2000 AD Online Forum

Right: I'm back; so I'm going to hi-jack the agenda and start the thread that says: right, come on then: tell us all about it. What was there, what was good, what happened, stories, pictures etc. Watch me wreck the mic... word!

Well, as I didn't go, I'd love some info:

-- Any new trades announced for the rest of 2006? Any plans for collections of stuff like Stront, Ace Trucking etc. in the near future?

-- Any info on upcoming series in 2000AD or the prog?

-- Any idea of when Origins will begin?

-- Sales for Rogue Trooper? Any further 2000AD-verse games in the pipeline?

-- Which boarder made the biggest fool of themselves? ;-)

Here's a selection of small press covers to start. That's what I ended up with after Saturday; there were a few more by the end of Sunday afternoon. I might go over to a separate Bristol Expo 2006 pictures thread if I find I've got a million pictures once I've sorted out my album.

Bugger. So easy to forget how to do this twiddly electronic caper when it was November last time you had a go.

OK, I can tell you about a lovely trade coming up -  Case Files style Nemesis! collecting the whole thing into 3 chunky books.

Kind of hope they go back and do the same for Stront tbh...

Thanks for the info, Watcher, even if it is a bit disappointing (I really had hoped they'd go for a five book series on better stock).

I really had hoped they'd go for a five book series on better stock

But wouldn't that cause problems when you come to wipe your arse on Book 10? It'd be like going back to junior school and having to use Izal. ;)

Izal makes great wadding for muskets! It doesn't disintegate when wet, and scours the barrel as the gun fires. I can't see why anyone else would want to buy it though.

Cheers,

Wake

Link: Hoghtons

scours the barrel as the gun fires

As I'm sure other boarders could attest, "barrel scouring" is but one of the side-effects of using Izal...

;-)

I can certainly see the logic in a 3-volume Complete Nemesis, and doing it that way instead of the mooted five books saves us from having to buy a "Book One" which would most likely just be a reprint of "Death to All Aliens" in favor of something with a larger page count.

What other trades?  Do we have a schedule beyond August (Bec & Kawl + Rogue Trooper: Realpolitik)?

Is that Eyebrows on the cover of Solar Wind?

Duds: The revere EE is till a ways off. According to Thargs minion, there is a hell of a lot of film to scan before it becomes a reality.

In other, dimly remembered news:
The lead in to Origins, called the connection has art by Kev Walker and starts in 1500, then Origins proper runs till feb. Not a typo, FEBRUARY!

D'Isreali had some copies of WoTW with him, but they were all gone by lunchtime Saturday. I asked I an Edginton about more and he's going to have to get some from Dark horse, as they're both out.

Apparently there isn't going to be a Dreddcon this year either, but that was rumour.

Bolt-01- back at work, not enough sleep, just about to look through my goody bag.

"Is that Eyebrows on the cover of Solar Wind?"

Nah, not ugly enough.

Hipster: Yeah, they anounced quite a bit after September (all of Tsar Wars in one book for starters, Portrait O A Mutant is back on and X-Tinct and Leviathan are coming out sooner or later this year. They're currently outlining the 07 line up too.

In other news, I can announce that DogBreath is not closing. More news as I'm told it...

Bolt-01

One piece of gossip I was hearing is that there won't be a Brighton Expo in the autumn. I haven't been reading the email digests from the Comics International Yahoo group lately, but I reckon that would be the place to get the definitive version.

The revere EE is still a ways off.

That's the naffest news I've heard in some time.



Why, God, WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?????????????

So, if my arithmetic is right and assuming Origins follows The Connection then that's 29 - 32 episodes for Origins (depending on when it finishes in February).

While a lot, I feel mildly disappointed. Counting in The Connection, the whole thing is shorter that Block Mania - Apocalypse War

...But longer than any Dredd since...well...someone else will know but you know what I'm getting at.

Ah cannae wait.

I wouldn't discount connections, and any stories that might follow on afterwards.  Wagner has done this a lot with titles such as Sin City and Total war, written what are basically introductions and epilogues to the tales in the form of additional stories.

Cheers

Paul

Oh and can I say how much I enjoyed Mitch Benn's song '2000AD - you made a freak out of me', which was the highlight of the evening awards, and very very true.  If anyone managed to get a copy with some digi-gadget, I'd love a copy!

Also well done to the megazine for winning best colour comic, well deserved.  

It was a shame Charley's War didn't win best reprint, but what can you do against Watchmen!?

"While a lot, I feel mildly disappointed. Counting in The Connection, the whole thing is shorter that Block Mania - Apocalypse War"

Oh and another random thought. In the old Mega Epics the first page of a new episode was usually a recap of the last page of the previous episode, so theyre not as long as they seem.

So there  ;-D

Sorry for rambling but I just had a deep fried battered half pizza for lunch and I dont feel very...ERK!!!

I think Fazer Irving is mnaybe doiing some art on Dredd sometime after Origins.Did I get this correctly?


 Edgington and D'Isreali are teaming up to continue the time machine building nutter who keeps trying to escape back to a time anywhere far from Judge Dredd.

The Brain version of him has a plan...

 Spurrior is busy as you could probabley guess with mopre Dominoes.

Is still think he and Boo Cook should write/draw a fresh set of adventures of Ace and Co.



As soon as I get there I find out the brilliant Dom Reardon is doing the artwork on Ten Seconders.

Colin MacNiel opened up about his collaberation with Bish-Op in the MNeg. He said the were trying for a "Usual Suspects" sense of flashback in the tail of Fiends of the Eastern front.

 

Al Ewings been given the go ahead on a series too. He's happy.

>While a lot, I feel mildly disappointed.

Wagner writes the longest epic for years and only just shorter than the 26 part epics of old and you're mildly dissapointed.

>Apparently there isn't going to be a Dreddcon this year either, but that was rumour.

which wouldnt suprise me as February next year is the 30th birtday.

There may be some sort of scaled down Pub thing going off for Dreddcon.

>I think Fazer Irving is mnaybe doiing some art on Dredd sometime after Origins.Did I get this correctly?

don't know, thought you'd collapsed and were spark out for a good chunk of the 2000 AD panel.

I would have thought there would have been more comments on the outburst by Dez Skinn on the awards stage and how the awards just went downhil there after.

Yeah that Dez Skinn was a dickhead wasn't he. Apparently, on giving the award he said that another bunch actually deserved it more and that Tooth and the Meg would be liquidated by next year and this is why they won!
He was wankered on beer and he tryed apologising to Tharg the next day . Tharg shunned him.



And I was resting my eyes...I was listening to what they were saying.

I would have thought there would have been more comments on the outburst by Dez Skinn on the awards stage and how the awards just went downhil there after.

Standing at the back meant it was difficult to hear what was being said, but to be honest I just stopped listening ...

So what was the jist of this rant, then?

Logan, I assumed we were all just trying to avoid mentioning the whole sorry mess :p

Yeah... I heard Dez had said something when the tooth panel had a start of murmuring on the subject and Matt looking and sounding none to happy and wanting to avoid commenting on it.

Did'nt realise Dez had gone as far to say what he did though.

Finn Sinn

Damn, wish I'd stayed for the awards now.

Dez Skinn not coming to the 30th anniversary celebrations then? :)

"no comment" Never instills me with confidence in the best of circumstances.

"Tooth and the Meg would be liquidated by next year"

Holy guacamole!

Can anyone add any more info on this ? Insider knowledge or just a drunken rant ?

Next months 'Comics International' should make interesting reading either way !  

I know that there have been mutterings in previous years about tooth and the meg winning Eagles, due largely to their better ability to in mobilising their readers to vote.  

Wonder if "Lying in the Gutters" will have any more info?

It should be said that very similar comments were made by the same person (2 or 3 years ago at another awards ceremony) about changes in Magazine distribution bringing about the sudden doom of 2000AD and the Meg, and they turned out  to be simply a bit of scaremongering.

Comments were made this time that making the price better value would bring about the sudden doom of 2000AD and the Meg, should be taken with a large dose of salt, possibly not even orally.  Again it might all sound very dramatic, but it was just scaremongering, and we'll still be here in another 2-3 years.

The main difference is that this time, both the organisers and the crowd made no bones about not liking it!  It all got a bit pantomime in the end, but the editor who accepted the award did it with more grace than I would have managed!

I'd want to know where Dez is getting his information - especially given that he's noted for being opinionated (even on his Wikipedia entry) - before I started worrying.  It could have been nothing more than a drunken jibe prompted by his preferred candidate not taking the vote, which would explain why he was trying to make up with Matt Smith , as even if the story is utterly groundless, it paints a poor picture of 2000ad and the Meg's viability as advertising space to trade figures.

I'm sorry if i'm not understanding this right, but what else is out there that could have won? Small press titles? U.S. Imports? Action Man? The Beano? 2000ad and the meg are among the only original comics on the shelves of newsies. They are the last bastion of the British comics scene, and should be supported by all comics fans, surely? What is everone's problem with it winning a few awards now and again?

Standing at the back meant it was difficult to hear

Standing?  Were you not deafened by passing satellites?

never, someone makes a drunken, unfounded and even personal attack on 2000 AD and even when he was told to fuck off first by the Rebellion table and then even louder by the audience he tried to carry on with his jibes and it took Mitch Benn to end it and get the awards back under way. Personally I think Matt shoul dbe aplauded for manner in which after that he calmly accepted the award, make a reasoned mention of the comments and then carried on.
It was also good of Biff Averre to then make mention of the comments and after the awards others to approach the table and distance themselves from what was said.
Like others have said he may have had a few shandies too many but its not the firts time that he's stood on an awards stage and said things about 2000 that still havent come to pass. Maybe if he says it long enough it'll happen before he curls up his toes.

>"no comment" Never instills me with confidence in the best of circumstances

I think you'll find it was more dignified distancing  from the rants so that the things could carry on and not spoil everyones evening.

Dez Skinn and Biff Averre?

Does the Bristol Convention exist in a comic-based alternate reality?

Wasn't inferring anything by it, just pointing out that not commenting looks bad to some people, regardless of actual facts.  I certainly wasn't suggesting that bevvying up and nutting Dez would have been more dignified, just more entertaining.

"never"

Why didn't you just say it first then, get it in the open, and then we could all have joined in instead of inching slowly around the incident, not knowing what to say?

"Personally I think Matt should be aplauded for manner in which after that he calmly accepted the award"

And he was applauded.  I think there was no doubt left in the room that the comments about 2000AD and the Meg were entirely innapropriate after what Matt said (very diplomatically) and what Biff said very forcefully from the podium afterwards.  Both myself and Jack Daniels (who was ccompanying me at the time) said well done to Matt afterwards.

And I very much doubt we'll see such an incident at future awards!

To stick a pin in one of the rumour grenades:

I wasn't 'given the go ahead on a series' - that kind of implies that a series pitch from me has been approved, which isn't the case. Sorry, Carls.

I am very happy though, but that's more because I'm writing my first novel for Abaddon Books - the second in the Pax Britannia series.

Matt should be aplauded for manner

On accepting the award Tharg the mighty said;" Cheers, 'khead.



I thought it was all a bit screwy.Then gain I do have a cel picture of Al Ewing as ,"The Claw."

Al

I have your yellow spiral bound sketchbook. We can arrange a time to meet up for a drink an' that, Leeds or York to hand it over.

Ol

well bah ! i missed all the awards action, as scurrilous people kept coming thru to the bar & informing us that it was dead boring & not worth going in for.

i also missed all the info & gossip above, in fact i'm really not sure what happened at all the whole weekend. i was definately there ... i think.

oh yes !   dom reardon, gnillips & everything around them sellotaped down was a good moment. sadly my photo was too blurry.

On the offchance that it is actually the notepad of Al Ewing, and not just one he's stolen, DO NOT LOOK INSIDE. You'll probably end up blind or insane if you do.

In fact even if it's someone elses notepad that he's been in contact with I wouldn't look inside, just in case he's infected it with his madness.

Oh, and Al, congrats on the book!

That was quite funny.







Art, I hope it is Al's book, I've drawn a **** **** in it for him.

Bart - As far as I remember there's nothing in it. Some occasional manga that me, Lee and Dom were playing about with, but nothing I'd particularly want to keep. Also, I got that yellow sketchbook completely free as a result of some Circumstances, so you may as well keep it as you'll have more of a use for it than me.

Not that I'd mind going out for a pint soon...

In Leeds Whitelocks seems to be the pub of choice at the mo' with LMS. Failing that there's The Angel a couple of ginnels up.


Do you know The Wellington in the Tate & Lyle terraces close to th e river in York?

I've never been in it - my regular's the Red Lion, or failing that, the Golden Slipper.

It's going to be cool to see Dom reardon doing painted art on the Ten-seconders, but the downside is he said it would then be a a good while before he could illustrate any more Cabs if they kept him on as it's artist.

D'Isreali & Edgington are doing a new series for 2000ad called, I think, Stickleback.Doe's anybody else know anything more about it?

They are also doing a comic for Darkhorse he discribed as Mary Shelly's Frankenstein meets Doc Savage.

++ D'Isreali & Edgington are doing a new series for 2000ad called, I think, Stickleback.Doe's anybody else know anything more about it? ++

Only that D'Israeli is using an illustrative technique we haven't seen him use before.

He showed me a couple of examples of the new process while we had quite a techie conversation about using older, proven, more reliable hardware and software and also what an inspiration artist Alberto Breccia is.

Also Ian edgington has a new series starting in Prog 1500 (I think) that's a horror set on an island prison, dunno who the artist is on that.

Panel was too hungover& it showed far too much. I took friends in wirh me who aren't 2000ad fans & they hadnt really changed their minds when they came out either.

Edgington and D'Isreali are teaming up to continue the time machine building nutter who keeps trying to escape back to a time anywhere far from Judge Dredd


that's good news!

I agree with Carlsborg; Ace and Co by Spurrier would be great

:: I can certainly see the logic in a 3-volume Complete Nemesis,
:: and doing it that way instead of the mooted five books saves
:: us from having to buy a "Book One" which would most likely
:: just be a reprint of "Death to All Aliens" in favor of
:: something with a larger page count.

There are probably two other good reasons for it, too, I suspect: 1) the Dredd case files are selling well, so it makes sense to do some other series in the same manner, and; 2) Nemesis is kind of a niche character, to some extent?better to get all of the fans to rapidly buy three books than to hope they'll still be picking them up several more volumes later.

:: What other trades? Do we have a schedule beyond August
:: (Bec & Kawl + Rogue Trooper: Realpolitik)?

Once I get the various bits and bobs from Jon, there'll be a "coming soon" section on the TPS micro-site, outlining what's on its way. With a little luck and a following wind, this'll be online for the June update.

"There are probably two other good reasons for it, too-"

Nemesis wasn't always a niche character, but his story is over and his glory days were all in the 80's.  One good reason is that there are a lot of books, and a lot of people who want them, may already have many of them.  

I certainly do, and would end up buying one or two volumes from the set, or perhaps none at all.  As it is, I don't mind buying 3 volumes in the style of the case files if they are as packed with extras as poisible, and cover every last damn bit of nemesis there is.

Bec & Kawl will be coming out, Bloody Students will be a paperback with every B&K story in.  Plus an interview by Jon with the Spurious One.

I'd love a Nemesis collection - I've got the the first couple of books, but nothing past that.

I wonder if the Deadlock story that preceded Book X should be included, it seemed to tie in more than the ABC Warriors strip.

Oh God, I've just remembered the Nemesis photo strip...

- Steve

:: Nemesis wasn't always a niche character

Well, no, but I was thinking in terms of sales. I suspect these days that the character has somewhat limited appeal, unlike Dredd or Sl?ine, hence Case Study-style books being a good option.

Like you, I hope they have all of the relevant extras, such as the pre-book 1 stories, the Blitzspear one-off, and so on. Also, even though it's in colour and won't reprint well in this kind of volume, the story from the winter special where Nemesis "heals" Candida is, for me, essential to the Nemesis story, so it'd be great if that was included, even if only in black and white.

The more I think about it, the more I reckon this format could work well for many stories. Strontium Dog Case Study-style books would be a good option, what with the length of later arcs (although if The Final Solution was printed, that could cause a problem when it got to MacNeil's portion).

"Well, no, but I was thinking in terms of sales"

Yeah, old 200AD fans have the books and new 2000D fans haven't really been exposed to it, so I agree with you there.  This seems to be the best option to tempt everyone with.

I agree on the healing Candida story, this simple story of wandering jongleur is a vital part of the story, as is the poster prog issue.  I'd like it all, every last damn thing including the photostory - reason tells me it won't happen, but I hope so.

For more B/W stuff from 2000AD, maybe this is the way to go, I dunno?

Is there enough colour material to justify a fourth book? The second honeymoon, the healing, the poster prog, the trilogy from around 900, The Enigmass varients. Nemesis - Colour Prejudice?

PVS, mcwild,

I appologise before hand for dredging up what are obviously traumatic memories, but weren't there Two Nemesis photostrips?

:: Is there enough colour material to justify a fourth book?

Yes, but Nemesis falls apart if you print stuff out of order. Frankly, I'd rather the colour stuff was just presented in the correct place, even if that means greyscale reproduction. (And I'd also be quite happy for the Nemesis/Deadlock series to be conveniently forgotten, too.)

Again, Indigo hits the nail on the head.  It needs to be in order.  Some very important plotlines were in the specials and one offs, and they need to be shown in order.

The amount of material that is in colour, is negligable and it would be much better to print it B/W that leave it out or print it in a seperate volume.

Does anyone think the post nemeis Deadlock Strip should be in?  Because it is a prologue to temright I'd say yes.  I'm not fussed about the Nemesis/Dreddlock colour series from the 90's though.

Molcher's made it into the Lying in the Gutters' report

Link: tart

I love that magazine he does, 'End of the Earth is Nigh'. I heard it steals the show!

;)

The prequel - "Beginning of the End of the Earth is Nigh" - also got rave reviews.

Revenge of the Return of the Beginning of the End of the Earth is Nigh.

~sorry~

Bah!

Revenge of the Return of the Beginning of the End of the Battle Underneath the Earth is Nigh.

Revenge of the Return of the Beginning of the End of the Battle Underneath the Earth is Over.

Revenge of the Return of the Beginning of the End of the Battle Underneath the Earth is Over 3-d.

I thought there might have been, but just dismissed it as one being twice as bad as I thought.

(Tears up newspaper to make papier mache head)

- Steve

Revenge of the Return of the Beginning of the End of the Battle Underneath the Earth is Over 3-d: Reloaded

Revenge of the Return of the Beginning of the End of the Battle Underneath the Earth is Over 3-d: Reloaded in Technicolour

Revenge of the Return of the Beginning of the End of the Battle Underneath the Earth is Over 3-d: Reloaded (Director's Special Anniversary Silver Edition)

I ♥ Revenge of the Return of the Beginning of the End of the Battle Underneath the Earth is Over 3-D: Reloaded3 (Director's Special Anniversary Silver Edition)

Nigh: The Final Chapter.

So Nigh, in fact, that it happened 5 minutes ago.

My own experience of the Bristol Expo was:

- Arrived in Bristol, to be greeted at the Upper Crust sandwich stall by a Gary Wilkinson doppelganger who looked in my direction as if he recognised me and waved as he disappeared down the steps to the passage under the station concourse.
- Recognised/met a few people on my way in, encountered Carsborg and Bou as I was paying for admission.
- Made straight for the small press tables, met the FutureQuake bunch and 54 Jones, plus Paul Scott, Ben Clarke, Watcher, Mike, and Bart Diaz and a few other small press people I met in Brighton.
- Bought small press comics. Sold some small press comics. Took photos.
- Attended the Roy Thomas talk. I'd gone in to hear him talk about his WWII superhero comics of the '70s and '80s. Nipped out for a beer while he was still talking about Conan. Returned to hear him tell onestory after another about how in the '70s, Stan Lee wouldn't know a good idea if it bit him on the arse, apparently.
- After Roy Thomas, I had a beer with Max and Josh.
- Back over to the main hall. Very flattered to be asked to draw a sketch, which I didn't balls up too badly, but ended up taking it back to the hotel to finish.
- Watched Doctor Who with Mike Molcher and co.
- Caught train home; returned the next day for more hanging about. And to look for the shirt I'd left behind on Saturday. And to buy the comics I'd meant to pick upon Saturday but had missed.

Roy Thomas, on Stan Lee:
- "I used to get asked to put in scenes of Conn fighting lions and bears, but because our readership were mostly 8 years old, what they wanted to see was Conan fighting monsters. So eventually I got my way and wrote a fight with a monster into every issue".
- "...so I said fine, you do it that way, but get someone else to write it for you, because I don't want to do it like that. So then Stan said oh, okay, you write it how you want to..."
- "...so I said I wanted to be the writer-editor, and they said but we want so-and-so to edit it, so I said then I won't write it, so they said fine, you can be the editor too..."
- "Stan wasn't that keen on Marvel doing a comic book adaptation of Star Wars. He never thought it would make any money. He asked me if I could adapt it as a single comic. I said no, to do it justice it needs to be at least 6 parts. So he asked if I could do it in 3. I said no, it hasto be 6. Or you can get somebody else to write it. So they let me do it in 6 parts."
- "After the serialisation was done, I was to do a continuation, but I wasn't allowed to use any of the good characters except for Han Solo and Chewbacca. I had an alien in it that was like Bugs Bunny, but 6 feet tall and green. George Lucas hated it, but what does he know?"
- "Invaders came about because I wanted to do a WWII superhero comic. Stan Lee had wanted to do a comic called The Invaders since seeing that TV series with Roy Thinnes called The Invaders. He also had an idea to team up The Hulk with The Submariner. I think he was going to call that The Invaders, actually. Anyway, I knew the best way to get Stan Lee to agree to something was to convince him it was his idea in the first place, so I said to Stan hey, I've got this idea for a World War II superhero team book called The Invaders. It's got Prince Namor the Submariner in it, teamed up with Captain America and the original Human Torch. Stan loved the idea."
- "Then I went to work for DC because the contract was better. Stan said to me you know, Roy, you never really created very many characters for us at Marvel. Why's that Roy? So I said well, no, of course I didn't because Marvel never paid any royalties. Now and then they'd give you something in recognition for your work, but they had no formalised system of incentives, unlike DC."
- "Stan and Jack had a lousy deal at Marvel, but they never complained because they used to make up their pay by working on lots of comics at the same time. They never even thought about royalties, so Stan never imagined anyone else would care about royalties either."

Link: That's practically plagiarism, Roy

the story is called Stone Island and the artist is me....
simon davis

Arrived in Bristol, to be greeted at the Upper Crust sandwich stall by a Gary Wilkinson doppelganger who looked in my direction as if he recognised me and waved as he disappeared down the steps to the passage under the station concourse

Gary Wilkinson??? is that some sort of compliment?

thinky

p.s. i was going to the cashpoint and was going to say hello for a bit longer on the way back but you were gone...

i had a subdued-ish expo due to a bad bad hangover on the friday and the footy on the saturday with it's associated stress...

in addition i:

> bought a whole load of good stuff from the futurequake table
> harrassed lms for a bit. always good fun.
> drank beer
> had an interesting chat with robo-keef and jonathan o - and i have to say that keef took my constructive criticism as it was intended
> er, and some other stuff probably

thinky

bah... i nearly (and basically how could i) forgot the "sack of angry badgers" that is Anthony "Carlsborg Export"...

good to see you again this year mate - although  it took me and 54jones a while before we realised who it was, such was the transformation from the 2005 model.

later

thinky

Breaking with tradition, I was in bed and relatively sober(ish) by 11.30 on the Friday night- which meant that I enjoyed the Saturday con a lot more.  I even volunteered to get up at the crack of doom to help PVS out (and got shat on by a pigeon for my trouble).

I bought a lot less of the small press offerings this year, but was very pleased with the stuff I reluctantly handed over my shekels for.  Unfortunately, I failed to appreciate how great it was to walk around without a hangover and got horribly drunk on the Saturday night- which lead to some interesting conversations and enjoyable chats* with a few people- including Mrs Tharg (who didn't seem to mind me addressing her as such) and RoboK33f (who is no longer on the 'Hulk must smash' list).

It's a shame Dez Skinn had to be such a nob, mind...








*interesting and enjoyable for me, you understand.  Slightly less so for the recipients, I'm sure.

"I even volunteered to get up at the crack of doom to help PVS out (and got shat on by a pigeon for my trouble)."

Hmmm... are you taking that as an omen?

++ I love that magazine he does, 'End of the Earth is Nigh'. I heard it steals the show! ++

Mike we told you to let him the bed, least then he might of got the..  arhh never mind.

;)

Hooray! Mystery solved! Profuse apologies, Thinky - I thought you looked familiar, and I felt sure we knew each other. It just threw me completely not seeing you again for the rest of the convention, so I imagined you were somebody just passing through Bristol and not stopping, and that the mistaken identity thing was two-way, and not on my part only.

Damn!

:D

Is it already time we had another "what do you look like thread"?, or should we wait until a month before the next convention?

;)

Well , I still see it all in rose tinted spectacles.

I got there on Friday, picked up some green and settled in at the gorgeous Vicky,s place. Matt had a few things to say about that. Paul was loving the strain I was putting into Mikes face as I gassed on about my great deal on the hotel. Fingers crossed for equally good luck next year.

Friday and Saturday morning I was "a bag of angry badgers" because of sheer panic. I have a tendency to think "This is too good to be true."
I need to relax more.

I met David Knight on sat morning and he was ever so pleasant.Regardless of what he says he was uncontrolably excited and I had to stay calm for both of us. Because I could just see us bouncing into each other like a comedy pairing. Which I wish I had done more of.

PVS, Ol Redding turned up on saturday evening.Had some fun with Ollie and Mary. Still got the sparklers fellas!

"are you taking that as an omen?"

Well, having heard that it's good luck to have a bird shit on you, I was compelled to buy a lottery ticket- which meant doing what felt like a complete circuit of Bristol to find somewhere that sold them.  As I bought my ticket, a little tune came out of the machine that informed the seller that I was entitled to a free scratchcard.  Feeling lucky, I did it thewre and then and won...  two quid.  I traded my mammoth win in for another scratchcard and won... nothing.

In other news, my lottery ticket won me a tenner- so is being shat on by a pigeon a sign of impending good luck?  I'd like to think so.

:)

Yes, Anthony- your girlfriend's mate is very nice and nobody believes that even if you weren't up to no good, you were at least thinking about it (or should've been).

;)

I got Jock this year Matt.Ran up to him and shouted JOCK!

And he nearly collapsed.

I said I had to do it because of all the people who suffered last year, Rufus was one of them, through me running up to them and shouting; "JOCK is that you?"


oooh yes 100.

"It's a shame Dez Skinn had to be such a nob, mind..."

Yup!  

He has given a rather long, detailed and remorseful explanation and apology for his actions on the Comics International forum (and I believe he did try to apologise to everyone the morning after).  Whether people choose to accept that is of course up to them.

Ian Gibson accepted my apology for stealing his breakfast table and as a result upsetting his wife, so I perhaps have more cause to be more charitable than most :p

It was a great pleasure to meet you CE.  I'd hate to think you'd lost your sparkle already!

My 1st Expo and I had a whale of a time.*  Met some lovely people.  So much to read, so little time.

*them Bristol hangoverrs are fierce, mind
 

Yay - the expo was great

Wild West Wnedy was great along with Zarjaz and Future Quake.

Did anyone pick up the freebee comic thing that i did? It was avaliable from the foyer.

I got one. I'll have a proper look at it later.

:)

Cheers Nick.
Glad you enjoyed FQ.
Particularly glad you enjoyed Wendy, as both Vic and I love that twisted little bitch!

And nice to meet you, by the way.

Genuinely pleased to make the (sometimes re)acquaintances of borders, fellow contributors and droids, old and new- even if the combination of two hangovers and a general lack of sleep made me come across as a monosyllabic dullard at times :s  

Heart felt thanks to PVS for all the gratuities he heaped on me over the weekend- I owe you. cheers.  

Pissed off at myself for not being able to hand over a disc of finished artwork to Dave and team FQ. Preparing for the OFSTED inspection at work for the last two weeks put paid to that. Really sorry.

Streamlined purchases to three things this year- a hard back collection of Tanaka Tatsuyuki illustrations and two pages of artwork from a very modest Colin McNeil and a very congenial D'Israeli (already applying techniques discussed in his impromptu photoshop tutorial).

Nick Dyer needs to stop hiding his talented light under a bushel and at the *very least* get his Rogue strip artwork up in the thrills section.


Finally, the quote of the weekend for me has to be:  

(IIRC- I'm paraphrasing here)

"I'm going to wake up at home on Monday(?) morning, flat on my back on the floor with a film of dust on my eyeballs and forty text messages on my phone saying 'where the f*ck are you?' and realise it was all a dream.."



Al, cheers for the sketchbook, are you sure you don't want Dom Reardon's Tharg sketches out of it?

Bart: No sweat. Barely saw you that weekend, so it's all good. Hope Ofsted are nice to you.

Nick: got the comic in my pile to read, i'll let you know what I think...

Bolt-01

Bart:

I've never seen so many horny comicky geeks glaring in so much jealous fury at a single attached bloke.  But you were that bloke, and we were those geeks, and you, sir, are a very lucky lad.

"Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's Significant Other."  

Ach, I'm going to hell.

Comic fan with girl?
Where?

Totally missed that.  Possibly through being so drunk and otherwise inebriated on Saturday night that I spent 3 hours trying not to be sick in the hotle room.

"Bart:..........you, sir, are a very lucky lad."

- Of course, I've been telling him this for a very long time!

(The cheque's in the post.)

"Bucket of cold water! I gotta bucket of cold water for a Mr Spurrier!"


;P

Er, in all honesty I don't know how to reply to a post like that other than.. thankyou.

And.. (garrrh) you're.. both.. right.

I am lucky.

There, said it now.

Did anyone go to the Mam Tor stand? Will Event Horizon volume 3 be published?

Also forgot to mention...
 
did anyone pick up a Springheeled Jack issue? Really great, im glad the Meg printed it or otherwise i would have never heard of it.

thank you THARG!  

"I've never seen so many horny comicky geeks glaring in so much jealous fury at a single attached bloke. But you were that bloke, and we were those geeks, and you, sir, are a very lucky lad. "

Dammit - all those digital cameras and not one photo? Say it isn't so!

Cheers!

Jim

Oh, I forgot about those Tharg sketches. You can keep them if you're going to treat 'em right.