Comic Festival
Comic Festival 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 with the help of Mike Allwood of Area 51 Comics. The presentation of the National Comics Awards was a regular feature of Comic Festival from 1999 to 2003.
History
Comic Festival was preceded by the United Kingdom Comic Art Convention, held annually from 1985 to 1998. The comics audience in the UK was in decline; 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. Once in, the audience would then be exposed to the widest range of comics material, thus building the readership of the future.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 and 2004.
Charity auctions were held every year for the benefit of ChildLine. For Comics 99, Sutherland produced The World's Biggest Comic, which featured the work of 100 of the world's leading comic artists, auctioned to raise money for the British charity Comic Relief. Subsequent projects included the Charity Deck Of Cards which, in 2001, raised over £10,000 for ChildLine through the auctioning of the original art and sales of the limited edition decks. The Just 1 Page comic was produced every year at Comic Festival.
Comic Festival was succeeded by the Bristol-based Comic Expo, which began in 2004 and lasted until 2014.
Locations and dates
| Dates | Venue/Location | Official guests | Notes |
| 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 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 attendees |
| 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 Morrison | Known as Comics 2000; presentation of the Eagle Awards, MC'd by Simon Pegg |
| 26–27 May 2001 | Bristol | Eddie Campbell, D'Israeli, Gary Spencer Millidge, Tony Rollinson, Tim Sayer, 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, and Lee Barnett | Known as Comics 2002; part of Bristol 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, Phil Hall, Bryan Talbot, Dave Gibbons, John McCrea, John Cassaday, D'Israeli, Staz Johnson, Gary Erskine, Rich Johnston, Nick Locking, and David Hitchcock | Known as Comics 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 | Known as Comic Festival Winter Special | |
| 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 | |
| 23 October 2004 | Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury | Gary Spencer Millidge | Known as London Comic Festival |