Edinburgh Zine Fair – Nov 1st 2025 Comics and zines – close relatives but different in many ways. Like homo neanderthalis and homo florensis. A comic can be a zine and a zine can be a comic, or not. For me the essence of being a zine is DIY. Scalpel and Pritt Stick, printer and photocopier. The ever present Risograph – I mean if you … Continue reading Three Chords and a Photocopier (or a Riso machine)
Jon McNaught event for his book Hors Scène (Off Stage) at La Belle Adventure, Edinburgh The heavy rain marked the slow end of summer, but a cosy crowd filled one venue in Leith Walk to celebrate comics. La Belle Adventure in Edinburgh’s Leith Walk specialises in bringing the thriving French comics scene to British readers. The shop is filled with a curated selection of the … Continue reading The Lion, the Rain and the Bookshop
The Sequential Scotland comic convention is a new addition to the shifting lineup of cons here in the exotic lands north of the wall. There is a sharper divide between the autograph/funkopop/labubu type cons and those which feature actual comics these days. This comic-con 2.0 world means there are more great events like Sequential where you can find small press and emerging comic talents. Or … Continue reading Sequential Scotland
Reflections on Small Press Day and indie comics in 2025 with some cool recommendations Last week I visited the Small Press Day event in Edinburgh. The local branch of Forbidden Planet, a shop which I have been visiting for decades in its various forms, was sponsoring it which was wonderful to see. What was just as wonderful was to see that there are still a … Continue reading Comics Cannot be Stopped!
Thought Bubble Comic Art Festival – November 2019, Harrogate As the floodplains of South Yorkshire faced inundation, travellers made their way, slowly, carefully and by unplanned routes around the waters and on to Harrogate. Through the magical towns along the railway line, Starbeck, Hammerton and Knaresborough – the town to where the murderers of Archbishop Thomas Becket fled in 1170. One can imagine the four … Continue reading Fresh Thoughts
Ghost Comics Festival 2019 – Glasgow School of Art I dropped in on the Ghost Comics Festival at the weekend. This was a new event for me – I only heard about it a few days before, and it so happened I was going to be in Glasgow that day. There were a number of other events running as part of the festival including workshops … Continue reading Ghostly Glasgow
Glasgow Comic Con 29th June 2019 Europe roasts, Catalonia is ablaze and across the shires of England the yeomanry fire up the barbeque and empty corner shop beer fridges in council estate and village green alike. In the lands to the North optimistic Scots set forth with joy in their eyes, clad only in t-shirts, the more daring in shorts. They have a destination on … Continue reading Comics and Chips
Edinburgh Comic Con 2019 The rain it rained. It rained on the just and the unjust. It rained on the Jambo and it rained on the Hibee. It rained on the United and it rained on the Divided. It rained on the folks going to the Edinburgh Comic Con at the EICC. I couldn’t stretch to a commission from any of the international guests but … Continue reading Gimme Shelter
Dunfermline Comic Con 30th March 2019 Dunfermline has many things to recommend it. I was born there for one thing, so was Iain Banks, Charles I (keep the heid), Andrew Carnegie and Stuart Adamson. The comic con that LCS Little Shop of Heroes puts together is a more recent highlight. Dunfermline Comic Con has overcome adversity to become one of the best cons in the … Continue reading Black and White Magic
Edinburgh Corn Exchange – February 16th 2019 The Capital Sci-Fi Con held in Edinburgh every year is a nice event and seems to get bigger and more ambitious every year. All the profits go to CHAS the children’s hospice charity and is a voluntary effort which clearly a lot of work goes into. This year the star guest was Peter Capaldi who was signing and … Continue reading Capital Sci-Fi Con
The Writings and Ramblings of Ben Herman
This is a blog dedicated to what I have been lucky enough to find out about comics. I might add in some other geeky goodness, but it's mainly about the comics.
Comics with a British focus
Interviews with big name comic book creators brought to you by the Official Lakes International Comic Art Festival Podcast.
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Comic Writer
Feeding the habit one issue at a time
Comics with a British focus
Daredevils and Warriors 