Wednesday 8 October 2008

Brumbrumbrum Con 08

Even though I managed to catch the infamous Con plague this year (1 out of 4 cons aint bad) this Brum con was bloody brilliant :D :D


We met up with a load of our UK buddies from thecomicforums.com - a few of which we'd not seen in 'real-life' before - which was bloody awesome....It's always really really fun to hang out with these guys :)


We had a table as the UK Comics Podcast Group which was a giggle as we got to hang out in the main hall without actually blocking the aisles (something a lot of comic fans seemed blissfully unaware of - growl), and we got to have loads of good chats with our podcasting buddies in person for once - woot!!! I think i gave out one whole flyer the entire time I was there cuz i was way too scared to actually make contact with anyone looking at the table (although to be fair most people walking past found the floor way more interesting - standard con behaviour i think).


We all hung out in the evenings and im very proud that on the Friday night I only came second for drunkest person (Lenny came first in spectacular fashion), Saturday night I took the crown but that was mainly cuz I didn;t eat a thing all night - twat. Anyhoo we went to the Briar Rose first and hung out a bit with Tony Lee who is a thoroughly nice chap, and then went to Bennetts where I allegedly spoke to Paul Cornell for about 20 minutes (wish I remembered that - sigh) and apparently he introduced my podcasty partner to the SFX editor who is thinking of doing an article on podcasts (and Paul had said we'd done a cool interview with him) to which my partner said 'oo your forums are shit'. Nice one - guess we won't be in SFX anytime soon now *fume*.


So onto Sunday, a very nice chap walked up to me as I was (literally) running off for the Tank Girl panel and said 'are you Iz?'.........'uh...yeah?' says I..'oh i listen to your podcast - I've got a comic for you' says he and hands me a very glossy looking copy of High Pilot....now i'm so hungover and in a panic about missing TG I kinda stood there and said 'oh thank you' a lot like an idiot and then ran away. So I am very very sorry Dom Regan and next time I will be more polite :D


So on to the highlight of my Con - the Tank Girl panel.....Squuueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!
Bloody awesome stuff - I'd seen Rufus Dayglo around the day before and kept bottling going up to him to get a sketch and signature on my shiny Megazine I'd brought along. Seriously I am pathetic when it comes to meeting artists or writers (actually musicians too - there's a particularly cringe-worthy encounter with Clint Mansell from PWEI c.1995 I try to forget) which is why I've only ever approached Charlie Adlard for a sketch before (for the record: one of the nicest men in comics ever). ANYWAY, went to the panel, sadly Alan Martin couldn't be there, but Rufus did a bloody great solo job - loads of great anecdotes about the creation and continuation of Tank Girl....I think Damon Albarn will be forever known as Demon Arseburn to me now :D


After the panel Mr Dayglo did a signing session and I got in the queue after having a tantrum that I'd forgotten to buy the elusive KitKat for him - which I had been banging on about all weekend - so my lovely husband ran off to get me one while I queued :) I heart him.

When it was my turn I had planned to say (all suave-like) 'Hi, I read on your blog that you draw TG in a dark room with copious cups of tea and an endless supply of KitKats, so i thought you might be missing them, here you are' but what came out was 'I.read.on.your.blog.you.like KitKats.....so.here.is.a.KitKat'. twat. Luckily Mr Dayglo was extremely happy with the KitKat, did me a bloody awesome close-up of TG's face, and after I commented on how awesome it was to be able to look through his sketch books/portfolios in the panel, he dived into one of them, pulled out a sketch of what will be the cover of the next Megazine and signed it 'Thank you for the Kit Kat'. He is my new favourite person ever. (Not in a creepy wear-his-skin-for-a-hat way, just a he-is-brilliant way) :D :D :D

So after that we trundled back to the con floor, i was given two very lovely sketches I'd asked for earlier in the day - Tank Girl of course - one from Simon Wyatt (Orang Utan Comics), and one from Stu.Art (Monkeys with Machineguns)....I sat on the table for a bit until our lift got restless, we said our goodbyes and wandered off, all misty-eyed like until Bristol Con 09. *sob*

Now all I gots to do is win the Lottery so I can go to Leeds and Dublin next month :(