WesterNoir background image for your laptops.

This great WesterNoir image by Gary Crutchley (and you can see the inked only version over on his blog), coloured by Matt Soffe and surrounded by a border and text by Andy Bloor, will soon be available as a limited print.

In the meantime, you can download it as a backdrop for you laptop from the AccentUK website. I've got it on mine and it looks awesome.

Invisible Man Spotted in Previews Issue 300.

Well I've finally managed to sort out getting Missing : Have You Seen The Invisible Man ? in the latest issue of Previews, which is the catalgue that goes out to all comic retailers so that they can decide what their respective stores will stock.

You're probably thinking that this should have been sorted out a while ago, as the comic has been on sale at a number of Cons already, and you'd be right. It's just that with all the Cons and life in general, sometimes important things just never get to the top of the To Do list.
Still, it's finally been sorted.

and page 240 has it in all its glory. Yes, I know I name dropped the Eagle Award that Marleen Lowe and I won for Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man ? but us Independent comic creators need all the nudges we can drag up if we're going to look interesting to the Comic Shop Guys out there.
I still get complaints from customers that our books never appear in their local stores, we used to send out a free copy to stores across the globe in the hope that they'd order some through Previews but it costs a lot of cash, and I'm not sure if it was very effective.
The problem is that the retailers have to spread their cash across a whole heap of Marvel and DC Event Books as well as the usual number of X and Bat books ... so it's no wonder that they buy one or two copies of our books at most. And when they've sold them, that's it. There's no re-order or re-stock.

 

So, if you want to get your local store to have a copy for you then you really need to go and ask them to get you one.. and do it before they put their Diamond Previews order in. Which means over the next week or two. All the details you need can be seen in the above scan.. the Order Number is STK623409...
I hope you do, and I hope you enjoy the read.

WesterNoir Update.

Well WesterNoir is getting more and more interest, and it's clear that having an on going title is quite different to one shots. At the Carlisle MegaCon yesterday one customer came over the to stall, picked up the three issue sketch pack and said that his gaming friends had recommended the book to him. That kind of 'word of mouth' recommendation is great, and reviews like these www.intheblackhall.wordpress.com for Issue 1 and http://intheblackhall.wordpress.com/2013/08/17/review-westernoir-book-2/ for Issue 2 really help.
Meanwhile Gary Crutchley has completed in the artwork on Issue 4, with Andy Bloor (also featured on the cover of Issue 4) providing the lettring... you'll know what I mean when you pop over to have a look on his blog) has provided the lettering. It's looking great and is going to be a great issue to end the first mini-series on.
Whilst you're on Gary's blog you also find a link to an interview where he also mentions WesterNoir a few times...
Not stopping there though, Gary (mostly) and I have already plotted the second mini-series and Gary has started emailing me about Issue 9...
And finally, with regards WesterNoir, Gary has produced a great piece or artwork that is being coloured by equally talented Matt Soffe (who I met again at yesterday's Carlisle MegaCon and is a really nice bloke) and once that's done we'll ask Andy Bloor to design some kind of frame/setting and I'll get some printed off on some nice paper. Not sure when all this will have been completed by but I'll announce it here when it is.
...and almost finally, the Invisible Man review from http://intheblackhall.wordpress.com/2013/08/ is now also up on www.inter-comics.com, which is great.
...and finally... one of my little doodlings has turned up over on http://instagram.com/p/dF5g6GEqxp/#, which is nice.

Strange Times Book 2... the end is in sight.

I'm focussing my efforts on finishing Strange Times over the coming weeks. Book 2 sees everything resolved, although there's always going to be a temptation to come back to the characters at some future point.

Here's a recently finished page, without the words (mainly because I haven't written them yet).

Whilst not drawing the Leyton Angel I've been trying to remember how to update the Accent UK website, and believe I've now added WesterNoir Book 3, so you can see a few sample pages and also buy a copy if tempted. If you find any errors, and I'm sure you will, then please let me know and I'll try to fix them. It's a complicated website (for me anyway) and infrequent updates mean that I almost have to learn how to update it every time I try to do so. Ah well, good job I've not got a job in IT... wait a minute... damn.



The Invisible Man reviewed and artwork revealed.

There's a great review of Missing: Have You Seen The Invisible Man? over at intheblackhall.wordpress.com which quite rightly highlights again the fabulous work that Joe Campbell did bringing invisibility to the comic book page.
Over of Joe Campbell's blog he shares his process with those who would like to know more. Here's a sampled page, in case you need any further temptation.

Mermaid Sightings.

Well I'm just back from a too brief visit to North Wales and Anglesey.
Whilst there we were determined this time to pay a visit to Port Meirion (of the original The Prisoner TV series fame).

I never realised before our visit that there was a Mermaid connection, but everywhere I looked I seemed to spot one. The entry ticket had a stylised version...
I spotted this carving of a not-so-attractive version...

and then found the ironwork of gates and railings to sport another nicely designed one...

and then there was this hard-to-spot one that had weathered a bit over the years, and looks a lot clearer in the photo than it did gazing up at it...

All these Mermaids were certainly very inspiring, and if we hadn't just had an issue of WesterNoir where Mermaids were the central monsters, then... and then it dawned on me.
Hadn't Gary Crutchley visited Port Meirion not so long ago ?
Wasn't it Gary who was so keen that we work Mermaids into issue 3 of WesterNoir ?
Yep... it's all so clear now.
Mermaids were still working their magic on unsuspecting men.
I wonder where Gary is off to next ?
Maybe the plot of a future issue of WesterNoir will make it all clear.