The Brum Rush

Describing my BICS 2008 is best summed up as trying to pour 3 pints of Guinness into an eggcup - bloody frustrating!

I didn't make the Friday launch party, still had the lurgy, and a deadline to meet. We set out early Saturday. Never visited the Think Tank before, told it was easy to find, so the fella who promised 'less than five minutes' walk from the train station, turned out to be a BIG FAT LYING BASTARD!

Or maybe i was trippin on Max Strength Flu Plus, i had exceeded my limit.

Anyway, i wandered around, said a quick 'ullo' to a few familiar faces then went looking for the toilet. Walking past the open door to the Theatre i spied my very good chum Mark Fables Buckingham, standing next to BICS 2008 organizer, comic artist and nice bloke, James Hodgkins. Then i spotted the microphone in James hand, then next second i was the 'special guest' at the 'Comic Artists Flip Out'.

So, desperate for a piss, dazed and confused, I'm standing in front of a BIG drawing pad and asked to draw pictures in front of a ticket-wielding crowd, if the number an artist chooses matches ticket number, then they win the art. But see, i didn't 'get' the whole, ahem, 'high-concept' of the event, i thought the idea was like having a race; the first artist who finishes his drawing is the champ, sorta thing. So Staz Johnson, and Bucky are only part way thru their skillfully rendered mini-masterpieces, and I've done three!

So, my apologies to the winners of my scribbles, and yes, little brain damaged Timothy, your 5 year old cousin CAN do better!

But i had a good laugh, violated the sacred image of a few Marvel characters, and got a little Rolf 'Can-you-see-what-it-is-yet?' Harris buzz on.

I didn't manage to meet/find half the people i wanted to, but among the blurring moments, myself and Suzanne went to lunch with Bucky and cheeky wife, Irma. We are now converted to the drool-bucket filling delight of WAGAMAMA.

And the rest, was mostly a series of tooing and froings, pushing and shovings, with me, John and Leah, even getting lost on our way to do our signing.

I also shared a pint with my new editor Alexander Finbow(sorry i helped you miss your earlier train), a lovely chap with big ambition and big plans for his new comics line, and one of its first titles is the Alan Grant scripted Channel Evil . More on that soon.

I DIDN'T get to buy a copy of David Hitchcock's Gothic, a newspaper-sized beauty. Rush over to Dave and feast your eyes and open your wallet at; http://www.blackboar.co.uk/

And neither did i get a copy of The Picture Of Dorian Gray , a new illustrated version by the ever-so-brilliant Ian Culbard, check it out at his blog; http://strangeplanetstories.blogspot.com/ and order a copy from http://www.selfmadehero.com/classical_eye/podg.html

Finally, thanks to all who came to the signing, and my apologies to anyone i missed. A real big sorry to my mate Gary Crutchley, who wasted time trying to find me, when i was in a restaurant stuffing my face. And although Gary's got nothing to sell(only bottled souls!)he has finally got down with the kids and started a blog, and most splendid it is;
http://gcrutchley.blogspot.com/. He likes to hide his talents in a quiet lonesome corner, go visit and make friends.