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BRISTOL 2004

So where do I start? Well for a start I convinced Jen to come down to Bristol with me. The plan was for her to visit the shops whilst I was buried in the convention. Funny how things work out. She ended up spending all Saturday in the con looking for back issues for me whilst I stood in line for sketches. (Of which more later)

I met up with a lot of friends and on the Saturday night we went out for a really nice Italian meal. On Sunday after sitting in a hot and stuffy convention hall Jen and I went off for a walk. By chance we fell into a pub (now there’s a surprise) that had a very very good live Jazz Band. Almost made me miss the Vertigo panel. We stopped over on the Sunday night and met a couple from Newcastle who were into self-publishing, spent far too long at the bar.

On Monday we were due to fly back at 17.45 so had a full day in Bristol. Luckily the weather remained fine so we were able to visit a museum, take a steam train ride, visit the SS Great Britain, and the replica ship the Mathew, then get the ferry back into the city centre. One slight panic moment happened when I lost my wallet. I found it again back in the hotel, it had dropped out of my pocket in the toilets. Phew!

So what comic related things happened to me at Bristol?


At the Vertigo panel there was a lot of discussion over the Hellblazer movie, DC let nothing really new out. One thing that I was saddened to hear was that Mike Carey’s Lucifer is to end some time around issue 75. I think the comic’s final arc is due to start with the end of the Universe and get more exciting from then.

Over at the DC panel I think I managed to get a few questions in. So much so that Bob Wayne (DC’s VP of sales) cracked a funny about legion fans. Barry Kitson was on the panel and was a perfect gentleman.

So how do you want to hear the discussion on the legion? In bits and pieces or in one lump?

more more and more already FL

However you want to feed it to us. And explain how Bob Wayne was funny because Rich Johnston made it sound like he was serious calling Legionnairs 2D characters.

First of all, describe the food!

(You know me... )

Did ya see Bevis and Matthew and Andrew? And my non-LW buds Terence and Martin?

C'mon, spill...!

A double post here and over on the 2D thread just because.

Come on guys remember this is Rich Johnson we are talking about here. There was what appeared to me anyway, a bit of relatively good natured teasing of Rich at that session (and the vertigo one) comments like that were common. Also the appearance of Rich in the Room effectively stopped any “news” from slipping out because the guys on the panel knew it would be reported and taken as gospel by fans like us.

Now you mention it I remember the line. On one level Bob is accurate in that the legion is 2D, all comics are  but that’s not what he means. I think he was saying something I have heard on these boards a few times. The current Legion was lacking characterisation, DanA whilst telling good stories were at times missing out on the character driven stories. What Mark and Barry are bringing to the party is a greater emphasis on these parts of the legion mythos (whilst hopefully maintaining the action adventure and excitement) certainly Barry hinted later that this was the intention. And given that Paul Levitz seems to be accepted as the past master of these types of character driven stories and he is excited about the new direction maybe we should think about it less in terms of rubbishing the legion more in terms of returning to what many consider a golden age of story telling.

More hints as I recall them. But as I am at work at the moment it will have to wait till I get home.

Actually originally Lucifer was intended to end around #50 but Mike found the story was getting bigger as he wrote it. I think I remember him saying a couple of years back at the con that he pitched it to DC as an on-going but had always intended it to be a finite series (much as Sandman before it was) but was worried that the editors wouldn't go for it if they knew there was a specific end to it. I'm kinda pleased to think it is a finite story with a beginning and end because then you know that it's always going to be one writers vision, which is so often a rare thing in comics these days.

I'll do a Bristol report at some point as well. Suffice to say for the moment though that I had a very fabulous time. Met up with Darden, Andrew, Mart and Terence. Did lots of drinking (but not enough eating), lots of selling (but not enough buying) and got to meet Chynna Clugston Major as well. Yay! She's very lovely and did a cute little sketch of Bleu in the Blue Monday trade that she signed for me.

Cool.

Can't wait to hear more!

dont jostle me I'll spill my drink


I can only speak for jen and I, but the food was lovley. I had a starter of whitebait followed by a pizza with the works. Peperoni, artichokes, anchovies and all that stuff. Jen had meat balls with penne. Yum yum. and with us was Terence Martin and Bevis. Poor Jen she tried to keep up but once the wine got going and the subject got onto comics she was lost. Still she told me later she had loved it and cant wait to meet them again.

One of the things I did do at Bristol, as well as pestering Barry Kitson for Legion titbits, was try to get some sketches done. I am busy up loading them so I can get them shown here.

If this works it should be a Saturn Girl by Dave Gibbons.

Dave was rather charming this day sharing sketches and positively criticizing portfolios. He needed a reminder of who SG was. But as he reminded me he has drawn the Legion before, any guesses which issue?

LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES (Vol.2) ANNUAL #2, Karate Kid and Queen Projectra's wedding. Although it was mainly about a group of Legionnaires getting sent back to 2 B.C. and discovering that the Greek Gods were Durlans.

Spot on that man. I had forgot Dave had drawn that one.

He was one of those artists who didn't enjoy drawing so many characters. But I really liked the look of the legion in that one.

(off topic aside)

I picked up a couple of signed ashcans of his new series The Originals, looks very interesting, very cool.

Hiya! Personally, I thought the DC panel was more or less a total waste of time. In previous years they'd done a presentation about future projects but this year it was just a pointless q and a with people asking about DC film projects.

The 2D thing was a bit odd. But as we know from experience some creators think that to make a character "3 dimensional" you need to mutilate them (hiya Longbow Hunters!) so this portion of the chit chat didn't fill me with excitement.

Darden, I really need to make it out to Newcastle soon ! And then I want to meet up with the rest of the people I know on that 'little island '!

More as you remember it!

Well I have a pretty full weekend ahead and so might not get much time on line. But I wanted to add a few bits and bobs from my conversation with Barry Kitson. (Not that it was a long one)

First up. I've seen something you haven't .

But before that I got Barry to do me a Saturn girl sketch and I love it. He promised Jen a Harley Quinn as well but because of train times and stuff had to leave before he could draw it and has promised to send it on to me. This man is a star. He is actually quite quiet but does have a twinkle in his eye which makes you wonder if he’s having fun with you. Good sense of humour too. Well its like mine so I would say that wouldn’t I.

I also bought the inked version of the cover to Empire #2. It is awesome. It is currently away to be framed. And I got it for a very fair price, only had to sell one of the kids instead of the both of them.

Your going to love it because of the skill of the penmanship and because it is a real heroic piece.

Your going to hate it because it’s a absolute bugger of a tease. There are no ways to identify who is who in the picture so the fans are going to go ape shit trying to guess who the silhouettes are. There are a few clues, (a lightning flash on one) but otherwise its all up for grabs. As a way to make people sit up and take notice of the new series it’s a winner. Remember though, it is a tease picture, it may not be the final thing.

And finally Barry has asked me to tell everyone on LW that he’ll do his best to post but please don’t think he’s ignoring us if he goes quiet for a while as he has real world stuff to do.

And with that, its Friday night and I need to go out. See you round

Thank you very much for the updates, Faraway! Barry sounds like a great guy and I can't wait for the upcoming teaser image for the new series. Silhouettes or no, I always love a good guessing game.

I'd love to see Barry's Harley Quinn sketch for Jen when you get it! I adore the character and Barry's work.

Thanks for sharing Darden. I may have to pick up the next Wizard off the newstand as my mail copy is usally up to a week or more later than when my store receives it. Can't wait to see Barry's stuff.

And have a good Friday night.

hey Darden !!!

glad you had a great time !!! thanks for the info, the "teaser" picture sounds great !!!

so does it appear in June's issue of "Wizard" ???

i can't wait

Matthew.