Pictures from the first comic convention in Britain 1968.
A meeting of like minded individuals.
I really should go to sleep, especially after the last few months, redecorating, running around helping parents, dissertation and a few other things that would be very impolite of me to mention. I guess this is somewhat an update of things. Without sounding like too much of an idiot, I hope, I’ve realised a few things that would make it fair to say that this is somewhat of a turning point for me. When one develops a certain awareness of things, I think its safe that some kind of penny or copper of sorts has well and truly dropped. A few of these things would include, admitting fault in something I found no flaw in for 19 years, realising that I have changed but without waiting a decade to make that observation, finally finding a necessity in punctuation and spelling words the way they were intended, as proven by this post.
The few things that I am trying to change would be my reluctance to actively try to take some vague control of what I want from my time, rather than bobbing up and down on the waves like some seagull floating oblivious to their surroundings. I’m trying actively initiate this little spark that fades out every now and then for my work. I can’t really pin down what ‘my work’ is exactly. I’ve developed an interest in talking about comics, almost more so than creating them for the time being. I’d very much like to be a journalist that focuses on comics. I guess Roger Sabin’s talks, Douglas Wolk’s Reading Comics, my dissertation and a selection of comics (mainly alternative and autobiographic) have really sparked my interest in something. I’m trying to stay in closer contact with a few friends I almost forgot about during the second year. A bad year is no excuse for forgetting the people I really value.
I’ve been going to some talks about comics, the Women in comics talk at Cambridge and a few of the ICA comica events. The feelings I get from attending really reinforce a few points I mentioned in my dissertation: 1- comics are a community. I love how we can get together to talk about what we love. Dare I make the comparison. I dare. Even with people of the same religion, there is no guarantee that you will hit it off. With comics, the overwhelming love and appreciation and admiration the fans hold for the artist who has poured hours into their work is such a strong connection. It is almost another level of celebrity, where the person in question is excessively loved and respected yet at the same time much more approachable. Sure it is a kind of self love that comes with art but it is also a sacrifice too… 2- comics are as much of a movement as they are a format. Admittedly a lot of art genres are movements also, but comics are also a medium. Comics has faced so much resistance, and the subject matter of comics is so heavily influenced by time and history and the events surrounding its production. So much of comics is a reaction to what is happening. Indie comics, zines and underground, Joe Sacco’s Palestine… What can I say I’m in love. Also attended the talk with Eddie Campbell. I’ve heard a lot of speakers, artists and they are not only fantastic speakers they’re amazing people in terms of their views and what they have to say, actually perhaps that’s what makes them great speakers. Melinda Gebbie, Dominique Goblet, Woodrow Phoenix and Eddie Campbell are a few of my favourites so far. Maybe we’re all as equally nutty and extreme as each other that’s why we relate and find these amazing artists fascinating, I don’t care. I hear them speak and I can’t describe any other feeling other than I feel so at home. Not in the sense that you understand my problems you relate to me kind of way; it’s far more positive than that. It’s the feeling, we love the same thing, we are united by the same set of beliefs. I am home. I’m sure it sounds like a ball of fluff, but once you get that feeling you’ll understand also. I’m just very glad to have this to contrast my university experiences. On a vaguely similar note, Eddie Campbell did foundation at Central school of art. Anyways. Night all.
