Dave Gibbons bought me a pint

Travelled down to London for the Forbidden Planet signing yesterday, which went really well. First person I ran into (apart from AL Ewing, who I bumped into at St. Pancras, on his way to the SFX thing in Bognor Regis, or whatever) was Boo Cook, who was lost. I pointed out to him that he wasn't really lost as the building he wanted was quite literally across the road. It had the words, 'Forbidden Planet Megastore' written on it, in letters 40 feet high (Ok, they were a bit less prominent than that- but it was still funny). :D

After the mental arse-kicking that my ego took last time, I wasn't looking forward to the whole sketching aspect- but the first guy that asked wanted me to draw him the Joker. I couldn't believe my luck- the Joker is one of those characters that I quite often doodle without thinking, so it was pretty easy and, more importantly, it didn't look like ass. I also decided not to humiliate myself by attempting to draw with pens this time and did it in pencil instead. Result! I did a few other sketches, met the other artists (there were 13 of us in the end!), signed a bazillion copies of '45' and ate lots of pop and crisps (I had strategically placed myself behind the table with the biscuits and crisps on it, while I sketched).

It was good to meet new people and to reconnect with a few familiar faces- and then there was the drinking at the Phoenix Club afterwards, where a good time was had by all. Well, I had a good time and I tend to assume that if I'm having a good time then everyone else is having a good time as well. Had a really good chat with Eddie Deighton, of Com.X and Dave Gibbons (who bought me a pint) and Dave's son, Dan (who, comically, looked like Dave's replacement clone) about comics, the iPad and the imminent digital revolution. I also had a great chat with John Higgins- so that's two thirds of the Watchmen team in one day.

Safely tucked up in my hotel bed by 00.30, awake again at 04.00 for about an hour (I think I was just a bit hot and bothered).


The view from my window at 4 in the morning. I was somewhat confused by the Christmas tree lights

Finally got back to sleep, only to have the maid wake me up at 08.00, because I'd forgotten to put the little 'do not disturb' tag on the door. I resisted the urge to kill her with a machete- mainly because I had no clothes on and had no machete handy- and then went back to sleep, before being woken up again- this time by the fire alarm. To be honest (and don't do this at home, kids) I decided that I would rather die in bed than get up again- so I ignored it, in the hope that it was simply a false alarm. Which it was.

Train journey home was slightly surreal, in that I had the entire carriage to myself- and it wasn't a tiny carriage either.


Nobody in front of me


Nobody behind me either. There was a disconcerting 'Midnight Meat Train' moment for me- but overall, it was quite a pleasant experience

It was a non-stop train until Market Harborough, so nobody got on before I got off. Naturally, I had to fight the urge to take full advantage of the situation by lazing around in my pants and singing along enthusiastically to my iPod- which is probably just as well as two ladies came by with a trolley of goodies for me to choose from. I chose Quavers.

Yum yum.

So anyway- main points again:

Didn't suck.
Finally feel like a real comic artist.
Dave Gibbons bought me a pint.

The only downside is that I didn't get a lot of work done today or yesterday, so I'll be working like a demon over the weekend to catch up.