Being a part-time writer myself, I've met plenty of other writers over the years, mostly novelists but a few screenwriters and comics writers as well. Most of those meetings have been here in the UK and most of the writers British. I've met several America writers as well, though, also over here so it's not unheard of that folks from the other side of the pond come across.
I have to wonder - having recently re-read
Millennium - whether Steve Englehart had ever been to Britain in 1988:
That's Birmingham in 1988, apparently, and Celia Windward is about to be tapped to (eventually) become Jet, one of the New Guardians. Two of those captions need a closer look:
In 1988, Britain was ruled by the
Conservative Party under their leader
Margaret Thatcher. They're definitely to the right of mainstream politics but even being the pinko, liberal, commie, left-winger that I am (slight exaggeration but not much) I wouldn't call them fascists. They gutted the manufacturing industry in Britain during their rule, privatised most if not all of the nationalised services and utilities and brought unemployment to new heights. Sadly, twenty years on, the current
Labour Party haven't been a whole lot better. But still . . . fascists?
9am and it's still dark! That's right, folks, Britain doesn't get daylight until
at least 3 in the afternoon, and only for ten minutes!!
But it gets worse - days later, Batman, Green Lantern and Mr. Miracle head off to collect Celia so that she can become Jet:
For once I'm going to ignore the dialect spoken by Celia - while it's obviously more Jamaican influenced than
Brummie, there's nothing to say that Celia was born and bred in Birmingham - but just look at the weather: middle of the day and most of the street is hidden by fog!
Fog!!
In the middle of the day!!!!!
If it weren't for those captions talking about the lack of daylight, I'd blame Joe Staton for being lazy and not wanting to draw backgrounds. As it is, I'm extending an open invitation to Steve Englehart to come over to the UK and take me to a large city which has fog rolling down the streets up to people's knees.
