Previously..

"Comics Friends Assemble !" - Comics Friends United 2010

The third Comics Friends United gathering was held once again at the Pheonix Pub

near Victoria station, this year on Saturday 11th September.

The event was a month earlier than the previous two years, to avoid clashing with

any other comics related activities.

From my own personal point of view, it also meant that it didn't clash with the

Eastbourne Beer Festival, which in itself brought me two new experiences to the day:

I was awake and sober. At least to start with.

In fact upon arriving at the regular venue, I noticed something different about the

bar from previous years. It was in focus.

The name of the event had been changed to Comics Friends United on the basis that

following the two previous years, we were now reunited.

In addition, there was a CFU logo, with the letters coming from logos for Captain

America, The Flash and the Fantastic Four (for the "u"). In fact that was one of the

questions (and answers) to the quiz later on.

Whilst signing in, I did argue with Hass that the name should have retained "Reunited",

(a) because I'm a stickler for tradition and (b) being an Avengers fan, that title

doesn't have a "u" in it. Although I did suggest a more radical change to Comics

Friends Assembled, because that would permit the big "A" with the pointy arrow

from the 70's Avengers logo.

Steve Fullerton arrived and I surprised him by pointing out that

we had met once before about ten years ago.

Mind you, I think he might have just been shocked by the fact that I was wearing a

bright red Fez.

After a while, Alan Jeffries joined us, which was strange because I hadn't been aware

that we were coming apart, indeed a number of people were arriving and the pub

was starting to fill out. As a result, Alan and I bagged a table with accompanying

seating. It was at this point that we realised why this was about the only table

that had been empty: the benches were rather high; Alan's feet couldn't touch the floor,

whilst I suffered an attack of vertigo.

I had my back to the window, but Alan was able to spot the Liverpool contingent

arriving outside, comprising Dave Price, his fiance Joy Stowe, Neil Burton and his two

offspring Eilish and Max.

Therein lies the two reasons for my wearing the Fez: because Dave wants a Fez and

doesn't have one; and because I'm a git.

I hadn't seen Dave or Neil for 8 years, and I hadn't seen Joy, Eilish or Max for 46

years, once again epitomising the purpose of the day which is not just to meet old

friends but also to make new ones !

Dave had forgotten to pack his razor for the journey to London. Alan and I offered

to improvise to remove his stubble, but for some reason Dave declined, which is

strange because I hadn't even mentioned the chainsaw at that point.

When we returned to the table, I couldn't help noticing that everyone else seemed

to have far less difficulty with the benches than I did, despite my long legs being

able to touch the ground. In fact Max, who is 7, improvised by treating the bench

as a climbing frame.

It was then thought that a good way to calm Max down was to give him a sugar

intensive lolly. Yeah, that would work.

Having shown everyone his blue tongue (the thought of E numbers mixed in with all

that sugar doesn't bear thinking about), Max then engaged various people in

arm wrestling. At this point Martin Hand joined our group and was challenged by Max

to a contest of arm wrestling. Whilst initially it was assumed that Martin allowed

Max to win; upon examining photos taken, showing Martin's face making him look

like Red Hulk, it could well be that the victory was all Max's without any help.

As there were a number of other young children present, Max went off to challenge

them to further arm wrestling: visions of dislocated limbs and gratitude that Great

Ormond Street Hospitial was not far away came to mind.

Andrew Ghosh was on hand again to take photos of the event.

At the time of writing I have not seen any of those, although I have seen a photo

of Jenni Cole wearing her Captain America costume, which I didn't notice on the

day. (In the collection of Andrew's photos from last year, I noted that in just

about all of the ones which had me in it, I had a pint in my hand. I suspect that

it may not have been the same pint.)

Later in the afternoon, Richard Harris arrived and joined our group. Richard,

Dave and Neil have a number of things in common, two of which are that they are

all superb artists and (as a result) in the early 80's they all drew comic strips

which I wrote, for the APA of the X-Men Fan Club. Today gave them an opportunity

to display another aspect they had in common, namely to bemoan my style of Stan

Lee minimalist plotting and the tendency to write a script (which they then had

to letter) with a word count which would make Don McGreggor wince.

I decided to go to the bar at this point.

But once again the beauty of CFU came to the fore, as Richard and Dave had not

seen eachother since the 80's, whereas Richard and Neil had never met before but

Neil had always admired Richard's artwork.

Neil then instigated a session whereby various people drew some of my characters,

which I was rather chuffed by, to say the least.

After that, Neil asked me to draw Doctor Schmoe, which was a parody I used to do

of a certain well known programme. My favourite Doctor at the time was Colin Baker

and so I drew his Doctor with Peri and a Cyberman. Neil commented "that's ace !"

to which I had to point out that Ace was with Sylvester McCoy's Doctor. Honestly,

some people.

Eilish drew a very nice picture which reminded me of Barry Windsor-Smith - his

style, rather than the character looking like him.

John Innes and Ronnie Hackston came along and drew their own characters and later

a number of us were involved in a rather bizarre jam strip.

Fiona then decided to do some drawing of her own: she drew the crowds to a

collection of cakes she had made, in part in honour of Martin Hand's (forthcoming)

birthday.

As 8 o'clock approached, the call came for those interested to go upstairs for

the quiz and whilst it may not have been greeted with the same degree of urgency

as opening day of the Harrods sale, nevertheless the masses trickled into the

room. I managed to nab the corner table where I had been the previous two years.

This year's quiz masters were Dave Pardoe and Hass, with Hass taking the lead,

dressed in his Union Jack jacket and appropriate hat - I should point out that

this was one of Hass' Eurovision outfits, as opposed to resembling one of the

Invaders, nevertheless he did look superb.

The quiz this year took on a few new angles, with music sections (where music

was actually played), a picture quiz and a family tree of British Boys Comics -

the link being where the cover of the last issue of each title had been greeted

with the caption of exciting news inside.

To give you an idea of the type of questions asked, one was to state who lived at

344 Clinton Street ? The correct answer was Superman, although one team suggested

Winnie the Pooh.

The team I was on was called the South Coast Avengers (I'll leave you to work out

who chose that one and I was unanimous in that) on the basis that two of us live

there and a third has a brother-in-law living there.

Our team came fourth, but at least we were above Martin Hand's team, significantly,

which is what really matters.

Once again everyone, no matter which team they were in, came away with a prize,

so a big thank you to everyone involved.

And yes, the team with Will Morgan in did win.

One thing I noticed with our team was that everyone on it was able to correctly

answer some questions which no other team member could, even though we had one

person who was not a fan and who was just "observing", they were still able to

answer when the rest of us drew a blank - which just goes to show that no one should

feel excluded from the quiz !

(It also shows how poorly I performed last year as I don't think there were any

questions which I could answer that no other team member knew the answer to.)

However, I have to say that I was somewhat disappointed that my suggestion of

Silus P. Wildebeest being a character from Cerebus proved to be not even remotely

close.

What I find worrying is that at the time I was convinced this was the correct answer.

After the quiz was over, people made their way downstairs and said their farewells.

I went to the bar.

The few of us remaining stood outside and were rather alarmed at about 11pm by a

number of loud explosions nearby. Bearing in mind the significant anniversary of

that day and that Buckingham Palace was just around the corner, there were some

concerns. However, having subsequently checked the news, it transpires that there

had been a concert in Hyde Park, which concluded with fireworks....

So with time being called, we made our way to Victoria Station and to go our

separate ways. My body no doubt thought that it was having a holiday, having had

a sober Friday night before this day's events. Little did it know that on Monday

I would be heading off to Belgium for ten days.

Thank you to Hass, Fiona and everyone else involved in organising the day and of

course to everyone who turned up.

Cheers,

Mike Teague (Comics Friends United Fan #68).

What has gone on before: 2008, 2009

2009

"Come On In - The Revolution's Fine !" - Comics Friends Reunited 2009

The second Comics Friends Reunited gathering was held once again at the Pheonix Pub near Victoria station, on Saturday 10th October 2009. Once again it clashed with Eastbourne Beer Festival that weekend. Even more typical, for me, was that I could sense a cold building in the middle of the week, that would no doubt reach fruition at the weekend !

Thankfully, come Friday, the cold had not materialised, and so in the evening off I went to the Beer Festival. Now whilst the weather had been overcast all day, come 4 o'clock, when I needed to leave, it was absolutely chucking it down. In fact only a complete idiot would have gone out in that weather.

Having walked to Brighton station, now completely drenched, I boarded the train to Eastbourne, hoping that the Sunshine Capital of the South Coast would have better weather. Sunshine Capital my backside ! It was at least as wet, if not worse ! I immediately thought about the cold that never was and that maybe it might appear on Saturday after all.

The Beer Festival, as always at the Eastbourne event, was superb and very relaxing (and by that, I mean the atmosphere, not necessarily due to the amount of beers consumed) and by the time it came to walk back to the station, the rain had stopped.Or perhaps I was beyond caring by then.

I had always intended not to arrive at the Pheonix for the midday opening, and in that respect I was very successful. Feeling a little tired from the night before, I caught the train to London, and as the pub was so conveniently close to the station, I elected to visit the various comic shops in town first.

I was a bit later than planned, and so I decided to take the tube to Tottenham Court Road, rather than walk there, however I was greeted at Victoria tube station by signs stating that the Victoria Line was shut, so I walked over to the District Line where I could change at Embankment. On the train I was feeling tired, but congratulated myself that I woke up just in time for Embankment station.

I was walking halfway up the road from Embankment station when I remembered that the intention was to change at that stop, not to leave the Underground completely.I visited the various shops, with the only item purchased being a Jon Pertwee Doctor Who figure in FP. When I was looking at the Doctor Who merchandise in FP, there was a couple, of whom the man was looking at the various figures whilst being nagged by the woman saying "How old are you ???" I would guess that they were in their late 20's / early 30's, and he pointed to me, to indicate that there was someone (even) older than him showing an interest in these "toys". That earned him a thump She-Hulk would have been proud of.

I have often thought that whoever referred to women as being the weaker sex should be sued under the Trades Description Act. So finally, off I walked to the Pheonix. As it was now about half past two, I thought I had better send Martin Hand an ambiguous text message to suggest that I was on my way.

Upon arrival, I was greeted by Hass and signed in. I was then greeted by Alan Jeffries who promptly bought me a drink. On the way to the bar, I met Tony Keen, who was raising a glass to the memory of Barry Letts, a Doctor Who Producer whose death had just been announced that day.

As with the previous year, the primary function of Comics Friends Reunited is to meet people that you haven't seen for ages. Which is why Alan and I spent the next hour talking just to each other, as we hadn't seen each other for two weeks.

To the side of us were Martin Hand, Jenni and Katie: Jenni was wearing a Marvelman shirt (the Flash was also present that day), whereas Katie was dressed as Captain America and has a shield to go with it. As I was wearing a T-shirt with the cover of Avengers #4 (The Return of Captain America, in case you have to ask), I think Katie was looking at me and wondering why I had a picture of her on my shirt.

Gavin arrived and promptly attempted to convert Katie to the principles of Revolutionary thinking by explaining the Marxist critique of the capitalist mode of accumulation.

Alan and I were joined by a couple, which was very kind of them even though we weren't coming apart. This couple saw my name badge and asked why my name seemed familiar to them. I explained that they probably saw my Outing Reports for the X-Men Fan Club in the early 80's. No, that wasn't it. In which case they probably remembered my namesake, the former captain of the England Rugby Team. Never heard of him. It turns out that there is a (more famous ???) Teague who has worked in British comics, but I was not him.

(I subsequently recall seeing the name Teague on the spine of a book or two in comics shops.) They were both fans of British comics, which meant that, aside from Beano's Dandy's etc that were pre- Mighty World of Marvel, and the brief flirtations with 2000AD, my contribution to the conversation consisted mainly of inane nodding. Little did I realise that this would put me in good stead for the quiz. The man stated that he had never read a comic that he didn't like. Both Alan and I thought that he was very lucky. I will leave a blank space here for you to fill in the title / contributer / etc. of your choice that you would use as an example of why you have never been in that position.

A number of people who I first met at the initial X-Men Fan Club Outing in 1980 (31st July) were Hass, Steve Whitaker and Richard Harris. I made contact with Richard again a few yearsago and was amazed that whereas previously I had lived in West London and he lived in South Croydon, I now live in Brighton (although I have to confess that I did already know this) and that he now lived in nearby Shoreham, which explains why we have never managed to meet up.

I completely forget to forward on the details of last year's gathering in time for Richard, but I remembered this year. About a week before the event, Richard e-mailed me to say that there was a good chance that he could make it.

About two days before, he e-mailed me with the sudden realisation that he might not recognise anyone and sent me a photo of him as he is now. I was shocked. Aside from the beard, he hadn't changed a bit. Git.

I sent him a picture of my self portrait (you know the one). Apparently that wasn't of much use, so thankfully I also sent him a photo. Now as I don't consider myself photogenic, I don't actually have many pictures of myself, and considering that a picture of me fully dressed as Sylvester the Cat may not help matters I sent a recent photo of me sittig at a bar with a pint in my hand as that would reflect how I was likely to appear on the day.

So of course, come the day, I was sitting with my back to the door so that Richard walked straight past me. Thankfully Hass was there to put matters right and (re-)introduced us.

I took Richard outside to meet some other people that he might remember. In our e-mails I stated that every time his name was mentioned, Martin Hand always asked how his exams were going, and said to Richard that when he met Martin the first thing Martin would do would be to ask about his exams. So of course I introduced Richard to Martin, who promptly didn't say a bloody word. I deliberately didn't mention to Martin beforehand that Richard might turn up, so that my "prediction" didn't appear planned, but as it transpired, Martin was just so shocked at Richard being there that he was speechless !

It therefore seemed rather appropriate that I was wearing a cover of Avengers #4, because I hadn't seen Richard for 25 years and he hasn't aged as though he has been frozen in a block of ice all that time - does that make me the Sub-Mariner ???

Going from someone who I've known for decades but haven't met for years, I have only known Tim Bateman for a few years, and only electonically. We had an initial meeting at a Comic Mart earlier this year, where we were going to talk endlessly about The Avengers, so of course we ended up sitting at opposite corners of a rather long table ! As Tim put it, it was the cameo first appearance of the other person in our respective titles, a bit like that Hulk-Moon Knight story in Hulk Magazine. But this time it was together again for the first time as Tim joined Richard and I.

Richard mentioned that he had just been reading some John Buscema / Tom Palmer Avengersand that was it, we were off ! I pointed out that the cover on my T-shirt was used as the basis for Avengers Weekly #1, without Giant-Man and the Wasp. We also discussed the chapter titles in the Kree-Skrull War, as I was convinced that it was Stan who had vetoed the suggested title of Three Cows Shot Me Down, but Richard and Tim argued that it was more likely Roy who came up with This Beachead Earth, and I became convinced of this when I realised that Stan would have called it This Earth Beacheaded !

Richard recounted Steve's theory that Don Heck drew Avengers #145-6 in the lift up to the Bullpen, which somehow led to me trying to re-enact certain Gil Kane covers (of which, sadly, there weren't that many for The Avengers), not least the scene from GS Avengers #4 of Dormammu climbing out of a volcano with a pint in his hand. (The Comics Code ordered that the pint be removed.)

On a couple of occasions, Tim made Prisoner references, which gave me the opportunity to point out (on each occasion) that Number Six' gaff was just down the road from where we were.

Apparently at this time Andrew Moreton and Gavin were discussing the 80's anarchist scene, but as this didn't involve re-enacting any Gil Kane Avengers covers, no one was paying any attention.

At about half past five, Martin Hand asked me when I had sent him the text message. Tim decided to work out just how few comics Steranko had drawn, not helped by my constant interruptions. Once Tim was satisfied that his list was complete, Gavin suggested that he now did the same for Kirby, at which point my bladder decided that I should pay a visit to the Gents.

At 8 o'clock teams were being gathered for the quiz. Prior to the event, I had hoped thatthe same team that I was in last year, The Five Doctors, could be formed, and whilst I knew that Gavin would attend and I assumed that Guy and Adrian would be present, I wondered whether Neil would be there. Neil was our secret weapon last year, as he was a 90's comics fan, who could therefore give us the edge over the other teams when any 90's questions were asked, of which there were none. But according to Hass, earlier in the year, there would be some 90's questions this year. Therefore, when I first arrived this year, I was delighted to see that Neil was here, but ironically there was no sign of either Guy or Adrian. So intheir place I managed to recruit Alan and Richard, even though neither were convinced that they could do anything other than watch. So four of us - Neil, Alan, Richard and myself - were sitting at the corner table that The Five Doctors had sat the previous year and then I went in search of Gavin, who walked right past me and promptly joined another team !

Last year I suggested that we call ourselves The Avengers, but Guy suggested The Five Doctors, which was more appropriate as there were five of us, of whom two were doctors. This time I once again suggested The Avengers. Alan came up with a much better name, however because (a) no one could spell it and (b) I had the pen at the time, we became The Avengers, however if you were to look at the answer sheet you would notice that I had trouble spelling Avengers as well.

Thankfully for the quiz itself, Richard became the scribe, while I wrote down the questions. And as for those questions. I think there were probably about two that I managed to answer before anyone else, my contribution to the rest consisted of blank stares or saying "Yep, that's the one" or "I should have known that !".

Halfway through the first round, one of the other teams shouted out "Bring back Skidmore !".

But despite all that, or rather despite me, there was good scoring not just on our team but all the others as well. So it was just me then. As for our "watchers", there were a number of Tin Tin questions for Alan to answer, and Legion questions for Richard, and between the three of them the team came up with an impressive tally. But still no 90's questions.

There was a tie for the two top teams, with The Avengers coming third, once again above Martin Hand's team, which was my prime objective. Neil pointed out that as the two teams above us were joint first that meant that we came second; as we came second last year, following this thought to its logical conclusion, in about ten years time our team would finish second with every other team being joint first.

So clearly I am the Walt Disney of Comics Quiz Teams: I have no talent myself, but am very good at assembling people with the required skills ! The first round consisted of catch phrases, some of which didn't sound as though they were Comics Code Approved ! Mind you, we are talking about the same Comics Code who clearly thought that it was perfectly accpetable to have a (children's) comic entitled Amazing Adult Fantasy. All the way through this section I was waiting for Oh my Stars and Garters, but to no avail. I did mention this to Rob, who co-arranged the quiz, afterwards, and when he asked who said that I realised why this question had not been included.

There were enough prizes for everyone who entered the quiz, and amongst our team Richard picked the Modesty Blaise book, which led afterwards to Alan and Richard having an in-depth talk about Modesty Blaise, demonstrating what Comics Friends (Re)united is all about: not just to renew old friendships, but also to make new ones.

And so closing time went and it was time that we did. One thing I had repeatedly forgotten to do was to check the train times home, but thankfully Gavin had noted them down, with the 11:30 train sounding just about right to give us a comfortable time to walk to the very nearby station.

Thank you to Will and Rob for the quiz and to Hass and Fiona for organising the whole day.

Here's to next year !

2008

When Hass and Fiona first mentioned a gathering of fans, I was certainly interested, because having met everyone in the early 80's and then lost contact with them, I have really cherished meeting them all again - plus people I never knew before - since coming back to the fold in 2000.

Therefore I was somewhat disappointed when the date of 11th October was mentioned, because there was the possibility that I wouldn't make that date for two reasons. The first, which was completely out of my control, was that I might have to work on the Friday night, which would have left me completely shattered for the Saturday. Thankfully this didn't transpire.The second was that it clashed with Eastbourne Beer Festival.

Now for me, the annual Beer Festival at Eastbourne is the best one of the year. The initial attraction for me was that it was reasonably local and I have fond memories of Eastbourne because my Grandparents lived there - hence my decision to apply for a job in Brighton, because I knew the area; and being Eastbourne, it is a better class of Beer Festival !

However it has to be said that given the choice of that or FanCon, there was no choice; so, work permitting, on Saturday I would be London bound !

Thankfully, as regards the Beer Festival, there was a contingency plan. In other words I went on the Friday night instead. This in itself had its good and bad points, because at Eastbournethey always have very good entertainment - but not so loud that you can't carry on a conversation, this is Eastbourne after all !

Looking at the agenda for the weekend, they had the usual band and Morris Men that they always have on Saturday lunchtime, so I was sorry to miss them, but on the other hand it was nice to experience a different band.

Plus there were likely to be more beers available on Friday night than Saturday lunchtime ! As it turns out, there was engineering work on the route to Eastbourne on Saturday, so all in all, my going on Friday nightturned out to be a good move.

So, although the Festival didn't open until 5:30, I promptly stopped working (from home) at 4pm, to march down to the station to catch a train that would arrive in Eastbourne at just after 5pm. Was that so that I could be first in the queue ? No ! It was so that I could pop into the BBC Shop near the station (before it shut for the night) to see whether they had any new Doctor Who figures in !

As it happens, they did, and so one Dalek box set later, as it was a nice sunny evening, and still about 20 minutes before opening, I had a nice leisurely (for me, at least) stroll to and along the seafront.

Once at the festival, and "sampling" the various beers, I was delighted to hear them playing the Beatles Love album in the background: Beer and Beatles (and Doctor Who figures) - can't beat it !

Then the band came on, and not only were they very good, but they were playing predominently 60's music, including a dash of Hendrix and rather a lot of Beatles. I was a happy bunny. And so I returned to Brighton rather contented, went to sleep and awoke the next morning. Somewhat later than planned.

Bearing in mind that FanCon was going to be an all day event - in a pub, I wasn't planning to be there at the start, as I was aiming to be there at the end, on account of I was staying at Putney Towers for the night. Even so, my somewhat later than planned departure from Brighton meant that some of the activities I had intended before going to the event had to be truncated.

In addition, I had planned to buy a memory disc thing for my camera, anticipating that I would be taking a lot of pictures; but my late departure meant that I had to scrap that. Thankfully I did have time to pop back in the house when I realised that it was going to be a sunny day and therefore I might need my panama hat.

Having (finally) boarded the train, I thought it only courtious to text Martin to tell him that I was just leaving Brighton at 11:50 and that I didn't think I'd make the start at 12:00.

The pitch for FanCon was a nostalgic reunion for those who attended the UKCAC's. Unfortunately, said events were held during my wilderness years of comics and comics fandom; however to me, the appeal of FanCon was to recapture the X-Men Fan Club Outings of the early 80's, which is where I met the majority of those comics fans that I knew at that time.

Therefore, in order to put myself in the mood, I decided to recreate those Outings with a bit of aimless wandering around London prior to going to the pub. Although if the truth be known, as I was in London, I was taking the opportunity of visiting the comics shops and going to the Harrods exhibition, and as the weather was nice, I decided to walk there and back, rather than travelling by the mobile sauna. In the end though, due to running a bit late, and feeling a bit knackered from the night before, I just went to Planet, to see whether they had the box set of Sontaran figures (they didn't, although they did have the Dalek set).

Before leaving home, I thought that it might be a good idea to actually print the e-mail that Hass sent out, which stated the name and address of the pub

- The Pheonix, named after Woodrow no doubt, rather than being an apt location for ex-X-Men Fan Club Outing Attendees.

I also thought it might be a good idea to look at the map to see roughly where it was. Having done all of that preparatory work, once in the area, I promptly walked straight past the pub. Furthermore, having crossed the road, I met Gerard walking in the opposite direction (not surprisingly) towards me. Gerard pointed out that the pub was behind me, to which I highlighted that I was intending to walk in this direction, because just behind and across the street from Gerard was Number Six's house, as seen at the start of The Prisoner. For some reason Gerard gave me a "can't take him anywhere" look, and continued to walk to the pub.

For the record, Number Six's house is actually an office and no doubt on a weekday the workers can spot (yet another) sad git a mile off. The post box at the front is still there, but the surrounding office blocks have all gone, replaced by the Shoppy Centre thing with shops. Backing on to this building is a pub, which I have been in, just on the off chance that they may have had a photo or two of the filming, but alas no. The pub is run by Shepherd Neame, whose beers I am not overly fond of (sod's law dictates that they also run the nearest pub to my house) and so I was abit concerned that this would be the venue of the day's event. Thankfully it was not.

Having had a look at that, and taken a couple of photographs, I decided that perhaps it was time to make my way to the main event.

Upon arriving, I was greeted by Gerard (again), Alan, and Paul Hudson, all wearing name stickers, but rather alarmingly Paul was wearing two, one with "Paul" on, but the other was a girl's name, which he claimed was his daughter's, who didn't want people to know who she was. We did have some rather unsavoury alternative explanations - and this was before I had had a drink.

Having dumped my bag, coat and hat in a corner, hidden behind a table, I proceeded to register and wear my name badge. A number of people lamented the lack of laminated badges; whereas I was disappointed at there not being photo badges to deter forgeries, but not to worry, because I was able to improvise for my one.

Jenni then appeared, and like Paul, she was displaying two name badges: one for her own name; and over her stoumach, one for Katie Bumpo.

At this point, clearly the consumption of the previous night was starting to wear off, and I was in need of a beer. So not knowing quite what to expect by the selection of drinks on offer, I was somewhat horrified to be confronted by a row of font taps.

Then I looked a bit further down the bar and noticed a number of handpumps ! I have to say that I was very impressed by the choice of real ales, each from a different brewer, and I would guess that at least some of the selection changes on a regular basis - either that or perhaps I should have asked how long they had had the barrel of Autumn Ale.

When I bought a round, it included a pint of Magners, which is supplied in kit form, namely that you are given a glass with ice in it and a bottle of the cider - how did they expect you to fit the ice cubes in the bottle ?

It turned out that the cider is supposed to be poured into the glass, in which case why can't the barstaff do that ? The obvious answer to which is because the glass is full of ice - but if you took the ice out, then there'd be plenty of room for the cider ! Honestly, I just think they are being lazy. Mind you, when I ordered a pint of real ale, they didn't hand me an empty pint glass and tell me to pour it myself ! Unfortunately.

Starting to mingle, and given the opportunity to speak to people that I hadn't seen for a few months or even over 20 years, I naturally started by talking to Martin and Jenni, neither of whom I had seen all month.

However, as more people came along, Jenni and Bridget began talking about babies, at which point I decided to leave them to it and walk over to where Martin now was, whereupon I was introduced to Rich, the organiser of the Harrods display, who promptly started to talk to Martin about babies.

Suddenly my pint glass was empty and I felt an urge to have it refilled.

Rich mentioned that a sheikh had been to see the exhibition in Harrods, but bearing in mind this was featuring British comics artists, I thought he said "Shake", as in "Shiver and ...."

Having stopped complaining about the badges, a number of people now raised their disappointment at the lack of fancy dress, not least on the part of Hass. But one person was clearly undeterred, as she appeared in her Agatha Harkness guise ! However Hass was no doubt jealous of her costume and proceeded to chase her from the premesis. Thankfully she hadn't brought Ebony with her.

In case you had forgotten, the aim of the day was to be reunited with people from the past, and at this point I was introduced to Adrian, a name I remember from the early days of the X-Men Fan Club. However aftertalking for a while, it turned out that he had attended the first two Club Outings, so we had met before !

In the Club (so to speak), Adrian worked very closely with Frank, and whilst we were discussing this, I looked out of the window and saw that Frank had just arrived ! We were then talking about Geoff Lamprey, and I was just about to mention that I once tried describing Geoff to Gav, who had looked at me as if I was making it all up - when I noticed that Gav had just arrived.

I made a note not to mention my mother. By mid-afternoon, the pub was becoming rather packed - we were supposed to have been upstairs until late afternoon, but never quite made it there. Concerned that my attendance at the Beer Festival the night before might be starting to have an effect on me, I commented that it felt rather warm indoors and suggested that we joined the smokers outside. It turned out that I was not alone in feeling that, and so out we went to join Gav - only to be told by Hass that we were not to speak to him because he had not registered !

Eventually Gav conceded and joined the establishment, sporting a name badge of his own. I felt that this was an opportune moment to point out Number Six's house just down the road.

There were a number of less opportune moments when I also pointed out Number Six's house to anyone who couldn't walk away fast enough.

Late afternoon, and time for a treat, in the form of cup cakes made by Fiona. But these were not ordinary cakes, because they were decorated with coloured icing in the form of the symbols of the (Barry Allen) Flash, Batman, or the FF. I don't know if anyone decided to collect the set, but I just had a Flash. If you see what I mean. And very nice it was too ! I'm still talking about the cake, by the way.

As I said, they were not ordinary cakes, and certainly that was the case for the one which Gav had, because having tucked into his FF cake, his finger was now a definite turquoise, looking like something out of the 50's Quatermass serials - if you ignore the fact that they were in black and white....

And if the cakes were a nice surprise, they weren't the only one, because whilst the theme of the day was a reunion of comics fans from the 80's gatherings, the day also attracted a "guest star" in the form of Neil, who (I presume) was only in his 20's, and only started reading comics in the 90's !

Hopefully Neil didn't find the experience too daunting, and will be back again next year, and maybe other "youngsters" will also appear.

At 8pm there was to be a Comics Quiz, and Martin H. and I agreed that we should be on different teams, as we probably knew the same things - and would also be completely clueless about the same things. So at the appointed time, we went upstairs and formed into teams. It was at this point that I was glad that we had not been upstairs for the whole day, because the first thing greeting us upon arrival was the smell of fresh paint.

The teams were formed, and the one that I was in included Guy, Adrian, Gav, and our secret weapon: Neil - the one person who could answer any questions on 90's comics !!! It was a sure win combination !

When it came to choosing a name for the team, not surprisingly I immediately suggested "The Avengers"; however Guy shamed me by coming up with a far more appropriate name: The Five Doctors, all the more apt because out of the five of us, two were actually Doctors - so almost like the story in question !

The Quiz was very well run by Martin S., with a lot of good natured bantering between the teams. All in all a very enjoyable part of a very enjoyable day.

There were five teams in all, of which those in 2nd to 5th place were quite close in their scores, but the winner, with a good 20 or so points difference was the Will Morgan Smartarse Society ! (I must confess that I can't remember the team's actual name.) So well done to them !

Our team came second, which meant that we were able to claim prizes - another nice surprise, thank you Hass ! Thankfully our team didn't decide to erect a gallows in my honour, for two incorrect answers: I made the cardinal mistake of changing the answer to who guest starred in Sgt Fury #3 from Reed Richards to Ben Grimm; and despite Neil (remember, the 90's fan) suggesting that Jimmy Olsen was the character who first appeared in Action Comics #6 (ie the other end of the Comics time spectrum), I insisted that it was Lois Lane.

And in case you were wondering how many questions there were on 90's comics, I can tell you that there were absolutely bugger all.

Then, right at the end of the evening, just like a "real" convention, there was a signing session, as Woodrow was flogging his new book. I bought a copy, and I can state that it is very good ! Thanks Woodrow !

And yes, it has taken me less time to read Woodrow's book than to type this bloody thing up !

As we were leaving, I collected my belongings, which I had stashed away in the corner all day. These included the hat that I neglected to wear when standing outside; and the bag containing my camera, which was onlyused to take two pictires of Number Six's house. All of which proves yet again that if I had a brain, I would be rather dangerous.

And so the Brighton and Putney contigencies said our goodbyes and sorry we didn't have a time to chats to those who were left, and staggered off in the general direction of Victoria station, which gave me yet another opportunity to point out Number Six's house.

The journey home was more or less uneventful, the more part being in the form of a certain individual at Earls Court station, better known to Gav as "the Ginger Toff" - or possibly some other four letter word(s);an individual so annoying that his friends were likely to strangle him long before we could reach him. In these situations, even when the person in question moved along the platform, you just knew that not only was he eventually going to end up on the same train as you, but also the same carriage. It's a shame that such certainties of fate never work when choosing the Lottery numbers.

We left the train at Putney. Thankfully he didn't. I had visions of parts of his body being found on Sunday morning at various places between Putney and Wimbledon.

We arrived at Putney Towers, and as soon as I sat down, I could feel my body switching off all non-essential functions and that it was time for bed. The events of the previous 30 hours were finally taking their toll.

Having slept very well - not surprisingly - I awoke at 10am, which is very late for me, and made my way downstairs. After a few hours, which included breakfast, it was time for lunch, and more to the point, a trip to the pub, as I hadn't had any alcohol for over half a day.

Jenni suggested that, as the weather was very nice, we went to a different pub, which meant that we would not be going to 30thC (sorry Will!); however Jenni's description did make it sound very appealing.

At this point, Martin felt that it was only fair to warn us Brightonians that the route to the pub involved walking up a hill. As long as there was a pub at the top of this hill, it would not deter us.

Throughout the journey to the pub, the Brightonians were ahead of the Putney locals. Yes, that's right: the people who didn't have a clue where they were going were leading the way. For some reason I was reminded of the X-Men Fan Club Outings.

The majority of the walk was along one very long road, halfway along which Gav and I turned round to the natives and asked where this hill was. It transpired that this was it ! A hill ? A Hill ???? In Brighton we have bigger bumps left by road works !!! No doubt Mike M. would view my earlier comment about the "tower blocks" in the same way.

Another thought that seemed to occur to each of us at the same time was what if we arrived there to find that the Ginger Toff was also there ! Thankfully he wasn't.

After a very pleasant but subdued lunch - whilst not feeling ill, my body was somewhat tired form the previous two days - we staggered back to the station, via the "hill", said our goodbyes and then returnred to Brighthelmstone.

On the way home from the station, Gav and I reflected on what a wonderful day Saturday had been, what Neil made of it all and that hopefully he would return, and that whilst we had been talking to various people all day, very little of it had been about comics.

The somewhat obvious overall conclusion though was that we hope the event will be repeated again next year !

With thanks to:

- Fiona and Hass for arranging this !

- Martin S. for the Quiz

- Fiona for the cakes

- The Five Doctors team for being the next most knowledgeable thing after Will

- Martin and Jenni for putting the Brighton Contingency up at Putney Towers

- Alan J. for the Agatha Harkness reference

- Everyone for just being there !!!!

Cheers,

Mike (FanCon Fan #68).