The British International Comics Show 2010

Steve Green · 23 October, 2010, 01:54:18 PM

I'm surprised they didn't do a few more mash-ups...

SmallBlueThing · 26 October, 2010, 03:14:19 PM

I wasn't at BICS, but thanks to the efforts of Mr Commando Forces, and the artistry of Mr BOLT 01 the con keeps on giving!

SBT

uncle fester · 26 October, 2010, 03:23:43 PM

Excellent!

COMMANDO FORCES · 26 October, 2010, 03:59:35 PM

Loving the picture SBT, I bet your good lady had a smile on her face taking that!

Kerrin · 26 October, 2010, 07:49:02 PM

Ha-ha, cool stuff SBT! Awesome sketches from Bolt. I would have thought the Dark Justice special would be right up your street as well, it definitely reclaims the Dark Judges from the comedy side of things. I was lucky to see some of Conor's original art at BICS and it's even more impressive large scale, (and there's a Kerrin Gallery hidden at the bottom of one of the blocks, cheers Conor).

Kerrin · 31 October, 2010, 09:12:52 PM

A few more pics from BICS.

Commando Forces gives a rather diminutive Judge advice on the subtle art of blowing away perps.

Some fella selling comics...

Shouldn't have told that George Lucas dwarf joke...

You know how, from time to time, we question the amount a Judge could actually see through the visor of their helmet? Well if you follow this chaps example...

Hee-hee. I think the helmet was a tad small for him, but then he was a very large dude.

The Sunday morning was gorgeous so here are a few shots of bits of Brum and the venue.

Peter Wolf · 31 October, 2010, 10:51:10 PM

Quote from: Kerrin on 31 October, 2010, 09:12:52 PM
A few more pics from BICS.

This building is looking a bit sorry for itself and it must be one of the few buildings that survived being bombed during WW2 and then it survived the town planners as well.I havent ever visited Birmingham but the town centre would have been full of buildings like this.

There are lots of missing Dental blocks at the top of the building.

Dunk! · 31 October, 2010, 11:23:36 PM

That building sits on its ownsome in the middle of nowhere. It used to be surrounded by urban sprawl, but all that got cleared to make way for fields.

I was kinda freaked to find two nice fields where there were buildings last year on the way to BICS.

Plan for regeneration; then leave it all fallow when the recession strikes.

Genius.

Kerrin · 01 November, 2010, 07:32:32 AM

It's the old Curzon Street Station, and as Dunk! says, it sits in the middle of this weird cleared area right by Brum city centre.

From left to right you've got Millennium Point, dead pub, old station and then further right, out of shot, another dead pub. Directly behind where I took this shot from was...yet another dead pub.

Dunk! · 01 November, 2010, 09:21:20 AM

Level everything to the ground, except the pubs. Whatever is built here next will need pubs. Pubs are eternal.

Developers know the post-recession buying market.

Dandontdare · 01 November, 2010, 01:46:16 PM

Yeah, it was in a weird part of the town centre with lots of empty spaces, new self contained appartment blocks being built (MC1 cityblocks are not far away!), but no street level shops or houses, and no character or atmosphere. I found the whole of the city centre a but soulless, lots of busy roads and huge interlinked concrete complexes.

Peter Wolf · 01 November, 2010, 06:10:49 PM

Thanks for posting the pic Kerrin as its really interesting as this is right up my street particularly as you have given a location.

Quote from: Dunk! on 01 November, 2010, 09:21:20 AM
Level everything to the ground, except the pubs. Whatever is built here next will need pubs. Pubs are eternal.

Developers know the post-recession buying market.

Thats good in a way as its one little bit of history and heritage preserved but what is now fields was once full of housing and buildings and its even more interesting when you think about all the activity that took place where those fields are but no trace of all that remains except for the pub which was the social centre of the entire area.

As for the empty wasteland with nothing doing thats the nature of manufactured economic cycles unfortunately.There were large scale redevelopments planned here in 2 locations which have now been aborted.As soon as the developers and private investment so much as sniff recession then they bail out.

Quote from: Dandontdare on 01 November, 2010, 01:46:16 PM
Yeah, it was in a weird part of the town centre with lots of empty spaces, new self contained appartment blocks being built (MC1 cityblocks are not far away!), but no street level shops or houses, and no character or atmosphere. I found the whole of the city centre a but soulless, lots of busy roads and huge interlinked concrete complexes.

I always find places like that always have a weird vibe about them.Anything that was planned and built in the 50s-60s always does.Badly planned and poorly executed with horrible soulless architecture and like you say no character or atmosphere but i always find the atmosphere just feels weird.

I found the exact same thing in Bristol town centre as well which has an A road running right through it.

All the character of a retail park.

Birmingham is very similar to Coventry in this respect.A horrible concrete jungle.

What is really interesting is if you look at a modern map of Birmingham and an old Ordnance survey map of Birmingham - pre-1940 you will see the street layout hasnt really changed from the old city centre at all nor the names but its an architectural F up but having said that the new shopping centre is a vast improvement from the old but virtually anything would have been an improvement on that.

I have been to Birmingham once but i didnt venture very far from Birmingham New St station not that i wanted to.

Christov · 03 November, 2010, 02:16:45 AM

Quote from: Peter Wolf on 01 November, 2010, 06:10:49 PMI have been to Birmingham once but i didnt venture very far from Birmingham New St station not that i wanted to.

It gets better elsewhere, honest. Edgbaston is beautiful.

Bolt-01 · 17 November, 2010, 04:59:54 PM

SBT- that photo is fantastic! Glad the little one's liked the pics.

Kerrin- some lovely photo's there.

Glad it is Thought bubble this weekend as it will be nice to see folk again.

Peter Wolf · 17 November, 2010, 07:47:52 PM

Quote from: Christov on 03 November, 2010, 02:16:45 AM
Quote from: Peter Wolf on 01 November, 2010, 06:10:49 PMI have been to Birmingham once but i didnt venture very far from Birmingham New St station not that i wanted to.

It gets better elsewhere, honest. Edgbaston is beautiful.

I wasnt meaning to condemn the entire place as i am sure there are good bits outside of the city centre.The Jewelery district survived and is relatively intact.It should be named the silverware district rather than Jewelery as Birmingham produced massive amounts of silverware from the mid 19th cent right up to about the 1930-40s when it slowly became unfashionable.The Birmingham hallmark is an anchor.