Going Orbital!

Space, and all that implies, seems to be the focus of this month...

I took my final masters class last week, leaving the huge empty space that is the summer holidays to finish my dissertation. I'm excited, because I'm having fun writing it.

This week also saw the Neil Gaiman Doctor Who episode, which was suitably thrilling...okay so it was one of the best episodes I've ever seen. Just brilliant writing. I also met up with Idris at Bristol comic expo, where the police box was just parked in the lobby of the hotel. As you do.

Although I only stayed for the first day, I had long chats with Andy Bloor, Tony Hitchman, Ben Dickson and Andrew Cheverton about various schemes and plots we plan to enact together. It was a lot of fun. The real joy of the day was discovering Orbital, a comic drawn by French creator Serge Pelle.



After chatting to him for a while (via his translator, the awesome Guillaume Rater), I bought volume one of the series, and got a sketch inside! The quality and production of these European comics is astounding, and I look forward to collecting more in the future.

The Pilgrim's Progress

I undertook my annual pilgrimage to Bristol Comic Expo on the 22-23rd of May, during a heat-wave that was very unkind to the hordes of my nerdy people in attendance. It was a fun albeit sweaty event in which many comics were signed, many panels attended, and many obscure pop culture references thrown around.


Aside from picking up some Madman and Spirit back issues (and sporting a fetching laminated lanyard), I bought Jonathan Ross and Tommy Lee Edwards' new comic Turf and hounded Kieron Gillen after his Marvel panel talk until he signed his first issue of Thor.
Dave Hitchcock was giving away artwork for his new graphic novel Madame Samurai which looked incredible, and I was lucky enough to discover some new indie publishers that I'd never heard of, among them Atomic Diner who can be found at http://www.atomicdiner.com

Nich Angell also rocked my world http://www.nichangell.co.uk/

Many have complained about the change in venue and drop in sponsors for Bristol in the last few years but the convention will always be important for me as it was my first convention, one I have travelled to visit for many years. It remains the safest place to geek out every May. I can't wait until next year.