NerDgasm V - A New Beginning!

That man Big Dave F has been tugging at my electronic coattails again. He wants me to remind you that it's NerDgasm time! Yes, gentle readers, the capital's finest pub quiz is back, and it's moving up in the world! Dave's old base of operations, The Green Man and French Horn, has been evacuated in favour of a new secret HQ - legendary Soho watering hole, The Pillars Of Hercules. Just round the corner from Foyles and that place which sells art books upstairs and porn downstairs, (so I've heard, ahem), The Pillars is one of London's most historic pubs. It got a mention in A Tale of Two Cities and still attracts its fair share of literary luvvies, dontcha know? Now, YOU have chance to rub shoulders with these Soho types AND a smattering of confused tourists. Just imagine!

The quiz kicks off 19:00 hours this Sunday. As per usual questions will ALL be comic, SF, horror or computer game related. Already confirmed are myself and fellow defending champion John "Eyemelt" Bishop. Rumours abound that London's premier purveyor of four colour filth, Mr Andrew Salmond will be in attendance, and, of course, there will be the usual tattoeed ladies and muscle fans to compete with. Everyone who enters gets a prize, and, no doubt, there will be the odd mini-game round to keep interest in proceedings high. It's a top, top night, so make sure you're there.

Map showing the location of The Pillars of Hercules HERE

Reports on previous NerDgasm nights HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE

Top Panel!

or should I say "topless"?

Scan lifted from a discussion of Wally Wood's Cannon, on the 11 O'Clock comic forums

Cat Tatt

I've seen some strange superhero tattoos in my time, but this one takes the biscuit...

If you don't recognise this spandex-clad puking cat go HERE

Talking of The Twelve...

via Twitter.

Return

I wouldn't say that my batteries are recharged, but I thought that I'd better give the old blog a bit of a stroke before it slinks off to die. So what to say? Well, I went to the Isle of Man for an interview for a job as Social Media Community Manager for a big poker website. Grand old job title, eh? Basically it involved looking after their presence on blogs, forums, Twitter, Facebook etc. I suppose I should be happy that I made the second round of interviews, sadly I just ended up gutted that I didn't go all the way and get the job. I've never mentioned it on here before, but I like a game of cards. Poker's actually a fairly easy game to become half competent at, and when you do it's entirely possible to make a small amount of money at it. People find that hard to believe, but it's true. Honestly, I could teach anyone to nick a few quid playing low stakes poker. For several years I paid for my comics habit by grinding out profit on a number of online cardrooms. The money I was making was roughly equivalent to what I could've earned working at McDonalds, but playing poker can be fun, whereas flipping burgers and spitting in milkshakes is, well, not. Anyway, I digress, having spent a large whack of the last ten years at the card table I was well up for the idea of working in the industry. It wasn't to be, and while I'm not about to top myself, I didn't feel much like writing anything about comics for a few days after failing to land the job. Sometimes it goes like that.

I'm over the blues now though, so it seems like a good time to resume the old spandex related blathering. Trouble is I haven't got much to say today. Of the stuff I've read lately I can heartily recommend The Twelve: Spearhead, a one-shot drawn and written by Chris Weston. We all know the sad story of The Twelve - great series that just stopped coming out four issues from the end. Well, this isn't issue #9, but it is a fantastic World War II superhero caper featuring all your favourites from The Twelve, plus some special guest stars. The story is a pleasing wee romp, but it's the art that makes this one worth a punt. Weston's one of the best in the biz and he's on fire here. After seeing him draw Nazis, secret bases and WWII tanks I can only say that, even if The Twelve never finishes up, this man needs to draw an Invaders book.

Hello

Cheers to all those who have asked where I am.

I'm taking a brief blog break.

Back soon.

That is all.

Real Life

Off to the Isle of Man for a job interview. Blog silence for the next couple of days.