mmoa_writes

I meant to post as soon as I got back, last night, but my brother had already taken residence upstairs on the internet, and I was too exhausted to wait for him to finish, so here goes...



Got on the tube around 8:45 with John Anderson (http://www.spenguin.34sp.com/) and James Turner (http://www.beaverandsteve.com/) and spent the next forty-five minutes on our journey to Mile End, the most auspicious of London boroughs. John is a publisher, rather than a comic artist, and I helped set up his table which was laden with goodies from his press (Horror fanzine 'From the Tomb' and 'Space babe' amongst them, which I'll talk about later). Good stuff.

On our left were some representatives of the Comic Artist Guild (http://www.comicscreatorsguild.org.uk - gave me a free pamphlet, the first of many free stuff shoved into my eager arms) and on our right was this beautiful lady (http://www.myspace.com/ghostgirls). Opposite us were numerous people, the one I got to meet properly was Jenika (http://www.neptunefactory.com/pages/home.html) and Natalia (http://www.nataliedarbeloff.com/).

Having set up et al, toured around the hall with John to see the work of the other peeps who'd finished setting up (or nearly).

Some of the guys I ended up drooling over their tables:

http://www.superheroloveisland.com/

Zoe Stead (bought her comic on a CD!:
http://www.drunkduck.com/The_WAVAM_Project
http://www.drunkduck.com/ErathBound
http://zoestead.sheezyart.com

Dubious Tales: http://www.dubious-tales.com

http://www.frozenreality.co.uk

http://twosideswide.com

Afterstrife: http://www.afterstrife.com

Fetishman, finger puppets! http://fetishman.co.uk

Also met some great people from http://www.lulu.com

And these guys (who am the best, nicest and most amazing artists ever... ):
http://www.studioblinktwice.com/

http://www.darkplace.co.uk - beautiful, and the ladies who drew it are incredibly cool as well, works of art int hemselves, which doesn't hurt at all.

http://flyingmonkeycomics.com

Tom Siddell http://www.gunnerkrigg.com

http://smallerworld.comicgenesis.com - Oh there were loads of tables from the artists at Comic genesis. Nifty, I thought.

Roger Mason who draws a science fiction action comic called 'The Mice' (review at http://www.bugpowder.com/trs2/004510.html)

http://www.galumph.fsnet.co.uk

http://www.darkencomic.com

http://www.ztoical.com

*

Having returned to our table, we were greeted by some artists interested in getting their work published. Peter Beare (http://www.dangnabbit.com) and Harry Demetrious (http://www.myspace.com/harry_demetrious). Peter Beares work is hillarious and Harry's has some truly gorgeous artwork there.

The rest of the day was spent meeting with Ellen (and Steve) and John waving my comic at other people faces who really... liked it. Really liked it. There was one guy who'd worked with Alan Moore (amongst others) and another who had been a curator for comic art and both actually liked The Only Two.

What was more of a comfort (if possible) was that John, on reading the comics I had with me (the latest ones), actually laughed at them. I mean, they're written in light of actual conversations and in-jokes that I suspected (and worried that) are only truly funny when you actually know the people who said whatever is was (ie, us), but there he was, chuckling away as he flipped through the comics (he also liked my sketches - I am an ahtist after all). And he went through my entire sketchbook including the long comic/essay on butch vs femme and gender in general... at which he also laughed (at the funny bits).

I've finished ten comics thus far. I think I'd get a nice round twenty per book when I get it published. So only ten to go (which promises to be no big deal thanks to recent Nigerian and Anglican politics) and then I'll redo the older ones and then... voila! Send it over to him.

W00t!



Had a drink afterwards at a quaint looking gastro-pub with John and his fellows. All in all, great fun.