Lorenzo and I have been lucky enough to be a part of the MCM Comic Village since the beginning (superbly organised by Emma Vieceli, whose collected volume of Dragon Heir is really rather wonderful). Back then there were only a handful of comic folks in attendance ... but now ... well just look at this!
The Expo is a very bright and cheerful event (I've never seen so many people so happy to part with so much money!) and it certainly helps if your books are vibrant. We were extremely pleased to find ourselves positioned next to fellow DFC stars, Neil Cameron and Sarah McIntyre and directly opposite master craftsman, Garen Ewing. What an amazing wealth of talent!
Here's Lorenzo scribbling away ... Neill and Sarah are sharing a joke about flatcaps.
Garen is a hard working soul. He didn't move from this position all weekend (except to ask the name of the person that he was dedicating the book to) and kept The Rainbow Orchid sketches coming.
We often bump into friends from the industry at these events and so it was delightful to spend some time joking about with the mighty Steve White (comic creator and editor for Titan). Here's a shot of Lorenzo striking a "who cut the cheese?" pose while Steve does his very best to ignore him. And the cheese.
Lorenzo was only around for the Saturday, so Sunday morning I had a little time to walk the floor and take a few pics before the hoards entered for round 2.
Look what I found .... A DELOREON! But are the hover boards even better than the car?
This is probably one of the best shows in the UK for STUFF. I was very nearly kicked out of the show for diving headfirst into this sea of plushies. It was worth it to see the angry stallholder waving a three-foot cuddly Zelda in the air as I legged it back to our stand.
But for all it's ups, the weekend had a single, extremely amusing down (in hindsight, that is). On Sunday - having enjoyed a little too much Saturday night hospitality from some dear friends - I awoke an hour early because I'd completely forgotten about the clocks going back. I then spent the rest of the day feeling extremely tender, a situation that was made MUCH worse by the japanese drum troupe that decided to set up camp one metre from my throbbing head. They played every hour ON the hour and if it wasn't for the god-like Neill Cameron and his generous application of coffee, I would not have survived.
And yes, Neill, it WAS a unique cup holder.
Yet survive I did, and we'd like to thank every fan and friend, new and old, who came over to say hi and pick up a book. You guys keep us going, keep us creating and continue to spread the good word about our comic tales. We look forward to seeing you at the next show!
Oh, and last but not least, our good friend Kat Nicholson drew me this rather cool birthday card. Nice alliteration, lady!
