What an astoundingly busy end of year it has been at Psychedelic HQ - we've been preparing the third issue and organising next year's goings-on and also all of this:
If you look closely you'll see the Journal was featured in a local Kendal newspaper around the Lakes con - which is a bit smashing :O It really was a remarkable weekend!
Also here the is the second teaser for the third issue story "The Boy Who Invented Anti-Time" by the amazing Greg Meldrum & David Broughton who have recently finished their first full self-published graphic novel - "Martillo" which I can't recommend higher check it out here!
Here I (Co-Editor O) am thoroughly enjoying myself at Thought Bubble. Always the highlight of the convention calendar, and this year was no exception. 2013 marked a huge spike in popularity for the Leeds con, and it sold out absurdly fast. They had a new third hall and a new cafe thing that served broth and EVERYTHING. It was also crammed with familiar faces and noble folk - ! The only regret of this year is your good Psychedelic team were impoverished and couldn't buy everything we saw. Our money all got sucked into ... a time wormhole or... something. Here follows some very necessary name-droppery - if you don't recognise someone click on the link and investigate. Everyone is worth a gander!
NEW DOCK HALL
The hall the Journal was situated in was (factually) stuffed with awesome folk and (subjectively) the most awesome hall in the history of all halls (no offence other halls). Alongside the Galaxy's Greatest Comic 2000ad (also fact) there was new digithology Aces Weekly curated by comics king David Lloyd. Accent UK, Improper Books, Markosia & Time Bomb were flogging their luvverly books full of glorious people and grand stories. The Bristol invasion of New Dock consisted of Andrew Scaife, Graham Johnson, James Stayte, Mark Pearce, Nick Soucek, Simon Moreton & Water Closet Press who were all flogging utterly gorgeous things. Our lovely friends at Disconnected Press were also there, with seemingly endless energy and infinite new projects on the go - and we were fortunate enough to be sat very close to absurdly glorious Alex Ronald of Vampire Vixens of the Wehrmacht. Also if you looked closely into the wily center of a whirling dirvish that was dashing about the hall you'd see the effervescent and uber-talented Owen Michael Johnson who was shifting between the Titan table and his own colourful marvel, Raygun Roads. As always convention gods Nich Angell & Jon Lock were the solid rocks of comics floggery and Mr Lock and the fabulous Lucy Brown provided our psychedelic cavalcade a ride North for which we will always be endlessly grateful.
ROYAL ARMOURIES
The original "other" hall is a dark and dangerous place. There are guest tables there that do not sleep. This year however it was brightened significantly by the presence of the ever-lovin' Bolt-01 of Futurequake Press fame. The Zarjaz stable had a new comic this year in the form of DROKK! Also present were Psychedelic contributors and awesome creators Bob Molesworth, Dan Bell & Seb Antoniou. Dominating about seven billion tables this year were the fantacular Cinebooks whose imported and translated European books are the highlight of every convention. Seriously beautiful things. Bristol was also represented in this hall by the brilliant Paula Knight & Simon Gurr.
ALLIED LONDON
The not-so-shiny and slightly chilly new hall Allied London was about eighty times bigger than expected and was cavernous and went back miles like some manner of mad cave. There was warmth in there though - principally from the presence of the ever-smiling Razarhawk team and Chris Mole of Professor Elemental Comics.
PSYCH CONTRIBUTOR SPOTTING
Aside from tablefolk mentioned before we managed to spot a good amount of journal contributors in the comic-lovin' throng. Neil Williams of Carcass & Slime fame will be in Issue 4, and he popped by and said hello. The amazing Bruno Stahl (pictured below with his Issue 2 story "Stand and Relive Her" written by Greg Meldrum) was there with a spectacular set of pages for the 2000ad competition which you literally must see.
We saw Nathan Webb who is also contributing to Issue 4 and had some lovely pages in Zarjaz. Tim West (of Comicsy fame - wrote "Not Everyone Deserves a Second Chance" in Issue 1 and will feature in Issue 3) was there, as cider-smudged memory serves, on Friday evening. The fantastic Roland Bird (coming to Issue 3) came along for a long friendly natter - his work is astounding! Steven Denton colourist extraordinare and artist on "Were, Are, Shall Be" (written by Adam Page) in Issue 1 was mooching around and throwing stones at crows. The perpetual motion engine of small press comics Mr Neil McClements was there and I coated his beautiful portfolio in drool and sweat which at the time seemed like a cast iron way of stealing his powers... Ben Wilsonham (amazing cover art Issue 2) and Brendan Purchase ("Grandfather Paradox" in Issue 2 written by the aforementioned Daniel Bell) were a constant friendly presence - we met them both last Thought Bubble flogging the long-dead Dr WTF - that people still seemed to ask about! The glorious Dunk Nimmo ("Transition Lenses" on the rear of Issue 2 by co-editor Geoffery Crescent) lurked in every shadowy con-corner - with a magic whistle that summoned horses.
GEOFFERY'S THOUGHT BUBBLE POST-SCRIPT
"It were very good but where were Richmond?"
...AND FINALLY
It's the Journal's first winter and things are getting weird at Psychedelic HQ. We didn't put up a Christmas tree but there's one here and it's been eating the wallpaper. We'll blog again at the start of 2014 which promises to be JOURNALTACULAR - many cons are afoot and we will launch #3 & #4 over the course of the year. Look out for teasers on our Facebook page over the next few weeks and if you want gift ideas there are still LOADS OF HARD COPIES of Issue 2 that you can still buy on Comicsy as well as a digital version of #1! Huzzah!
