Tops and Bottoms – 10th September 2025. – Never Iron Anything

How does he know that we are normal? He’s a fucking dog!

My throat hurts from talking, doing bad impressions and laughing. There was a gag about a dog’s anus and a momentary misunderstanding about flags. Last weekend myself, Falpy and Dave travelled to the People’s Republic of Bridlington for their annual Comic Con. This was my third, Falpy’s second and Dave’s first visit.

If you take half a second to check the so-called ‘Socials’ you’d discover a raft of Deloreans, a caravan full of Iron Thrones and a double garage chocked full of lightsabers involved in so-called ‘Comic Cons’ nationally. But what Andy Hempal and co are doing is, in his own words, “Putting the ‘Comic’ back into ‘Comic Con”. The top floor balcony has become the domain of the Small Press Comics sellers. An area that is free to table for us weirdos, it has become a location for the regular Comic Con visitor to discover our art-form. Not only are we afforded the free table use but also access to a Green Room, free teas and refreshments and Andy also took the time to pimp our comics over the loudspeaker system. Bridlington gets them in the door with the ‘Stay Puft Man’ and ‘Hacker T. Dog’ then feeds them to the Small Press Area! Cunning tactics are required these days.

We found ourselves setting up between Ian Ashcroft and Sean Azzopardi (see the Tribute Press Substack for full details/links). Great company as always. The Tribute Crew spent far too much time larking about than concentrating on sales – but that’s pretty much our style by this point. The Jack Kirby Museum was present and did a talk on Jack and the Fantastic Four on the main stage, spreading the love even further.

We’d been out the night before with the organisers, collected Falpy from the station and embarked on The Long Walk. The locals were friendly as always compared to Londoners (or some Zine Fair gate-keepers). They were open to having a chuckle and genuinely interested in our comics. We may not sell loads but I enjoy everything about Bridlington. The company, the sea air, the pubs, the ice cream cones and even the Daleks.

“Maybe that’s the real punk rock?”

I’m on the road this week so back to our regular programming.

Tops.

Back with an overly wordy ‘Boom’. This ‘Top’ is based on partly my love for the original series and a lot on the classic Bendis twist ending we get in this one. I’ve missed Bendis. He may well be back. If you haven’t read Powers before there are plenty of entry points. This also can be used as a jumping on point.

Bottoms.