A Few Thoughts on the Bristol Comic & Zine Fair 2013

Aging Hipster wannabe and poster-child for the Lost Thatcher Generation, Paul Ashley Brown, also a reknowned Bristol zinester who can be found lurching at various zine events in London, has decided to write up a few thoughts on the Bristol Comic & Zine Fair. Paul rarely thinks if he can help it and writes sparingly (explaining all the spelling corrections I had to make).

So what did the doyenne of the zine set think of the event?

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Ruth Garner of Ruth Garner Photography deserves a major THANK YOU because her excellent photographs of the event are reproduced herein. You can check out her site at: http://www.ruthgarnerphotography.com/

Paul Ashley Brown: "I look sooo f***** beautiful!"

On Saturday October 5th, the old Bridewell Police Station near the Broadmead Shopping centre of Bristol Comic & Zine Fair. Obviously it no longer deals with Criminal Types , but is now a snazzy Community Centre where the bright new things of Zinedom and Indie Self-Publishing ( not to mention a few old faces !!) came to show off their latest wares, hot off the Small Presses and Screen Beds. All things bright and beautiful were well in abundance, and there was a fantastic selection of diverse books, comics, zines, badges, posters, prints and Tee-Shirts to lap up from the New Kids on the Block.

Bristol played host to a new set  of Delinquent Ne'er Do-Wells and Dodgy Geezers as it hosted the Third 

Having been drawing and making zines in the Mid-Eighties/Nineties, and returning to doing so again in the last 5-6 years, I find it fascinating to note an exciting new sea-change in the way zines and comics are being both made and perceived, not just by the artists themselves, but the audience they are finding and attracting.

What generally sets this current crop apart from the Old School Comickers and Zinesters of ,say the Mid-Eighties to Mid-Nineties is a New Independence,new Confidence, and different set of values and influences.  I've been thinking about what it was that made me leave the Bristol Fair in such a positive frame of mind that wasn't to do with selling copies of my zine. It's a similar feeling to that I have had and have reported on when I've attended previous Small Press fairs like the Alternative Press Fairs in London.

The first positive thing was that finally ! Bristol had a Comic/Zine event that was an equal to the aforementioned type of events in London. Credit goes to organisers Simon Moreton, Nick Soucek and Esme Barnaville (Bear Pit Zine), in conjuction with Hannah Chapman of Comic Book Slumber Party for having, in conjuction with Slumber Party  for having the ambition to make this years event bigger and better than their previous attempts.

The Station venue was an excellent choice, being both a central location with easy travel access, and just a lovely big bright, new, accommodating space, which allowed over 40 seperate individuals and groups of Artists and makers to show off what they were capable of to excellent effect. From the outset til the end there was a constant flood of punters through the doors that engaged with the artists and makers with genuine interest and enthusiasm, which also translated in sales, not an easy thing to do in the  midst of a recession. The whole day had an energetic, buzzing vibe of positivity to it due in no small part to the organisers optimism, as well as the various artists and creators eagerness and willingness to engage with their potential audience.

It's this communication between artist and audience that is one of the key ingredients to these events. Our generic potential audience is far more clued-up and knowing about What-Art-is these days, and also, what they might like. Things like Pop-Up Shops and Galleries, Art-Trails and Art Fairs have allowed people to engage with Art far more directly than they would have even 10 years ago. People are far more savvy about how things are made and produced, and wish to not just want to buy and own art, but are also happy to want to engage with artists about their work; how it's made, why it's made, and how it can be and mean something to them. This encourages artists to communicate directly with their potential audience, and allow a breakdown of barriers between those that make and those that consume. Even more attractive is the possibility that we all cease solely being consumers, that a desire to engage with being creative is developed also.

Certainly, I left with the feeling of wanting to go back and do more artwork, make more stuff. It's this infectiousness that is at the heart of these Zine enviroments, and at the heart of the people responsible for making them happen.

Secondly, there's a very particular feel to these type of fairs that one doesn't get at what may be considered "traditional" comic conventions. I think it's to do with a couple of things. Firstly, the majority of people now doing zines and self-publishing are not coming from a culture and enviroment that people making this kind of stuff in the Eighties or Nineties did. Back then I would argue that the majority of people making Zines or D.I.Y. comics were brought up and influenced primarily by either American comics or the British comic Industry, in particular 2000 a.d. In other words, traditional comics.

Nowadays, the Zine enviroment has a great many people whose influences are far more diverse. Comics are only a part of their artistic make up. As an example, I was sat next to a lovely group of Illustration students from Brighton who had produced some rather wonderful work that certainly incorporated comics, but whose work obviously had as much in common with Illustration and Graphic Design considerations as it did comic narrative. The evidence of this change is also there in the sheer diversity of things for sale, whether that's traditional looking comics or 1 to 3 colour silkscreen posters or books, fold-out stories or tote-bags and T-shirts carrying an artist's design.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, there are some very lovely, friendly, accommodating and incredibly talented people. They're interested in simply making and producing work and developing an audience that they can have a relationship with directly. They're certainly, to my mind, not interested in being the next big name in the Comics Business, thank goodness ( well perhaps some are, but they may get past this deranged ambition hopefully !)

 If anything, what may be more appropriate, ironically, is that we're beginning to see some of the artists that have developed within this enviroment  now making their mark as Graphic Novellists. The Bristol Comics and Zine Fair played host to Gareth Brookes, Isabel Greenberg and Katie Green, three zine-makers who have in the last 2 months had their debut Graphic Novels published by the likes of Jonathan Cape and Myriad Books, to excellent critical acclaim. To my mind, it's a testament to the current D.I.Y./Zine enviroment that's sprung up in the last 5 years that the work of these young artists is garnering deserved plaudits. By having an artistic space with which to self-produce and develop on their own terms, in their own time, they've been able to create and find their own individual voices and styles.

The future certainly looks positive in many respects. For the Zine enviroment as a whole, if events like the Bristol Comic and Zine Fair can continue to develop-certainly this years excellent event bodes well for next year. And for the comics medium in the long term perhaps, as it's new breed find new expressions to the form, and a new ethic which is about Doing -it-Yourself in regards the whole means of production. Here's to next years event already !!!

Paul Ashley Brown