Notes from the CAPTION history book
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Summer 1991. I'm in the middle of an essay, in the middle of Oxford, the middle of a heat wave. Blame it on the heat, but Adrian Cox comes into my room and says, 'Hey, I've just had a great idea. Why don't we run our own comics convention?' I look at him dubiously. An erstwhile SF fan organiser, he has one abortive convention to his name so far. 'No,' he says, 'listen,' he says, 'I really think we can make it work.' We could. Arch mover-and-shaker Jenni Scott found us a guest list. Technological expertise from Damian Cugley got us badges and leaflets. A brainwave from Gideon Nisbet got us a site. Then the enthusiasm and support we got from the comics scene took over and sealed CAPTION's fate. It was confused, it was disorganised, it even rained. But it was an enormous success and everyone had a great time. Which just left one question; how do you get it right again, when you don't know what you did right the first time? CAPTION93: Getting it wrongWe tried everything. We even tried giving our profits to the London Cartoon Centre. No luck; they wanted us to run another convention instead. So we decided it was time to get real, and beefed up the convention accordingly. A dealers and exhibition hall, a packed programme, contact with the media, lots more work for everyone. Just like a real convention. Trouble was, people weren't there for huge exhibitions to track round or stalls selling mint Spidermen. They didn't want to have to chose between four different things to go to. What did they want? We tried to find out with a questionnaire, which revealed that they wanted another CAPTION. And they wanted it done right this time... but they'd leave the details up to us. CAPTION94: Going undergroundCAPTION94 we decided to concentrate on strengths rather than going for wider appeal. A powerful theme (sex, drugs and rock'n'roll) and a grant from Southern Arts gave us a good start, but the real gains came from figuring out what people liked most and concentrating on them. Shopping scored high, so we made sure our favourite dealers had space and helpers. Capricorn comics, Slab-O-Concrete, and the CAPTION Table had a brilliant year. A full workshop programme included a 'brass tacks' workshop about comics printing, as well as Steve Whitaker's master class. The real triumph, though, was the panel room. From the Five men on drugs panelists who had to be dragged in from the garden where they're having a quiet smoke, to the National Theatre of Earth Prime's performance of Baron Winter's House Party, it was a good day for talking. The icing on the cake was raising enough money to keep the London Cartoon Centre open for another term. Happy days! CAPTION95: Out and artyWe had a good base of people coming, we had a good theme, we had good support from our friends and helpers, and regular publicity from Caption magazine; all of which left me with enough time to start thinking about how to get an exhibition back into CAPTION. The Dirty Laundry mail-art exhibition got more people involved, and allowed regulars who couldn't attend to come in proxy by sending artworks. In the meantime we'd managed to get a brilliant set of guests, Steve Whitaker's light and shade workshop produced stunning artworks, and I had the privilege of chairing the first queer comics panel I'd ever attended. A truly brilliant year all round. CAPTION96: Employment strikesBy 1996, even I was employed. We just didn't have the time or the energy left over any more to bust a gut trying to get a convention together. On the other hand, as Adrian pointed out, we didn't have to. The infrastructure was all in place, we had copies of all the right forms, there were plenty of people who wanted to come already. Could we do a slacker convention? We could. People continued to attend in proxy, this time as cardboard dollies of themselves (which sold very well at the auction!), the National Theatre of Earth Prime did a well-received re-run of Robin Lives with Bruce and Alfred and, finding ourselves short of time to laze around in the sun in we extended the convention to Sunday. Gorgeous. CAPTION97: The European oneIn 1997, funded by the nation lottery and fired by enthusiasm for all things European, we produced our very own shiny comics anthology, invited a plethora of guests from Europe and became the best-dressed committee ever in stunning Steve Martin-designed t-shirts. Surprised by how well everything was working, the committee wandered around fruitlessly waiting for disaster to strike, while the staff on the Caption Table worked out precise exchange rates for the European Comics Unit. Sunday in the garden was defiantly sunny, again, and we wondered how our luck could possibly hold for another year. CAPTION98: Is it the end?Have you spotted the pattern yet? A complicated CAPTION is always followed by a slack one, and this year's is no exception. All the committee have jobs now, not to mention houses, fish or tomato plants to look after. Will 1998 see the first rainy CAPTION? Will we finally have a dull panel? Could it be... the end? SPACECAPTION1999: The futureDead, ha! Actually, we're already planning next year. Dust off your lurex and dig out your white polyester jumpsuits as CAPTION looks to the future. |
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