Blog: Comics Forum 2025

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I spent a big chunk of last week up in LEEDS, partly for the Comics Forum conference which this year had 'Industry' as its theme.

This was GRATE for me as it meant there were LOADS of presentations about the practical side of comics - I am very much an adherent to The Production Of Culture Approach, which (very basically, and probably poorly explained by me) suggests that we should examine culture by looking NOT at Special Geniuses NOR Philosophical Musings but rather through the practical aspects of production that are involved in it. So, for instance, we can say that the 'mature comics' boom of the 80s and 90s didn't happen because suddenly loads of Important Creators wanted to tell Important Stories (which happen to include a lot of boobs and explosions) but rather because the emergence of the 'direct market' distribution system meant you actually had somewhere to SELL things like that, and because the development of new printing technologies meant that it was affordable to make collected comics on nice enough paper that bookshops would sell them as well. It doesn't mean you can't still talk about the groovy stuff INSIDE the comics, but it's a way to explain what's going on around them.

I did my presentation - Who Cares About The Colourists? - in the first session of the first day, which was GRATE because it meant I could get it DONE and then concentrate on what other people had to say! I was doing a talk using the data from my research to show how people who completed my Doctor Doom survey almost completely forgot about inkers, colourists and letterers, trying to explain some of the reasons why I thought that was, and ending with a stirring rendition of Many Hearts. It went pretty well, I think, with some BRILLIANT questions at the end, but even though I've done early morning shows for this material before, it's still a bit weird singing before I've even had a second cup of coffee in the morning!

I stomped back to my hotel to drop my gear off and then came back for another really interesting session during which - EXCITINGLY - somebody actually referenced one of my papers (this one in fact)!! I then saw a load more GRATE stuff, including my favourite one for the day which was 'Smut Peddlers: How the Spicy Pulps and Publishers Shaped Superhero Comics' by Dr H Austin. I mean, with a title like that it was always going to be pretty good but Hailey STORMED through an extremely entertaining AND interesting talk about, well, exactly what the title says. It was BRILL.

The day concluded with a trip to the PUB where I met a bunch of Young People from DC Thomson, down for this and Thought Bubble afterwards and chatted to them and various other TYPES before pretty much everyone else went off for the conference dinner. Usually at this point there's a hard core left behind, but this time it was me and Professor B Woo, of whom I am a FAN. I think I managed to remain FAIRLY sensible, but cannot confirm 100%. He went off to get his tea and I decided to hang around for everyone to come back after theirs, but after an hour or so I thought maybe I had miscalculated. I eventually went to check the restaurant and found that they were only halfway through a multi-course FEAST so was very glad I'd checked, and went and sat down with a bunch of pals for further chat, before heading off for last drinks at the EXTREMELY NICE North Bar. Ooh, it was good in there!

I was trying to stick to low or no-alcohol booze due to having A Bit Of A Dicky Stomach, which meant the next day was pleasantly unhungover, although it was also VERY VERY WET INDEED due to WEATHER. It was also full of FAB talks, including some on the history of the British comics industry (who knew FAX MACHINES made such a difference?) and then a PANEL of Industry Types. This was VERY interesting indeed, as Dr I Hague had invited an impressive RANGE of people, from massive publishers to tiny indies, and it was clear that some of them had some HISTORY between them!

The day concluded with the aforementioned B Woo doing the KEYNOTE, which was AMAZING. Sometimes at these sort of things the keynote is Just Some Person Talking About Their Own Stuff, which isn't really what you're after. Ben did a big talk about The Production Of Culture, drawing in loads of bits from other people's talks across the two days - excitingly, including mine - and dropping cool stuff in like 'The 4 Myths Of Comics'. It was PROPER!

Happily full of COMICS STUDIES we trooped back round the corner to Browns for traditioanl post-conference drinks. However, it was to be just one drink for me for LO! I had a SHOW to do that evening, details of which will follow... TOMORROW!

posted 17/11/2025 by MJ Hibbett

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