Signed books.

I occasionally dip into the collector market and splurge on the variant cover, action figure and bookplate. But what I have been buying less and less often is the signed copy. They rarely cost more and some can be easily picked up at the bigger stores.

This is the reason I stopped. Summed up in one image.

What the fuck is that!? 

Surely you can't call that signed.

It's about three lines (at the most) and an exclamation mark.

Naming no names but there is a lot of this going on. Just take five seconds more please?

Rant over.

NIA.

R.I.P. - Dick Ayers.

Dick Ayers.

I met Mr Ayers at a convention in New York in the mid 2000s and he was friendly, full of energy and talked my head off about comics. He was one of those creators who would give you his time and for that I am eternally grateful.

He will be missed.

Charlton Comics.

I may have found a new obsession. Charlton Comics were pretty strange.

Free Comic Book Day 2014 - Whatta Day!

Yeasterday was Free Comic Book Day 2014 and was the biggest one so far.

I started the day at my local comic book store Chaos City Comics in St Albans, Herts, UK. It's a pretty small shop and I was kindly let in by the owner Derek ahead of the crowd to help out with handing out bags and comics.

Bravely assisting James and Luke we fought the crowds like we were in The Battle of New York and it was great to see a lot of parents who were there for the first time and brought their kids in to get free comics. Most people were pretty cool and didn't take too many books and there was a lot of chatting about contents and stories.

I personally picked up some great FCBD issues. Probably top of the heap was the offering from Archaia a (once again) superb hardback anthology that features 'Mouse Guard' and some great 'Farscape' pages by the excellent Ramon Perez! 

I then jumped on a train into Central London and headed to the 'Comics Unmasked' event that opened this week at the British Library. This is a big deal for both comics and the venue and as soon as you exit St Pancras you are presented with images and posters leading you to the exhibition. The character reflects a seedy area and also seems to be suggesting that 'The Pro' could become a reality?

Once inside. The exhibition itself is a bit of a mixed bag. Organised by Paul Gravat (more from him later) it is littered with 'cool' comic pages, art, videos, scripts and lots of these guys! 

The British Library has opened it's extensive vaults and there is a lot of interesting books on show. It's great to see people like Pat Mills, Dave Gibbons, Grant Morrison front and centre for their work in British weekly comics. There are some great examples of books like Misty, Action 2000AD, Deadline, Lord Horror and Warrior.

It was also the first event at The British Library to have a restrictive PG-16 certificate.

Having been to a lot of Comica events run by Paul over the years (and being a pretty regular volunteer) it did seem a bit like I was seeing 'the same old thing.' There were some nice surprises in the mix and an understandable concentration on the medium's history. I suppose there are people out there who haven't seen a page from Watchmen next to a script or some pages from 2000AD? 

My real grumpy side did come out however with the section on super heroes. Say what you like about this side of the industry but you'll have to admit that this facet is both popular and often extremely interesting (Marshall Law anyone?) This section was made up like you were walking into a child's bedroom (complete with Doctor Who (?) figures circa 2009). In this mock up bedroom was a TV playing 'Kick Ass'. I get the counterpoint, I just found it a little heavy handed?

But over all it was fun and I enjoyed seeing such a well organised and popular even that centred around our hobby. (Oh and I bought a badge but avoided the'Biff' and 'Pow' fridge magnets).

I then wandered through town and popped into The Forbidden Planet in Shaftsbury Avenue who were handing out pretty generous bags of free comics!

I then headed to Orbital Comics and met with the Comics Club regulars Marc Laming, Alex Martin, Matt Harrower, Christian Wildgoose and Lara Margarida. We popped into Gosh! Comics in London's seedy Soho and then headed off for a bite to eat (after satisfying my Bronze Age cravings with some MOKF, Doctor Strange and Charlton Comics). 

Then it was time for The Orbiting Pod. The fine folks at Orbital Comics were recording their live 150th episode full of laughs, guests (including the aforementioned Paul Gravat), music, poetry and beers galore.

Organised by Robin Harman, Chris Thompson and Adam Sheriden it was a master class in organisation and a laugh from beginning to end. This episode should be up and available to listen to in a week. I even got to ask a question! 

After a good two and a half hours recording we all headed to the pub and after laughing until I got a sore throat we all headed off and got the last train home.

Roll on next year! 

NIA. 

Cee and Bee a review.

A book from my old pal and comics collaborator just came out.

have a read of the review over at Beardrock.com

http://beardrock.com/eyebrow-art/comics/cee-bee-review

It's a cracker!

NIA

MCM Comic Con 2014.

Below is a conversation I had on Twitter with the MCM Ireland Comic Con people just this morning.

(Please note they are still calling themselves 'Comic Con'.)

It was prompted by this post relating to a day of talks and panels they have scheduled for their upcoming show (the Sunday is shown here).

I thought I would ask what they are doing for comics fans.

The following happened.

I don't know about you but to me this seems like false advertising?

MCM (is that a company or a brand or what?) seem quite prepared to have panels with TV, anime or cozplayers but the actual 'Comics' in their title seems a little ignored. The 'Comic Village' is not a big draw from what I can see at these events. 

I personally have in the past attended a couple of these events thinking that they were comics events only to be pretty disappointed. (Perhaps I sould have asked for my money back? My loss I suppose).

Red Dwarf or Nikita are all well and good (good perhaps being an overstatement) but they are not comics. Neither is anime, voice acting, special effects wizards, wookies, lightsaber manufacturers, card dealers, Hentai, DVD sales, autographs, Doctor Who, Star Trek, Star Wars and neither is cozplay.

If you are going (I was actually considering it again) and are going becuase you are a comics fan I suggest you research this (and similar events) first to avoid an expensive day of disappointment.

NIA.

Review - Headspace issue 2.

Written by Ryan K Lindsay.

Art by Eric Zawadzki.

Published by Monkeybrain Comics.

I was lucky to get a preview copy of issue two of this superb digital only comic. I had previously interviewed Ryan Lindasy for beardrock.com and he spoke about a number of themes that included being a father.

This is where we are thrown on page one. I myself am a father and it's for exactly this reason that I felt chills in the opening few pages especially. What parent hasn't woken up in the middle of the night after a nightmare where they lost sight of their child in a crowd or at a shopping centre? But Ryan doesn't stop there. He grabs us by the nostrils and throws us straight from one fucked up nightmare situation to another. He chases through Carpenter Cove avoiding serial killers, talking dead men, tidal waves, crocodiles (well I suppose he is Australian after all) and the freakiest of all freaky a marionette man with a handgun.

'Everything moves between real and surreal.'

Eric Zawadski kills it on the art and each panel has both pace and terror lead tension. Playing on bad dreams allows the story to claw at the edges of the readers eyes and mind like no other fear can. All these fears are put front and centre, on display in the shop window and not hidden in the storeroom.

Then suddenly half way through the book it takes a left turn. You can hear the tyres squeal yet you are still gripping on for fear of falling out. We get an explanation (of sorts). But in a book that deals so magnificently with deception and unreality you can't be sure that this is in fact the truth. I won't spoil this but it's done deftly and with an almost fairy tale styling (looking behind the curtain at Oz the Great perhaps?)

This issue deals with the constructed reality of Carpenter Cove and we don't get to see the actual serial killer who appeared in issue 1. This focus really allowed for extra issue 2 depth and (although I know he's coming back soon) I felt was a richer experience for that.

I genuinely can't speak more highly of this book and urge you to buy it when it's released through Comixology or through www.monkeybrain.com

You can find Ryan at www.ryanklindsay.com or on Twitter @ryanklindsay

Eric can be found at www.ericxyz.com or Twitter @ericxyz

I can be found rambling on here @Ezohyez on Twitter or at www.beardrock.com (come say hi).

NIA.