CBO LINKS

CBO was, in the words from Word Press, “suspended” because it is too successful and gets too much traffic.

Go figure.

The future?

“It appears that your modifications were successful. I have removed all restrictions from your account. We will continue to monitor the situation.

Please note that if this account over uses resources again, we may be forced to recommend a VPS or Dedicated solution.

Please let us know if you have any questions.

Thank you,
Joshua B.
HostGator Security”

In other words -we keep getting lots of hits we get suspended without warning again!! Not sure whether you all bookmarked the emergency CBO site links I’ve posted.  From May you will only find the dead shell here.  WP has caused too many problems and I just give up.

So start bookmarking:

http://hoopercomicsuk.blog.com/

http://hoopercomics.wordpress.com/

and the following:

http://hoopercomicart.blogspot.com/

http://blacktowerbooks.blogspot.com/

It’ll be all the same stuff but WP has been a pain. CBO is no longer allowed a statpress but the number of hits we keep getting is always rising so we may vanish again.  Book mark those links!

Latest Alternative Press News

 

 

 

 

Dear All 

1.  International Alternative Press Fair:  Saturday 28^th May to Sunday 29^th May

 

Booking table space NOW!   A 2 day Fair at the Conway Hall of  zines, comix, poetry, radical literature, printmaking and anything else self-published!  There will be many workshops and talks, and a zine library held upstairs in the Gods.  Heavens above!  Please apply via the online application form:

 

www.alternativepress.org.uk

 

Venue:    Conway Hall

                25 Red Lion Square

                London WC1R 4RL

 

But wait, this is not all…there will be many other activities occurring as part of the overall International Alternative Press Festival

 

Friday 27^th May:  Festival Opening Party at the Miller Pub in London Bridge. 

Performance by Resonance Radio Orchestra; an ensemble of musicians and actors from Resonance 104.4FM, London's independent arts radio station.  Collaborating with live illustration by artists from home and overseas.  

 

Saturday 28^th May to Monday 13th June:  Exhibition at Orbital Comics London's best small press supporter.

Artists, workshops, talks and more TBC 

 

Monday 30^th May to Sunday 5^th June:  Exhibition at The New Gallery

Exhibition including a film night, storytelling, poetry and zine sleep-over! With a live printing event at the end of the week.  Artists TBC - The New Gallery, 92 Peckham Road, Camberwell, London, SE15 5PY

 

Monday 30^th May to Sunday 5^th June:  Exhibition at The Sassoon Gallery

Exhibition TBC     The Sassoon Gallery, 213 Blenheim Grove, Peckham Road, Camberwell, London, SE15 5PY

If you are interested in running an independent alternative event around this time, or if you have ideas for the festival, get in touch, we’d love to hear from you.  Please contact either  jimigherkin@yahoo.co.uk  or  peterlally@gmail.com

 

 

 

2.  Brighton Zine Fest:  Saturday 19^th February to Sunday 20^th February 

 

Back to Brighton up your February is the Brighton Zine Fest!  Those lovely zinesters are running a couple of days to give you an excuse to pop down there and have a good time with them.  This year we have:

 

Saturday 19^th – Fund Raising Gig at the Cowley Club:  various bands playing, see  their website for details

 

www.brightonzinefest.co.uk/

 

Saturday 20^th – Zine Fair, Talks and Workshops, at the Hanover Community Centre including:  how to make a zine; zines as activism; making a comic; needle felting, and more…

 

The tables are almost booked out, so that must mean there’s still space if you’re interested in displaying your wares – contact them immediately

 

 

 

3.  Comix Reader Launch Party – Wednesday 2^nd February 

 

Venue:    The Crown Pub

                51 New Oxford Street

                London WC1A 1BL

                6.30pm to closing

 

Launch of a new Comix Newspaper…from the Editor:

 

“The Comix Reader is in part an attempt to recapture some of the free spirit of the underground press, and is also an experiment in publishing: 9,000 copies paid for and distributed by the artists. Printed on newsprint and costing only £1, it's accessible to fans of the art form and hopefully also intriguing to people who might not have read many comics”

 

 http://www.thecomixreader.com/

 

 

All the best

Peter

CBO Suspended -"Too Successful"!!

Unlikely as it may seem, CBO has weathered the threats from certain belligerent companies.  It has shrugged off attempts by flamers to close it down.  The insults of small sites trying to get CBO involved in some internet war of words to boost their own view numbers washed away. Local authorities trying to ban libary access to CBO have been dealt with decisively (because someone at the library service decided that CBO -a family friendly site- promoted devil worship! I could not make this up).

So why has the main CBO site gone down?  The answer is simple: CBOs own success.

Seriously, I try not to bother with things like stats because they are a meaningless jumble (dyscalculie).  I do occasionally, however, check them so I know on several occasions there have been over 20,000 hits per day -generally its been 1500-8000 hits per day. 

So imagine my reaction when I get a message stating CBO is getting too much traffic so it has to be suspended -the server cannot handle it.  We add the plug in as they (WordPress) suggest but we are still not allowed to post and CBOers cannot see the pages.

And people wonder why it's worth advertising on CBO?  That is a LOT of views.

Remember that CBO does not cover Marvel or DC.  We only cover Independent Comics and the Small Press.  That is why certain jealous sites called us "a no name site" *

There is no word from Word Press yet.  No idea when CBO will be allowed back online. I guess successful blogs are a problem for Word Press.

So, I do hope CBOers bookmarked this page as I suggested or they'll be staring at a blank screen.

CBO will be back! 

CBO shall return...

The Comix Reader

No.1
Newspaper size
24 pp
colour and black and white
£1.00


I never actually thought that this was going to appear. There seemed to be quite a few delays so, when Mr. Brown told me he had received his copies I whipped him furiously with a wet lettuce leaf until he gave me a copy (he never objected to the whipping -he loves it!).


Now, I just recalled yesterday that I did write stuff for something called The Comix Reader years -years- ago.  Have I contributed to this wholly comic strip version?  No. Why? Because NO ONE ASKED ME!!  Deep breath….


This is actually quite a fun publication.  The print quality is superb and the cover very underground-ish.
“Charlie Parker Handyman” by Elwick and O’Connor makes a great start and Cowdry provides some fun “Somersault” strips.  “A Classy Press” by  Tobias Tak is wonderful.  I’ve mentioned Tak before on CBO and I love his work.  “Minor Head Injuries” by Alex Potts I liked.  Jimi Gherkin, naturally, contributes a page –after all he has been called “The Terry Hooper of the 21^st century small press” which is a burden on him!

Messrs. Brown and Northall contribute “The Man Who Wasn’t There”.


In fact, there is so much here that I keep thinking £1.00 is a miss-print!! It is a very interesting read and lots of lush art but I am really ****** off about one thing.  On some strips I cannot find who the creator(s) is/are.  PLEASE, if you are going to produce work like this PUT YOUR NAME TO IT!!!  In fact, I think this is where the editor has failed.  You get creators like this, print a great publication then you must insure that the reader knows whose work they are looking at.

I do understand that when you cram this much goodness in space can be short but take up some of the Ads page to run credits.

So, moan out of the way, how can YOU get a copy?  Well, send £1.00 to:

Mr. P. A. Brown
15 Wedmore Vale Road
Bedminster
Bristol BS3 5HQ
paulashleybrown@googlemail.com

No need for an evelope even.  And for £1.00 this is a give-away.  I really do look forward to issue 2!