Comic Mart

Comic Mart is the catchall term for a series of British comic book trade fairs which were held in the United Kingdom from 1972 until the early 1990s. The Comic Mart was one of the earliest recurring public comic events in the UK, predated only by the British Comic Art Convention. Comic Mart began in London, eventually expanding to Birmingham, Manchester, and Liverpool, among other locations. The first few Comic Marts were organized and produced by Rob Barrow and Nick Landau; eventually they split up to produce competing versions of the event, and were joined by other regional organizers.

Unlike comic book conventions, which typically featured publishers, creators, panel discussions, and other activities, Comic Marts (which were generally one-day affairs) were primarily organized around dealers selling comics to individual customers. The emphasis tended to be on hard-to-find American comics: Golden Age and Silver Age comics, as well as new titles, which were not distributed to the UK with any regularity in the early 1970s. As the marts became more popular, however, British comics professionals began to congregate and socialize at the shows and afterward in pubs nearby^[1][2][3] (such as The Westminster Arms).