Here is a brief video that I took while there… and look for a cameo from Conor (along with an educational insight)…

We’ve been busy beavering ourselves across the U.K. as the latest stop of our cross the world comic tour. So far we’ve seen London, Bristol and Oxford with Stratford-Upon-Avon, Manchester and Leeds still to come.

Anthony in front of one of London's great landmarks.

We haven’t had as much of a chance to see the country as we’d have liked. The shows and meetings have kept us pinned down (as well as a bit of jet lag those first couple of days) but we have managed to see Big Ben and the Parliment buildings and Anthony did a nice long walk one evening where he took in some of the sights of one of the great cities of the world.

Post podcast. Notice all the tea mugs? We're being converted on this trip!

We also were treated to a tour of Orbital Comics which is an amazing shop in the heart of London where we were interviewed by Chris for the store’s podcast. We then went out with one of the other manager’s Kyle where we sipped pints and chatted comics for hours — eventually deciding that Reid Fleming – the World’s Toughest Milk Man, American Flagg, and Power Man and Iron Fist are all well overdue to have cool movies.

Even though this guy was scoring a goal that decided the tighest premiership race in 23 years Bristolians were still engaging in their love of comics.

The Bristol Comic Expo was a smaller show but was enthusiastically attended by all involved, despite the fact that the biggest soccer match in arguably 22 years was going down at the same time as the Sunday show.

Getting their Irish up - Conor and Mark get into a tug o' war.

We were a little bummed when we found out that the copies of Kill Shakespeare Volume 1 were not going to make it to the show in Bristol but the fans shocked us by still clamboring to buy the series even though they could only get Volume 2.

We were also blown away by the number of amazing artists we met at the show. It seemed like everyone was landing a deal with Disney, or D.C., or image, or Random House. Clearly the U.K. is still churning out some of the best comic talent in the world.

Anthony got a LITTLE excited by the chance to walk in C.S. Lewis' footsteps!

After Bristol we’ve been fortunate enough to go to Oxford where we gave a talk at one of the local schools and then were treated to a great tour of the city by the amazing Katie Musgrave. Anthony also did his best master of disguise impression as he impersonated an Oxford student to sneak into C.S. Lewis’ old college so he could take in the atmosphere that inspired one of the all time great fantasy series – The Chronicles of Narnia.

Tonight we grab a few hours sleep and then we’re off to the den of Shakespeare itself — Stratford-Upon-Avon. We’ll be meeting with reps from the Royal Shakespeare Company as well as people from the Shakespeare Birthright Trust — both of them being excellent opportunities to win people over in helping us with our little plot of Bardicide (or they’ll kick us out of the Bard’s birthplace so fast our heads will spin… GRIN).

O.K. sure this is Ted Williams, but it COULD be a British WWI pilot...

Until our next update – keep flying’em in the crates they ship’em in (as we’ve been told British World War I pilots liked to cheers each other — apparently because the “crates” were more aerodynamic than the actual planes…).

A full list of the nominees can be found by clicking on the logo.

We’d be remiss for not expressing our disappointment that artist Andy Belanger failed to receive a nomination for his artwork for the series.  Andy has done a superb job on the series (especially the last four issues – see sample below) and it pains us that he’s not recognized.  He definitely deserves to be – his layout and art is on the cutting edge and much stronger than most comic creators today.

They are:

Sat, May 12 – Sun, May 13 – Bristol Comic Expo

Wed, May 15 – Travelling Man Manchester

Thu, May 16 – Travelling Man Leeds

Fri, May 17 – Forbidden Planet London Megastore

Sat, May 19 – Sun, May 20 – Kapow! Comic Convention (London)

For the shows in Bristol, Manchester and Leeds it will be Anthony and Conor signing, while for Forbidden Planet and Kapow! it will be all three creatives (Andy joins us for these shows!).

We will, of course, be meeting with many Shakespeare scholars and actors while in the city so we’re quite chuffed to spread the word overseas.

Spread the word – we’re bringing the Bard back to his home country!

I’ve posted a number of things about our trip to the Middle East Film and Comic-Con, and a full summary of my time can be found here.  But here are some additional photos I haven’t posted yet…

A composite of three photos taken from the balcony at the Dubai Marina Club

IDW Publishing's Alan Payne, Anthony and Conor on the deck at the show

John Rhys-Davies (such a great guy) explains his visit to the set of "The Hobbit"

Anthony, Conor and a fan recreate the ending to a Degrassi High episode...

Conor reviews the portfolio of an enthusiastic young artist

Merik Tadros, actor/writer, signs a copy of his new "River Jordan" graphic novel for a new fan

Jeremy Haun (Top Cow's The Darkness) creates a panel on the public wall

Alvin Lee (Udon's Streetfighter) teaches a workshop on the principles of illustration

Even in the Middle East we have hecklers...

Conor and Anthony at the top of the Palm Jumeirah islands (by the Hotel Atlantis)

Yes, they have gold bar dispensing machines!

IDW's Alan Payne tried to steal one of the gold-dispensing machines...

The indoor ski hill at the Mall of the Emirates

The wickedly talented Aisha Thani

We’re going to attend the Bristol Comic Expo on Sat, May 12th and Sun, May 13th and then the Kapow! Comic Convention in London on Sat, May 19th and Sun, May 20th.

We have a couple of other appearances that will be finalized in the next couple of days and will post a complete listing on Monday.

We’re really looking forward to spreading our take on the Bard’s characters! So stay tuned.

TCAF is always one of our favourite events in the comic’s calendar.

(and if you haven’t gone before then get yourself down to the Toronto Reference Library at Bloor and Yonge this weekend).

It is one of the rare places where you can delve deeply into a host of creator owned books as well as read illustrated stories in pretty well any genre under the sun.

Organizer Chris Butcher also does an amazing job of bringing in the sort of guests you won’t find anywhere else. Guests from all over the world.

Make sure you check out the amazing comic work coming out of Australia

One of those exotic guests happens to come from Australia and he happens to know my soon to be sister-in-law, Allison, and so I’m super excited to get to shill for his arrival in Canada.

Matt Taylor works in advertising back in Oz (so if you need to hire an amazing concept design firm go here), but he’s also a rabid comics fan and creator.

He’s been crisis-crossing North America as part of the Caravan of Comics, an invasion of sorts of like-minded Aussies with keen wits and pens to match.

Matt is a pretty funny dude and he’s been kind enough to give the Kill Shakespeare universe a sneak-peak at his book, Lars the Viking.

Lars is a perturbed lil’ fellow who speaks entirely in verse and mostly is pretty ticked that all the good plundering days seem to have come to an end. It turns out that the Vikings may not be long for this world, and Lars isn’t QUITE ready to accept sliding into the dustbin of history.

(Oh, and Lars has a pet pig? Did I mention that? A pig who also goes on raids? Yep, a raiding-pig… sweet!)

So please enjoy this little gift through K.S. and we hope all of you who are coming to TCAF this weekend will check out our Australian friends as well!

Cheers,
Conor

My trip to Chicago was fantastic.  It’s a great theatre town so obviously there were already a lot of Kill Shakespeare fans there – and we were able to make so many more! My only regret is that our book stock is pretty low so we sold out early Sunday morning.

I have a LOT of people to thank for making Chicago so great.  I’d like to thank my booth helper for Saturday and Sunday – the fantastic Sarah Hunter.  I’d also like to thank Christina Hall and Diego, who helped out for a few hours on Friday evening.  I’d like to thank the amazing team at the ALA – especially Tina Coleman – for including us in their scavenger hunt (I’ll see you in June at the conference in Anaheim!).  Lys Fulda for helping me out with accomodations in the city (go Chinatown!).  Jenny and Chris from ReedPop who helped us secure our spot at the show.  Everyone who came out to my STANDING ROOM ONLY workshop on pitching and marketing your comic.  And finally, the amazing Kate Kotler for helping out through the weekend and serving as a city tour guide (from a remote distance – she was ‘M’ to my James Bond through the city)…

Next year will be even better!  I look forward to visiting the city again.

Here are some pictures:

Obligatory blurry tourist photo...

Obligatory shot of the convention banner

Anthony hamming it up with Sarah Hunter

Diego and Christina deliberating on the Bard... Or where the best place to get dinner is...

Anthony poses with film/comic writer Sean Williams and the great Bill Willingham (Fables)

Anthony did his best sketch EVER for Anina Bennett and Paul Guinan

Kate Kotler forced Anthony to eat this. Against his will.

These two sisters were incredibly excited about Kill Shakespeare!

Anthony made her tap dance to qualify to buy her book...

Yes, that's Effie from District 12...

Anthony with Jon Armstrong of IDW's incredible new series SMOKE AND MIRRORS

Michele the persistent t-shirt vendor, who got what he really wanted - the Justice League shirt!

I was able to get away for a couple hours at the Art Institute of Chicago, where they allow people to take photos of the artwork... Here is Hopper's Nighthawk...

More photos and experiences to come this week!