Hearts of Glass in Canyons of Steel: New York Comic Con 2007

The photo above shows the Jacob Javits Center, the New Yorker Hotel, and the Empire State Building. I've just returned from spending several days in two of those places - didn't get to the ESB this trip. The New York Comic Con was a much better experience this year than last; at least I was able to get inside for all three days. Last year, the Fire Marshal shut the doors at around 2 p.m. on Saturday, causing a giant logjam of frustrated fanboys unable to get their four-color fix... me among them.


I was there to sign copies of The Future Was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim, and enjoyed spending time with Hermes Press Publishers Dan Herman and Louise Geer in the booth (that's Dan above), as well as meeting fans of Mike's work. It was very cool to meet fellow HP author Ron Goulart who made an appearance on Saturday to sign his new book on the pulps. I've been a fan of Ron's work since I was very young and read his novel, "Nemo," as well as his Vampirella and The Shadow books. Ron's written more adventurous prose than just about anyone on Earth, and he was a truly nice fellow as well.

I also had a fun and productive time with Christopher Jones and Melissa Kaercher, my friends from Minnesota. Chris is one of the most talented artists in comics today, and we're working together on a graphic novel. It was great to be able to hammer out some details of the project in person, and we hope to have the book out sometime early next year. It's a period mystery, set in Hollywood in 1966 - lots of pop art atmosphere along with some noir-ish touches. I'll post more details in the future.


One of the coolest things about my trip was staying in the New Yorker, the hotel where mysterious genious Nikola Tesla spent his last years, and died in 1943.


If it weren't for Tesla, we'd most likely be sitting around making blog posts on difference engines by the glow of gaslight; he worked out the power delivery system that brings electricity into our homes. He most likely worked out a great deal more than that, things that may take years or centuries for us to rediscover. To say that he was eccentric and a bit troubled is an understatement. The plaque above is affixed to the New Yorker on the 34th Street side, commemorating his residence there.

I've got my spine, I've got my Agent Crush

Here's a bit of art from Mike's current project, AGENT CRUSH. He's working at the studio full time at the moment, and commuting home on weekends. Find more information by Clicking here. Here's a fairly extensive set of behind the scenes clips and footage from the film. New commissions will have to wait until shooting is finished, most likely.



My book signings at the John's Creek Borders Books and the New York Comic Con are still GO - hope to meet some blog readers at both.
Anthony

Upcoming Book Signing Appearances

Here's a quick rundown of some upcoming events where I'll be signing copies of The Future Was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim. Hope to see some of you there!

FX Show - The Florida Extravaganza
Friday-Sunday, January 26-28th
Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida
Creator's Alley
http://fxshow.com/

Border's Books, John's Creek - Suwannee, Georgia
February 17th, 7-9 p.m.
3630 Peachtree Parkway
Ste 100
Suwanee, GA 30024
678-417-1425
Map

New York Comic Con
February 23-25th, Jacob Javits Center, Manhattan
Hermes Press Booth in the Dealer's Room
http://www.nycomiccon.com

Unfortunately, Mike won't be able to attend any of these signings as he's in a different country entirely! We hope to get him over to the U.S. for a signing this year. Watch this space for more information.
Anthony Taylor

Thunder Child Prints Still Available

St. Paul's Gallery still has several of the Thunder Child Giclee prints available via their website - Just Click Here for more information.
Signed by Mike Trim as well as Jeff Wayne, these enormous and beautiful prints make a real impression. The print has been created directly from the original artwork that is owned by Jeff Wayne himself. The original measures only 18 x 29" and so it was agreed that the print should be bigger in size (22 x 40") as it would highlight the detail difficult to see, especially in Vinyl or CD format.
These prints are in short supply with an edition of just 295 pieces worldwide. This might be your last chance to get one.
(Photograph is presumably ©2003 St. Paul's Gallery, as I cribbed it from their website.)

Those Wonderful Toys...

The article I wrote about Mike and the toys and model kits that have been created from his Anderson designs has finally made it into Toy Shop Magazine.

The article, curiously named "The Future was FAB", appears in the February 2007 issue of Toy Shop. It includes text and photos that are not in the book, so you'll want to pick it up to get the scoop on the Dinky, Imai, Product Enterprise, Rosenthal and other toys and model kits based on Mike's designs.
The magazine should be available now in comic shops, bookstores, and newsstands everywhere.

All we hear is Radio Ga Ga...

Here's a link to an audio MP3 file of a radio interview I did about the book a couple of weeks ago:
http://www.scifizoneradio.com/podcast/SFZ120206.mp3
Yes, you can make fun of me for mispronouncing the word "Mysterons."
I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday season!
Anthony

Meanwhile, Back At The Lab...

Here's another photo of Mike from Sector 25, standing in front of the display of Brains' Lab in the model room. I'll post more pictures as I find them.
Thanks to Tony Barnes for the photo.

Fanderson Sector 25 Convention Wrap Up

I'm back from London and starting to get over the jet lag. Sector 25 was an amazing gift of a weekend from Fanderson, the Gerry Anderson Fan Appreciation Society. Mike and I spent most of the weekend in the hotel bar, signing copies of The Future was FAB, as evidenced below.


All told, Fanderson sales moved about 60 or 70 copies of the book over the weekend, and had a record breaking £5,000.00 in overall sales. Mike and I enjoyed signing every one of the books, and seeing a hotel full of people walking around with copies.
My heartfelt thanks go to Stephen La Riviere for picking me up at the airport, lugging me all over London and Borehamwood and finally back to Gatwick so I could catch my plane home last Thursday. Thanks also to Chris Bentley, Martin Gainsford, Marcus Hearn, Len, Stephen, Nick, Ralph, and the rest of the Fanderson committee for doing an outstanding job in organizing the convention, and for their excellent hospitality. I'm looking forward to the next convention, hopefully in 2008.


I had a wonderful time meeting so many new friends at Sector 25, as well as seeing some old ones. More thanks to James, Duncan (who shot the photos in this entry), Louise, Ralph, Richard, Aimee, Tamsin, Hilton, Elliott, Mark, Sam, Tony, Tony, Tony, (sounds like a hip hop group) Chris, and especially Mike and Linda Trim (Linda's in the photo with me) for making the weekend very special for me.
For more photos of the models and puppets on display at Sector 25, take a look at the message boards at FABGearusa.com.

Typographical Errors as Metaphor for Life

I'm starting to get packed for my trip to London this week for Fanderson's SECTOR 25 convention in Borehamwood. Grabbing things to take to England, I picked up my personal copy of The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim, so I can have Mike sign it for me when I see him. It's still too new for me not to flip through it everytime I pick it up, and in doing so I found two more typos. On the first page of the chapter on Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds, David Essex is misidentified as "Davis Essex", and Thin Lizzy becomes "Tin Lizzy."
Sheesh.
I checked my manuscript; they were correctly spelled there.
In fact, most of the typos in the book aren't present in the original manuscript.
This is disheartening, as the book was proofed several times by eyes other than mine, but I never saw a final galley before it went to press.
That won't happen again, no matter how close we are to the release date.
If by some chance the book goes into a second printing, all the typos will be corrected. I just hope that in doing this, new typos aren't created.
Ah well, I think of it like a Top Secret Classified document - maybe the typos are there intentionally, to identify which printing your copy of the book is from.
That's what I like to call "adventure rationalizing."
Hope to see some of you at the Fanderson convention this weekend. Bring your books for Mike and me to sign.
We'll try not to mispell our own names.

Danger is his middle name...

In the spirit of title sequences from great 1960's TV shows like I Spy, Danger Man, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and the like, I've created a short promotional video trailer for The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim.

Here's the direct URL if you'd like to let a friend know about it (and please do let a friend know about it!):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87gMzod2Rq8
Special thanks to Gerry-Lynn Fore for his unequalled editing skills, and Ralph Titterton and Rob Fellowes for music and image permissions.