Thought Bubble announce first wave of guests for 2013 festival, unveil new logo

The UK’s largest comics festival, Thought Bubble, has announced it’s first wave of guests for this year. Declared rather unanimously to be the best festival on the British comics circuit by professionals and fans alike, Thought Bubble is situated in the North of England in it’s greatest city, which also just happens to be my hometown (correlation in our mutual excellence unproven, but long suspected): Leeds. It takes place every November with a week long litany of comic events dotted around the city preceding a huge 2 day convention. This year, these activities will run from the 17th to the 24th, culminating in the convention on the weekend of the 23rd and 24th.

It may sound like a platitude ensconced in a nutshell, but there are two things that make Thought Bubble really pretty special: the atmosphere- genuine friendliness and inclusivity regardless of whether you’re a seasoned convention veteran or a curious first-timer, and the perfectly on-point mix of more mainstream and independent/small press comics.

Also unveiled was the 2013 festival logo, designed by the talented Alice Duke. What I love about TB’s icon is that it’s defiantly untypical (for a logo) in that it’s a piece of art and not just a cold, swanky graphic- perfectly fitting with the festival’s approach and sensibilities with its focus on detail and the best of the medium.

Here’s the list of the first 10 guests to be announced:

Rafael Alburquerque (American Vampire);
Gabriel Bá (Daytripper, Casanova);
Andy Belanger (Swamp Thing, Black Church);
Becky Cloonan (Batman, Wolves, The Mire);
Ming Doyle (Mara, Jennifer’s Body)
Fábio Moon (Casanova, Daytripper);
Sean Gordon Murphy (Punk Rock Jesus);
Ramón Pérez (Wolverine & The X-Men);
Emma Rios (Captain Marvel, Pretty Deadly);
Annie Wu (Hawkeye, The Venture Bros)

It’s still early days- Thought Bubble always has a shed-load of guests, the names of which are gradually released over the course of the year, but I’m really hoping to see some wider European creators- last year saw Frederik Peeters in attendance, so I’m holding on to that as a good omen.

Visit the website for more details and to keep up with further announcements.