Ross, Colan and the ever lovely Fradon.

Alex Ross appeared at a Manchester con just before his rise to fame within the comix biz and this is how I managed to just about snag this. But it was still trying!!

To be perfectly honest, I have never met a man who comes across as boring as him, he didn't appear to like anything?? 

I guess we were gate crashers as I over heard where the pre- show party was being held.
As we were making our way across town we bumped into Steve Darnell and Alex looking rather lost looking at their map to find their hotel... turns out it was the same place.

Earlier in the day we got talking to Alan Grant who recognised us at the hotel bar and asked if we wanted to join them? of course we did!!

Around the table was myself, my then boyfriend, Alan Grant and his wife, the host of the con, Alex Ross, Steve Darnell and some little guy from vertigo whose name escapes me, all enjoying the beer, except Alex who was on Peria water.

I would like to think Alex was shy rather than arrogant but it was his friend Steve Darnell who was the total opposite who got us chatting... his opening line to conversation was:

'Hey! you know Alex saw my wife naked before I did!!'

which made me laugh... turns out she had done some life modeling for him whilst at college.

This broke the ice...

Before Alex was going to turn in for the night.. (@10pm) I picked up the courage to ask if at anytime over the weekend would it be possible to get a sketch? strictly... he wasn't there for that.

Reluctantly and then goaded by his pal Steve Darnell he agreed and the following morning I got this!

It took all of 10 mins, he started with the nose... and then he smudged it which he was annoyed about, so that's the finger print you can see at the bottom of the shoulder on the right... I have said this time and time again, Alex Ross doesn't do much for me... I find his art very static, but this I do like as again it touches upon my love for the thick black line.

Gene Colan: A master, a beautiful piece and one of the largest I own.
This was an award to myself for getting through giving birth!! The scan doesn't do the shading and intricacies justice.

You can never ever get bored of Ramona Fradon.

Every now and then I treat myself to these little square head shots.
I ended up with two Batmans...

I ordered a Batman and a Robin, and my order got mixed up with another guys...

The dealer/agent that I get these from I often find rather unhelpful when things don't quite go  right.

He told me it was my problem to deal with and gave me the other guys contact details he sent my order to. 

We were both happy with we got so we didn't bother swapping in the end.