Birmingham Comic Arts Show

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by one of the organisers of "The Birmingham Comic Arts Show". He'd played a game of Golden Heroes with me over three decades ago and thought I'd make a good addition to the event. He offered me a table. I gladly accepted and counter-offered to bring my "Choose Your Own Adventure" set up with me to offer to run short introductory RPGs for those interested. As always, I also submitted some images and self-aggrandising blurb which they could use to promote my attendance. (You know that bit before the comedian takes stage where they announce themselves using a fake voice? That's me. 90% of the good stuff written about me on the Internet was written BY me.)

Then I heard nothing. The Birmingham Comic Arts show is part of the month long "Birmingham Comic Arts Festival" with events taking place across the city. Apparently. I knew about it from the email I'd received but even I struggled to find any information on line. The website seemed to have been set up in an evening several months ago and then not updated. At all. Minimal information and the line "more information coming soon" right up until the eve of the event. They seemed to be using the "event bright" ticketing system (I'm not a fan) as their main means of promotion. Not a good move. 

A couple of days before the show, I received a general email for exhibitors regarding how to get there and set up. However, my attendance didn't seem to be being mentioned anywhere on their website, so I began to fret a bit. The day before the event, however, I found their Facebook page and they HAD been posting about me fairly regularly. That cheered me up.

I was also emailed right before the show to ask if it wanted to take part in a panel about Card, Board and Roleplaying games no longer being just for nerds. Right up my street!

As always, I turned up bright and early. The show is based in a new University building next door to "Millenium Point" at the edge of the City Centre. Good venue but out of the way a bit. The part of the show I was involved in was in a small multi-purpose hall off the main atrium to the building, right by the coffee bar. My table was the first one people would see as they walked in. As it was a "professional" show I'd bought new table covers, but I hadn't needed to. The tables were all covered with official "Birmingham City University" covers. Good job too, because the tables themselves were splattered with paint. Given how new the building and set up were, it was surprising that they've seen so much use so quickly. (Mind you, "Birmingham City University" isn't Birmingham University or, even, Aston University. It's the one that's grown out of all the old polytechnics scattered across the city.....)

I asked if there was a table for me to run games on and found out that they'd sorted out a couple of options for me - upstairs. Not next to my "presentation table" like I'm used to. They also suggested that I could play in the coffee bar next to the main hall.

I set up in good time. The hall was small but the eclectic collection of exhibitors was quietly breathtaking. There were a LOT of independent comic producers and artists. And some really famous ones. David - flipping - Lloyd, of WATCHMEN fame, was just two tables down from me!

I was really happy to be able to take my copy of Golden Heroes over to Mike Collin's table, introduce myself and thank him, after almost four decades, for all the art he'd done on it.  Most of the rules were illustrated by scraps and samples Games Workshop had snapped up from various artists. Mike was the one who'd done all the bespoke work - drawing the example villains and, more importantly, illustrating the scenario I'd written for the rules. He was gracious but genuinely terrified to be faced with it again. It was something he'd done quickly as a young artist and he's gone on to much greater things since. ( I didn't ask him to autograph my rulebook. I'M the one who autographs GH books!)

I also chatted to this great old guy (70's). After I'd explained all about my game, he showed me HIS books. He's an artist from the older British comics (Hotspur etc.) who drew their war and football strips. Pre-2000AD. What I'd call "realist" art. He also teaches how to draw comic art. His work was bloody amazing! Puts everything I do into the shade. It was a honour to meet him. 

I nipped to coffee bar for a cheese sandwich and fruit juice. Really cheap. It's a student venue.

A punter turned up at 10am as the convention was due to open and was asked to sit in the coffee bar as things weren't completely ready. At 10:30 it opened officially and..... hardly anyone turned up. I was expecting this, due to to the poor promotion prior to the event.

As the day went on, a few more people trickled in. If you knew about it, it woud have been a great event to come to. If you went to a ComiCon you'd have to pay loads to get in and then queue for hours to get a few seconds with the likes of the Watchmen artist. Here you could get in for free and spend ages chatting to him. 

I chatted to a few people at my table. There was one young man who really wanted to try D&D and I eventually managed to collared few other University students (a group dressed as various "Doctor" incarnations). I ran a very successful session of my one hour The Black Hack introductory game (Matt Colville's The Delian Tomb, as always).  Instead of going upstairs, I ran it in the coffee bar.Then I returned to my table. 

Just before 12:30 I made my way upstairs to the lecture theatre for my panel. It was half full - which means there were a lot of people there - listening to the older guy I'd met earlier give a talk - accompanied by illustrations on a large screen - on how to draw for comics and lay out a page. Though I only caught the tail end it was great stuff. I turned out, though, that he'd started talking to a nearly empty room and - as people trickled in - had gained a second wind, decided to combine his morning and afternoon presentations into one mega performance and had been talking for over an hour. This had put the programme back. The presenter of a talk about some angry French comic (or something) had been waiting to go on, so my panel was scrapped.

I went to the coffee bar to buy one of their cheap paninis for lunch but they'd sold out so I had to nip out for a Subway. I had difficulty eating it though because the afternoon was a whirl of networking. I met an editor for Titan comics, a steam engine designer (Mamod are still going) and an Afrofuturist. "RPGs coming soon to an Afrofuturist/Steamfunk convention near you!" I found out about TWO more Gaming cafes in the Birmingham area. And loads of people who'd played GH. I realised I REALLY need to get some business cards printed for these sort of events.

I bought a coffee and some biscuits from the coffee bar only to find that they were Starbucks products. Nowhere near the excellent value of the sandwich and juice I'd bought earlier. A bit odd. It was the same bar. A bit schizophrenic.

The day rounded off with another D&D demo - in the coffee bar - to two young boys - year 6 and year 3 -  watched by their mum. I pointed her in the direction of "No thank you evil". However, I think a simple kid friendly D&D box would have been better but is there such a thing?

The show was due to wrap up at 5:00pm but everyone stripped down at 4:00. Some people turned up looking for the event after the hall was mostly empty - a bit miffed that it had shut up shop early.

So, for the second weekend in a row, a damp squib of a convention. A great offering - good access to artists, comics and related exhibitors, two full strands of talks, free entry, great venue - but hardly any punters. 

Us nerds REALLY need to get our acts together, promotion-wise.