Memorabilia

Well, yesterday saw us make the long drive to Birmingham for Memorabilia. A long drive which, unfortunately, proved to be too much for my humble Nissan Micra, which decided to pack up somewhere between junctions 27 and 28 on the M25...at one o'clock in the morning. Not fun. Especially as it was on a stretch of motorway with no hard shoulder, forcing us to have to stand in the freezing cold behind the crash barrier, as various lorries sped by. Thankfully I'm with the AA and someone arrived to tow us back to Gillingham within an hour. But it was a fairly unpleasant end to what was a very pleasant day. And...now I don't have a car!

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, Memorabilia! This was my first visit to this event and I have to say that I was fairly impressed, not only by the size of the hall and the variety of the dealers, but also by the quality of the guest. Highlights of the day including brushing past the legend that is Leslie Philips and, at one point, looking down to find none other than David Carradine kneeling at my feet (what can I say? The man worships me...).

I didn't buy much, but I was able to add to my collection of Kevin Smith DVDs, with region one copies of Clerks 2 and the second Evening With Kevin Smith.

It was also great to run into Markosia EIC Rich Emms, who was hanging out at the Tales of Midnight booth. We also had fun teasing the Tozzers.
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Unfortunately today there is also some very sad news. I'm sure many of you will have already heard that legendary X-Men artist Dave Cockrum has passed away. The industry has not only lost a great artist, but also a genuinely wonderful man. He will be sorely missed.

Shadowmancer, The Young Gods and girls....

Well, I know I promised pics of the London Expo...but...I forgot my camera...sorry... Still, if anyone out there does have any pictures of me from the Expo, please feel free to burn them and never let anyone see them...ever....

Apolgies for not updating in a while, but things have been kinda' hectic since the Expo. Not only did I return from the show with lots of lovely goodies, including a signed copy of The Tizzle Sisters (the latest masterpiece from the masterminds at Markosia), both Tozzer graphic novels and numerous other fun bits and pieces, but I also brought home one of these...

I'm reliably informed that this is a "girl" and her primary functions seem to be cluttering up the place with DVDs, punching me for thinking too loudly and just generally looking gorgeous at any and every opportunity.

We've been doing fun things like going to the opera, watching possibly unhealthy amounts of science fiction and falling asleep during Kevin Smith movies (okay...it was Jersey Girl after all...not that it's a bad film...just not his best...and I was tired...and it was late....well, technically early...I wouldn't normally fall asleep during Kevin Smith films....honest...).

So, anyway, what else is going on? If you scroll to the top of the page you'll see a new preview pic' from the Young Gods. I'm currently waiting for the six page preview story to be coloured and lettered and then hopefully it will be published. I'll post here as soon as I know when and where that's going to happen.

In other news, the London Expo wasn't all fun and hijinks (and resisting the urge to run someone through with my sword...)...I also received the sad news that Smoke & Mirror is to go the way of the dodo. It's not for me to go into the details of how and why this has happened, but please treasure your copies of #1, and let's hope that one day we do indeed see Smoke & Mirror #2 on the shelves of comic shops everywhere.

So, does this herald the end of my association with those mighty titans of British comic book publishing, the mighty Markosia? Well...no, as it happens. I'm pleased to announce that as of #8, I am taking over the colouring duties on Shadowmancer (which has been adapted from G.P. Taylor's novel by the amazing Mr Tony Lee). Unfortunately, Shadowmancer will no longer be published as single issues, so if you want to check out my work on the title you will have to pick up a copy of the next tradepaperback. More details on when and where to find it when they become available.

On the Slam Ridley front, Pete is still hard at work on the script for the one shot, and I'm currently waiting to hear back from the new artist. As soon as I have something concrete to share with the world on this then I'll post it here.

That's all for now...I'll try not to leave it so long before my next update!