Alternative Press Fair

I had fun at the Alternative Press Fair yesterday. I was sharing a table with long-term small-press advocate Gavin Burrows (whose ‘Lucid Frenzy’ blog covers a variety of alternative culture and is well worth a read) and Tom and Joe from Mallard Small Press. Sales were reasonable, comics were discussed, beer was drunk.

Highlights of the day included:

– watching how eye-catching my Friendly Demon comic seemed to be. Either colour covers are the way forward, or small press enthusiasts are all Satanists

– thinking we were onto a sale when a girl in front of our table opened up her handbag… but pulled out a phone and went away.

– embarrassment in mixing up the members of the Mallard team, Chris (who writes dense and intriguing prose fiction) and Joe (who draws cartoons of stick men). Joe’s postcards seemed to sell well, but sadly the zines didn’t move so fast (you can read more on their blog)

– Saban ‘Shabs’ Kazim’s stand-up comedy set – the open-mic and poetry evening was a little hit-and-miss this time around, but Shabs’ true-life stories are always worth hearing

– buying some new comics: Pissing in the Wind by Joe Decie (a collection defining uses of the word ‘piss’); Birdsong/Songbird anthology by Will Kirkby, Sarah McIntyre, David O’Connell and friends; and James Nash’s 2009 Diary Comic, in which I was amused to find myself making a small cameo at a Bearsuit gig…

Thanks to Peter Lally, Gareth Brookes, Jimi Gherkin and the rest of the Alternative Press team for organising another fine day!

UPDATE: Richy K. Chandler of Tempo Lush fame also has a blog report complete with pictures: see if you can spot the difference between my cartoon and his photo!

Tags: A Friendly Demon, Alternative Press, comic convention, Comics, Mallard Small Press