HUNDREDS of people are expected to visit a York shop this week to meet a giant of the comic book industry.

Travelling Man in Goodramgate will welcome Brian K Vaughan to the store on Friday, September 22, between 4.30pm and 6.30pm as part of the Thought Bubble Festival.

Thought Bubble is one of the country’s largest annual events to celebrate ‘sequential art’, from superheroes to independent and small press comics, and a way to promote comics and graphic novels to the country.

The York store is the only place outside the festival - which runs throughout this week at various locations in Leeds - where fans can meet Vaughan, the award-winning creator of Saga, Y The Last Man and Ex Machina.

Ben Goldsmith, manager of the York branch, said this week’s signing event would be the biggest to be held at the shop’s new location, where it moved almost a year ago.

He said: “We actually anticipate just as big a turnout as we had for Mark Millar at the old shop, if not bigger.

“Brian K Vaughan has a very prolific following among people who read comics as well as who watch films. Saga is one of the most recent titles and probably the best selling comic at our shop in the last few years. For us, to have him at the shop is a huge deal in terms of a creative ‘big name’.”

The shop is also hosting Jordie Bellaire, Declan Shalvey, Vanesa del Rey and Phillip Barret - who have worked on titles including Batman, Daredevil, Hawkeye and Deadpool - on October 1 between 4pm and 6pm, as an extension of the festival, which Ben said should also bring fans to the city.

He said: “When we put details online, it went crazy so we’ve had good vibes about it and I think we will get a lot of people travel from all over the country to get things signed in York. They’re among the big guests at Thought Bubble, but people will have to queue for hours to meet them there, because of the size of the festival audience. We’re really excited to have them.”

The shop was recently nominated for an international award - the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer Award - and although company founder Nabil Homsi did not pick up the prize at the ceremony at this summer’s San Diego Comic-Con, Ben said he and the team were pleased that their customers felt strongly enough to make the nomination.

He said: “I think the competition was very fierce, so we didn’t pick up the award, but we’re very proud to have been nominated for it - it’s not easy to get that far in the first place.”

To find out more about Thought Bubble, go to thoughtbubblefestival.com