| Comic Festival / Comics 99 | |
|---|---|
| Status | Defunct |
| Genre | Comics |
| Venue | Various |
| Location(s) | Bristol |
| Country | England, UK |
| Inaugurated | 2 April 1999; 25 years ago (1999-04-02) (as Comics 99) |
| Most recent | 2004 (2004) |
| Attendance | 2,500 (1999) |
| Organised by | Kev F. Sutherland Mike Allwood |
| Website | comicfestival |
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[1] with the help of Mike Allwood of Area 51 Comics.[2]
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.
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] 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] Once inside the convention, the audience would then be exposed to the widest range of comics material, thus building the readership of the future.[citation needed]
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[3] and 2004.[4]
Comic Festival was succeeded as an annual convention by the Bristol-based Comic Expo, which began in 2004 and lasted until 2014.[citation needed]
For Comics 99, Sutherland produced The World's Biggest Comic,[5] which featured the work of 100 of the world's leading comic artists,[6] auctioned to raise money for the British charity Comic Relief.[7]
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).
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This section is missing information about locations & guests. Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on the talk page. (March 2013)
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| Dates | Venue/Location | Official guests | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | Known as Comic Festival Winter Special |
| 23 October 2004 | Holiday Inn London, Bloomsbury, London | Gary Spencer Millidge | Known as London Comic Festival |
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