Recently by Neil Elkes

ARTISTS have drawn up a new comic strip in a bid to get young people interested in Birmingham's mayoral referendum on May 3.

Social Breakfast, a not-for-profit group, and artists Joel and Jeshua Wade have drawn up the cartoon which shows lead character Saul sensing political change in the air before walking into a heated debate between the mayoral referendum's 'yes' and 'no' camps.

Read more by clicking here

Three local writers and artists are involved in great British compilation. Story in today's Birmingham Mail and birminghammail.net

All I can add, having read Nelson, is that it is, for a chain story, surprisingly coherent and very enjoyable.
For those of us around the age of 40 it is also brings back memories of great events, like the dry summer of 76, the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the acid house and Madchester scenes of the late 80s.

Just received the following notice from the Eagle Awards...

Do you want to boost the profile of your favourite comic of 2011? Would you like the opportunity to shine the spotlight on those artists and writers who really grabbed your attention last year? Well, now's the time!

Nominations are now open for the 2012 round of the world-famous Eagle Awards. They will remain open until midnight (GMT) on 1 February... and if you want to make your voice heard, the sooner you head on over to
www.eagleawards.co.uk the better.

Once the nominations close, the top five nominations in each category will be verified before being moved forward to the voting round. That gets underway on 15 February, so let us know who you want to see honoured this year!

The 2012 awards will be presented on Friday, 25 May at the MCM London Comic Con, which this year runs from 25-27 May at Excel London. Once again, the big night will also be streamed live to the world via www.mcmbuzz.com

Introduced in 1976, the Eagles are the comics industry's most prestigious fan-selected awards, giving the entire comics community the opportunity to vote for the finest publications and brightest talent of the past year, with categories covering the whole world of comics, including manga, movies and web comics.

"All nominees will be invited to the Awards Ceremony with the winners offered the opportunity to give an acceptance speech," commented Eagle Awards chair Cassandra Conroy. "The full list of 2012 winners will be released to the world at midnight on 26 May."

Some more great photographs from last month's event....

I mislaid the photographs from last month's 2011BC. But they have now surfaced again and these are better late than never.

2011BC organiser James Hodgkins and Dave Gibbons

Dave Gibbons giving his stand up routine - jokes about monkeys basically.

Another selection from last weekend. Cyclops from X-men

Another selection from the weekend's top Birmingham based comic related event

Can't add much to Paul's comprehensive account of BC2011 below, but we did have a photographer on hand and an excellent set of photographs.

There is a gallery selected by our picture editor here.

But for Speech Balloons readers we have even more snaps from the fun packed day.

Enjoy

Check out the Birmingham Mail's coverage of 2011BC here. and in today's printed edition.

I had the honour of catching up with writer, magazine publisher and Hollywood producer Mark Millar ahead of his appearance at 2011BC in Birmingham this weekend.

A version of the interview is appearing in tomorrow's Birmingham Mail in the Bank Holiday What's On special.

But for Speech Balloons here is a more comprehensive take on the conversation.