Haven’t heard of the Battle of Wonk before? Where have you been hiding! Based on the VERY famous, and COMPLETELY true historical event, ArtHole (a small comic book and illustration shop based in South Wales) has curated an exciting market for all silly gooses and small press lovers, with illustrators and creators from South Wales and beyond.
As a lover of all things small press, and a frequent frequenter of Arthole’s store, I was super excited for this event. Arthole promised printed goods, ceramics, apparel, and, of course, COMICS AND ZINES! And boy did they deliver!
First of all, I LOVE that events like these are still up and running post-pandemic. I’m sure we’re all aware of how the pandemic affected small businesses and creators, so to see a hall full to the brim of amazing creators and artists, and the event being so well attended, was an absolute joy.
This year’s Battle of Wonk illustration market took place in Cardiff’s Chapter Arts Centre, a well-known institute for creativity (an ideal place for an occasion like this!), with the open plan building befitting the event perfectly.
With instructions to ‘wonk this way’, visitors were greeted at the entrance to the building by the curators of the event from Arthole. With cardboard cut-outs of geese squawking, a stall selling a zine all about the history (wink wink) of the Battle of Wonk, a cheeky excavation, and an opportunity to create your own goose warrior to carry around the event with you, I was already bowled over by the levels of thought and creativity that had been put into not only making the event a reality, but making it really fun. Arthole clearly know their audience well, and it was lovely to get to talk to them about the event, and see how excited they were!
Goose in hand, and shopping bag equipped, I was ready to support some small press creators. With an emphasis on more indie zines, The Battle of Wonk was a celebration of all things weird and wonderful, with stalls ranging from zines that folded out into incredibly detailed maps, celebrations of sexy power rangers, fun mythical mash-ups, and even a compilation zine from the Zinezilla event held earlier this year in Bristol.
Pictured: Robin HB Pencil
Pictured: Rhiannon Berthoud
Pictured: R. E. Burke
Pictured: Leo Fox
There really was something for everyone, with zines, art and apparel, all with incredibly different styles and formats. The zines covered every possible area I could think of, from graphic memoirs, to sketch books, to anthologies. Pretty much everything caught my interest, and it was incredibly hard not to buy every piece of merchandise (although, I still managed to snag a good amount!).
Pictured: ‘SunKissedFox’
Pictured: Laura Hole
Pictured: Half of the duo Catrin and Sophie of ‘Oh So Worm’
Pictured Arabella Simpson
What I love about events like these is the community feel, and the warmth that exudes when the comics community comes together. Given that this is an art market, small press creators were given the opportunity to showcase their comics to a wider audience – whilst there were many creators whose work I’d discovered before (Ed Stockham, Laura Hole and R. E. Burke to name a few), I also discovered so many creators who I’d never heard of, and will now be following: Rhianna Berthoud, whose ‘Guide to Crunch’ zine transforms into a stunning map, Leo Fox, whose incredible vibrant artwork was an absolute standout, the lovely Mereida Farjardo, whose various stunning art styles made me have to buy pretty much every zine available on her table. All of these creators coming together, celebrating individuality and a love for art was incredible. It’s so clear that each creator made the curation cut due to the warmth and passion that they put into each of their projects.
Pictured: ‘Dirt Pigeon’
Pictured: Stand from the Pride Comic Art Festival
The only downside to this kind of event is… well, the fact that I really want to buy everything! And I pretty much did! My haul consisted of around 30 zines/comics, three t-shirts, many, many stickers and postcards, badges, a mystery frog, and a goose to commemorate the occasion! I’ve yet to read any of the small press gorgeousness that I picked up, but just visually, some of my favourites must be: The short but sweet Out of Date(s) zines from the absolutely lovely Rebecca Burke (whose ‘Over-Inkers’ anthology just successfully funded on Kickstarter), Mereida Farjardo’s unfolding masterpiece Naglalamay, as well as her short Robin zines, her true story and Zinezilla compilations, the sinister Clowntober art zine from Dominique Duong, the stunning pastel artwork in the three comics I picked up from creator Laura Hole, Hex Tape, Pumpkin Spice versus The Alchemist and Hyperwave Dream Machine, the hilarious looking Sexy Ranger from Arabella Simpson, I could go on and on and on.
All in all, The Battle of Wonk was an absolute triumph of a festival from Arthole, and I am one (among many) very happy comics/zine lover snuggled at home with her haul of goodies. Thanks for such a great time, everyone!
Article by Lydia Turner
