A Chronicle of Doom....

Excellent awayday to the capital yesterday, Agent Rob stopping off for a swill 'n' pick up at Agent Johnny's en route to the Things And Stuff launch. The scene was all contented chuntering at Ice Station, the swilling somewhat restrained (perhaps with one eye on events to come later), as our two Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D caught up following Rob's 'James Bond-ish' global exploits. The Invaders (The Horror Channel weekdays at 2:00) was a hot topic of conversation, as well as Ben Macintyre's 'Double Cross' - Our Man in Pester Whailes current reading - and the Spaceman: Comic of the Future reprints (only 3 issues to go to complete the set!)

Cordwainer Smith's 'We The Underpeople', Arthur C. Clarke's '2061: Odyssey 3' (only one more to go to complete the set!)  and Michael Bishop's 'Transfigurations' were also discussed amidst reminisces that surely circumvented The Official Secrets Act....

As the swill supply dwindled our two exhausted Agents had no choice but to take the 'Road to Deadhead', arriving just as the afternoon's mask-making got underway. As you can see, the Things And Stuff team of Doctor Simpo and Graham Manley took to the task like ducks to water, er....

The Invaders Opening Titles

Things and Stuff, for tomorrow.... never nose....

Deadhead Comics is the place to be tomorrow, as the good Doctor Simpo makes his return to Scottish soil to launch a new comic and teach us an, em, thing or two about making masks....

A Chronicle of Doom....

Amazing! It only seems a matter of days since we blogged about the closure of Deadhead Comics and - like a Dark Phoenix saga from the ashes - it has risen again! Agent Rob visited on Monday, dropping off a substantial amount of beautiful Braw stock, some of which is available exclusively to DHC (for now). You can just about make out The John G. Miller Scrapbook dead centre as well as The Collected Rob Miller top left, while a somewhat startled but obviously thrilled Agent Austin proudly shows off copies of The Big Book of Pudsy and the (unstoppable won't stop top-selling) Collected Mad Mentol MacBam Brothers....

As you can see the new shop looks just fantastic, acres of space with a cool, fresh, white finish! What a considerable bounce back to life - I'm sure this Agent wasn't alone in thinking the days of the Deadhead were well and truly over - and a hearty congrats to Agent Austin and all his "Kru" is undeniably due. With more comics arriving every single day - the excellent and sizeable back issue selection is still filtering in longbox by longbox - it definitely looks like the unfinished finished article. Pop up to 30, West Nicolson St. to see what all the fuss is about. See this handy reboot of Graham Manley's groovy shop ad fer details....

However. In spite of being slap bang in the middle of Agent Johnny's patrol zone - Backbeat Records is 2 minutes up the road - there was no sign of Our Man from Pester Wails with the final 3 pages of The Atomic Society #2. As such Agent Rob returned to Glasgore empty handed, pretty much resigned to the fact that it looks like the release of Evil Hollywood will just have to wait until all things Comic Con Crunch are concluded. Phone reports the following morning suggest Agent Johnny has extended his deadline by 2 weeks(!?), almost making that a certainty. Ah well, it's not like I'm a stranger to comics with protracted gestations.... Maybe next year....

Earth - Omens And Portents II: Carrion Crow

A Chronicle of Doom: The Walking Deadhead....

Deadhead artwork by Graham Manley.

Timely emergency visit to Edinburgh yesterday to catch Deadhead Comics before it closed its doors for one last time (in its present Candlemaker Row incarnation at least). Imagine my complete surprise to find Agent Johnny on 'Guard Duty' whilst Agent Austin took care of essential business elsewhere. Of course, I didn't have long to wait before Gaf made a welcome return to the fold, and I waited even less time before we were safely ensconced in the Oz Bar fer a quick 'view to a swill'....

Agent Johnny and Deadhead Comics in better days (if you can believe it!).

Thanks to the locally made Electric Man the shop has been preserved on film for future generations to own and enjoy at home forever (isn't that how the blurb goes...?). In fact, if you look closely enough Agents Austin and Rob, as well as Graham Manley and countless others, were immortalised on (um, digital) celluloid in the process. Alas there was nothing as valuable as a copy of Electric Man #1 lurking on the shelves or buried in the back shop to save the day....

Yep, the missing tooth's on the other side, I know....

Agent Rob can dimly recall a childhood visit to Deadhead in the previous Victoria Street location, carefully stretching his pocket money to buy several comics (including the Captain America issue below) only to be informed of 'import costs' on the cover prices at the till, his parents having to hastily supply the extra few quid to keep their young 'un happy....

Captain America's 50th (NB. actual price may differ to that advertised....)

It's been in my head for days, so as a fitting send-off here's some Cream - special in a sense as one evening post-Ice Station Gaf fired this up to 11 as requested by some foreign customers. As to whether he told them to "f*ck off out of my shop!" before or after that I can't rightly recall....

Cream - Sunshine Of Your Love

Finally, I think it's only fair to give a suitably eternal shout-out to Kirsty Wilson, Gary McLean and Tim Coombs, all essential cogs in the Deadhead machine (as I've known it - I'm sure there's been plenty others over the course of the past 26(!) years).... Hail Odin!

A Chronicle of Doom....

Highly successful Saturday signing at a simply bustlin' Deadhead Comics, Agent Johnny and Zander making for a truly heavyweight underground presence. Thanks to all who came along to buy books, chew the fat, grab a photo op, sit in the sun or just swally some swill, it was much appreciated. Extra props to Gaf Austin for hosting us over the course of the afternoon (and likely well into the evening after I left....) Deadhead poster art by Graham Manley....

Dave Alexander signing, Deadhead Comics, Edinburgh....

Next Saturday in Edinburgh's Deadhead Comics Dave Alexander will be signing copies of his new, 30 years in the making, MacBam Brothers Collection....