Here's something most of you won't have seen before. It's a full page ad I drew to promote the Raptus Comic Festival in Bergen, Norway, in 2003. It appeared in a tabloid newspaper giveaway promoting the Scandic Bergen City hotel. The illustration was also printed on the plastic carrier bags for that year's Raptus convention.
As well as my interpretations of Batman, Flash Gordon, Conan and the Hulk, you may spot Modesty Blaise having a drink with Nemi, The Phantom partying with Wonder Woman, and other comic stars. Although as this is a convention scene they're all fans in costume of course so I could take a few liberties. I also added one of my Suburban Satanists, Benny, about to be flattened by the Hulk, and Jonas Darnell's Herman Hedning looking on grinning.
I was asked to include a few real-life attendees too, so festival organizers Arild and Frode make an appearance, along with Rodney Ramos on stage, Dave Windett and I at the back doing a signing, and Mike Collins in the foreground sketching Judge Dredd.
An enjoyable commission which, I hope, captured the fun of the event. I've been a guest at five of their festivals over the years and have always enjoyed them. (Language is no problem as most people there speak English as fluently as they do Norwegian.) I haven't been back to Norway since the 2003 show, but the event is still going strong every year, with the 2013 one coming up next month. For more details see their website: http://www.raptus.no/
