Comic Festival

{{Infobox Convention

| name = Comic Festival / Comics 99

| caption =

| status = Defunct

| genre = Comics

| venue = Various

| location = Bristol

| country = England, UK

| first = {{start date and age|1999|4|2|df=yes}} (as Comics 99)

| last = {{end date|2004|||df=yes}}

| organiser = Kev F. Sutherland
Mike Allwood

| filing =

| attendance = 2,500 (1999)

| website ={{url|comicfestival.co.uk}}

}}

Comic Festival (also known as Comics Festival UK) was a British comic book convention which was held annually in Bristol between 1999 and 2004. It was devised and produced by Kev F. Sutherland{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/focus/2004/05/comics_masterclass.shtml |title=How to Draw Dennis The Menace | work=BBC Gloucestershire |year=2004 |accessdate=28 April 2004}} with the help of Mike Allwood of Area 51 Comics.{{cite web |url=http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/national.shtml |title=National Comics Awards |author=Joel Hahn |year=2001 |accessdate=28 October 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071028035719/http://www.hahnlibrary.net/comics/awards/national.shtml |archive-date=28 October 2007 |url-status=dead }}

The presentation of the National Comics Awards was a regular feature of Comic Festival from 1999 to 2003 (except for the year 2000, when the Eagle Awards were presented there). Charity auctions were held every year at the festival, first for Comic Relief and then for the benefit of ChildLine.

History

Comic Festival was preceded as an annual British comic convention by the United Kingdom Comic Art Convention, held annually (usually in London) from 1985 to 1998. By 1999, the comics audience in the UK was in decline;{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} Comic Festival's aim was to reach non-comic readers, children, and families, and to enable them to enter the event at the cheapest possible prices.{{citation needed|date=March 2013}} Once inside the convention, the audience would then be exposed to the widest range of comics material, thus building the readership of the future.{{cn|date=July 2022}}

The festival began under the name Comics 99.

In addition to the annual Bristol-based Comic Festival, secondary events were held in London in the fall of 2003{{cite web | title=London Comic Festival 2003 | work=Frothers Unite UK | url=http://www.frothersunite.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=8876&sid=d456dc501b6d634b76643df70634dc6a | accessdate= 28 August 2003}} and 2004.{{cite web | title=London Comic Festival 2004 | work=Sweatdrop Studios Forum | url=http://www.sweatdrop.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1540 | accessdate= 17 October 2004}}

Comic Festival was succeeded as an annual convention by the Bristol-based Comic Expo, which began in 2004 and lasted until 2014.{{cn|date=July 2022}}

Charity auctions

For Comics 99, Sutherland produced The World's Biggest Comic,{{cite web | title=Having a beano at the comics festival | work=Western Daily Press | url=http://utproductions.co.uk/wbc1.html | accessdate= }} which featured the work of 100 of the world's leading comic artists,{{cite web | title=The World's Biggest Comic | work=Blue Peter, BBC Television | url=http://utproductions.co.uk/wbc1.html | accessdate= }} auctioned to raise money for the British charity Comic Relief.{{cite web | title=A giant comic strip | work=Bristol Evening Post | url=http://utproductions.co.uk/wbc4.html | accessdate= }}

Subsequent projects, for the benefit of ChildLine, included the Charity Deck of Cards which, in 2001, raised over £10,000 through the auctioning of the original art and sales of the limited edition decks. The Just 1 Page charity comic was produced at Comic Festival, beginning in 2001 (and then continuing on at Comic Expo).

= Locations and dates =

{{Missing information|section|locations & guests|date=March 2013}}

Dates	Venue/Location	Official guests	Notes
class="wikitable"
{{nowrap\|2–4 April 1999}}	Watershed Media Center and Swallow Royal, Bristol	Phil Winslade, Steve Pugh, Steve Dillon, Scott Dunbier, Peter Hogan, Grant Morrison, Charlie Adlard, Kev F. Sutherland, Glenn Fabry, Metaphrog, Al Davison, Dave Gibbons, Bryan Talbot, Shelly Roeberg, Kyle Baker, John McCrea, Rich Johnston, Gary Spencer Millidge, and Jamie Delano	Known as Comics 99; 2,500 attendeesAllass, Marcia. [http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/may99/comics99.shtml "Comics 99: Bristol 1999,"] Sequential Tart (May 1999).
23–24 April 2000	Jurys Bristol Hotel, Bristol	Steve Pugh, Jim Valentino, Dave Gibbons, Mike Carlin, Gary Spencer Millidge, Alan Grant, Laura DePuy, Karen Berger, Chris Staros, Dave McKinnon, James Hodgkins, Dez Skinn, Gary Marshall, Al Davison, and Grant MorrisonJellinek, Anna. [http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/may00/art_0500_2.shtml "Comics 2000: Lovely Bristols,"] Sequential Tart (May 2000).	Known as Comics 2000; presentation of the Eagle Awards, MC'd by Simon Pegg[http://www.sequentialtart.com/award.php "Eagle Awards 2000: Sequential Tart Wins!"], Sequential Tart. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
26–27 May 2001	Bristol	Eddie Campbell, D'Israeli, Gary Spencer Millidge, Tony Rollinson, Tim Sayer,Sandells, Natalie. [http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/july01/art_0701_3.shtml "Comics 2001,"] Sequential Tart vol. IV, issue No. 7 (June 2001). Dave Gibbons, Staz Johnson, Sean Phillips, Charlie Adlard, Greg Staple, Metaphrog, Bob Schreck, Alan Grant, John McCrea, Dez Skinn, Steve Conley, and Lee Barnett	Known as Comics 2001
1–2 June 2002	British Empire and Commonwealth Museum, Temple Quay, Bristol	Joe Quesada, Jamie S. Rich, Grant Morrison, Frank Quitely, John McCrea, William Christensen, Terry Wiley, Woodrow Phoenix, Bevis Musson, Gary Spencer Millidge, Rich Johnston, Patty Jeres, Lee Kennedy, Roger Langridge, James Hodgkins, Heidi MacDonald, Dave Gibbons, Lee Barnett,Jellinek, Anna. [http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/aug02/art_0802_6.shtml "Comics 2002 – Bristol,"] Sequential Tart vol. V, issue No. 8 (August 2002). Mike Conroy, Dez Skinn, Mark Buckingham, Karen Berger, and Jim Valentino.Sutherland, Kev F. "NATIONAL COMICS AWARDS 2002: THE 5TH NATIONAL COMICS AWARDS RESULTS," 2000ADonline.org. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060216121640/http://www.2000adonline.com/index.php3?zone=news&page=newsimage&choice=awards02 Archived at the Wayback Machine]. Retrieved Nov. 30, 2020.	Known as Comics 2002; part of Bristol 2008 (Bristol's bid to become European Capital of Culture in 2008)
23–24 May 2003	Commonwealth Centre, Temple Meads, Bristol	Jim Lee, Jeff Smith, Dez Skinn, Mike Conroy, Duncan Fegredo, Steve Yeowell, Gary Spencer Millidge, Phil Winslade, Sean Phillips, Mike Carey, Chris Weston, Chris Francis, Phill Hall, Bryan Talbot, Dave Gibbons, John McCrea, John Cassaday, D'Israeli, Staz Johnson, Gary Erskine, Rich Johnston, Nick Locking, and David HitchcockAllass, Marcia. [http://www.sequentialtart.com/archive/june03/art_0603_8.shtml "Lovely Bristols,"] Sequential Tart vol. 6, issue No. 6 (June 2003).	Known as Comics 2003
23–24 May 2004	Ramada Plaza, Bristol	Gary Spencer Millidge, Bob Finch, Norman Lovett, John McCrea, Duncan Fegredo, David Roach, Rob Williams, Jon Foster, and Gary Erskine

= London Comic Festival locations and dates =

Dates	Venue/Location	Official guests	Notes
class="wikitable"
{{nowrap\|1 November 2003}}	Holiday Inn London, Bloomsbury, London	Steven Appleby, Mark Buckingham, John M. Burns, Laurence Campbell, Al Davison, Alex Collier, Mike Conroy, Andy Diggle, Simon Donald, Christian Dunn, Ian Edginton, Carl Flint, Paul Gambaccini, Phil Gascoigne, Ian Gibson, Jon Haward, Morris Heggie, P. J. Holden, Jock, Davey Jones, Euan Kerr, Roger Langridge, Metaphrog, Gary Spencer Millidge, Robbie Morrison, Paul Palmer, Jonathan Ross, Siku, Dez Skinn, Kev F. Sutherland, and Lee Townsend	width="15%" col \| Known as Comic Festival Winter Special
23 October 2004	Holiday Inn London, Bloomsbury, London	Gary Spencer Millidge	Known as London Comic Festival

References

=Footnotes=

= Sources consulted =

{{cite web | title=Dennis the Menace zaps Dan Dare | work=Sunday Telegraph London | url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-19138716.html | author=Chris Wilson| accessdate= }}{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
{{cite web | title=Having a laugh is taken as read | work=Bristol Evening Post | url=http://utproductions.co.uk/wbc2.html | accessdate= }}

External links

{{official website|http://www.comicfestival.co.uk}}

Category:1999 establishments in England

Category:2004 disestablishments in England

Category:Fan conventions in the United Kingdom

Category:Defunct comics conventions

Category:Comics conventions

Category:Recurring events established in 1999