Thought Bubble is now in its ninth year and has grown dramatically in size and ambition. Established in 2007 as a one-day UK event – Thought Bubble has become a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting comics, graphic novels and animation.
Its humble beginnings are long behind it with the city of Leeds now hosting a week-long tribute to the medium, and the festivities kicked off Monday.
"We try to make each Thought Bubble bigger and better than the last, and we're constantly striving to bring comics to a wider audience," says assistant director Clark Burscough.
Every year the event attracts more amazing creators that even the team weren't aware of.
"It's rewarding seeing so many new faces, and we get to meet people from all over the world," he reveals. "It's a great way of keeping abreast of the developments within the medium."
This year Clark's particularly excited to welcome Joan Cornellà to the festival, whose dark, humorous cartoons you may have seen shared on Facebook; and Montreal-based publisher Drawn and Quarterly.
"We're also really excited to be welcoming Rick Remender to Thought Bubble this year. His Deadly Class and Black Science series are two of the best monthly comics on the stands at the moment, and are well worth picking up the collections if you haven't read them already," says Clark.
The full list of attendees can be found here.
As well as many major comic creators to meet and greet, and some talented indie folks, Thought Bubble is home to the British Comic Awards, founded by Adam Cadwell.
"We're always thinking of new ways to keep the Thought Bubble vibe going all year round," Clark says. And if you can't make the UK's biggest comic event, you can still pick up a little of their bubbly vibe:
"Every year we publish a charity anthology, which is distributed worldwide thanks to Image Comics." This year's anthology is on sale now in all good comic shop, click here for more info.
It's rewarding seeing so many new faces, and we get to meet people from all over the world
Although the festival has begun, you can still catch the two-day academic conference starting today and the all important convention part of the festival held this weekend, 14 & 15 November in Leeds, England.
Find out more about the convention and buy tickets here.
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