[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":11},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog-post-reporting-back-from-expo":3},{"_type":4,"body":5,"bodyHtml":6,"excerpt":5,"featuredImage":5,"publishedAt":7,"slug":8,"tags":9,"title":10},"blogPost",null,"\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mcmexpo09_24-27afe3b098.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nHere's me selling a few bits and bobs at \u003Ca href=\"http://www.garynorthfield.co.uk\">Gary Northfield\u003C/a>'s table at \u003Ca href=\"http://www.londonexpo.com/show_features/comic_village__expo.html\">London's MCM Expo\u003C/a>, where he kindly let me crash for a few hours. Look, he drew a picture for me!\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mcmexpo_gary-6b276e1d82.gif\">\\r\n\\r\nThis one's from one of my favourite \u003Ci>Little Cutie\u003C/i> strips, with Sophie the cygnet and Dudley the squirrel (Sophie's short-term boyfriend who is not quite up to the task). \u003Ca href=\"http://www.garynorthfield.co.uk/USERIMAGES/cutie-dudley.jpg\">(Read it here!)\u003C/a>\\r\n\\r\nGary asked me to draw Derek the sheep and Vern in pirate costumes, so here it is:\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mcmexpo09_25-d017c0404f.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWe had some lovely small press favourites a few tables over: \\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mcmexpo09_26-91d5ae39f4.jpg\"> \u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mcmexpo09_27-697e31887b.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://www.beaverandsteve.com\">James Turner\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://www.daedalusblue.com\">John Aggs\u003C/a> (both DFC mates), and London Underground Comic's \u003Ca href=\"http://www.modernmonstrosity.co.uk\">Oliver Lamden\u003C/a>. James spoke on a panel with \u003Ca href=\"http://www.marcellerby.com\">Marc Ellerby\u003C/a> (\u003Ci>Ellerbisms\u003C/i>), \u003Ca href=\"http://www.scarygoround.com\">John Allison\u003C/a> (\u003Ci>Scary Go Round\u003C/i>) and \u003Ca href=\"http://spoonbard.com\">Paul Duffield\u003C/a> (\u003Ci>\u003Ca href=\"http://www.freakangels.com\">Freakangels\u003C/a>, Manga Shakespeare\u003C/i>).\\r\n\\r\nHere's the loot I picked up:\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mcmexpo_loot-87f1d8b048.jpg\">\\r\n\u003Ci>Penelope's Far-out-mantic\u003C/i> by \u003Ca href=\"http://meteorflo.smackjeeves.com\">Sarah Burgess\u003C/a>; \u003Ci>Harvest: the Collection\u003C/i> by \u003Ca href=\"http://asiaalfasi.com\">Asia Alfasi; \u003Ci>The Island of Dr Moreau\u003C/i> by \u003Ca href=\"http://www.gonkcomics.com\">Claude TC (\u003Ca href=\"http://ryclaude.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">ryclaude\u003C/a>), \u003Ci>The Saga ofo the European King\u003C/i> by \u003Ca href=\"http://www.semioticcohesoin.com\">Tom McNally\u003C/a>, \u003Ci>Curtis and Terrorist 2\u003C/i> by Oliver Lamden, \u003Ci>The unfeasible adventures of Beaver & Steve, volume 2 1/2: the owl of regret\u003C/i> by \u003Ca href=\"http://www.beaverandsteve.com\">James Turner\u003C/a>, \u003Ci>The Adventures of Ninja Bunny\u003C/i> by  \u003Ca href=\"http://www.ninja-bunny.com\">Philip Spence\u003C/a>, and I stocked up big-time on \u003Ca href=\"http://www.garynorthfield.co.uk\">Gary Northfield\u003C/a>'s stuff: \u003Ci>The Magic Yellow Trousers, The Funny Plastic Skelenton, Hillmonster and Dave the Dinosaur, Freddy and the Little Goldfish, The Monster who Enjoyed his Dreams, \u003C/i>and\u003Ci> The Little Eyeball\u003C/i>.\\r\n\u003C!--more More write-up under the cut-->\\r\nEven though I never managed to meet her (she was away from the table when I stopped by), I was chuffed to get a copy of Asia Alfasi's comic (look at that binding!). I heard her give a talk last November at Comica at the V&A and it was the first time I got to read some of her work. Really lovely linework and subtle colouring, and great to see a story told from a Muslim woman's perspective. (She'll be speaking at \u003Ca href=\"http://caption.org/2/\">Caption\u003C/a> in Oxford this August!)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mcmexpo09_21-0d32e8676c.jpg\"> \u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mcmexpo09_22-28f4495cd6.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nI was on the hunt for small-press chick lit and very happy to discover \u003Cb>Sarah Burgess\u003C/b>, who turned out to be a big fan of \u003Ci>Vern and Lettuce\u003C/i>, so we had a mutual photo fandom moment. (Here's Sarah signing my comic.) We had some great people stop by; here's Kim (\u003Ca href=\"http://yunni.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">yunni\u003C/a>: '\u003Ci>My first anime con where I cosplayed!!'\u003C/i>)\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mcmexpo09_23-c657e046b1.jpg\">\\r\n\\r\nWill Kirkby \u003Ca href=\"http://chamonkee.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">chamonkee\u003C/a>) with one of the marvelous drawings in his sketchbook.\\r\n\\r\nI sat right next to \u003Cb>Philip Spence\u003C/b>, who drew me his Ninja Bunny eating a carrot sandwich. Yay!\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mcmexpo_philspence-a737c713f6.gif\">\\r\n\\r\n\u003Cimg src=\"https://images.jabberworks.co.uk/lj/mcmexpo09_18-978580c8bf.jpg\">\\r\nThe cutest hamster I have ever seen with Faye \u003Ca href=\"http://fayeyong.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">fayeyong\u003C/a>) and \u003Ca href=\"http://fehed.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">fehed\u003C/a>. I also got to see \u003Ca href=\"http://mondoagogo.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">mondoagogo\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILYA\">Ilya\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://seanazz.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">seanazz\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.nickabadzis.com\">Nick Abadzis\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.deemonproductions.com/\">Andie Tong\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://ushiospad.blogspot.com\">Chris Bottoms\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://littleterrorscomic.com\">John Scrivens\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://the-ledge.diviantart.com\">Michael James Hatch\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.zzizzi.com\">Dennis Morrison\u003C/a>, \u003Ca href=\"http://www.tripwireannual.com/\">Joel Meadows\u003C/a> and a bunch of other great people but somehow managed to miss seeing \u003Ca href=\"http://danse-macabre.nu\">Kate Brown\u003C/a> (darn).\\r\n\\r\nAnd, of course, the amazing \u003Ca href=\"http://emma.sweatdrop.com\">Emma Vieceli\u003C/a> (\u003Ca href=\"http://emmav.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">emmav\u003C/a>), who took on the enormous task of planning this all for the expo's Comics Village, and managed to do it splendidly despite only having the use of one arm (which hopefully is feeling better). \u003Cb>Thanks, Emma!!\u003C/b> This  trade fair had a great amosphere, really small-press friendly and the 20,000 or so unaccompanied kids and teenagers running around were boisterous but remarkably good-natured. I hope I'll get back there next year!\\r\n\\r\n(You can see lots more photos of remarkable costumes in my last two posts \u003Ca href=\"om/201149.html\">here\u003C/a> and \u003Ca href=\"http://jabberworks.livejournal.com/201223.html\">here\u003C/a>.)\\r\n\u003Ci>Edit:\u003C/i> And \u003Ca href=\"http://ryclaude.livejournal.com/144868.html\">more fab costume pics here\u003C/a> from \u003Ca href=\"http://ryclaude.livejournal.com/\" class=\"lj-user\">ryclaude\u003C/a>!\\r\n\u003Ca href=\"http://emmav.livejournal.com/245309.html\">Emma Vieceli's write up here!\u003C/a>","2009-05-24T17:10:00.000Z","reporting-back-from-expo",[],"reporting back from expo!",1776628732567]