Englishman In San Diego

The Thought Bubble Sequential Comic Art Festival, to give the show its original and grand title, made the venue transition and took over the Harrogate Exhibition Centre in North Yorkshire over the weekend of Saturday 9th/Sunday 10th November, with thousands of eager comics fans braving the elements to celebrate some of the worlds best comics creators, artists, writers and publishers. Somebody that I specifically wanted to talk to about the festival was comics creator and cartoonist Marc Jackson, not only to get his perspective on Thought Bubble from the view of an exhibitor of his own self-published books but also as a convention organiser himself, as the man behind the popular Macc-POW! show that is held in Macclesfield annually. Marc joined Leonard for an interview that was recorded for his HWD Hospital Radio show, Lenny's Little Slice O' Nerd, as part of a Thought Bubble Special broadcast on Thursday 14th November. In the interview, Marc discussed his time at TBF, being only an exhibitor for the one day,

13th October 2019, Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal UK The Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF) once again took over the town of Kendal in the UK’s picturesque Lakes District, with plenty of comics talent from across the globe appearing at numerous venues – from the Westmoreland Shopping Centre to the Brewery Arts Centre – to meet and greet with enthusiastic fans. The latter venue has a couple of stages including a full cinema/theatre space in which three master storytellers talked with Chris Thompson about the lure and appeal of the DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS system and roleplaying games in general: two regular players in the form of Becky Cloonan (THE PUNISHER, SOUTHERN CROSS, GOTHAM ACADEMY) and Andy Diggle (2000AD, THE LOSERS, HARDCORE) and also a relative noob to the scene, Si Spurrier (CODA, X-MEN LEGACY, STAR WARS). In this hour conversation, the group discussed their own history with role-playing games, how the nature of interactive storytelling informed their own narratives, and what they got cr

13th October 2019, Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal UK The Lakes International Comic Art Festival (LICAF) once again took over the town of Kendal in the UK’s picturesque Lakes District, with plenty of comics talent from across the globe appearing at numerous venues – from the Westmoreland Shopping Centre to the Brewery Arts Centre – to meet and greet with enthusiastic fans. The latter venue has a couple of stages including a cosy prestige auditorium, upon which three incredible writers appeared on the Sunday of the Festival to talk about the art and craft of creating comics at the very kernel of their conception: the ‘Writing Game’. Si Spurrier (CODA, X-MEN LEGACY, STAR WARS), Rob WIlliams (2000AD, DOCTOR WHO, SUICIDE SQUAD) and Garth Ennis (PREACHER, THE BOYS) were interviewed by Panel Boarders’ own Alex Fitch about their approaches to writing, their relationships with the other members of the creative team and how comics writing has changed and evolved for them since their formative years. This was a fascin

Macc-POW! 2019: Spotlight On Nick Brokenshire (22nd June 2019) by Englishman In San Diego

Comic Salopia 2019: Image Comics & The Importance Of Self-Publishing (Saturday 1st June) by Englishman In San Diego

I made two crucial errors when it came to talking to superstar comics writer Kieron Gillen at this years Portsmouth Comic Con: 1, I didn't hold the chat on Saturday MAY THE FOURTH, when our conversation about the closure of his run on Marvel Comics' DARTH VADER and STAR WARS would have been a lot more appropriate! 2. Secondly, I really should have determined how long we we going to be talking, considering it was originally intended to be a brief ten, fifteen minute chat - forty five minutes later, and we covered all sorts of ground, from his STAR WARS work and how that coincided with the conclusion of THE WICKED + THE DIVINE (Image Comics, with artist Jamie McKelvie), to the incredible success of his new creator-owned title DIE (Image Comics, with artist Stephanie Hans) and his new book, coming from BOOM! Studios and based loosely on Arthurian legend, ONCE AND FUTURE. I also made the mistake of trying to keep the conversation flowing instead of just letting Kieron talk and talk and talk, which is want to he

And I still didn't get a profile picture of him!! That's a testament to how busy this years Portsmouth Comic Con was, even on the Sunday of the show, and also how distracted artist Martin Simmonds was throughout the entire convention. Fans and new readers alike were given time to talk to Martin about his books and what he had planned, post-PUNKS NOT DEAD and FRIENDO... I was just lucky enough to be recording our conversation at the time! Martin talks about the success of PUNKS NOT DEAD (written by David Barnett, published by Black Crown, IDW Publishing), as well as his most recent book FRIENDO (written by Alex Paknadel, published by Vault Comics), and also goes into how the different approaches to the books informed their design and feel. He also talks to his relationship with his writers and publishers, as well as teasing what exciting projects he has coming down the line later in 2019... Intro music: 'Punky', bensounds.com

I try to pick and choose my moments wisely. I could've spoken to Russell on several occasions on the Saturday of this years Portsmouth Comic Con - well, when he wasn't being talking to fans and busy selling on his table in the tented area outside the impressive Portsmouth Guildhall - but I wanted to hold off until it had been officially announced that he was a recipient of the Best New Talent category of the inaugural Tripwire Awards, handed out on the Saturday evening. (Full disclosure: I was one of the number of people asked to submit nominations for the Awards this year and, while I had no hand in remotely influencing the voting, I was the one that administrated the Google Forms voting procedure, including tabulating the votes coming in. With the shiny-shiny in hand and taking pride of place at his table, Russell was suitably flabbergasted by the honour, especially considering the standard of nominees in that category. With mic in hand, I went up to congratulate Russell on his win and also ask what winn

Oldham Comic Con 2019 (or Oldham Comic Con 3, to give it its proper title), run by Dennis Whittle is a comics-centric convention, is now in its third year and managing to attract some incredible names to its guest list, mostly small press and indie but bolstered by some impressive mainstream comics guests, including a couple of international talents. Held this year in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the show continues its tradition of being a completely free event (something that Dennis insists will always be the case), encouraging a crowd of all ages through its doors... Here, in this recording of one of the Panel Seminars of the day, acclaimed writer Al Ewing spills some beans on his initial comics history, on working on IMMORTAL HULK for Marvel Comics, on the upcoming mega-project, and also teased some news about a creator-owned book that we could be seeing from him, later this year... Thanks to Al for the opportunity to take part in this panel during his very busy convention, and also Dan Brazier (Spider-Dan)

Oldham Comic Con 2019 (or Oldham Comic Con 3, to give it its proper title), run by Dennis Whittle is a comics-centric convention, is now in its third year and managing to attract some incredible names to its guest list, mostly small press and indie but bolstered by some impressive mainstream comics guests, including a couple of international talents. Held this year in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the show continues its tradition of being a completely free event (something that Dennis insists will always be the case), encouraging a crowd of all ages through its doors... Here, in this interview held with Dennis on a very rare chance for him to stop and take a breather, he talks about what it has taken to put on the show, along with why he's determined not to let Oldham Comic Con to grow to become a monster... Thanks to Dennis for the opportunity to talk during his very busy convention. Find out more about Oldham Comic Con at: https://www.facebook.com/oldhamcomiccon/ Intro Music: 'Punky', bensounds.com

PCC 2019: Spotlight On Will Simpson (Portsmouth Comic Con, May 2019) by Englishman In San Diego

PCC 2019: Spotlight On Tommy Lee Edwards (Portsmouth Comic Con, May 2019) by Englishman In San Diego

PCC 2019: Spotlight On Tomm Coker (Portsmouth Comic Con, May 2019) by Englishman In San Diego

PCC 2019: Spotlight On Steve Englehart (Portsmouth Comic Con, May 2019) by Englishman In San Diego

PCC 2019: Spotlight On Scott Dunbier (20 Years Of IDW) (Portsmouth Comic Con, May 2019) by Englishman In San Diego

PCC 2019: Spotlight On Roy Thomas (Portsmouth Comic Con, May 2019) by Englishman In San Diego

PCC 2019: Spotlight On Liam Sharp (Portsmouth Comic Con, May 2019) by Englishman In San Diego

PCC 2019: Spotlight On Kieron Gillen (Portsmouth Comic Con, May 2019) by Englishman In San Diego

PCC 2019: Spotlight On Jamie Delano (Portsmouth Comic Con, May 2019) by Englishman In San Diego

PCC 2019: Masters Of Comics (Portsmouth Comic Con, May 2019) by Englishman In San Diego