Tonight is our third night of geeky, nerdy shenanigans with a few hundred like-minded folks. This is the 7th (or maybe 8th) time we’ve attended and, as I get older, three day benders do get slightly harder but the pay-off is the opportunity to meet some of our idols.
For many in attendance this may be one of the living Doctor Who actors like Sylvester McCoy, or to have the opportunity to see Gil Gerard (80s TV’s Buck Rogers) being slightly uncomfortable and creepy with a much younger woman. That’s not really my jam, although I confess I did geek out slightly earlier this year at the previous event when meeting Flash Gordon and Voltan in the flesh.
This year however was a great opportunity to sling some cards around to promote the podcast and do my standard thing – gassing with comic book artists and perhaps commission a sketch or two. In previous years I’ve had Conan and Solomon Kane by the likes of Boo Cook and Will Simpson, Slough Feg by Glenn Fabry and East Meg One’s own Marshall Kazan by the mighty and now sadly departed Carlos Ezquerra.
This year however my standard thing had a specific focus. Find an artist with a similar love for Moorcock. Some years back Clint Langley, well known in the comics world for his work on The ABC Warriors and in the RPG world for cover art on a number of W40k games including the Dark Heresy core rulebook, delivered to me a rather marvellous Torquemada (see 2000ad’s Nemesis the Warlock) and I hoped that he would be present as his art style would be perfect for an Elric commission.
I was not disappointed.
It turns out Clint is a longstanding Moorcock fan and even confessed to reading some Elric stories to his kids! His detailed, moody and baroque art style delivered the goods.
Not only will this join the array of great art I’ve picked up over the years, but it will now take pride of place!
Thanks Clint.
Next week – BITR at Thought Bubble
Breakfast in the Ruins 