I'm not only going to be a guest at the Dundee Literary Festival on the 26th & 27th of October, but they've even put my face on the cover of the official programme , alongside some very esteemed company such as William McIlvanney.
I'm obviously there to represent the Comics Day section of the Festival. Either that, or they think I'm in some way comical looking...
This year's Comics Day is subtitled Starblazers! Creators of British Science Fiction Comics and features a host of guests, including my partner-in-crime on Nikolai Dante Simon Fraser, Simon Furman, Ian Kennedy, Kev Hopgood, Sydney Jordan, Annie Parkhouse and Steve Parkhouse, amongst others.
Simon Fraser and I are onstage at 1.30pm on the 27th, at the D'Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre and Baxter Suite, Tower Building, University of Dundee, although the event begins at 10am. We'll mainly be discussing our 15-year collaboration on the adventures of Nikolai Dante, serialised in the iconic UK SF comic 2000AD from 1997-2012 and collected into 11 Graphic Novels - but will also touch on other projects, such as - you guessed it - Drowntown.
The Lakes International Comic Arts Festival is shaping up to be one of the most exciting events on the convention circuit. The town of Kendal will play host to a grand celebration of the comics medium, modelled on the famous Angouleme Festival in France, but with a uniquely British flavour.
And if the thought of all the breathtaking artwork that will be on display - including exhibitions devoted to both Bryan Talbot and Sean Philips - isn't enough to have you booking your tickets, Kendal is located on the edge of the Lake District, which has more than a few breathtaking sights of its own.
On Sunday 20th October, at 14.00, I'll be one of the Cape Crusaders, in a panel focusing on and celebrating the eclectic and critically acclaimed range of Graphic Novels published by Jonathan Cape, one of which just happens to be...
The panel is chaired by leading comics scholar Dr. Mel Gibson, and guests include Cape Publisher Dan Franklin, Katie Green, Isabel Greenberg and that dynamic duo Gary and Warren Pleece.
The previous night, Saturday 19th October, 20.30, I'll be appearing at 2000AD: An On-Earth Odyssey, which the Festival Organsers have promised will be a panel 'with a difference'. Naive optimist that I am, I asked if this meant we'd be plied with champagne beforehand and escorted onstage by Las Vegas showgirls...
A star-studded line-up (in the comics world at least) includes former Thargs David Bishop and Andy Diggle, artists Gary Erskine and Dave Taylor (both of whom I recently worked with on Judge Dredd), Simon Fraser, my artistic partner-in-crime for 15 years on the swashbuckling adventures of Nikolai Dante, and the legendary creators of Judge Dredd, John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra.
A cornucopia of comics talent surrounded by spectacular landscapes? If you ask me, you've only got one choice. Be there or be square.
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