Posted in: Comics | Tagged: bristol, joelm meadows, tripwire

Tripwire Doesn't Present The Bristol Comic Con

Joel Meadows of Tripwire Magazine had previously run the comics side of the Portsmouth Comic Con. This year, coming out of the pandemic, he switched to relaunch the Bristol Comic Con as Tripwire Presents Bristol Comic Con which was due to take place in September at the Doubletree At Hilton in Bristol. However, that show, it seems, will no longer be going ahead. In a letter, Joel Meadows writes;

Dear Friends, colleagues and supporters, It is with much regret that we have to inform you all that we have been forced to cancel the forthcoming Tripwire Presents Bristol Comic Con which was due to take place in September at the Doubletree At Hilton in Bristol. Despite our best efforts in promoting and advertising the show, along with what we considered to be a great line-up of talent and innovative programming, the response has been below expectations. We are somewhat surprised as we thought that we had all the right ingredients to make a show like this work. There have been other major mitigating factors as well that have counted against us like the ongoing problems with international travel, cancellations and current events having a considerable impact on the UK economy, especially when the show was taking place. We shall of course be refunding in full everyone who has bought a ticket or table. We apologise to those who have booked with us for the inconvenience. We are currently regrouping and looking to reschedule and reformat the show in another venue towards the end of next year.

The Bristol comic con event was originally launched by Kev F Sutherland as the Comic Festival in 1999 to take over the British comic book scene after the closure of the UKCAC shows in London and GLASCAC, as national comic book conventions in the American style. In 2004, that was succeeded by the Comic Expo, run by local comic shop owner Mike Allwood, and ran until 2014, before returning in 2016 to the Doubletree Hilton.

Since then, Bristol has hosted the Optimus Bristol Comic Con in 2016, 2017 and 2018, and will have the Bristol Anime & Gaming Con, which has run since 2017,  later this August. Bristol also hosted the one-day Bristol Comics & Zine Fair between 2011 and 2018 as well. So the question must be asked – who will be the next to have a go? Will the current organisers stay in  Bristol or move elsewhere?

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