Blog: The South London Comics And Zine Fair

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On Sunday I headed SOUTH to distant SOUTH LONDON - South Norwood, to be precise, which kept sounding to me like they could have saved a lot of time and just called "Wood". Is there somewhere I can send this useful suggestion to?

I was there at the behest of Dr G Brookes to attend South London Comics And Zine Fair at Stanley Hall, a venue I had heard tell of many times due to its use by various comedians but had never actually been to. I was thus astonished when I arrived to find that it is actually about 17 entirely different venues all crammed into a single building that looks a lot like an old library, but one made of VENUES. Everywhere you looked there was a magical door into another room, and most of these rooms were crammed with COMICS and ZINES.

The ZINE SCENE is truly one HECK of a thing that astonishes me with its size and RAINBOW BEAUTY every time I dip my toe anywhere near it. Crumbs but it was full of young people of all types and size - rarely have I felt so HETERONORMATIVE as I do at these sort of events, and it was all rather wonderful. All around were people being VERY KEEN INDEED on what they were doing and, very importantly, on what other people were doing too. I didn't really have the first clue what to buy, so stumbled round like an elderly relative who doesn't know what's going on but thinks everyone is Doing Very Well Indeed.

I was there to take part in a talk about Getting Kids Into Comics, where again I felt like a bit of a FRAUD as I have absolutely no idea about how to do that or what anyone else is currently doing about it either. Gareth had very kindly asked me because of The Funny Comics Fan Club but everyone else on the panel was actually active in the world of MAKING comics. To be honest my main concern was not to sound like a grumpy old git just talking about comics from 50 years ago, an impression that may not have been helped by the fact that I was wearing my Whizzer And Chips t-shirt!

The whole thing was chaired by the excellent Alex Fitch so we were in safe hands, and I think I managed to NOT say anything too deranged, instead relating the whole "three generations of Dennis the Menace" story and a bit about the history of credits in British weekly comics. Towards the end I went off on SOMETHING of a tangent, induced by a question from one of the many Alexes in the room, all about remembeing life from the viewpoint of a child, and how the things that made us who we are (e.g. bullying, masking, insane killer sharks with metal spikes in their face) are not necessarily the same things we'd like children today to experience.

As the ever-relevant song says, I Think I Did OK.

After that I had a couple of cans of DELICIOUS Gipsy Hill Bandit Pale Ale (it really is v nice, also LOCAL) then saw a panel on Comics Studies featuring PALS VARIOUS and then one on Escape Magazine which made me all excited to be in the same room as the people who made that magazine what seemed so far out and cool when I used to buy it from The House On The Borderland.

It was a good day out, capped off by a slightly disappointing World Cup Final (especially after that AMAZING play-off the day before) where, finally, justice was at least doen. A good day all round!

posted 20/7/2026 by MJ Hibbett

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