London Comics Festival
The past weekend saw the inaugural London Winter Comics Festival - the newborn sibling of the UK's established Spring Bristol Comics Festival.

I only got to sample the show for a couple of hours, one of which was spent on the judging panel of the New Writers Pitching Session, but there was an upbeat, enthusiastic atmos reminiscent of the early-UKCACs. Even rent-a-presenter Jonathan Ross dragged his son over during the afternoon, before he hob-nobbed with the fans around the small press area. Speaking of which, most of the attention at the show was focused on these pools of nascent talent - perhaps largely because few of the big publishers made the trip across the Atlantic for the show?

The Black Library had a prime position opposite the entrance to the main talks/presentation hall. And whilst they didn't see as manic a trade as the September Games Day, editor Christian Dunn said that he was blown away by some of the portfolios that came his way. Which is encouraging, since my ad in Comics International looking for artists has just been printed - maybe I'll finally find an artist to get Broken Claw off the ground?

2000AD was notable by its absence. Well, corporate presence anyway. Most of the guests were 2000AD writers and artists, so fans could get their books filled with as many autographs and sketches as their twisted little hearts could desire. 2000AD and The Megazine are no doubt be saving up their convention budget for the Dreddcon, due to take place sometime in the next month or so.

There was no Marvel, Dark Horse, Image or the like, but DC sent over editor Dan Didio, who offered a corporate perspective on the pitching panel. Also on the panel were 2000AD artist Siku, Authority scribe Robbie Morrison, and Authority/Fort/Necronauts artist Frazer Irving.

It was the first time I'd met the latter, and whilst we waited for Kev F Sutherland to kickstart the pitching panel, I had a pleasant chat about the wonders of Eastern European women and the merits of working with the Black Library. Apart from being fun to work for, they actually pay bloody quick too (that's the Black Library, not Eastern European women).

The panel was frenetic and fun - and I came away with a hell of a lot of respect for anyone with the balls to get up on stage in front of a packed audience (it's one of the Festival's most popular features), and try and sell your character/series/one-off idea in just two minutes. It's kind of like Pop Idol, but less glamourous, and no-one really wants you to make a tit of yourself (unlike the ritual humilations on offer on the ITV shitertainment show).

Even though we over-ran the hour slot, we could still only fit in 10 entrants, with the outright winner being a Future Shock-style series called Culture Shocks (if my memory, and badly scrawled notes, serve me right). The concept was to have an Ally McBeal-like character (who swears a lot) satirically comment life in the 21st Century. Differences between the US and the UK were touted, as well as between the sexes, discrimination towards the disabled... in fact, my over-riding impression was that this was a series that Michael Moore would probably come up with if he turned his attention to comic books.

I hope Selina (the creator whose first name is all I have written down - sorry!) is able to get the series into print. If the quality of the pitch was anything to go by, it could be a blinder and would find a comfortable niche at the likes of Oni.

Just time for me to plug pitch entrant Jason Cobley's excellent Bulldog Adventure Magazine. Jason kindly gave me a copy of the latest issue of BAM after the panel, which features artwork from Frazer Irving no less, as well as showcasing some rising stars in the British underground comics scene. So do yourself a favour, email Jason now on kingsunset@yahoo.com for information on how to order a copy. Tell him Flak Jacket sent ya!