2000 AD Online Forum

Just thought I'd post a reminder as it doesn't look like Tharg's minions have alerted the Squaxx..

A hole bunch of Us are signing at Forbidden Planet Megastore, March 21st, 1 ppm.

Come along, get a sketch.

(//http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v467/mc1juve/signing_blog.jpg)

Bump.....

Come along... Or I'll get all the sketches from Henry!  

Actually Ruf... you could get one for me! Too far to travel for me I'm afraid.

Must get over to the big smoke soon, I've a few days holidays to take from work soon so might treat myself to a visit.

Any other signings planned in the near future??

Curse my lack of money......good luck though, hope it's a great day.

I would have come along but that day is taken up with RUGBY, all day for hours and hours.

Curses! Having just spoken to Dan in my local comic shop I might have to go, I can watch the matches on my small telly whilst sat on the train. I now have less than 40 hours to decide

With the droids in question available for interrogation, would somebody please find out whether Simon Davis or Anthony Williams is working on "The War of the Moses"?

Tis a bad day what with the Rugby though...

And Fulham v Man United (for me anyway)

Could someone wish Brett Ewins all the best.

I love his work and it would be great to get something new out of this droid in the weekly.

One of my fave pieces by him is in Bagman Blues when Bagman starts unloading Rogue's kit.

That sort of thing appeals to the child in is all ie the magic bag which has loads of exciting things in it which can be listed and catalogued like the Bat Cave in a way I guess.

Quote from: "Richard Field"Could someone wish Brett Ewins all the best.

I love his work and it would be great to get something new out of this droid in the weekly.

One of my fave pieces by him is in Bagman Blues when Bagman starts unloading Rogue's kit.

That sort of thing appeals to the child in is all ie the magic bag which has loads of exciting things in it which can be listed and catalogued like the Bat Cave in a way I guess.

I will indeed pass on your regards to Brett.. we speak most days..

Cheers Rufus. Tell him that I really dig the Barry Allen Flash boots he drew all the time. I wish I had some.

Somebody grab a team photo... before the fights start

If you see a weird looking grey haired bloke who looks a 'bit'like this:
[attachment=0:iy11gq1v]kev_head.jpg[/attachment:iy11gq1v]Say hello! I'll probably be there for a while, milling around.

I'm setting off in 10 minutes with my camera, trading cards, books and sketch pads  

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

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

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?

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!

£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!

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.

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.

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).

Thank you so much to all who came down.  

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

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!

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.

Managed to get three great sketches at this mini Dreddcon.
(//http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t136/commandoforces/Dredd%20artwork/BrendanMcCarthy.jpg)
Dredd by Brendan.
(//http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t136/commandoforces/Dredd%20artwork/Rufus.jpg)
Anderson in the style of Tank Girl by Rufus.
(//http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t136/commandoforces/Dredd%20artwork/SimonDavis.jpg)
Dredd by Simon.

Brilliant stuff CF! Thanks for sharing!

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

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!

(//http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t136/commandoforces/2000ad%20signing/P3210007.jpg)
(//http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t136/commandoforces/2000ad%20signing/P3210008.jpg)
(//http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t136/commandoforces/2000ad%20signing/P3210010.jpg)
(//http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t136/commandoforces/2000ad%20signing/P3210011.jpg)
(//http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t136/commandoforces/2000ad%20signing/P3210012.jpg)
(//http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t136/commandoforces/2000ad%20signing/P3210015.jpg)
(//http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t136/commandoforces/2000ad%20signing/P3210017.jpg)

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.

Sounds pretty cool CF! Nice idea taking a bunch of trading cards along to get signed, easier than an armful of books. Good photos, but no captions - any chance of putting names to the faces for those top two? I wouldn't recognise an art droid if I passed one in the street (well apart from the Mighty Carlos E and Rufus with his tats!)

great report there...

aaaagh! The Spice of Life... used to drink there before setting off to the Dirtbox or the Wag... a mist of Nostalgia descends!

As we can't alter stuff after 5 minutes I'll post, as requested, the two line up pictures with the droids names below here.

(//http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t136/commandoforces/2000ad%20signing/P3210007.jpg)
Left to right, David Bishop, Brendan McCarthy, Dan Abnett, Matt Smith, Tony Lee, Rufus, Al Ewing & Si Spurrier.

(//http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t136/commandoforces/2000ad%20signing/P3210008.jpg)
And the last two are Henry Flint & Simon Davis.

I didn't know there'd be nibbles!

Cheers! I think I'm a little bit scared of Simon Davies

Don't fear Simon- the man is lovely! And he gives possibly the finest sketches around.

But is he drawing "War of the Moses"...?

Nice pics and sketches, but surely that litlle lad's never Tharg?!

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.  
 ...
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?

Somebody could (and probably has) write a thesis about these different cultural attitudes to distance. My daily commute is almost 50 miles. This isn't that uncommon (Glasgow to Edinburgh), but it elicits a comment any time it comes up in conversation while it would probably seem unremarkable to an American.

One thing to consider is that the UK has one-fifth the population of the US (60 million) in an area very slightly bigger than Georgia and South Carolina. Things simply aren't as spread out; a US town of the same population will tend to be an order of magnitude larger in area. There are, therefore, a lot more people, places and things a lot closer to home. Travelling further afield, to Manchester say (3 hours) or London (5) becomes more of a big deal and generally requires more of reason for doing it. Mass car ownership didn't really happen until much later and we still don't cope with it very well. Travel links between most big cities are pretty good, but you really have to book in advance: a quick check shows that an off-peak return to London, leaving tomorrow, would cost £108 but I know I could get it for far less if I booked a few weeks ahead.

Also, a gallon of petrol costs over seven dollars at today's exchange rates.

NB All half-baked theories above are my own.

SEVEN?!  Holy anna.  It got up to $4 in Atlanta after the storms last year and people were out for blood.  Like, police protection for tanker trucks mad.  It's like $1.89 a gallon unleaded today.  I remain, however, amazed by the cost of travelling by train.  I honestly thought that'd be cheaper.

I dunno, I'm clearly the wrong person to even inquire.  I drove a four-hour round trip a few years back for a chili dog, so don't mind me.

Great photos CF. So that's what they look like. I don't know, I was expecting Si Davis to be a cravat man myself. It looks like a good time was had by all. And you got yourself some class sketches as well. Result.

Four hours for a chilidog Grant? Them's serious munchies young man.

WARNING - TONY LEE COMMENT COMING:


[spoiler:1gf7lp8l]cor.... tony lee's a bit of sex innit.[/spoiler:1gf7lp8l]

The scrambled dog of Dinglewood Pharmacy, Columbus, Georgia is no ordinary chili dog:

(//http://pics.livejournal.com/hipsterdad/pic/0027yyxx)

Mmmm-mmm.  

That Chilli dog looks fantastic!

I would travel 4 miles for a Philly Cheese Steak.

Lovely write up there, and I really love to see peoples sketches even though I fume with jealousy.  

That is a very serious chilidog Grant. Very serious indeed. Did you have dessert?

 The most I have ever eaten in one sitting was at a Shoneys in Tennessee. All you can eat breakfast buffet, me and my mate Rich Remington (of Ohio),first one to cry uncle was a puff, we ate ourselves to a food induced stupor and had to spend the rest of the day recovering in a bar. I'd never seen anything like it. I don't think the waitresses had either. I won, but it was a hollow victory, though hollow isn't the best term to describe our state. I swear I could hear my own ribs creaking as I waddled out of the restaurant. Happy days.

Quote from: "Grant Goggans"The scrambled dog of Dinglewood Pharmacy, Columbus, Georgia is no ordinary chili dog:

(//http://pics.livejournal.com/hipsterdad/pic/0027yyxx)

Mmmm-mmm.  

I have never eaten or seen anything like that ever.

Are those hexagonal things biscuits ?

I have eaten a whole baking dish of Lasagne in one sitting without any problem more than once which is more than the Chillidog .If i order 2 half pounders in a burger joint or a restaurant you get a slightly shocked reaction but eating 2 -3 Ibs of meat in one sitting isnt difficult.

The UK has the most expensive public transport system in Europe so no surprises there.

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

You should have went Peter, it cost me over £18 and that's from Maidstone which is half the distance that you would have had to travel but strangely it cost's more

Quote from: "COMMANDO FORCES"

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

You should have went Peter, it cost me over £18 and that's from Maidstone which is half the distance that you would have had to travel but strangely it cost's more

I wish i had.

Bear in mind that the 13.60 Brighton to London is a "promotion" because it costs twice as much to travel from London to Brighton off peak which is way over the top .

Quote from: "peterwolf"I have never eaten or seen anything like that ever.

Are those hexagonal things biscuits ?

Those are oyster crackers (//http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyster_crackers).

I'm wondering did anyone else from here attend this event (apart from the artists and writers that is)

Quote from: "dandontdare"Cheers! I think I'm a little bit scared of Simon Davies :lol:

Ruf!