Having worked on 3 of 5 covers for the series, I'll be working on the interiors as well for the new Sense and Sensibility adaptation, also with Nancy Butler. No sea monsters unfortunately :p
One advantage of being a Causeway Child, you get to be both Singaporean and Malaysian :p Though not speaking much Malay I've been told by Malaysian immigration authorities i should throw my passport away, and by Singaporean ones to 'go back to your country' when I inadvertently entered Malaysia with an expired passport and tried to travel back to the little red dot :p So maybe its still neither here nor there... Anyhow a couple of lists that kinda blow things out of proportion....
First stop though was Paris, where me and dad visited the Eiffel Tower, which is where zombies like to come after they destroy the UK.
Have to admit I'd not heard of Utopiales before, but its apparently the largest SF con in Europe. Anyway this year's special guest was James Gurney, so he did the illustration for their poster and there was lots of original art by him on display.
The event itself is a lot more low key than SDCC, which would mean more opportunities for interacting with the writers and artists there, if only I knew any french :p I did get a chance to talk to writer Stephen Baxter though, who happens to be from Liverpool so we commiserated a little on the sale of Alonso and liverpuddle's woes this season.
I'd hoped to meet Philippe Druillet, whose Loan Sloane I'd picked up at a flea market in Cambridge years and years ago, but he had unfortunately taken ill and was unable to attend. Enki Bilal was there though, that's him in the background having breakfast at the hotel we were staying. Best described as... aloof :p
There were orginal comic book art on display at the event, and I particularly liked Yoann's lively, brushy drawings.
Some of the other nominees included Fergus and Ikigami (which picked up the Special Jury Prize).
I had very little idea what anyone was saying during the awards event but it was still kinda fun :p
Back in Paris a couple of days later I had a chance to see a small exhibit of old video game consoles, including a 1977 Atari Pong Machine and the Odyssey.
There was also a Galaga arcade machine (me and Rich Nehmad used to play the one at RISD after lunch every day) and a handheld Galaxy II unit in which i kept getting destroyed by aliens :p
Finally a vid put up by Manga News of a robot sketch. Plus an interview of some sort here. Or click on the image below....
Sonny Liew is a Eisner-nominated comic artist and illustrator whose work include titles for DC Vertigo, Marvel, SLG and Disney, along with the Xeric-awarded Malinky Robot. He currently resides in Singapore, where he sleeps with the fishes.
