The holy grail of comic signings, that bearded weirdy himself, Alan Moore!
Last night at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, near my old stomping grounds of Russell Square, Alan Moore and his partner Melinda Gebbie were doing a talk on their new work, Lost Girls. Lost Girls is a pornographic comic which took 17 years to complete, and is a tale of Wendy (Peter Pan), Alice (Wonderland) and Dorothy (Oz) meeting up in an Austrian hotel before WW1 and having sex with each other, as you do (it's best to Google it if you want to learn more - it is actually an amazing work of art, honest!).
However, as Great Ormond Street Hospital still own the rights to Peter Pan, they haven't actually been able to release the book in the UK, so the talk was on a book to an audience that hadn't had the chace to read! However, most people there knew of it, and Alan Moore himself is a fascinating individual, so it was a good evening. He and Melinda did a signing afterwards, and a few rabid nerds left the auditorium before the talk had even finished so they could get a prime spot in the signing queue! How rude! I at least stayed to the end and clapped and then rushed to the queue!
I initially wasn't sure if there was going to be a signing at all, so I'd only brought a hardback edition of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2 along on the off chance (which was already signed by the artist Kevin O'Neill). He was only signing two items per customer anyway, but by jingo by crikey did he take a long time to sign those two things per customer! If it wasn't anyone other than comic-god Alan Moore (Watchman, From Hell, LOETG etc etc), I wouldn't have bothered, as I was tired and just wanted to get home! However, he was actually taking the time to chat with the nerds, I mean fans, which was great, considering that he rarely does signings anymore. I've read online (which makes me doubt whether it's true or not) that at a convention he was followed into the toilet by a nerd to get a comic signed, that put him off going to conventions anymore! I've read that he doesn't like being a "celebrity", is a bit of a recluse, he doesn't have a passport and has never left the UK. He still lives in his home hometown of Northhampton, which from all accounts is a bit of a shithole (excuse my French), but when you are a six-foot magician who worships the Roman snake-god Glycon, wear lots of silver rings on each hands, and have an impressive beard and head of hair that you usually see on a tramp, I guess he probably doesn't want to travel to far from home anyway.
Anyway, he was actually a really nice guy (and was dressed in a suit and tie and had his mane pulled back into a pony tail), and he signed my book to me, and I told him how I was shocked that he'd turned Rupert the Bear into a crazed beast created by Doctor Moreau that has sex with gypsies (just go and read the book!), and he said it was just something that just had to be done. I also got him to sign the ticket for the event, which his equally as nice partner Melinda signed as well, so I can put that in the book of Lost Girls when it is released in the UK in 2008 (this is when the ownership rights to Peter Pan/Wendy expire, so a special UK edition will be released).
After this event, and also the few others I've been too recently, I'm a bit "signed" out. It's just so boring standing in a queue, and especially painful when you have to listen to over excited nerds in the queue, who are usually American students who speak in that loud and annoyning accent that makes you want to punch them in them in the head. Serenity now, serenity now...
Am I nerd? I guess so, but it's these uber-nerds that make me embarrassed/ashamed to be a nerd. Looking at some of the people in the audience, man was I embarrassed. The unwashed students, the goths/punks, the terminally obese, the men too old to have long hair, the men too young to be bald, the fashion-challenged...is this the world to which I belong? Sigh, I hope not. Anyway, I got on the bus and got home about 11pm to my wife who made me laugh by saying she'd spilt chocolate sauce on the floor and that the bunny had tried licking it! I hope chocolate sauce isn't fatal for rabbits...
However, as Great Ormond Street Hospital still own the rights to Peter Pan, they haven't actually been able to release the book in the UK, so the talk was on a book to an audience that hadn't had the chace to read! However, most people there knew of it, and Alan Moore himself is a fascinating individual, so it was a good evening. He and Melinda did a signing afterwards, and a few rabid nerds left the auditorium before the talk had even finished so they could get a prime spot in the signing queue! How rude! I at least stayed to the end and clapped and then rushed to the queue!
I initially wasn't sure if there was going to be a signing at all, so I'd only brought a hardback edition of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Volume 2 along on the off chance (which was already signed by the artist Kevin O'Neill). He was only signing two items per customer anyway, but by jingo by crikey did he take a long time to sign those two things per customer! If it wasn't anyone other than comic-god Alan Moore (Watchman, From Hell, LOETG etc etc), I wouldn't have bothered, as I was tired and just wanted to get home! However, he was actually taking the time to chat with the nerds, I mean fans, which was great, considering that he rarely does signings anymore. I've read online (which makes me doubt whether it's true or not) that at a convention he was followed into the toilet by a nerd to get a comic signed, that put him off going to conventions anymore! I've read that he doesn't like being a "celebrity", is a bit of a recluse, he doesn't have a passport and has never left the UK. He still lives in his home hometown of Northhampton, which from all accounts is a bit of a shithole (excuse my French), but when you are a six-foot magician who worships the Roman snake-god Glycon, wear lots of silver rings on each hands, and have an impressive beard and head of hair that you usually see on a tramp, I guess he probably doesn't want to travel to far from home anyway.
Anyway, he was actually a really nice guy (and was dressed in a suit and tie and had his mane pulled back into a pony tail), and he signed my book to me, and I told him how I was shocked that he'd turned Rupert the Bear into a crazed beast created by Doctor Moreau that has sex with gypsies (just go and read the book!), and he said it was just something that just had to be done. I also got him to sign the ticket for the event, which his equally as nice partner Melinda signed as well, so I can put that in the book of Lost Girls when it is released in the UK in 2008 (this is when the ownership rights to Peter Pan/Wendy expire, so a special UK edition will be released).
After this event, and also the few others I've been too recently, I'm a bit "signed" out. It's just so boring standing in a queue, and especially painful when you have to listen to over excited nerds in the queue, who are usually American students who speak in that loud and annoyning accent that makes you want to punch them in them in the head. Serenity now, serenity now...
Am I nerd? I guess so, but it's these uber-nerds that make me embarrassed/ashamed to be a nerd. Looking at some of the people in the audience, man was I embarrassed. The unwashed students, the goths/punks, the terminally obese, the men too old to have long hair, the men too young to be bald, the fashion-challenged...is this the world to which I belong? Sigh, I hope not. Anyway, I got on the bus and got home about 11pm to my wife who made me laugh by saying she'd spilt chocolate sauce on the floor and that the bunny had tried licking it! I hope chocolate sauce isn't fatal for rabbits...
posted by U2J at 1:16 am
2 Comments:
If you're bored in a signing queue, then do what i do and take a razzle magazine - it's a great way to get to know people when you have a group toss ove rsome randy bint
I actually prefer "Swank" magazine.
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