Adlard, Azzarello, Irving, and my first venturing into a 'con!

 So today was day one of two of Copenhagen Comics, the closest you'll get to a Con in my native country. It's been on a short hiatus (last time it was held was in 2010, I believe, under the name of Komiks.dk), but it returned this year, featuring a host of Danish comic book artists and, as you might've guessed from the headline, a couple of names from the international scene, as well. This was my first ever visit to an event such as this, and having wanted to go to Comic Con for a couple of years now, checking the event announcements every summer and going "Goddamnit I want to go see that", it was kind of a big thing for me, even if this is, not surprisingly, somewhat more low-key than the real big ones.

I had a fucking blast, though.

Might not look impressive to anyone who's visited the international Cons, but this is not a bad show for -anything- at 10am in Denmark. Photo Copyright Martin Kornum Olsen

The event took place near the Copenhagen Central Station, and as one of the friends I went there with would attest to, I was more than giddy with anticipation (as she commented on already the day before when we were attending an Artist Talk with Charlie Adlard at the University of Copenhagen, and I might've gone sort of "squeeeeeeee" as soon as he showed up...)


Anyway, my personal interest in the event was mostly to catch the international names I already mentioned - and whoddoyaknow, all of 'em were featured in some sort of panel on this first day, starting off with Frazer Irving in an interview titled Shadows and Superheroes

Frazer Irving signed my copy of Batman and Robin Must Die! written by Grant Morrison (I mentioned how I fucking love Grant Morrison, right?) and drawn by Frazer. The autograph is accompanied by a quick sketch he whipped up of the Joker. It's bitchin'. Photo Copyright Martin Kornum Olsen


Frazer Irving is a British comic book artist who's drawn for all of the big names and done stuff like X-Men, Batman & Robin, Seven Soldiers, Xombi, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Hellblazer - you name it, essentially. I was a bit shocked to learn that Frazer apparently has barely touched a comic book other than the ones he illustrate for the past nigh seven years, but there you go - it's like chefs not wanting to eat their own food, I suppose? My own reason for going all fanboy over his appearance was that he did, as mentioned, Batman & Robin, with probably my favorite comic book writer, Grant Morrison (it's the thing he's signing on the picture, by the way), and my head was just about to burst when I saw his name announced. Morrison's Batman & Robin is some of my favorite stuff in comic books, and the final part, which is what Irving has drawn, is particularly epic - because it ties together a fantastic series run for Morrison (including a long Batman run, the Final Crisis crossover and his Batman & Robin), but also because Irving's style of drawing is creepy and dark, and he does a great job at conveying, through his art, the sense of impending doom that you have in the story. His artwork fits the satanic tones of the book well, and that one scene where everything comes to a head... Just read it, it's good! I promise!

Charlie Adlard is the handsome guy with the microphone, by the way. Not the stoned-looking interviewer in an NPC tee in the background. Picture is from the interview Talking the Dead. Photo Copyright Martin Kornum Olsen

I'll be honest and admit that I only recently got into The Walking Dead, the comic book that Adlard has been illustrating for almost ten years now. And shame on fucking me, because if it's somehow blown past you, it's absolutely brilliant, and if you're into comic books you should really go ahead and give it a try. Adlard has been in the comic book industry for a good bit longer than Irving, and Adlard, too, has illustrated all sorts of book: Judge Dredd, The X-Files, Batman, Savage, Warlock, Hellblazer - but, of course, he has most famously done The Walking Dead, which he took over from Tony Moore from issue 7 onwards (this was back in 2004. It's now 2013 and there's more than 100 issues out. That's a lot of fucking zombies)

The Walking Dead is not about the zombies, and thank fuck for that! As Adlard himself pointed out at aforementioned Artist Talk at the University of Copenhagen the day prior to the event (Where I totally caught him too - and I'm glad I did, since I didn't get a spot in the signing queue today. Guy's popular), zombies are really, thoroughly, incredibly, not-at-all interesting characters. The people who have to deal with them are, however, and while there's no doubt that the writing is absolutely excellent, it wouldn't shine in the same way without Adlard's talent - there's so much to be found in those facial expressions, and while black-and-white (and some grey!) titles might notoriously not sell well in the US, it really works here. For me, the black-and-white presentation of a destroyed version of our modern society really shows how the world of The Walking Dead is just absolutely broken, and you're walking around in the leftovers of what was once good, but where it just all went wrong, somewhere. It's the same sense of Broken World you get from (excellent) video games like Fallout 3 and Bioshock, and this overwhelming sense of utter despair and defeat combined with great characters is one epic comic book.

According to Brian himself, he really enjoyed some of the older Superman stuff because he thinks it's funny when Superman is "really just a DICK to Jimmy Olsen". Photo Copyright Martin Kornum Olsen

Brian Azzarello, besides being bald and rockin' a goatee, also spends a lot of time writing comic books. He's written Luthor, Joker, Superman: For Tomorrow, 100 Bullets, Hellblazer, Flashpoint tie-ins, Doc Savage, Before Watchmen: Comedian and Rorschach, and is currently writing Wonder Woman for DC Comics. Brian's appearance was at a panel commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Man of Steel (the panel also featured what might arguably qualify as the Danish Kevin Smith, or at least nerd extraordinaire - Marvel-Morten, comic book fan for more than 50 years, and comic book retailer for 36 years, you can find him behind the counter at Fantask, one of the biggest comic book stores in Denmark, pretty much every day of the week. This guy answered questions from fans in the Danish translations of super hero comics, back when many titles were still translated. I remember seeing his name in comic books that I took over from my older brother. Guy's real passionate!)
I try and read a lot of comic books, but as any fan will know, there are a whole fucking lot of them out there. And since it's only a couple of years ago I really got aggressively back into the medium, I still have some bullet points that lack crossing-off on my must-read list. But I'll tell you this: Azzarello writes a creepy joker, both in the book actually entitled Joker, but certainly also in his Batman Flashpoint miniseries, which I thoroughly enjoyed. His Superman in Superman: For Tomorrow is a scary one, too, because it reeks of the one you might see in stuff like Injustice - the Superman who's about to just take it too far because even if he is the Man of Steel and you need Kryptonite, magic or Doomsday to hurt him, he's as vulnerable emotionally as the rest of us - and as Azzarello pointed in the panel, he needed to find a weakness in Superman for him to be worth writing, as character is best revealed in flaws. Azzarello went for the flaws in Superman himself, and I think that's the right way to go if you want to have a chance at writing a good Supes story.




These Cons are the sort of events that really make it worthwhile being a nerd: as I discussed in my first blog post, it's all about the passion, and you really get to just embrace that fully at places like this. And meeting those guys that create those mediums we love like that - heck, I was starstruck, and I'll proudly stand by that. And if I wanted to go to Comic Con before, I reaaaaaaaaaaally want to go now. The panels, as well as the prior Artist Talk with Charlie Adlard, are the kinds of places where the media is taken seriously not just as entertainment, but as an art form, and where if you, like me, might want to engage with these things in a scholarly and academic manner in the future, you can really feel inspired.

All in all, I really enjoyed my visit to Copenhagen Comics, and I'd probably be returning tomorrow if my goddamn exams didn't demand I stay at home and study - good thing all the most interesting things were scheduled for today!

And I'll totally be returning for the next Copenhagen Comics!