beautiful modern work by Keith Burns, who, sadly, could not make this particular show.
We headed off to Andy's where Stephen Hume (collector/dealer—so obviously a nice guy—and
Commando author) had already arrived. After a couple of hours chatting, fussing the dog (Bailey), dinner and more chat, we all headed back to the Hall and spent an hour setting up tables, unpacking our boxes, which didn't take me very long, so I tried to make myself useful as a dogsbody, carrying boxes for anyone who needed a hand.
We headed home at nine for beers and more chatter, interrupted some while later by someone wanting to unload at the church—impossible as none of the organisers were keyholders and the keyholders were probably in bed by then. It seemed like a smart move, so we also went to bed. I got to crash on a rather comfortable sofa, but was still up at 3.30 to visit the plumbing (damn those two pints of lager) and then couldn't get back to sleep. I did eventually, but it also meant I got a chunk of a book read, so the time was put to good use.
We were away at 8 o'clock the following morning, putting out chairs, helping Stuart and Ed put artwork onto their stands, helping other dealers unpack as they arrived, and saying "Hi" to lots of people I either knew from Colchester Marts or was meeting for the first time or, in one case, someone who I'd met at an ACE Comics party.
Before we knew it, it was 10 o'clock and the doors were open. While I can't say we were swept off our feet by crowds, there was a steady enough stream of collectors coming through the door and they were keen to buy. I sold eighteen books in total and, thanks to some deep discounting on my part, took around £280. Not my best, but not my worst show. It meant I went home with three boxes rather than four, so I count that as a win.
I spent much of the show chatting with Mike Chinn, ex-
Starblazer scriptwriter (we shared the same editors, tho' Mike was a regular far longer than I was) and now also self-publishing (you can
find some of his books on Amazon). Also had a long chat with Justin Marriott about... well, all sorts of things: Jim Moffatt, Peter Haining, New English Library, talking to people who were unforthcoming, trying to get people to submit articles on time, his next, final, mammoth issue of
Paperback Fanatic and what he wants to do in the future (which I'll let him tell you about).
Elsewhere at the show there were a few oddities to be found. The best find — for me, anyway — were some original office copies of
Fantastic where the payments were recorded. Most of the material was licensed from Marvel through Transworld Feature Syndicate who were later central to the creation of Marvel UK. There was very little originated material in
Fantastic, just a cartoon page and some editorial matter, which was all handled internally by staff, although the colouring of covers and back cover posters was handled by Linden Artists who received less that what it cost to license the characters.
All fascinating (Fantastic, even) stuff. More notes for when I eventually revamp
The Power Pack.
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| Stuart (top) and Ed, who are behind the art show. |
All things considered, it was a great day and over too soon. Filling my three boxes and dismantling tables and lugging stuff back to cars for people and still nattering with anyone who wanted to natter... Karl had family visiting from Australia so he wanted to get away promptly. We were back on the road not long after 3 o'clock and I was back in Wivenhoe at 6.45pm in time for our regular Zoom games evening with friends.
I need to thank Jan Yates for keeping me topped up with cold water — I might be away from home but that doesn't mean I'm not taking a bunch of pills that require me to keep well hydrated — and for her fine bacon rolls. And for putting up with the disruption of having comic fans descending on her home (and that goes for the rest of the family, too).
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| Street Art, Hanley |
Catching up on the rest of the week, I've another clutch of pages designed for the
Air Ace book and I'm waiting on the arrival of a junction box to fix our hedge trimmer. I went out on Monday to cut back some bushes and the wire fell apart while I was merrily swinging away. A couple of years ago I managed to chop through the wire, which I had taped up with electrical tape.
However, one of the unintended consequences of moving office means that I don't often open the back door to keep the utility room and my old office cooler. It gets pretty hot in there, with the fridge and freezer, washing machine and tumble dryer also adding to the heat. A couple of weeks ago, when I cut the front hedge, the join separated — the tape felt tacky and had come loose in the heat. I taped it all up again, but clearly the results weren't as strong as the sun and the two halves of the wire parted again. So now I'm waiting on a little waterproof junction box that will join the two halves together safely.
Cheaper than a new hedge trimmer, but still a pain in the bum.
Hopefully there will be fewer surprises for me over the next week.
