ANGOULÊME

I'm back from Angoulême (via Bordeaux) and I had a brilliant time. I did ensure I packed everything I needed for the journey... everything except my camera of course. Why the hell would I need a camera?!? So, anyway, after kicking myself quite hard, I had to rely on my rather poor camera phone for the odd snap here and there but to be fair, this is such a heavily reported event my pictures would differ little from the many thousands out there... except in quality as you'll soon see.

So, last Wednesday was a very very early morning start. For a guy who's 5 yr old son wakes him at 5am to ask him deeply profound questions like "what do cows eat?" (seriously) 4am is cruelly early but I had a flight to catch. I got up and got ready as quietly as possible, contemplating getting my own back on my 5 yr old by waking him up and asking him some deeply profound question or other when the cab arrived and I was off.

I'll skip the part about arriving at the airport way too early and smooth over it... pretend it didn't happen. So, as I was saying, I landed in Bordeaux at midday and was met by Emmanuel Bouteille, who, along with Richard Saint-Martin, is Akileos. The boss. We then headed off to a signing at Mollat via Emmanuel's house (he has a bookshelf to die for). Mollat is a HUGE store. I believe its one of the biggest in France. I mean its REALLY big. And the store windows had a big promotion on for the festival.

See? Not a very good photo. Don't worry, the photo's get worse.

I signed a few books there and then it was off to Angoulême with a van full of books.

It was dark when we arrived and no I hadn't been blind folded and thrown in the back of the van. We quickly located our table and unpacked meeting up with Richard and the rest of the gang, including Julien Flamand and Mara. After setting up for the following day and after I dropped my suitcase (containing an as yet undiscovered exploded tube of toothpaste) at a gorgeous guestroom in the old town (conveniently just around the corner from a bar called Le Chat Noir) we headed off for one of the best meals I've, frankly, EVER eaten.

Cognac as a nightcap I hit the hay.

Following morning and the first day of the festival proper. We were joined by other Akileos artists and writers, including Ronan Toulhoat, Guillaume Griffon, Christian Straboni (had a great chat with him about Caniff and Robbins), Yigaël, Loïc Godart.

Now, I'll say straight off, I didn't see everything that was on show at Angoulême. I was there to sign books and that's exactly what I did besides eat incredible food and drink lots of wine. I sat and drew for I've no idea how many people from the day I got there to the day I left. My experience of the festival is not one of sight seeing and gallery hopping - although I did go to a gallery event one evening at the Maison Des Auteurs, I think on the Thursday, courtesy of artist and adventurer, Dan Berry who was on Erasmus exchange with the Ecole Supérieure de l’Image (where we marveled at the beautiful work of resident, Lorenzo Chiavini). The town itself is quite clearly marked by the event, with paintings on walls of famous European characters leaning out of windows etc. And right in the middle of it all is a bust of Hergé.

I eventually managed to catch up with Emma, Doug and Lizzie of SelfMadeHero at La Chat Noir on Friday night where we stayed up till way past our bedtimes (2am - its not the years, its the mileage) talking about scary faces in mirrors and the like. I also met Gary Northfield that evening and later on the Sunday, Paul Gravett and Peter Stanbury.

I was fortunate that the tent with publishers like Dargaud, Delcourt and Glénat was right next to ours (of course this made it all the more easy for me to stay in one part of town) so I did wander over on occasion to have a gander and bought a couple of books including Les Extras De Mézieres so I was incredibly happy! Can't put the thing down, it's wonderful!

I managed to sell a LOT of books during the festival, signing and drawing in each and every one. Les Montagnes Hallucinées sold out completely. I drew a vast number of mythos beasties for a vast number of people, including one image of Cthulhu dressed in a snazzy suit, sat cross legged on a chair and drinking a cup of tea. I did also manage to doodle a little while I was there and I have, since I got home, managed to scan in my effort and color it in photoshop.

(very soon after this picture I drew Cthulhu in a suit drinking tea)

In all, Angoulême was a wonderful experience and I'm enormously grateful to my French publishers, Akileos, for inviting me out there and for looking after me. I hope to do it again next year with any luck! It was so good to see everyone again after St Malo last year and I'm pleased to say I'll be attending Quai des Bulles and meeting up with them again in October!

LES MONTAGNES HALLUCINÉES ET LE SIGNE DES QUATRE

I will be signing copies of At the Mountains of Madness and The Sign of the Four (and A Study in Scarlet and Hound of the Baskervilles) published by Akileos in France at La Librairie Mollat on Wednesday 26th at 4pm in Bordeaux!

I'll be then traveling up to Angoulême for the festival there on the 27th till the 30th!

(Pssst - the book Dyer is reading is A War Come Near by R. Carter)

WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE POWYS

I got back yesterday from the Guardian Hay festival in Hay-on-Wye where Edginton and I did a talk about the Holmes books we've been working on for SelfMadeHero to a packed out tent of 200 people (it was originally supposed to be 50!)

And I have to say, the festival organisers and our publishers, SelfMadeHero, looked after us tremendously well.

Hay-on Wye is a book town. The first of its kind. Richard Booth (the King of Hay-on-Wye) changed Hay from a small market town into a book town for book lovers and it's full of second-hand bookshops. Had I died and gone to heaven? It was an almost surreal experience. And Booth's own bookshop itself is absolutely wonderful. I was stood in the theology section when I was approached by the bookshop cat. I was so giddy with the idea of being in a small town with millions of books it wouldn't really have been such an unusual occurrance if the cat had asked me if I would have liked a glass of red wine!

Glorious bliss. I hope to return one day.

DAVE GIBBONS USING MANGA STUDIO!!

Dave Gibbons with a demonstration of how he uses Manga Studio.
(cheers to Faz for the heads up)

MATT SMITH IS THE ELEVENTH DOCTOR

Quite a surprise. But also quite interesting and I think quite exciting. I like his hands. I reckon he'll become known as the Doctor with the hands!

DAVID TENNANT QUITS DOCTOR WHO

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes!!! David Tennant has just announced that he's leaving Doctor Who after the next four specials which will be broadcast over the coming year.

Rumor has it that Paterson Joseph is to step into the 11th Doctor's shoes, 3-1 according to the BBC against four unlikely ones. Joseph can be seen here playing the Marquis de Carabas in Neverwhere:

And lastly, Russell Tovey was apparently RTD's tip to replace Tennant seen here playing the werewolf in the BBC pilot drama, Being Human (created and written by Doctor Who writer, Toby Whithouse - this show's getting a full series apparently):

DEATH STAR OVER SAN FRANCISCO

Thanks to Col for the heads up.

IT'S NOT POLITE TO HIT A LADY

This has 'epic' and 'kick ass' stamped all over it:

MAY THE DANCE OFF BE WITH YOU...

I love the Darth Vader Thriller dance. You'd have thought they would have let the Wookie win, right?

Which reminds me...

LAST THREE PLATES FROM WKRR? AND AN EXQUISITE CORPSE!

Here's the last three plates I did for WKRR? which oddly, when put together, even though they're divided by other contributors plates in the actual story, read straight through. Out of context, the three plates still wouldn't make much sense, but I do wonder if I'd tried this from the start if I'd been able to pull it off, having one through line in the story that could be read entirely on its own. Inspired by Dave Taylor pasting his plates together over on his blog.

And whilst on the subject of being inspired ... here's something pretty awesome:

'This is a game. It is inspired by the project "Round Robin" in where a series of professional comic artists join to create an unexpected history'

The work over on Cadaver Exquisito really is quite exquisite, so please do go check it out. I was able quite easily to work my way through the story with a translator widget (that's the glory of comics, not a lot of text).

Their contributors include Bachan, Edgar Clement (both of whom have contributed thus far), Humberto Ramos, José Quintero, Patricio Betteo, Lucas Marangon, Francisco Herrera and Tony Sandoval.

BATMAN: THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD

I'm looking forward to seeing this. Batman's going to be regularly teaming up with the likes of Aquaman, The Atom, Black Canary, Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Doctor Fate, Fire, Flash, Green Arrow, The Green Lantern Corps, Huntress, Red Tornado and Plastic Man, with Diedrich Bader providing the voice of the not-so-dark Knight. It's also great to see Jaime Reyes as the Blue Beetle.

WATCHMEN TRAILER!

Who watches the Watchmen? Well, pretty soon we'll all be watching the Watchmen as it hits cinemas March, 2009. I don't think I've ever watched a trailer so many times over. Wow. The Doc Manhattan transformation scene is really quite something.

Go and watch the Watchmen trailer for yourselves.... thanks to Apple.

SO, WHAT DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING?

I would love to just once be able to say, "I'm a beatboxing flutist".

DIONYSOS - ANIMATED VIDEOS

I discovered Dionysos through their animated videos. Check out this post from almost a year ago. Here's two more rather splendid offerings.

WHERE HAVE I BEEN ALL YOUR LIFE & GOODBYE TO THE NORMALS

I moseyed on over to the BBC's film network today completely by chance and found, much to my delight, the work of writer George Kay and director Jim Field Smith. The first is a film called "Where Have I Been All Your Life?":

A young man's personal search unlocks a series of revelations and recriminations that escalate from the emotional, via the darkly comic to the plain farcical.

And the second is "Goodbye to the Normals" which can also be seen on youtube and concerns a young boy leaving home.

'TWAS THE DARK KNIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS ...

DOCTOR WHO: VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED TRAILER

It's almost that time of year again ... no, not Christmas, the other thing ...

TO DAYS TO COME, ALL MY LOVE TO LONG AGO.

A change of desktop theme indeed. A touch of nostalgia from Doctor Who in this special for Children in Need. Note how the score changes to the eighties style fifth Doctor era midway through. Great stuff.

INDIANA JONES AND THE CRYSTAL SKULL!

The title for the new Indiana Jones movie has been revealed. More info about the Crystal Skull itself can be found in the above clip from Arthur C Clarke Mysterious World episode.

As is traditionally the case with Indiana Jones, the MacGuffin is the artifact. What the Crystal Skull is reportedly said to be able to do could be an indication of the movie's plot:

The Maya people said it was used to will death or to heal. And if like an older medicine man or witchdoctor was getting too old to perform a ceremony a young man was chosen and both laid in front of the alter and the high priest would perform a ceremony and the old man's knowledge would go into this young boy and the old man would pass away peacefully and this young boy would get up as a very knowledgeable young man. This crystal skull has tremendous power, but it also gives you a warning that something's going to happen.

Which is all pretty interesting stuff. Could Labeouf be the young man? And could John Hurt, allegedly playing Indy's mentor, Abner Ravenwood, be the old man and via this method passes on his knowledge to young Labeouf? Face it, John Hurt dies in practically every movie he's been in.

I'M NOT THERE

Staggeringly, this is Cate Blanchett dressed up as Bob Dylan for the film 'I'm Not There', which is on my 'must see' list. The film, directed by Todd Haynes, focuses on six different stages of Dylan's life and for each of these stages he's played by six different actors, including Marcus Carl Franklin, Ben Whishaw, Heath Ledger, Christian Bale and Richard Gere. The film also features David Cross, Julianne Moore, Michelle Williams and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Here's a 2 minute clip from the upcoming film which I managed to find floating around on YouTube.