It's with great sadness then to hear that Shane Chebsey has announced that this year's ICE (International Comic Expo) is cancelled, and that he's retiring from organising conventions. It was due to take place in Edgbaston, Birmingham, on September 10th.
Yes, it's an almost-last minute decision but don't be hard on Shane. It's not a decision taken lightly and he's obviously greatly disappointed he's had to axe the show. The reasons cited include slow ticket sales and major guests pulling out, as well as some exhibitors cancelling. Shane has already made a loss and the current economic situation has simply made it too much of a risk to continue, both for his finances and for his health.
I've known Shane a long time (thanks to conventions) and consider him a friend. He's always put on great shows and looks after the guests well. There have been lots of laughs and happy memories of ICE events over the years so rather than dwell on the negatives I thought I'd dig out a few photos and personal memories of past ICE conventions in Birmingham to show here...
Launching Brickman Returns at ICE2015 was my first self-published comic in years. Response was fantastic and it sold really well.
ICE2016 saw me on a panel discussion with Robbie Morrison, Rachael Stott, and Sarah Milman, and there were laughs a plenty.
It was also great to see Steve Parkhouse and Peter Hogan at ICE2016. I'd known Peter for years but this was the first time I'd met Steve, whose artwork I'd admired for decades.
ICE2016 was very busy...
As expected, 2017 was another busy year...
ICE2018 was the final one, by which time I'd published a few more comics including Combat Colin and Pedantic Stan...
It was fun to be on a Beano panel at the 2018 show too, alongside Nigel Parkinson, Laura Howell, and Hunt Emerson...
4 comments:
Thanks Lew. Always been an honour to host you at ICE my dear friend.
This is a real shame. Shane is a great guy and I loved the three ICE conventions I attended, they were extremely well organised and a great venue.
I'm not one to attend conventions, maybe only done three of four in thirty years, but I'm also sorry to see ICE come to an end.
I enjoyed seeing some of the peripheral content generated online, like the ICE-cast interviews. More than that, as a networking event for professionals it no doubt helped gestate and promote much of the UK output that I've enjoyed in recent years.
I never got to an event but its obviously provided a lot of value to the UK comic community over the years and Shane should feel rightly proud of that.
There will still be other shows fortunately but ICE was one of the best. Very friendly and totally dedicated to comics. Similar events I'd recommend would be NICE in Bedford, which I hope will return next year, Oldham Comic Con (which I think is being renamed), MACC-POW! (albeit a short one day event), Enniskinnen Comic Fest in Northern Ireland, Lawless in Bristol... and others but that's a good number for now.
The bigger events like LFCC are superb too, in a different way than the more intimate cons.
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