As you will probably already be aware if you are a regular visitor to Broken Frontier we have a vested interest in the success of Small Press Day, the UK and Ireland’s annual comic shop celebration of self-published comics. Our own Editor-in-Chief Andy Oliver has been a co-organiser of the event since its inception and is once again acting in that role this year alongside the Alternative Press’s Amneet Johal. (SPD founder and JAM Bookshop maestro David Ziggy Greene having stepped back from an active organising position this year.)
So we are delighted to see that Gosh! Comics, always one of the biggest supporters of the event, will be hosting a very special Small Press Day Festival this year on August 17th, boosting the traditional panel line-ups with no less than a 40-creator extravaganza. This is an amazing opportunity to see the incredible diversity of artistic styles, approaches, genres and subject matter of a UK comics community that is constantly impressing with its experimentation, vibrancy and creative intelligence. And it should be noted that nearly 25% of the attending artists are Broken Frontier ‘Six to Watch’ names.
As Gosh have said on their own blog the Small Press Day Festival is also an amazing chance to discover new favourite artists, either from the plethora of talented emerging voices on show or, if the UK small press is new to you, from the stalwart old guard with a sprawling back catalogue of lauded material to investigate.
The Facebook page for the event is here and you can find out more about Small Press Day here.
Here’s that line-up in full:
11am-12pm – Mereida Fajardo, Ed Firth, Rebecca K Jones, Peter Morey, Joe Stone and Rachel Tubb.
12-1pm – Takayo Akiyama, Jim Hemmingfield, Shane Melisse, Mollie Ray, Philippa Rice and Joshua Spiller.
1-2pm – the Underground Kingdom Comics collective: Lily Blakely, Adam Falp, Mat Greaves, Samuel Hickson, Ethan Llewellyn, Kai Reynolds and Vincent Bell Robertson.
2-3pm – Yetunde Ekuntuyi, Will Humberstone, Clio Isadora, Beck Kubrick, Bex Ollerton and Knifeson Yu.
3-4pm – Nathan Cowdry, Peony Gent, Ferry Gouw, Emilia McKenzie, Esther McManus and Molly Stocks.
4-5pm – Gareth Brookes, Amy Browne, Lando, Will Powers, Ed Stockham and Timothy Winchester.
5-6pm – Sean Azzopardi, Gareth A Hopkins, Roman Muradov, Douglas Noble, Mark Stafford and Patrick Wray.
