The Invasion of Normandy

Well I did it! I managed to survive my weekend at a Convention in Lille, despite being surrounded by Heavyweight Drinking Champions like Glenn Fabry and Jock!
It all kicked off last Friday when I met up at Waterloo station with Glenn, Alan Mitchell, Mike Carey, Liam Sharpe and his Mam Tor crew, Jamie Delano, Matt “D’Israeli” Brooker and various other creators (the memory of whom has probably been washed out of my damaged brain cells by the vast quantities of Kronenberg and Champagne consumed over the weekend!).

Here's some of the Mam Tor crew waiting at Waterloo:




And their chief, sat alongside goth-babe Emma:




We all boarded the Eurostar and it didn’t take long for the marathon geek conversations to go into full swing, specially as I was sat opposite Liam Sharpe. He’s convinced me to pick up the Battlestar Galactica box-sets and I loudly regailed the whole carriage with my hatred of Russell T. Davies’ Doctor Who and Superman Returns. I had to feel sorry for the poor bloke trapped with us who quietly endured our rants… it never crossed my mind that he was part of the Norman Comics Invasion but to my embarrassment he turned out to be Eisner-nominated cult cartoonist Roger Langridge, but he was too shy to reveal his identity until we reached Lille!
Here's your chance to memorise Roger's features, so you don't make the same faux pas as mine:





Once we arrived at our destination, so commenced that most impossible of tasks: herding comic strip artists. Y’know I think it was easier to transport those ancient monoliths to Stone Henge than it is to get a bunch of comic strip creators to go anywhere. And even harder to lift them up into verticle position after a night’s entertainment. No-one will assume command and you’ll always have to wait around for various stragglers who’ve wandered off for a wee or a fag or something.

I thought we were never gonna get out of the train terminal, but eventually we were rescued by Julien, the event organisor who whisked us all over to the Convention hall!
Once there, we were greeted by Jock, Bryan Talbot, Adi Granov and Dominic Reardon, who had arrived the day earlier. And then, the sketching began.

Later that night, once we dumped our bags off at the hotel, Mister Bed City, (which could only be described as municipal… but adequate) we were then ferried in fours to a seafood restaurant.

Here's genial Mike and Lyn Carey awaiting their dessert:


And Dave Kendall and Dominic Reardon, two comic superstars in waiting:





I didn’t drink that night ‘cos I didn’t want to disrupt the course of anti-biotics that are treating the infected flea-bite that’s eating away at my foot.
But it was a pleasant meal and the company was great. I was sat next to Ali Powers, one of Liam’s Mam Tor crew and he’s ball of anarchic comic energy in the vein of Chris Morris.

Here's Ali with Alan Mitchell...



And Mister Glenn fabry, still sober at this point, with Adi Gronov's better half:



The next day was spent sketching away for a small collection of French, Belgian and Dutch comic fans (the latter of whom were interested to meet me because of my Don Lawrence connection. He’s considered a demi-god in Holland). I sold a few originals which was good. One page in particular from “Johann’s Tiger” nearly didn’t make it into my portfolio ‘cos I never really liked it and thought no-one would want to buy it. But I thought “mark it down cheap and maybe someone’ll take it off your hands”… it’s always worth having a few cheapies in there. However, a fan called Patrick nearly fainted when he saw it… “One of my favourite pages! I’ve always dreamed of owning it! And… and… so CHEAP!” He admitted he’d have paid ten times as much for it. Sigh. You just never know…


It wasn’t a great turn out, and I felt a little sorry for the organisers, specially as they took such good care of us. We didn’t have to spend a single euro: they took care of every meal, travel, hotel and drink expense.

So, that night we took over a comic-themed bar whose walls were covered in original Red Sonja art… it was a free bar and we commenced to drink and drink and drink! To hell with the anti-biotics!

I was sat between comic’s own “gay icon” Liam Sharpe and the ever jolly Jock and opposite Bryan Talbot, and let me tell you, the anecdotes flowed! All sorts of unrepeatable tales and gossip about my fellow comic creators! I was crying with laughter!

It was such a great atmosphere that even comicdom’s answer to Alan Bennet, the eccentric and insanely talented Matt “D’Israeli” Brooker was seen engaging in frenetic folk dancing with some poor French wench!

Here's Matt acting slightly more reserved:


I was then treated to the glorious spectacle of Glenn Fabry and Jock consuming enough alcohol to fill the Grand Canyon!
Here they are with Dominic Reardon looking on cautiously...


I was truly impressed… and called it an early night at three in the morning. They carried on ‘til eight which I know‘cos and they woke me up bundling Glenn’s comatose body through the hotel corridor back to his room.

Only a vague headache the next day, but quite a few of the others looked like extras from “Sean of the Dead”. I had a quick run around Lille in order to sight-see and take some reference photos and then it was back to the Train Station for the Eurostar back to Waterloo… and, sadly, reality!