Saturday 9th June saw two comic book signings take place within 5 minutes walk of each other in central London. The larger of the two was the appearance of Mark Millar at the rather large Forbidden Planet shop, whilst the slightly lower-key IDW triumvirate of Chris Ryall, Simon Furman and Nick Roche held court at Orbital Manga a few streets over. Having met the rather successful Scottish writer on far too many occasions, I spent the majority of my time with the IDW contingent. It was Chris Ryall’s first time in London and he obviously decided it was worth getting reinforcements in to sign alongside him, and who better than Transformers legend Simon Furman and hot new artist (and writer) Nick Roche.
Having three people signing as opposed to one meant the signing had to be moved from the slightly smaller main Orbital Comics shop to the newer and rather smart Orbital Manga premises. Obviously the right decision as the extra space and visibility allowed a large number of people to congregate as we waited for Chris and Nick, Simon having already arrived.
Once Nick and Chris appeared the expectant queue got the chance to have their comics and graphic novels signed. Simon Furman obviously has a long track record of signings and proceeded to sign everything in sight – irregardless of whether he had written it or not, such was his enthusiasm. Nick Roche was more than happy to see lots of his Transformer work such as Spotlight: Kup and Spotlight: Shockwave being presented for defacing, whilst Chris Ryall had the more eclectic mix of books from Zombies vs Robots to Shaun of the Dead adaptations amongst many others.
Chris also had a stack of special IDW comics he had brought along for the event, including signed copies of Zombies vs Robots by Ashley Wood, and numerous variant editions of Transformer comics. And as a special surprise he had an advance copy of Spotlight: Galvatron for people to look at. Simon then spent most of the signing telling people to not look at the last page so as not to spoil the book before getting the chance to read it properly. Needless to say, the art looks great with Galvatron looking menacing with almost skeletal-like teeth. Simon also stated that between this book and the Optimus Prime spotlight, the foundation for a number of upcoming events in the main books will be laid.
Originally planned to be a one-hour signing, the people kept coming, so the guys kept signing, accompanied by the soundtrack from Transformers: The Animated Movie on continuous loop. A number of fans had artwork or story ideas they wanted to pitch to Chris, who took time to speak to everyone and gave words of advice on what they should be doing and the right people to be approaching if he felt their work wasn’t IDW’s cup of tea at the moment.
Nick spent some of his time drawing sketches that people requested. It has to be noted that the ease at which Nick can produce a sketch of Galvatron or Optimus Prime is fascinating to watch. He quite easily drew over a dozen sketches in around an hour. The most disturbing was a girl’s request for a sketch of cutesy comic character Owly. Nick’s resulting drawing consisting of Optimus Prime’s body adorned by an Owly head. Disturbing.
Over two hours after it began, the line of people (and staff) wanting sketches and books signing started to wind down, Simon obviously was more eager to get to the pub than the others as he was first to emerge from behind the signing table. Stopping just short of dragging Chris and Nick out of the shop, we eventually managed to wander around to a pub near Forbidden Planet where we had heard whispers of Mark Millar’s signing going around the shop floor and down the street, hundreds of people eager to get their Civil War comics signed. Ducking into the depths of the pub we found a number of people, a mixture of people from Millarworld, wanderers from Forbidden Planet, and other comic industry people such as Tony Lee (Starship Troopers), Rufus Dayglo (Tank Girl) and Mike Conroy (Comics International).
Four hours after his signing started, Mark Millar joins us in the pub for a little while before being whisked off to dinner. He later returned and rejoined the frivolities as people talked shop amidst numerous pints of Guinness and beer. Millar drew two sketches that I can’t even talk about for fear of being sued, and Nick Roche drew a deceased Outback sketch for me from his Spotlight: Kup book. Internet gossip hound Rich Johnson decided to ignore everyone and played video-bowling at one point and was mistaken for Justin Lee Collins by the bar staff.
As the afternoon turned into evening, people started drifting away to catch trains and planes. The signings are already a hazy memory from an afternoon long gone, but one thing for sure is that Simon, Chris, Mark and Nick were all truly surprised at the number of people who came out to see them and also very happy for the opportunity to meet people who appreciate what they do. Some fans couldn’t believe they had met Simon Furman - the man whose Transformers UK stories probably got them into comics – Nick Roche couldn’t believe it either, and he will forever be grateful he is doing what he loves. It’s that enthusiasm that emanates from all of the signers, no matter what they write or draw that made a great day for everyone.
Not sure about the hangovers the following morning though.
James Dodsworth - Born and raised in Yorkshire, residing in London since 2000, James has a Law Degree and works for the Anti-Financial Crime Office of a International Asset Management Company. He is a writer and editor for FractalMatter.com.
But his main claim to fame is living next to the pub where Shaun of the Dead was conceived.