Messages

Hello all!

I'm currently working on a major update to the bibliography part of
John Higgins' new bibliography

I wrote a program to do this many years ago. It worked pretty well, but it's completely rubbish compared to AndreaMosaic...

Link: http://www.andreaplanet.com/andreamosaic/" target="_blank">http://www.andreaplanet.com/andreamosaic/

Peter, you've really been missing out if you haven't yet read Solar Wind. It's far and away one of the most enjoyable comics in years.

Link: http://www.quantumprophecy.com" target="_blank">And here's another one...

Mr Spurrier: Get in touch and I'll see what I can do...

I've created lots of websites for lots of people, but I do them all by hand so I'm not familiar with any of the standard website-building packages.

Link: http://www.turmoilcolour.com" target="_blank">Here's a sample of my work...

One of my favourite websites (not a blog or anything like that, but packed with great and silly stuff)...

Link: http://www.cockeyed.com" target="_blank">Cockeyed.com

An article debunking the myth that rabbits are more promiscuous than people. The headline was "Man beats rabbits in sexual activity."

Frank Miller again... One of my all-time favourite pieces of comic art. http://www.iol.ie/~carrollm/goldie.jpg">

Civil War: War Crimes, written by Frank Tieri, pencils by Staz Johnson, inks by Tom Palmer & Robin Riggs.

Link: http://www.marvel.com/catalog/?book_id=5742" target="_blank">Civil War: War Crimes

Red Razors: if it had been better received, then Mark Millar might have stayed writing for 2000 AD and not gone on to write The Ultimates.

Sylvester Stallone as Judge Dredd

Dublin, The People's Glorious Republic of Ireland

My favourite was the kid who came as Darth Sidious dressed as Superman.

So THAT'S what those bloody puppets were up to! If I'd known that the end result was going to be so cool I wouldn't have been trying so hard to avoid them!

I've now recovered a little, and had time to reflect on the con...

It really was great! Met lots of people from this very messageboard, lots of great guests, lots of attendees (to whom I attempted - sometimes successfully - to flog copies of my new book), and even a few young fans who had come to the con especially to see me (that was a real surprise: I've never met any fans in person before).

The nasty weather prevented some of the guests from attending, but - with all due respect to them - I don't think they were missed all that much; there was so much going on that it was impossible to catch everything.

I was lucky enough to be asked to run the auction (ably aided by my lovely wife Leonia and my lovely pal Rich) and we raised a nice chunk of money for the convention's charity, Children 1st - thanks to everyone who donated items, and to everyone who made a bid. It was exhausting, but tremendous fun.

I was also lucky enough to conduct the interview with Cam Kennedy. Interviewing your heroes is always a teeny bit absolutely terrifying (especially since I was a last-minute replacement and didn't have time to prepare), but Cam is such an easy-going, entertaining guy that I really didn't have to do any work. He just happily chatted away while I sat there thinking, "Wow! I'm sitting next to Cam Kennedy!"

Not directly connected with the con, but something that really floored me was a coincidence so unlikely that even I wouldn't put it into a story: As some of you will know I'm a huge fan of John Higgins, and for the past few years I've been running his website and compiling his bibliography. Well, on Friday in Inverness Leonia and I decided to explore the city a little, and the very first shop we entered was a Charity shop, where I found a pristine copy of the Mission Galactica annual from 1980. It's got four comic strips and two text stories, all illustrated by John Higgins... I never even knew the thing existed!

But back to the con: It really was a triumph, especially considering that Vicky and Rich had so little time to organise it and they did almost everything themselves. AND it was their first convention! I've attended cons run by much more experienced people, with far greater resources, that weren't half as much fun.

I got to spend time with Gary Erskine (who - in front of lots of his fans - said some very complimentary things about my sole 2000 AD strip), Colin MacNeil (we did a radio interview for BBC Scotland), Rufus Dayglo (surely one of the smartest and most talented of the younger generation of comics artists), Al Ewing (big beardy brainy bloke) and many more.

Plus the small-press crowd: Paul Von Scott, Ben Clarke, Dave Evans (winner of the "Leonia Wants to Give Him a Hug Because He's So Nice" Award) and some dreadful show-offy youth called Dan (far too talented for someone so young. I hate him because he can draw and has great hair).

I've attended at least fifty science fiction or comic conventions, and Hi-Ex was absolutely the best I've ever attended.

Yay, we're home! Absolutely knackered after a packed weekend, but we had a fantastic time. More later when I'm more coherent, but I do want to thank Rich and Vicky for organising the most enjoyable convention I've ever attended!

-- Mike