Thought Bubble 2024 in Review: A wonderful weekend

Thought Bubble Comic Art Festival 2024 has officially come to a close. Spanning across Yorkshire from 11th to 17th November and ending with a two day convention in Harrogate, it’s been a week of celebrating comics, art and the UK community.

As discussed in a recently published pre-show preview here on The Beat, there were a huge variety of exciting events across the festival, especially during the two day convention. For the very first time, three halls of the convention centre were open to the public for the event – The Bubbleboy Hall, The DSTLRY Hall, and the Traveling Man Hall. Spread across the three halls were a variety of comics professionals, ranging from independent and small press talents such as Lucy Sullivan, Mollie Ray and Dennis Menheere, to big profile names like Sean Phillips, Ram V and Chip Zdarsky. The convention Saturday completely sold out, and at around lunchtime experienced a massive rush of people. It was at times overstimulating and overcrowded, but the incredibly admirable Redshirt volunteer team kept a keen eye on things and helped those in need of assistance at every opportunity. 

A number of retailers held stalls at the event, including Traveling Man. Almost every stallholder had copies of their own books as well, meaning that comics were not hard to come by and signings were plentiful. I brought along much of my personal collection to get signed, and exhibitors were always incredibly grateful for any expression of support and admiration. Almost every exhibitor took both cash and card, and there weren’t any significant issues with card readers like I’ve previously experienced at major conventions. There were, admittedly, issues with resellers pulling out suitcases full of comics to sign without any personalisation and list online after the show. While the ethics of such a practice can be debated endlessly, I appreciated that many exhibitors began to charge small amounts when doing over ten or fifteen signatures for any indvidual person, in a bid to minimise resellers.

The Thought Bubble team were incredibly supportive of press staff, creating a designated Press Room in the Queen’s Suite area to conduct interviews. The Beat did two interviews during the weekend, both of which will be published in the upcoming weeks, and it was incredibly easy to get around as Press during the weekend. I’ve never had a press pass at a convention before, so I give thanks to Harry Ridgway for helping set one up for me, and helping me set up certain interviews as well, and a special thanks to the entire Redshirt team for their support throughout the event.

One of the highlights of the convention was the Steve Dillon Exhibition. Honoring the late, great artist behind Preacher, Hellblazer and more, a set of his original artworks from across his career were displayed in a free to access exhibition held across the weekend. Preacher was an important comic to me in my youth and development as a comics reader, so seeing original pages from it was a wonderful experience. We lost a master of the craft when Dillon passed away, and honoring him, even if in a small way, was a wonderful act. 

Over the course of the convention, I attended a number of interesting and fascinating panels, ranging from discussing Muslim Representation in Comics to discussing self-portraiture through creating horrific monsters. The range in subjects was fantastic, and almost all of the panels I attended were well hosted, with interesting guests, well thought out and eloquent questions, and good audience participation. My favorite panel of the weekend was on Queer Horror Comics, with James Tynion IV, John Harris Dunning, Tini Howard and Claudia Aguirre in discussion with Jazzlyn Stone. The energy in the room was infectious as they discussed finding empowerment as a queer person by writing back through the genre of horror. As a queer person myself, it was a wonderfully moving conversation, particularly Dunning’s insight that young readers need ‘a window looking out from the prison’ to help them find their own unique identities away from how they were raised. In a vibrant, diverse scene filled with creators and readers of all backgrounds and identites, it’s important that panels reflect that diversity, and Thought Bubble delivered. 

Food was easy to access in the convention centre, with multiple restaurants nearby and coffee in plentiful supply in the various cafes across the convention centre. After the Saturday event wrapped up, there was a Mid-Con party, held at a bar named Mojo and hosted by Tiny Onion, featuring DJs Al Ewing and Kieron Gillen. Entry was free for anyone attending the convention, both guests and convention goers. Whilst the space was a tad too small for the amount of people coming in and out, it was a lovely experience, and I felt quite safe in spite of my initial worry for the event. A moment I found particularly memorable was when a cardboard cut-out was passed around on the dance floor, one of the most interesting and hilarous experiences of the weekend, which Gillen managed to capture on video.

At the centre of the entire convention was the vibrant and kind UK comics community. All around the convention, you could see convention goers buying comics, prints and merchandise, even in the areas focused on small press, independent comics. Cosplayers dressed up as characters from hit comics such as Lovesick or The Department of Truth just to let them know how much those stories meant to them. People brought gifts for exhibitors and guests, and often, you could see exhibitors supporting each other by buying one another’s books or prints. I was lucky enough to get a brief chance to sit behind a stall with a comics professional and get a glimpse into what the experience was like, seeing firsthand the exchange of kindness and support creators were recieving. It was one of my favorite experiences of the weekend.

On a more personal note, I have been to many conventions before but none felt quite like this one. Thought Bubble is focused almost entirely on comics, not the movie adaptations, anime or video games. It is championing the artform we all love, and trying to spread this love it to everyone who passes through its doors. I felt so wonderfully accepted and supported by the community. I am thankful to everyone I spoke to over the weekend, be it friends, fellow press or professionals. I would recommend this convention to anyone who is passionate for comics and wants to see their passion reflected and furthered by a group of people even more passionate for them than you could ever image. 

Overall, Thought Bubble 2024 was a wonderful experience. The UK Comics Community is passionate, caring and wonderfully alive, supporting one another and championing artistry and the importance of comics at a time in which we need them more than ever. It was a strong showing from the Thought Bubble team, who prove again and again that their festival is one of the most important and vital events in comics every year, focused on promoting talented, kind and deserving creators. Looking forward to next year, I am excited to see what the team involved will do next, and cannot wait to come back for another year. Until next time, Harrogate.