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2000AD SIGNING, MARCH 21ST, FORBIDDEN PLANET MEGASTORE, LOND

Started by +rufus+, 16 March, 2009, 01:39:12 PM

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+rufus+

Pencils sharpened, Spud gun loaded, gum chewed,  camo paint applied, Apocalypse...soon!

Pete Wells

Bah, bloody London! Rufus, can't you kidnap the panel and bring 'em up to the North East?

Grant Goggans

Pete reminds me that Englishmen treat a hundred miles like it's some kind of great distance the same way us Americans think a hundred years is some kind of long time.   :D

Actually, I'm suddenly curious.  I know y'all have inter-city rail, which we don't in this part of the country.  How much does it cost to get a train down to London and back?  Is it crazy expensive to do that?

Pete Wells

Hey Grant! I checked it out, Sunderland (where I live) to London, 5hrs by car or about 3 and a half by train for £90 return - not too bad eh?

Sunderland to Hull, 2 and a half hours!

Grant Goggans

£90!  Lawdy!  Yeah, I can see why you're staying home.  Apparently there are some good rugby matches on TV today...

Rufus!  Have your next event in Newcastle!  And the one after that in Atlanta!  Then Pete and I can go!

Dandontdare

Trains over here are a complicated mess. It's largely down to Margaret bloody Thatcher who privatised the railways and split a single national network up so that one company owned the tracks, and the trains and services were split amongst several franchises. The result is a labyrinthine and illogical ticketing system that takes some expertise to negotiate. It is possible to get cheap tickets, but only if you book in advance and try lots of different permutations such as two singles instead of a return, several tickets to comprise one journey (or even getting tickets that go further than you want, in order to disembark and change trains part way) Crazy! If you just turn up to pay and travel it costs an arm and a leg.

Peter Wolf

Quote from: "Grant Goggans"Pete reminds me that Englishmen treat a hundred miles like it's some kind of great distance the same way us Americans think a hundred years is some kind of long time.   :D

Actually, I'm suddenly curious.  I know y'all have inter-city rail, which we don't in this part of the country.  How much does it cost to get a train down to London and back?  Is it crazy expensive to do that?

Brighton to London by train [off peak] costs 13.60 return which isnt bad at all.A distance of about 60 miles.

Back in january i travelled by train to the North West via Manchester.I got a reduction in the price but had to travel on a designated train otherwise the ticket was invalid.I missed the train and got on the next train and chanced it.Luckily by an amazing stroke of luck there were no ticket checks because there was just one guy on the train doing everything so he couldnt check tickets and i have never known this to happen before ever.

Otherwise the journey could have cost another 100 quid.
Worthing Bazaar - A fete worse than death

COMMANDO FORCES

Had a superb day with Tharg and the droids. Busy at the moment but will post sketches and say what happened ASP (by the way ASP is the shorter way of saying ASAP).

+rufus+

Thank you so much to all who came down.  :D

We had Brendan McCarthy as a surprise guest..He did some AMAZING sketches..sob.... So jealous...

stacey

I just saw some photos on Facebook, looks like you guys had a great time.  Can't help wishing there were more things like this further north!

Al_Ewing

Home at last!

Thanks to everyone who turned up with kind words - very much appreciated. I think a very good time was had by all.
Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

COMMANDO FORCES

Managed to get three great sketches at this mini Dreddcon.

Dredd by Brendan.

Anderson in the style of Tank Girl by Rufus.

Dredd by Simon.


Aero

Nice one CF for posting those,
I'd been really looking forward to going, all planned with other things to see on London while we were there... but an accident the week before left me with a very badly cut hand and some serious surgery so 360 mile trip was out of the question. Seeing your sketches made up for a little.

cheers

COMMANDO FORCES

Here's my take on the day
Well that was another excellent day with the droids from the House of Tharg up at Forbidden Planet in London. I met Dan at the train station for the journey up there. On the way we chatted about everything under the sun, yes we didn't just talk about comics! The time flew by and before you knew it we had arrived at the entrance and wandered in. On entering the portal to the land of geeks Rufus greeted us with his never ending enthusiastic warmth, Dan was ushered away and I enjoyed a quick chat with Rufus and then wandered about until the start time. By then I'd recognised most of the droids mingling about waiting for the off.
As soon as the official photo call of the creative minds was over they were let loose on the public.

On a personal note I managed to get numerous trading cards signed and every artist who signed them said the same thing "I was never paid for doing these you know", and they said it with a smile.
I chatted with Al about the vast amount of Judges that Mega City One has at it's disposal, especially after all the catastrophic events that have taken place over the last few decades and how the Judges budget seems to take care of everything!
I managed to ask Si about the reasoning behind 'Contract' being released free on the web, very informative to a layman such as me.
I chatted about the comments on the forums to some of the creators and the vitriol that sometimes eminates from the keyboards of some and how it affects them. Stern will power seems the main thing, but to a T they all said they can take constructive comments but find things like 'the art is shit, the story is crap' a waste of time and don't get too bothered about it.
Numerous other things were discussed but I'd be here for ever.
One funny thing was as I was getting a sketch in the Dredd/Alien book by Henry I noticed that no-one was asking Brendan for a sketch, you young uns fancy not clocking one of the old guard!
Well once this was over everyone retired to the 'Spice of Life' for drinking and more conversation. I was mainly listening to Dan and Jim Swallow discuss  numerous things in all the different mediums that they work in and it was quite fascinating to a fan like me. Now here's the spooky thing, I'm reading Dan's Eisenhorn omnibus at the moment and the next book by the bed is Jim's Blood Angels omnibus.


I must admit I really like events like this as I find all the writers and artists exceptionally giving with their time. This was no exception and is one of the 3 reasons that I love 2000ad.
1, I grew up with it and it feels comfortable (but not in a staid way) and part of me.
2, The pure escapism, whatever your job even if it's action packed and full of thrills you can't beat a bit of 2000ad to relax with.
and finally 3, Events like this when you can talk to the very people who have entertained you over the years.
Now what other medium can give you the last one, films, nah! football, you wish.

Bring back Dreddcon even a mini one, that's what I say.

Anyway here are a few of the pictures that I took!










One last thing a BIG Thankyou to all the Droids who made the day so much fun and to Forbidden Planet for putting it on.