Beautiful Bristol
As far as I'm concerned, any comics convention wherein I make a new friend is a good one. By that measure, the Comics International Expo at Bristol this year was a resounding success.
Our adventure actually started whilst still at Newark Airport. The odds of anyone else on our particular flight heading to the con were, we figured, rather small. Then we spotted someone in a Superman t-shirt, and heard a PA announcement for a "Mr. Geoffrey Johns" to return to the check-in desk, and it wasn't heard to put two and two together and come up with a quarter of 52.
I'd "known" Geoff Johns since our Usenet days, right when he was starting his pro career, but we'd never actually met, so it was a lot of fun to introduce myself and invite him to sit with us while awaiting boarding. Geoff turned out to be one of the nicest and most fun people I've met during my involvement in the industry, and seemed as happy as we were to have comics-related conversational companions, particularly as our boarding and departure were delayed for an hour. I snapped this picture as he was getting out his laptop:
Lots of cool stuff on the laptop as well, artwork from various things on which he's working and so forth. What impressed me even more than how he was dealing with jetlag (he and his wife had only just returned from Australia, and the Newark-Bristol flight was his second leg after coming in from LA that afternoon) was how he plots his scripts visually, thumbnailing each page. With so many otherwise stellar writers treating comics art as something more like an afterthought on which to hang their words, it was refreshing to see someone who acknowledges and plays to the collaborative process of comics creation.
In one of those really freakish coincidences, Geoff also happened to be in the same row as us. The flight wasn't that full, so Rob and I had an empty seat between us - and Geoff had two empty ones next to him! So it turned out to be a row of comics folk. I'm glad both boys got some sleep (after Geoff tired of throwing spitballs at me), I can't do more than a light doze on planes...
No sooner had we arrived at the hotel than we were met by Heather and Alan Davis, who suggested we walk to the Broadmead shopping district via Redcliff Quay. I wish I'd been there long enough to find out about the bus from Temple Meads (only £1.20 for a return ticket), I might have been in a better mood. This is a photo of an artwork called Exploration (scroll down). Between my jet lag and suddenly discovering I couldn't walk more than a block without excruciating back pain and extreme shortness of breath (something you don't want to experience when strolling with the fast-paced Davises, and something which would plague me for the rest of my holiday), I must admit I wasn't really in the mood to explore!
We then cut through Castle Park (only a gentle uphill slope, but my back spasms didn't care). Here's a picture of the aforementioned castle.
I loved this garden area in the park as well.
Near the Broadmead area. I think this is Bond Street. By the time 2 PM rolled around, my movement had become so restricted we had to catch a cab back to the hotel (over £5 one-way, never again!), and Rob and I were both in such discomfort (as it turned out, he'd gotten sunstroke from being outdoors so long on an unusually warm day) that we actually slept for a few hours on a bed way too small for us. They advertised it as queen-sized but I think it was barely a double. It was also the first hotel room in which I've ever stayed that had no drawers. Just a shelf here and there. Nothing to put stuff in! Rob observed it was like a baby hotel trying (and failing) to grow up. As the convention hadn't started yet and we didn't know anyone else's room, we headed off to dine alone (see my food post), and returned to the hotel bar to find some relatively quiet gatherings in progress.
Our first encounter at the pub was with Dougie Braithwaite, who introduced us to Bryan Talbot (a major thrill for me). Bryan and Dougie are another of those cases of two comics folks who live quite near each other but never seem to get together except at conventions. Right after I snapped this picture, Bryan started showing off his brand-new Olympus digital camera, which beats mine all to heck! Also, dropping Heidi's name is a real plus with so many folks, everyone's face seems to brighten at the mere mention of La Grande Dame MacDonald!
This is the location of the exhibit and signing hall, such as it was. Inside the aisles were fairly spacious but it still felt cramped and dark, and I didn't see a single thing at any table which interested me, so I didn't spend much time in the hall. Heather and I spent much of the day shopping at Broadmead.
Robin and I did take in Budgie's Hypotheticals panel, though. Much more about the convention can be found at Budgie's blog, of course. He's the bloke at left. He was nice enough to loan me his laptop on Sunday to email the family that we were okay; too bad I couldn't remember my Blogger login name! We finally got to meet his son Phil - sadly, the only child I saw at the con - as well as get our usual bear hugs from Liam Sharp.
We were sitting so far back at the panel that I'm afraid I didn't get very good pictures, but it's a testament to how popular Hypotheticals has become. (Liam's the tall bloke between Geoff and Shelly Bond; Dave Gibbons is holding the microphone at right.)
Sunday morning Rob and I headed back to Broadmead to return something I'd bought for him on Saturday that didn't fit him. I have very little restraint whilst shopping with Heather, I'm afraid.
"B" for Broadmead? Bristol? Bummed that the convention was almost over and I hadn't even seen Mike Collins or met any of the Dr. Who people or gotten properly drunk?
Oh well, at least I made it to the writers' panel. So did Geoff and Alan, as you can see.
And Sunday was Bob Wayne's birthday! This is, um, my tribute to the Gil Kane angle, yeah, that's it...
As I said at the top of this report, any convention where I make a new friend is successful in my book. Not only did I get to know Geoff better, I also met the very pleasant Ian Churchill and his charming fiancée. I'd brought my sketchbook down to show Geoff and anyone else who might be interested, and once he got a couple drinks in him Ian decided to do me a sketch, as I'd been hoping he would.
All in all, I think I'd have had a better time if Robin and I had experienced less bodily pain, and although the train ride from Bristol to Lewes was pleasant it was also long and expensive, so I'm not sure I'll be returning to this convention. But the weather was mostly terrific and the company (particularly Alan and Heather) couldn't be beat!
As far as I'm concerned, any comics convention wherein I make a new friend is a good one. By that measure, the Comics International Expo at Bristol this year was a resounding success.
Our adventure actually started whilst still at Newark Airport. The odds of anyone else on our particular flight heading to the con were, we figured, rather small. Then we spotted someone in a Superman t-shirt, and heard a PA announcement for a "Mr. Geoffrey Johns" to return to the check-in desk, and it wasn't heard to put two and two together and come up with a quarter of 52.
I'd "known" Geoff Johns since our Usenet days, right when he was starting his pro career, but we'd never actually met, so it was a lot of fun to introduce myself and invite him to sit with us while awaiting boarding. Geoff turned out to be one of the nicest and most fun people I've met during my involvement in the industry, and seemed as happy as we were to have comics-related conversational companions, particularly as our boarding and departure were delayed for an hour. I snapped this picture as he was getting out his laptop:
Lots of cool stuff on the laptop as well, artwork from various things on which he's working and so forth. What impressed me even more than how he was dealing with jetlag (he and his wife had only just returned from Australia, and the Newark-Bristol flight was his second leg after coming in from LA that afternoon) was how he plots his scripts visually, thumbnailing each page. With so many otherwise stellar writers treating comics art as something more like an afterthought on which to hang their words, it was refreshing to see someone who acknowledges and plays to the collaborative process of comics creation.
In one of those really freakish coincidences, Geoff also happened to be in the same row as us. The flight wasn't that full, so Rob and I had an empty seat between us - and Geoff had two empty ones next to him! So it turned out to be a row of comics folk. I'm glad both boys got some sleep (after Geoff tired of throwing spitballs at me), I can't do more than a light doze on planes...
No sooner had we arrived at the hotel than we were met by Heather and Alan Davis, who suggested we walk to the Broadmead shopping district via Redcliff Quay. I wish I'd been there long enough to find out about the bus from Temple Meads (only £1.20 for a return ticket), I might have been in a better mood. This is a photo of an artwork called Exploration (scroll down). Between my jet lag and suddenly discovering I couldn't walk more than a block without excruciating back pain and extreme shortness of breath (something you don't want to experience when strolling with the fast-paced Davises, and something which would plague me for the rest of my holiday), I must admit I wasn't really in the mood to explore!
We then cut through Castle Park (only a gentle uphill slope, but my back spasms didn't care). Here's a picture of the aforementioned castle.
I loved this garden area in the park as well.
Near the Broadmead area. I think this is Bond Street. By the time 2 PM rolled around, my movement had become so restricted we had to catch a cab back to the hotel (over £5 one-way, never again!), and Rob and I were both in such discomfort (as it turned out, he'd gotten sunstroke from being outdoors so long on an unusually warm day) that we actually slept for a few hours on a bed way too small for us. They advertised it as queen-sized but I think it was barely a double. It was also the first hotel room in which I've ever stayed that had no drawers. Just a shelf here and there. Nothing to put stuff in! Rob observed it was like a baby hotel trying (and failing) to grow up. As the convention hadn't started yet and we didn't know anyone else's room, we headed off to dine alone (see my food post), and returned to the hotel bar to find some relatively quiet gatherings in progress.
Our first encounter at the pub was with Dougie Braithwaite, who introduced us to Bryan Talbot (a major thrill for me). Bryan and Dougie are another of those cases of two comics folks who live quite near each other but never seem to get together except at conventions. Right after I snapped this picture, Bryan started showing off his brand-new Olympus digital camera, which beats mine all to heck! Also, dropping Heidi's name is a real plus with so many folks, everyone's face seems to brighten at the mere mention of La Grande Dame MacDonald!
This is the location of the exhibit and signing hall, such as it was. Inside the aisles were fairly spacious but it still felt cramped and dark, and I didn't see a single thing at any table which interested me, so I didn't spend much time in the hall. Heather and I spent much of the day shopping at Broadmead.
Robin and I did take in Budgie's Hypotheticals panel, though. Much more about the convention can be found at Budgie's blog, of course. He's the bloke at left. He was nice enough to loan me his laptop on Sunday to email the family that we were okay; too bad I couldn't remember my Blogger login name! We finally got to meet his son Phil - sadly, the only child I saw at the con - as well as get our usual bear hugs from Liam Sharp.
We were sitting so far back at the panel that I'm afraid I didn't get very good pictures, but it's a testament to how popular Hypotheticals has become. (Liam's the tall bloke between Geoff and Shelly Bond; Dave Gibbons is holding the microphone at right.)
Sunday morning Rob and I headed back to Broadmead to return something I'd bought for him on Saturday that didn't fit him. I have very little restraint whilst shopping with Heather, I'm afraid.
"B" for Broadmead? Bristol? Bummed that the convention was almost over and I hadn't even seen Mike Collins or met any of the Dr. Who people or gotten properly drunk?
Oh well, at least I made it to the writers' panel. So did Geoff and Alan, as you can see.
And Sunday was Bob Wayne's birthday! This is, um, my tribute to the Gil Kane angle, yeah, that's it...
As I said at the top of this report, any convention where I make a new friend is successful in my book. Not only did I get to know Geoff better, I also met the very pleasant Ian Churchill and his charming fiancée. I'd brought my sketchbook down to show Geoff and anyone else who might be interested, and once he got a couple drinks in him Ian decided to do me a sketch, as I'd been hoping he would.
All in all, I think I'd have had a better time if Robin and I had experienced less bodily pain, and although the train ride from Bristol to Lewes was pleasant it was also long and expensive, so I'm not sure I'll be returning to this convention. But the weather was mostly terrific and the company (particularly Alan and Heather) couldn't be beat!
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