This Saturday will see the Britannia Hotel in Nottingham city centre become home to the first Nottingham comic-convention, the excellently named NerdFest.
You can check out our overview of the event, here we take a closer look at the guests appearing on the day.
Opening the day at 10.10, in the Ballroom, will be Birmingham punk rock band QUEEN KEROSONE.
The first panel of the day kicks off at 10.45 am in the bar featuring JOHN MCCREA and GARY ERSKINE.
John is a hugely respected illustrator and comic book character who has worked with all the big comic publishers, including the “Big Two” – Marvel and DC where he has illustrated the likes of Superman, Batman, the Hulk, Wolverine and many many more. He also produces illustrations for book, record and magazine publishing and is an accredited artist for LucasFilm.
Gary Erskine has been working in the comic industry since 1989 and in 1992 drew his first official Judge Dredd for 2000AD. Since then he has worked on some of the biggest projects in the comic world including Doctor Who, Star Wars, Captain America: Theatre of War and Wolverine: Damaging Evidence.
At 11 you can check out FREE CARICATURES by PAUL HOLMES in the Wollaton Room before THREE THIRDS BELOW pick up the musical baton in the Ballroom at 11.45pm.
It’s back to the Bar for Panel 2 at 12.20pm where the guests are STEVE BECKETT and GAREN EWING.
Steve Beckett is a self-confessed Warhammer 40,000 nerd but more importantly is also a top notch freelance illustrator who has worked on, among other things, DC Thomson flagship comics The Beano and The Dandy.
Garen meanwhile is the creator of The Adventures of Julius Chancer: The Rainbow Orchid and is a regular artist for The Phoenix Comic.
There is more music in the Ballroom at 13.15, this time from BLIND THIEVES before MARC LAMING and LEE SULLIVAN make up the third and final panel of the day in the Bar at 13.50.
Marc is currently working on Kings Watch, which is re-introducing the Kings Feature Heroes The Phantom, Mandrake The Magician and Flash Gordon to the modern world of comics. He has also worked on comics for DC/Vertigo, Image and Fleetway among others.
Since starting in comics back in 1988 Lee has worked on the likes of Transformers, Thundercats, 2000AD, Doctor Who Magazine and RoboCop (US). He has also produced illustrations for Doctor Who DVD files, the BBC’s online Doctor Who webcasts and more.
PAUL HOLMES is back with more FREE CARICATURES in the Wollaton Room at 14.00 before a raffle and auction – all raising funds for the three supported charities – takes place in the Ballroom at 14.45.
A second set from THREE THIRDS BELOW rounds things off at 15.20 in the Wollaton Room.
With all that plus around fifty artist tables, plus tables from the likes of Forbidden Planet, Resurrection Comics, Time Bomb Comics, plus the awesome roller ball team Hellfire Harlots, this is going to be a fantastic day for comic lovers of all ages.
Tickets are just £7 (U12’s go free) and are selling fast so get yours now.
Head over to the Nerd Fest website now for more information
