British Comic Art Convention

Convention
Name:	British Comic Art Convention
Dates:	1968-1979, 1981
Frequency:	annually
Location:	Birmingham, London and Sheffield, UK
Type:	fan-run
Focus:	Comics
Organization:
Founder:	Phil Clarke
Founding Date:	1968
URL:	Wikipedia, progam books available from the Fanscene Project.
	Click here for related articles on Fanlore.
	Contents 1 History; 2 1968 - Birmingham 2.1 Program; 2.2 Gallery; 2.3 Convention Reports; ; 3 1969 - London 3.1 Program; 3.2 Gallery; 3.3 Convention Reports; ; 4 1970 - Sheffield 4.1 Program; 4.2 Gallery; 4.3 Convention Reports; ; 5 1971 - London 5.1 Program; 5.2 Gallery; 5.3 Convention Reports; ; 6 1972 - London 6.1 Program; 6.2 Gallery; 6.3 Convention Reports; ; 7 1973 - London 7.1 Program; 7.2 Gallery; 7.3 Convention Reports; ; 8 1974 - London 8.1 Program; 8.2 Gallery; 8.3 Convention Reports; ; 9 1975 - London 9.1 Program; 9.2 Gallery; 9.3 Convention Reports; ; 10 1976 - London 10.1 Program; 10.2 Gallery; 10.3 Convention Reports; ; 11 1977 - London 11.1 Program; 11.2 Gallery; 11.3 Convention Reports; ; 12 1978 12.1 London 12.1.1 Program; 12.1.2 Gallery; 12.1.3 Convention Reports; ; 12.2 Birmingham - "Comicon II" 12.2.1 Program; 12.2.2 Gallery; 12.2.3 Convention Reports; ; ; 13 1979 13.1 London - British Comic Art Convention 11 13.1.1 Program; 13.1.2 Gallery; 13.1.3 Convention Reports; ; 13.2 Birmingham - U.K. Comic Art & Fantasy Convention 13.2.1 Program; 13.2.2 Gallery; 13.2.3 Convention Reports; ; ; 14 1981 - London 14.1 Program; 14.2 Gallery; 14.3 Convention Reports; ; 15 Resources; 16 References;

The British Comic Art Convention was an annual fan-run comics convention in the United Kingdom during the late 1960s and 1970s. It was held in a number of locations and was popular with fans and comics professionals alike. "Comicon" as it was known was a popular venue for zine interviews and art sales, as well as panels, workshops, talks, a "fancy dress", auction and, what was considered a highlight, an all-night film show.

History

The first convention was organised by fan Phil Clarke, who patterned things on existing science fiction conventions and who shelled out £111 of his own money to rent the venue for the show, the Midland Hotel, Birmingham. A few months before the event, a promotional zine was released in order to raise funds and promote the event; the covers were done by Mike Higgs and Ken Simpson and inside was a two page editorial promoting the forthcoming event, followed by six pages of ads to raise money. The con was also promoted in Irish comics fanzine Heroes Unlimited (Issue #5, page 40) as well as pro comics Pow! and Smash!.

Following on from the success of the first con, subsequent conventions were held, organised by fans and interspersed between Birmingham, London and Sheffield. There were no formal convention committees; in Dez Skinn's words:

One nice aspect of conventions back then was the remarkably democratic gentleman’s agreement about organising them. There was no coveting or arguments, if somebody wanted to put on a show one year, everybody else stood aside and left them to it.
^[1]

Article by Richard Burton detailing the cancellation of Comicon '75.

This appeared to have backfired in 1973 when the convention was cancelled with only a month to go. The "official" reason was that the con was unable to compete with the smaller and regular "Comic Marts" with their free admission and cheaper dealer tables. However when Richard Burton published the news in Comic Media Newsletter #7, he revealed that Canadian fan and "Chairman" of the con, John Mansfield, who had promised to revolutionize the con and provide many American and European professional guests, had exaggerated his standing in American comics fandom. To the contrary, there were reports that some of the professionals would attend only if Mansfield had nothing to do with the con.

The con went ahead, saved at the 11th hour by Nick Landau and Rob Barrow who moved one of their Comic Marts to the Waverly Hotel in London (scene of previous Comicons) and added talks, guests and events. The incident did rob the con of its momentum and the next con (organised by Rob Barrow) was markedly smaller and less-attended. Barrow continued to organise the convention over the next several years (1973-1978); in 1978 he ran two conventions, one in London and one in Birmingham. The Birmingham convention was a disaster, with cancelled GOHs, low attendance numbers due to a smallpox scare and hotel mix-ups^[2]. There were again two conventions in 1979, with two different organizing committees, with the London con (August 11-12) being touted as the "official" convention and the Birmingham convention (Aug 30-Sep 2) being called the "U.K. Comic Art & Fantasy Convention". However numbers were decreasing, possibly due to the decline in the mainstream comics industry on both sides of the Atlantic, and the final convention was held in 1981 (with no fan convention in 1980), organized by Dez Skinn and Frank Dobson. There would be no fan-run comic conventions in the United Kingdom after that until the United Kingdom Comic Art Convention (1985) and the Birmingham Comic Art Show (1986).

1968 - Birmingham

The con was held August 30-September 2, 1968 and almost 70 people attended. The official guests were Paul Neary, Jim Baikie, Steve Moore, Nick Landau and Frank Dobson. Phil Clarke, along with his girlfriend (later wife) Kay Hawkins and Steve Moore were the official organisers.

From attendee Dez Skinn:

Another SF convention standard borrowed for the event’s programme was a listing of registered attendees. Among them were Dave McCulloch, a Manchester fan who produced an early fanzine, Comic Cuts. Unfortunately, we’re still waiting for his second issue which promised to be a Captain Marvel special. Other big name fans (or BNFs, as the SF world calls them) included Power Comics’ Steve Moore, working artists Paul Neary, Mike Higgs and Jim Baikie, fan artists Rob Poole and Richard Burns, Ges Cleaver, Titan’s Nick Landau and Mike Lake, Barry Clements, Oracle newszine co-editor Haydn Paul, Colin Teague, Golden Age collector Pat Comissiong, writer Peter C Phillips and possibly the first identified female comics fan Ellen Kendell.

Supporting members, again an SF con standard of people paying even though they couldn’t attend (in this case probably because their mums wouldn’t let them!) included writer Marcus Horne, Manchester fanzine editor John Muir and a 15-year old Alan Moore.

While not listed, along with fellow dealer Frank Dobson, Derek “Bram” Stokes was also in attendence. (sic) At this pre-Dark They Were & Golden Eyed time, he was simply known to us all as Igor (drugs have a lot to answer for!) and ran a mail order company The Vault of Horror.
^[3]

Program

Due to an issue with the British Postal Service, the stencils for the intended con booklet never made it through the post, so a substitute was put together and printed two hours before the event started (!), written by Phil and illustrated largely by Mike Higgs. There was a formal program of events arranged, however, as con reports show, not all of it actually happened...

Friday - August 30

2:00 p.m. - Registration desk opens.

7:00 p.m. - Official Opening by Phil Clarke and Stephen Moore; reading of good-will messages from Stan Lee, Ron Bennett and Biljo White.

9:00 p.m. - Mini-auction.

9:45 p.m. - Tapes of radio and T.V. shows - Dick Tracy cartoon film and The Shadow radio plays (postponed as equipment was unable to be used that evening)^[4].

9:45 p.m. - free time/minging

Saturday - August 31

10:00 a.m. - Panel Discussion "Can You Beat The Experts?" - your chance to question, or maybe help, the Experts (Cancelled, with The Shadow radio plays being played instead)^[4]

11:30 a.m. - Grand Auction of Comics - Oldies but goldies and some new issues.

12:30 p.m. - Lunch.

2:00 p.m. - Serial - first 6 chapters of Radar Men From The Moon; featuring Commander Cody, aka Rocket Man.

4:00 p.m. - Panel Discussion "Old Comics Are Better Than New!" (Not held, in favour of participants returning to the dealer's tables)^[4]

4:30 p.m. - Tea.

5:30 p.m. - Feature Film - Jungle Jim, featuring Johnny Weismuller.

Evening - Saturday Spectacular Fancy Dress Parade

Competitors for the Fancy Dress Competition. Captain Cold (Nick Landau) (runner up), Dr. Midnite (cosplayer unknown), Black Terror (cosplayer unknown), Shazam! (Phil Clarke), Red Skull (Ges Cleaver) and Cyclops (R. Lythe) (winner)^[4]

Midnight Dum-Dum - "Mostly for E.R.B. fans but all welcome" (ejected by hotel management for noise)^[4]

Sunday

10:00 a.m. - Business Meeting - bids for next year's Comicon.

11:30 a.m. - Auction - art work, scripts, etc.

12:15 p.m. - Lunch.

2:00 p.m. - Serial - final 6 chapters of Radar Men From The Moon.

4:00 p.m. - Talk by Steve Moore.

4:30 p.m. - Tea.

6:00 p.m. - Panel Discussion "The Men Behind The Super-Heroes" with Mike Higgs, Jim Baikie and Steve Moore.

Evening - The rest of the evening is free although final room parties will be the order of the day (Official Closure was announced at 7:00 p.m. with a final "mini auction" of all remaining property conducted to ensure the organisers did not operate at a loss)^[4]

11:00 p.m. - Official Close Down.

Gallery

Front and back covers of the preview 'zine. Art by Mike Higgs, inks by Ken Simpson.
Preview zine editorial by Phil Clarke, page 1
Preview zine editorial by Phil Clarke, page 2
Emergency program book front cover, art possibly by Ken Simpson.
Emergency Program Book interior page 2 - list of members
Emergency Program Book interior, page 3
Emergency Program Book, interior. Art by Mike Higgs?
Emergency Program Book Interior. Art by Mike Higgs?
Emergency Program Book Interior. Art by Mike Higgs?
Emergency Program Book Interior. Art by Mike Higgs. This page was printed on heavy cardboard so that con-goers could cut out their own con badges.
Official Program Book, front cover by Jim Baikie

Convention Reports

This convention, British fandom's first tentative move in the direction already take by American fans to prove to themselves and the rest of the world that there are others equally interested in the strange and fascinating world of comics, was held in Birmingham's Midland Hotel, from August 30th to the morning of September 2nd. As I expected, this event was almost completely different to the Con I had attended in New York. There was a complete absence of attending professionals, a bad oversight if ever there was one, sa it would add the spiece to the activities as it does in the American ones. This was more than compensated for by the genuine friendly feeling among the fifty or sixty fans that attended. In fact, the Con was more of a social event, than anything else, particularly as it was our first.
While in America, I had spread the word around about the Con, and when they heard of it up at National Comics, Carmine Infantino and Dick Giordano generously gave me pages and pages of original artwork by Steve Ditko, Neal Adams, and many others to bring to the proceedings in Birmingham. So, on a cold overcast Thursday morning, yer actual editor landed at Brum Airport replete with advance mags, my own collection of original artwork and the pages which I was going to give to Con organiser, Phil Clarke. Certainly, if any of those attended did not come home with at least one page of artwork stuffed into their utility belts, then they only have themselves to blame, as there was certainly enough of it floating around.
Having met up with Phil Clarke, Ges Cleaver, Robert Poole and Pete Simpson, and having installed myself in one of the Midland's rooms with Pete Phillips, I sat down with the rest to await the arrival of the masses. Friday morning evaporated; Friday afternoon ambled along and at the end of it there was the grand total of ten people in attendance! Two notable visitors that we had that afternoon were an interviewer and producer from ATV Television (the "Panorama" team couldn't make it at the last minute!) who were interested in doing a short interview on the Con that evening as part of their programme on topical events, "ATV Today". Naturally, as organiser, Phil Clarke would head proceedings and, after several insane ideas along the lines of having us all clowning around in super-hero costume were checked out of the window, the interview seemed to think I would have something worthwhile to contribute and so asked me to join Phil on the show. After consulting my crowded schedule for the evening, I told him that I could just about fit it in...
...Flushed with our success, Phil and I were discussing the possibility of a six-week series in a similar vein when we were deposited back in the taxi and pointed in the general direction of the Midland Hotel!
Upon our arrival, we found that most of the sixty people registered had arrived and that the remainder were due in later that evening. Exhausted by our endeavours, we sat down and over a pint (or two) were introduced to Paul Neary, Dick Burn (he's a pleasant lad, despite all I say about him), and many other fans who are readers, contributors or correspondents of mine...
...Having quenched our thirsts to some extent (food was more or less ignored during the three days), we all adjourned to the main room to start the official proceedings by reading the good-will messages - all two of them! With an unbelievably corny one from Stan the Man (something about hands across the ocean!) and a few words from Biljo White of "Batmania" fame, that chore was soon disposed of and we moved on to the first auction. There were a lot of junk and relatively few goodies, but because it was all in a good cause, most fans bought indiscriminately. There were several auctions during the next few days but in the main, they tended to go on for too long and count have been better organised. A notable exception was the final one held on Sunday evening which was the last chance of enabling the Con to break even. With this knowledge, and under the able handling of Mike Higgs, a load of rubbish was unloaded for a sizeable amount of money, but everyone went away satisfied when it was announced that the required sum was met.
What about the official program of events? Although a line-up was printed in the Con booklet, many of them didn't come off, but nobody seemed to mind. On Saturday afternoon, a "Talk on the Comics" by Steve Moore was scheduled. The first thing Steve knew about this was when he saw the booklet. Muttering and shrieking alternatively, he thundered off the scene seeking Phil Clarke's blood. Needless to report, there was one happening that wasn't. A panel of experts was lined up for Sunday morning, but when I staggered sleepily into the room at one o'clock that afternoon, I was told my presence had been required that morning as an expert/ I was about to apologise for my absence when I heard that the experts had never convened! Although this was all fun, I do think a greater attempt should be made next year at keeping to some kind of schedule...
...A separate room was set aside for the dealers, and soon Dave Shack, Frank Dobson and Igor of the Vault of Horror, were doing good business. I had interesting talks with Igor, he of the long, flowing locks, beard and eccentric manner, and Frank Dobson, who is a likeable bloke (for a dealer!). Dave Shack immediately endeared himself to me by saying he rated H.U. the best fanzine he had ever seen (not true, of course, but what the heck?). Some people may learn from experience but with me, there's never any chance of that. To prove it, I went and once more lost my shirt buying from dealers. Still, the fact that most of the material I obtained from Frank Dobson had been purchased at half-price did ease the pain somewhat.
The final big even was the Fancy Dress Competition, a photo of which adorns this review (my thanks to Pat Comicscong for sending it to me). When I first arrived, I was chastised for not bringing a costume, as I was told that everyone was going to dress up. My arguments that I intended going as Clark Kent were not very convincing. Anyway "everyone" turned out to be seven brave stalwarts, who, scorning the snide comments of friend and for, arrayed themselves as their favourite comics hero or villain. And a very prideworthy job they did, as you can see from the photo. If my Lee-like memory serves correctly, it was our friend, Cyclops, who walked off with the first prize. He is more commonly known in his secret identity of R. Lythe. Now that they have shown the lead, I am sure many more will enter into the spirit of things and turn out in costume at next year's Con. What will I dress up as? Clark Kent, of course...
The one scheduled event I'm sorry I missed was the bidding for next year's Con. I had wanted to play a patriotic note by suggesting they hold it in Dublin. but they held the bidding at the unearthly hour of ten or so in the morning. I was not yet conscious for at least another hour after that. Still it was settled that next year, the Con will be held in London at Whitsun, and Frank Dobson and Igor will be running the thing. Presumably they will have learned from experience and having already talked to Frank about it, I'm sure many of the criticisms I made will be attended to.
And that was about it. Of course, I haven't mentioned everything that took place - the all-night social sessions in each other's rooms, the wild midnight "Dum-Dum"... all this and more, the details of which your innocent young souls should not be subjected to. I hope this recap brings back pleasant memories for those who attended, that it convinces those who missed it to attend next summer and that the account fills up this fershlugginer page!
^[5]