Fly me to the moon 2

Dan liked my superman/disappearing moon story so much, he drew it properly. Pencils below. A slight improvement on mine, I think you'll agree.

Okay, now for MUCH better drawings

Dan's card on my birthday this year:



And a card he drew for me for my birthday the year before:



And the year before that. Timothy Dalton is giving me a cup of tea in a nice china teacup and Sean Bean has got me some French Fancies. Perfection? Why yes.

Hallmark eat your heart out

And, finally, here is the Valentine card I made for Dan. I am a one woman Moonpig.

Birthday Card 2008

And, while I'm on the subject, here's the card - which was more of a fanzine - which I made for Dan's birthday the previous year. The drawings are deliberately bad, of course...

Birthday Card 2009

Dan's birthday is in October so this post is very belated. I was sorting through a pile of Dan's artwork when I came across the card I made for him last year. I destroyed what was probably a sacred comic story in my endeavour - but I should add it was a reprint of the book. I also used an entire bottle of Tip-Ex - one of the comic book vandal's tools.

Mini Comic-Con

We didn't go to San Diego, thanks to Dan's heavy workload and our light bank balance, but we did go to a local shindig, part of our local literary festival.

It was a small affair, with only a handful of speakers, but it did mean we had easy access to them: Pat Mills, Alan Davis, Dez Skinn and Rian Hughes.

Pat Mills talked at length about Requiem - a vampire epic - and he had an intriguing take on the comics industry. He has taken his wares to France, where comic books, he explained, are treated with a bit more reverence. Requiem has proved a major hit over there, even inspiring a clothing range, based on the costume designs in the book.



Alan Davis talked about his work and his methods at length. He talked about how he doesn't see comic panels and pages, as some do, like film scenes or film sequences. He used a page with huge motion lines and sound effects to illustrate his thinking. Comics can do things which film can't.

Dan chatted to Pat Mills about how to get kids reading comics, he talked to Alan Davis about drawing and Dez Skinn and he talked Doctor Who.



It was a small event, it rained mostly, and it meant getting up early on a Sunday - unheard of. Well done, our usually crap little city for organising it, though. They even have a Marvel Studies night class running at the university in September. About time, considering Dundee's history with folk like Dudley Watkins.

Chat Noir

This picture has nothing to do with this blog post. It's Cosmo, soaking up some sun beams this afternoon on the back of the sofa. He disappeared into the garden around 10pm, came back half an hour later, making a lot of noise. We got up to see what the commotion was about - a very large and very dead mouse. He's been doing this a lot lately. He's so proud afterwards but we're torn between praising/thanking him and feeling very sorry for the little mice (exactly like Mouse Guard!) and birds.

We've had a noir week, while I've been on holiday and Dan sits at his desk. So far we've watched, Double Indemnity, The Killers, In a Lonely Place, Gilda, The Lady from Shanghai...I think that's all.



In a Lonely Place has to be the best so far. Bogart is troubled, Gloria Grahame smoulders and the story isn't just the usual man loses his soul thanks to some dame. The sense of alienation is palpable in this film. Bogart's character keeps weird hours - setting him apart from normal society; his apartment has barred gates; light filters through venetian blinds creating a cage-like effect. The film really has something to say about man's dark places and the psychological prison we can all find ourselves in.



Bogart is playing a freelance in this... I just hope Dan doesn't try to strangle me some day...