Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand I’m back. I’ve just returned from an exhausting, extended weekend in sunny London; where I went to the London Film and Comic Con, visited friends and saw Coldplay perform at Crystal Palace. And I managed to get sunburn, huzzah!
Yep, for the first time in a decade, I went to a Film/Comic convention, and it was fun. Got to shake hands and get a photo with Warwick Davies (he of Willow/Star Wars/Leprechaun fame), who has normal man-sized hands. And Lou Ferigno (he of Incredible Hulk fame), who has giganto hands, which could have encircled my head and crushed it like a grape, if I had looked at him funny. But he didn’t, I gave him a look of fear, and he seemed content.
Both were perfect gents, unlike Val f**king Kilmer, who was too busy doing whores and crack and then hiding the OD’ed whores’ bodies, to turn up. (This may not have been the reason for his non-appearance, but it’s the only one I’ll accept.) Yes, I was going to queue and pay money for an autograph of Val. Not for any great love of the man, but as a present for my Mum, who is the only person I know that loved the movie version of
The Saint. It was the first DVD she bought when my folks finally got a DVD player.
Yes, I know.
The Saint.
Val Kilmer,
The Saint.
But now my Mum will have to make-do with a lesser gift; any suggestions, let me know. Anyway I took my Val-money and spent it on the entire run of
Brodie’s Law, a new mini-series published by
Pulp Theatre. They had a stall at the Comic Con, where the two artists DALEY OSIYEMI and DAVID BIRCHAM were signing copies of the comic and giving away posters. The comic caught my eye as it was written by Alan Grant, whose run on
Batman and
Detective Comics was the Batman I grew up with and for me, one of the definitive takes on the character. When talking about current comics he loved, Bircham mentioned the recent
Age of Apocalypse (
sheesh) but as he was talking about Chris Bachalo’s artwork, I guess I could forgive him. He was also trying hard to boost the book, by saying that Renny Harlin (director of
Die Hard 2 and that shit
The Haunting remake) had written the introduction for the trade paperback. Again, something I’d probably keep quiet, but different strokes for different folks. As I’m only halfway through
Brodie’s Law, I’ll leave reviewing it ‘til I’m finished.
I also spent my hard-earned money on a giant Brian Bolland print of Batgirl swinging into action, which I then had the hassle of transporting across London via the tube and eventually the coach back home.

Also while in the Big Smoke, I visited Forbidden Planet London, and picked up
Essential Luke Cage Vol.1. Reading the first issue, it’s great to see Marvel jumping on the Blaxpoitation bandwagon so readily. The origin issue starts as a rip-off of
The Slams, the Jim Brown prison flick and then mutates into a story of mad scientists using Luke Cage as a guinea pig. Its good ‘70s fun, which is why I prefer the Essential Collections that start in the 70s, rather than the traditional silver age Stan Lee-penned 60s tales.
Essential X-Men, Punisher and
Howard the Duck are much easier and entertaining reads for me than the traditional
Essential FF/Avengers fare. Don’t get me wrong, I love the concepts and the fun of the Silver Age, but the writing and dialogue of the time always sets my teeth on edge.
Which is one of the reasons I also bought
Superman/Batman: Public Enemies by Jeph Loeb and Ed McGuiness. This 1st collection of the series brings back the fun of the Silver Age (giant Superman/Batman robots, Krypto, Luthor in robot suit) and matches it with modern writing techniques. A good story, with great art by McGuiness which perfectly captures the exuberance of the Silver Age period. The writing is strong from Loeb, who avoids the typical “You are day and I am the night” clichés, that are usually rife in such World’s Finest scenarios. Instead he shows that Superman and Batman are both intelligent, fully formed characters.
Comics I’ll be buying next week:
A fairly average week for me:
Albion: Alan Moore via Leah Moore tackles British Superheroes. ‘Nuff Said.