Shirt...

...Is Alone, But Not Alone

Signing events had been coming thick and fast leading up to ‘Doctor Who’s sixtieth anniversary, and as a hors d'oeuvre to attending Wales Comic Con (in Telford) with Dufus the next week, Shirt booked for the Saturday of London Comic Con – Winter. The majority of ‘Doctor Who’ guests had been announced for Sunday (after Shirt had booked), but there would be plenty of people for him to meet. Two signings at Naughty Asteroid had also been announced for the same day (and even a signing at the What Shop, which was ruled out as too far away).

Arriving at Olympia half-an-hour after the doors opened, there was a twenty-minute snaking queue to get in to be negotiated, but soon Shirt was striding over to the signing area to confirm that none of the guests that he wanted needed virtual queuing tickets. First was Brendan Fletcher, best known for his appearance in early 2000’s horror films including ‘Freddy vs. Jason’. However, it was for his appearance as semi-regular, Sterling ‘Stink’ Patterson, (the Moran to Molly Hardy’s Moriarty), in ‘The Adventures of Shirley Holmes’, a late 1990’s Canadian Childrens TV Drama featuring Sherlock’s Canadian grand-niece (Mycroft’s grand-daughter ?). When Shirt produced the cleaned-up screengrab from an episode on YouTube, Brendan began laughing and showing the photo to a friend who was sitting with him, before asking Shirt whether it had been shown in the UK, and what he thought of it, as someone from Sherlock’s home city. Luckily, Shirt was able to wax lyrically about the show (which he had probably been just a little bit too old for in the late 1990s), before Brendan signed the photo ‘From one to Stink to another’, and posed for a photo with Shirt taken by his steward.

Moving along a few desks, Shirt met Michael Jenn, recently in ‘Andor’, but who also played Clarence in ‘The Name of the Doctor’ and was a Preacher in ‘Sherlock Holmes’ (2009). Not having any photos from the latter on his table (and Shirt having been unable to find any screenshots online), Shirt got him to sign his Series 7B poster, before again posing for a photo.

The next two guests that Shirt wanted were away at a panel, so he took the time to get an idea of the layout of the halls, before finally joining a queue for two ‘Hellraiser’ guests. First back was Oliver Smith, who as well as being in the first two ‘Hellraiser’ films was also Drak in Colin Baker’s debut story, ‘The Twin Dilemma’. The queue moved very slowly, with the person in front of Shirt getting multiple ‘Hellraiser’ items signed, and then presenting Oliver with a small brass model of him as Frank the Monster from the first film. However, finally it was Shirt’s turn, and Oliver was excited to see the ‘Twin Dilemma’ DVD cover, producing a cardboard ‘cast card’ of him as Drak which he insisted on also signing to Shirt without further payment. Another posed photo and Shirt was moving off.

The other ‘Hellraiser’ guest, Sean Chapman, had just returned, but the steward looking after the queue asked Shirt to return in ten minutes as the queue was too long. He therefore looked at some of the nearby stalls, before returning and joining a much reduced queue. On reaching the front, Shirt produced his ‘K9 & Company’ DVD sleeve (in which Sean plays Peter Tracey). Sean signed the sleeve, but added his ‘Hellraiser’ character name by accident. Photo taken and Shirt was moving off.

Moving upstairs to the Comic Zone, Shirt managed to get Tony Lee to sign a couple of ‘Bernice Summerfield’ CD sleeves, and Lee Sullivan to sign the poster from ‘Vworp Vworp 1-2’ and the final part of ‘Liberation of the Daleks’ in MDW (having got him to sign the first part a year before). Shirt and Lee then had an interesting chat about the deadlines that he had on the project, and what is next for the MDW comic strip. Their conversation was just coming to an end when the sound of a bugle indicated that the two minute Armistice Day silence was starting. Lee stood up, and they both stood by his table in silence, trying to ignore that the organisers had failed to turn off the sound of the cinema trailers booth which continued to broadcast at top volume. Finally the bugle sounded again, Shirt thanked Lee and moved further down getting Lew Springer to sign the latest ‘The Daft Dimension’ strip in MDW.

Returning to the main floor, Shirt wandered around all the stalls, finding absolutely nothing that he wanted to buy. It was then time for his first dash to Naughty Asteroid where the editors and some of the authors of the ‘Reports from the Deep End’ anthology (stories based on the works of JG Ballard) were signing. After around half-an-hour, and having found himself hemmed in by all the people on their way to a protest about the war in Gaza, he arrived ten minutes after the signing had begun. The queue was short and soon Shirt was getting Maxim Jakubowski to sign several ‘Sherlock Holmes’ anthologies that he had also edited. The other main person of Sherlockian interest, pastiche author James Lovegrove, had been a late cancellation, but at the other end of the long table was David Quantick, who was surprised when Shirt asked him to sign his copy of ‘The Dark Husband’.

‘I didn’t think anyone bought that’, commented its author, with Shirt hoping that he didn’t ask for his opinion on the story. Luckily, David simply signed it ‘To Shirt’ and he was able to dash back out of the store and return to Olympia, buying lunch on the way.

The queue back in was shorter, and after only a ten minute wait, Shirt was back in the building, and made his way directly to the ‘Young Adult Literature Convention’ (YALC) area, where he found there was not a queue for YA author, Yvette Fielding. However, it was for her stint as a ‘Blue Peter’ presenter that he wanted to meet her, and Yvette laughed as he produced ‘Blue Peter Book 25’ for her to sign. Book signed, there was just time for a quick photo as a queue of YAL fans was building up.

Shirt had one final meeting left, a photo studio with War Master and audio Sherlock Holmes, Sir Derek Jacobi. (Shirt had previously met Derek in Birmingham). The previous photoshoot had overrun a little, and there were a large number of Diamond Passholders to be gone through before the general batches were called. Shirt was Batch 2, but it was still around half-an-hour before he was called to join the snaking queue. Around ten minutes later he was stowing his bag, and five minutes later he was stepping up for his few seconds with the great man, who greeted him warmly. Having retrieved his bag, the photo took ages to be spat out of the machine, and looking at it, Shirt was slightly unhappy with Derek’s expression in it. However, the member of staff in charge, took one look and stated that Shirt could not have a retake as it wasn’t a technical issue.

He therefore made his way to the exit of the photo studio and then the exit of the hall, retracing his steps to Naughty Asteroid. Here a signing for the recently published ‘Inside The Mind of Sherlock Holmes’ hardback graphic novel had just started. Picking up a copy of the book, Shirt moved to the signing table, handing it over to Benoit Dahan, the co-writer and artist. The inside page signed and dedicated, Benoit took a limited-edition art card of Holmes and Watson off a pile, showing Shirt a signed sketch on the back, of the novel’s antagonist, completed prior to the signing. He then passed them both to Cyril Lieron, his co-writer and colourist who also signed them both. As he did so, as he had with Brendan Fletcher that morning, Shirt found himself again having to reassure them as a London-based Sherlockian that they as foreigners (Frenchmen in their case) had not been disrespectful to England’s most famous (literary) son.

Paying for the book (at £4 off the cover price), Shirt made his way to a nearby fast food restaurant before slowly wending his way home after what had been a very tiring day.

[PL]