2000AD 40th Anniversary - 11th Feb 2017 - London

[shaolin_monkey]

Aargh, can't sleep! My head is too full of the events of Saturday, plus all that late night/early morning boozing has thrown my sleeping patterns out of whack. So I'll use the time to post some choice pics from the event.

That awesome moment when Michael Carroll realises he's talking to John Smith:



Judge Pal with Pat Mills and Michael Carroll:





The obligatory John Higgins arrest for subversive media:



Several of you lovely boarders! (If you're in this pic, feel free to nab it)




Sidney and Max! (The dude who made the Judge Death outfit had ACTUAL BONES sewn into his shoulder pad!)





Judge DeMarco, with Dan from Planet Replicas




Fun with Fabry!





Pete Wells collects his Pal Points




I'll finish with opportunistic pic that Joe Soap took for (thanks mate, owe you big time) - Dave Gibbons!



Blimey, there are so many more to share, but I'll have to stop there for now.

[Spikes]

Well, that was an absolutely cracking weekend. Tiring, very tiring, but Saturday was a superb day from start to finish.

All kudos to Rebellion for putting it all together. Give yourselves a well deserved pat on the backs, chaps. 

Got to London the day before, and managed to catch the GOSH! signing, so caught Pat Mills, and Kev O'Neill. Nice to make an early start on the signature hunting. And given the queues for Pat on Saturday, and that Kev wasn't attending the 40th, this event turned out to be essential.

Got to the Novohotel around 8.45, and already the queue was considerable, but the atmosphere was very relaxed, and a nice chance to meet a few familiar faces whilst waiting for the kick off.

Then the sensory overload began. Everywhere you looked or walked, it was simply 2000ad heaven. With many lovely things, and many uber talented 'droids all vying for my attention. And my wallet took a pounding. Thank grud, the hotel ATM wasn't on the blink, or had run out of money.

Great to meet up with familiar faces amongst the forum, and equally great to meet chaps I'd not met before.
CFM, Buttonman, Gavin, A chap I met whilst talking to CFM who's forum name I've now forgotten - sorry!, and Ming. And quite a few forum lurkers as well.
And talking of Ming; He had with him the fabled Sketchbooks, and I was allowed a chance to peruse these.
Very nice. Very nice indeed.

I didn't attend many talks - in fact none at all - the plan for me was just to keep walking the main hall all day. Occasionally stopping for a fag break, or a Mars bar to keep me going.

I've been fortunate to meet a good few droids at other events, so highlights for me this time round was meeting the O.G M.O Steve MacManus, who is as every bit as nice and as amiable as you imagine him to be after reading his recent very entertaining book.

Next up is Jesus Redondo, again it was a genuine pleasure to met this 2000ad legend, and to personally thank him for the commission I received from him last year.

Of course I had to buy some of the original art he had brought with him.

The queue for Dave Gibbons was always snaking off into the distance, but I couldn't miss out on the chance to met him. And managed to do that at the 2nd attempt. Got a Rogue sketch from him, and a whole bunch of stuff signed. Happy days.

And Cam Kennedy rounded off proceedings very nicely indeed. So glad he was able to attend this bash.

But every droid without exception was on super form, and served their legion of fans so well - even if some - if not all - are extremely humble, and can't quite see what all the fuss for their work is about.

As the proceeding drew to a close, I managed to get a seat alongside esteemed KTT recipient Pete Wells, to watch the brilliant Strontium Dog film. Very well done to the two Steve's and all those who helped out, and put in so much time, money and effort into making this. 

And with that, it was time to hit the main bar, for a pint or 4, and have a well needed sit down.

So, next one is the 50th, yeah? 

[Bolt-01]

Well, that was a bit special, wasn't it?

I've been recuperating after one heck of a day out. I appear to have missed loads of boarders, so apologies for that. I did get to say hi to a few folk from these parts i'd not met before (Dr X, filip, ZenArcade among them), alongside meeting up with old friends (Richmond, MikeC & Lee, Larf, Gavin and so many others).

The event itself was exceptionally well put together. I've rarely seen such a well organised gig. The hotel bar was really the only let down.

Personal highlights include catching up with John Wagner and Dan Cornwell (I see the 'keep it quiet' news is not so quiet anymore ), getting a sketch from Mark Sexton (new candidate for nicest droid in the room) which I'll get on here at some point and having Harvey pick on the Gronk!

I missed Denise getting her KTT and didn't muster up the nerve to approach Annie Parkhouse or Simon Bowland to thanks them for the lettering.

I'm sure there are many anecdotes I'll remember throughout the day, from croissant based larceny to seeing General Blackblood running down the 'up' escalator.

Still suffering from TPO really...

[Mikey]

It was bloody great - this was only my second only comic con thing and I suspect anything else will have a hard time recreating the buzz I felt! I didn't get any sketches and only got two things signed, but managing to speak to so many creators in the bar or hanging around was just brilliant and was really what I wanted to do in any case. Dave Gibbons blagged a pint off me too! I was more than happy to oblige of course My Mrs actually told me off for not buying more stuff - I thought five prints and a set of pin badges was plenty! If I'm honest, it was more of a social thing for me and really, I was a bit shell shocked and couldn't choose who to queue for.

The Friday night was bizarre as everywhere I looked were the great and the good of 2000ad. Even got a drunken chat with Bisley on Saturday night - I'd heard he could be a bit, um, difficult but he was really dead on and even a bit embarrassed by me heaping praise on his work. And John bleeding Smith! A witty and charming fella and no mistake.

As you probably know I'm a bit of a 3A fan, so a real highlight was meeting my first creator in the form of Ashley Wood on Friday evening. I was heading out for a smoke and there he and Gregory were, sitting by themselves. Couldn't believe it! So I plonked meself down and we had a great chat about 2000ad, Trump, Northern Ireland and jet lag amongst other things. When I told him Cam Kennedy was round the corner he almost shook with nerves - the man is a real fan at heart.

So great to meet all the boarders some of whom I've know for near 20 years only as electronic entities - you're all completely lovely.

And thanks to 2000ad for organising such a successful event. Don't leave it so long next time!

[shaolin_monkey]

I've posted a few of my fave Judge Pal picks so far:

http://scowlingmonkey-blog.tumblr.com/post/157172635527/judge-pal-at-2000ads-40th-anniversary-convention

[Bad City Blue]

What a weekend. So much fun meeting and chatting with genuine heroes of mine from the comics scene. Not to mention getting bladdered with a few in the hotel bar after. Glenn Fabry was a particularly fun fellow and it was a real pleasure to meet Michael Carroll, once I'd worked out who he was, anyway... Ryan Brown drank himself ever closer to nirvana and I made several new like minded friends as well. Blagged a CD from Charlie Adlard of his prog rock band, now I have to review it! Hope it's good.

Quite simply a superb event full if amazing people, fans and pros alike. Happy 40th 2000ad

[dancornwell]

John sent Matt Smith over to me for a chat! Over to me!! I nearly fell of my chair. He said I could announce it so as soon as he left I did just that.

What a weekend. Great to see loads of you from here finally. My only regret was I didn't get to meet all of the  creators I've waited years to meet. The other regret was being to nervous to chat to Simon Bisley in the evening so had to drink a bit to pluck up the courage. Drank too much and stumbled over and tapped him on the shoulder while he was in mid conversation and said Oi Simon, can I have a chat. Not sure if he was impressed but I'm guessing he gets that all the time.

[Dan Kelly]

Sitting here feeling gutted that I ended up tapping out at about 4pm as I was feeling so ropey that I didn't even feel like queuing for sketches or grabbing photos.

That said it was an amazingly well run con and everyone I did run into seemed to be having a good time.

Did get a print from the great Ian Kennedy and my Sean Phillips print signed by himself (criminally he had no queue!) as well as a signed copy of Mac-1's autobiography.

My only consolation is that I got 12 hours of booze free sleep on Saturday night and spent Sunday feeling much more human.

[opaque]

The amazing Planet Replica pin set was something I really wanted so their stall was my first port of call (along with the raffle tickets - No 1 on all of them). A really cheap price for the amazing quality. Theres a huge amount of scope there I think. But then that and the money spent on a lovely piece from Colin MacNeil meant I'd spent nearly half my money in the first 10 minutes!
Quick whizz round for a lay of the land and then to get a seat in the Kingsley panel which I really wanted to be at.

Denise got a KTT? Which panel was that in? Looking forwards to seeing the video for that.

My other half was surprised that I hadn't got more but sadly we have to pay for the mortgage and bills so I held back a bit. Still very happy with everything and would love to do it again, next time my other half can come along as well and she said she could wait in queues for sketches etc

[Mute77]

Really enjoyed this! Thought it was really well organised and a friendly atmos. Highlights for me was meetin personal faves Dave Taylor who i bought some art from and chatting to Steve Yeowell and Mike Dowling. would love for this to happen again soon tho if it doesnt i may try something like thought bubble this year!

[sheridan]

I've been fortunate to meet a good few droids at other events, so highlights for me this time round was meeting the O.G M.O Steve MacManus, who is as every bit as nice and as amiable as you imagine him to be after reading his recent very entertaining book.

O.G.M.O.?

[Bolt-01]

Original Gangsta Mighty One?

[Hawkmumbler]

Original Gangsta Mighty One?

Tharg made some choice decisions in his life.

[I, Cosh]

Had a jolly good time. Almost took an early bath on Saturday evening but Colin YNWA was there for me with a restorative lager and I made it through until the small hours. That liquorice schnapps was vile.

Didn't make it to any panels in the end but enjoyed chatting to fellow fans and creators. Got a pile of books, a fistful of sketches and trebled the size of my original art collection. Will try and post some pics later but there is one piece which I have agreed not to reveal in all its glory until after it has been published...

Many highlights but if I had to narrow it down: stumbling across Satanist second in the newly formed queue for a Cam Kennedy sketch; chatting to Simon Fraser when Robbie Morrison stopped by and got his first look at the finished art for the 40th anniversary Dante story. Which is gigantic and beautiful and why didn't I buy it?!

Can't think of any low points. Whoever found the Trigan Empire book I conspired to leave in the bar: that's Colin's gift to you from me! Please pass it on to the next owner for free.

[Molch-R]

Denise got a KTT? Which panel was that in? Looking forwards to seeing the video for that.

Unfortunately not at a panel - we found her walking through the main corridor, but managed to grab a photo