The 42nd Post

Well, that's it for another year.

It's been strange one that has had more ups than downs and so pretty good when looking back.
Let's hope Brexit works as a lot of people expect it to, rather than some fear it will.

From an Accent UK perspective we've produced less books this year, but have been busier on Kickstarter with -

Has Kane Mesmer Lost His Magic Touch? Written by myself with art from Marleen Lowe
Return To The Asylum with contributions from myself, Colin and Gary amongst many other talented individuals - this also saw Stephenson's Robot Issue 5 as a reward tier.
I Before E except after W, that's weird. A book of collage illustrated short stories from myself.

No WesterNoir this year as we've focussed on trying to sell enough of the TPB and Issues 5 to 8 to make room for the next ones. Gary has been busy in the background however and is busy illustrating the next book.

Kia Wordsmith issue 2 didn't quite make it but hopefully we'll see issue 2 early in 2020.

Stephenson's Robot issue 6 is near completion, all art is in I'm just colouring the main story and Matt Soffe is working his usual magic on the back story.

We are already pulling together stories for the next Asylum Book and it's coming along very nicely.

WesterNoir will see a new publication in the second half of the year if all goes to pain, more news on that later.

...and there will no doubt be some surprises along the way as other long term projects see completion.


Thanks to everyone who stopped by our tables at Cons or supported us through Kickstarter (or, as turns out to be the case) sometimes both. Also thanks to all our co-creators who we bump into at the UK Cons and abroad for their good humour and inspiration.

All the best to everyone for 2020.

Great Xmas present.

My daughter Jemma bought me this for Xmas.

I loved reading the series, my favourite over the last year or so and look forward to reading it all again in the larger format.
I've been a fan of Dean Ormston's artwork for years, it's great that he's working on this with the talented Mr. Lemire.
If you've not picked it up already then I thoroughly recommend it.

My busiest month in 2019

So, 2019 was the year I decided to be more organised.

I had tried wall calendars previously but I hate looking at my scrappy notes on it.

It looked too messy.

In 2018 I gave up on it in about July and missed a lot of things because of it.

Birthdays.

Pre-booking train tickets.

That sort of thing.

So this year, as I was in the collaging mood due to working on my collage book, I decided to have a little fun with it. 

To make it more interesting to look at. 

To help me use it more.

Here's a sample.

My busiest month, May.

I made a few mistakes, which I had to fix with arrows, but I quite like that too.

It worked.

I was much more organised this year.

Something that was noticed and remarked upon by a few friends.

I've already started next year's calendar.

Putting in all those Birthdays. 

Great fun.

Jumanji 2

Well, it was a choice between CATS (which looked creepy), the latest Star Wars (I've never really been a fan) and the latest Jumanji.
So Jemma and I decided on the latter.

We really enjoyed the last one and this was just as good.
A few little twists that added another level of fun and interest but pretty much the same feel, pace and engaging characters as the last one.
Loved it.
Recommend it.

Big Yellow Storage

Well, I've finally got around to moving all of my stored stuff from a Big Yellow in the North to one closer to wear I now live. Closer by some 3 hours.

I've spent quite a few hours over the last few weekends sorting through things that I've kept but know I'll never read again, and haven't needed to look at in the last few years.
My local charity shop loves me.

WesterNoir Figurines

Having a go at making some Mermaid figures for WesterNoir.
3D printed.
Need to paint them now... it's been a while.

Earth-2071?

I always assumed we were living on Earth-1 or Earth Prime.
No wonder things aren't making much sense these days.

I before E

Well, almost all of the packages have been sent out to my Kickstarter Backers.
I've just got to send out the ones with original artwork in them, including the winner of the original artwork for the reward card.
Just trying to decide whether to send it signed for... tracked.. or other.
Decisions decisions.

A postcard from Denmark.

I got this postcard sent to me whilst Colin and Gary were over at a Copenhagen Comic Convention a few weeks ago.

It's nice to see that the Danes can see the funny side off it all :o)

Collage Cards have arrived.

The Collage cards that are Kickstarter rewards have arrived.

That are two sided. An image of the front and short story about it on the back.

I'll be contacting the Kickstarter backers after posting this, and will then be sending out the books over the coming week.

I before E except after W, that's Weird...

.. has arrived and it looks great.
Really happy with how it looks and feels.
I wanted it to have as old a feel as I could, without putting on corner creases and the like and I'm really happy with the matt look and feel to the covers.

I also love the fact that the format is different.
I just need a Convention to try and sell some at now :o)

Dungeons and Dragons

For many many years I've played the game called Dungeons and Dragons, now made popular by Stranger Things.
I started when I was about 15 and am still playing some.. well... many years later.
Over the last decade, or so, I've played with a group of friends from work.
Once a fortnight or so ... around a kitchen table ... around bowls of crisps and a few bottles of bear ... around a few painted figures on the table ... around a quite a few dice ...
And we all still love playing it.
I've moved down South.
We've had a few new recruits.
But last weekend saw our now regular trip to a rented house in Buxton.
Twice a year we gather.
With all the above, but around a different table.
Has the game lost its appeal?
Have we grown too old for it?
Have we grown bored of it?
'Hell No!'

Last weekend we even had a little flutter and win on the lottery.
Paid for the evening's curry anyway.
Looking forward to the next one guys.

'I before E except after W, that's Weird' Kickstarter successfully funded.

Happily my latest Kickstarter was successfully funded.
It didn't make much more than the target and I had a late drop out which actually pleased me as it meant that I once again took possession of a piece of art that I really wasn't too keen on parting with, but I made it.
Happy days.
I've finished the bonus card, which I promised all physical backers and Andy Bloor has cleaned it all up for me and put the words into the standard format for the back of the card.
All is good.

I'll be inserting the original in one of the orders I send out.

Road Tax - What a joke.

So, I left work early last Tuesday in order to get home early and work on something for the boss. The idea was to work late if need be, to get the thing done.
I left at 3pm.
At 3.10pm I hit a hole in the road as I went around a roundabout to join the usual 'A' road that I use to get home every weekday night.
It was a very nasty hole. Sharp edges. About 6 inches deep and more than a foot wide. I was boxed in and so couldn't avoid it.
There was a load bang.
I managed to crawl into a lay-by on the really busy 'A' road at about 3.12pm.
Damn.
Not a great start.
At 3.15pm I phoned my Car Insurers hotline, who provide road side assistance as part of the deal.
At 3.40pm they phoned back to say that I would get assistance in 3.5 hours. as all three of their local recovery contacts were busy.
In three and a half hours they would then tow me somewhere local where I could get my tire replaced.
I asked if the 'shop' would still be open around 7pm?
The nice lady said she'd look into it and get back to me.
At 3.57pm she got back to me.
'No, they won't be open.' She said.
'OK, then can you get me and my car to my home?'
'Yes.' she said.
'I don't have home start,' I reminded her, 'so will you be ok to tow me to a garage the next morning?'
'Please wait a minute,' she said, 'I'll need to check''
The minute was actually 5 minutes with me hanging onto the phone.
'I'm sorry,' she said with a sorry sounding voice, 'but we can't do that. Also I've checked your policy and your roadside recovery is only within 10 miles of you home, so you'll have to pay for the tow to within 10 miles of your home and also for the recovery vehicle to make it back to where it started.'
'That sounds expensive' I informed her, and thanked her anyway. It was what is was.
I really should have checked the small print on what my insurer actually provided with regards roadside assistance. Lesson learned.
At 4.30pm I started phoning around locally.
I got a guy who said he'd come out within the hour.
He did.
At 5.20pm he started on the wheel.
At 5.30pm I phoned my insurers and told them to stand down their promised recovery vehicle.
It took an age for him to get the tire off. One of the nuts was a mess, due to garage tightening tools probably and not the puncture.
At 6.00pm I paid him the £90 and gave him a little tip (I wasn't carrying much cash).
I had one of those little temporary spare wheels as a replacement for the usual one, which means you can't go above 50 mph.
At 7.40pm I arrived home, having pissed off a few fellow travellers on the M40.
At 11.17pm I finished what I'd set off fro work early to accomplish.

At 9am on Wednesday morning I phoned to local Ford dealer. I need a new tire and wheel nuts as the existing set were hopelessly damaged.
At 9.05am they told me they couldn't do anything today but to bring the car in Thursday morning.
I worked from home.

At 8.30am Thursday morning I drove the car to the local Ford dealer.
At 8.40am I walked back to my flat and started work.
At 2pm the Ford dealer phoned to say all was good, no other damage had been done, the tire had been replaced, as had the complete set of wheel nuts and the wheels balanced.
At 3pm I decided to walk back to the Ford dealer to pay and collect the car.
At 3.01pm I noticed the official looking letter that had been posted through my letterbox.
At 3.02pm I put it on my table and set off.
At 3.30pm I paid the £200 pound bill and drove home.
At 3.45pm I opened the letter that I'd left on my table.
It was my Road Tax for the coming year.
The Road Tax that pays to keep the roads in good repair.
I laughed.
What a joke.
At 5.45pm I went online and paid my Road Tax.
What a joke.

My last Convention of the year.

Tomorrow I'll be at the London MCM at the Excel centre.
Do pop by the stall and say 'Hi' if you're in the area.

Half way through my latest Kickstarter.

And it's great news.
I've exceeded the target and so the book will be printed.
IT would be nice to get a few more backers but I'm not greedy.

You can't see it from here, but can get full details over at Kickstarter.

I before E except after W, that's weird.

My latest Kickstarter has just launched.
This time around it's a book of collage illustrated little tales about weird characters with weird abilities.
As is the case with my books it has a title that just trips off the tongue... 'I before E except after W, that's weird'.

I'm not sure how well it'll do and whether or not it'll find an audience but it's something that I've been playing with for years and just had to finish.
We'll see how it does.

Return To The Asylum Kickstarter completion

Well this weekend I became the local Post Office's best customer.
Lots of visits and lots of packages sent out.
I think I'm probably not liked by most of the people looking to use the PostOffice for anything on Saturday but it's difficult getting there any other day.
Still.
It's done now.

MCM SCOTLAND - Glasgow

This weekend we're up in Glasgow, at one of our favourite shows.
I love Glasgow.
Hope to see some of you there.

Colouring started on Stephenson's Robot Issue 6

Yes, we're well on track to release Issue 6 of Stephenson's Robot early next year, and may well be able to print Issue 7, the final issue, in 2020 too. We'll see how it goes.
It's great to start colouring the first page with an image of Wolfie..

Looks like he's in a hurry.

Successfully funded.

Yep, the great news is that we gathered 91 backers for our Return To The Asylum Kickstarter, which is up on last year's 78 backers for Enter The Asylum.
A good trajectory :o)
We have also gathered two backers of the 'appear in the next issue' reward tier, another great sign.
The next issue is already in planning.
Really chuffed all round.

Return To The Asylum - Update

We've managed to exceed the number of backers we got on Enter The Asylum with the 79th person backing us today, and they did it in style. The 79th Backer backed two tiers and helped push ones raised into a nice place as well.
All backers of physical tiers will receive the third art card along with the other two.
This one is by cover artist Gary Crutchley, and I managed not to mess it up with the colouring.

The Kickstarter ends in less than 2 days so if you have been tempted then why not give it a go.

'Return ToThe Asylum' Kickstarter

I'm really happy with the progress on our latest Kickstarter.
'Return To The Asylum' follows on from last year's 'Enter The Asylum' and with a week to go looks to be on track to equal the 78 backers of our first steampunk anthology.
It's a bigger, and dare I say better, collection this time around and we're already working on next year's book.
It's great fun to pull together and to work with the characters in the comic, all of whom are people we meet at steampunk events or who back the 'Senior Principal Engineer of Steam' reward tier (and there's one left if you fancy seeing your steampunk persona in a comic book).
Pop over to Kickstarter and check it out, if only to enjoy Andy Bloor's great little video.

 

Asylum was a blast.

This year's Asylum was the best yet.
Thanks to printer @CPUK (on Twitter in case you need to put some work their way) both the Return To The Asylum Comic and the special V2A poster (with art by Gustaffo Vargas) where ready in time.
The weekend, actually 4 days from arrival on Friday to departure on Monday were full on and fabulous.
It was great to meet up with some of the characters

who were in the Return To The Asylum themselves.

Some were surprised,

some were dressed slightly differently

and some were just...

frightening.
All, we're pleased to say, were happy with their portrayal in the book.
Meeting up with V2A and then going to the gig on Sunday night was amazing.
There was so much energy going around that even though we were selling things on the Merchandise stall I still found myself joining in.

Books sold well.
Friends were met.
Fun was had.
Only down side?
I have to wait a whole year until the next one.

Asylum XI - All on track.

Well, despite short notice on our part all is on track with regards both the Return To The Asylum comic and the V2A / AccentUK poster, artwork by the talented Gustaffo Vargas and lettering design etc by the early talented Andy Bloor.
V2A appear in the story I wrote that Gustaffo illustrated so expertly.

Find us in the Lincoln Castle at the event on Saturday and you can get a signed poster for £5. That'll be signed by V2A... and a couple of Accent UK creators if you'd like. Sadly Gustaffo won't be around at the weekend. Maybe one day.

Return To The Asylum.

Our second anthology comic, telling tales about those characters created by people attending the Steampunk events in the UK is now available on Kickstarter. IT features a rather striking looking gentleman on the cover :o )

Return To The Asylum on Kickstarter

This issue features the post apocalyptic rock bank,V2A, in a 10 page story illustrated by Gustaffo  Tataje.

It also offers the opportunity to pick up the steampunk series, Stephenson's Robot. All 5 issues currently in print of the 7 issue mini series.

Oh, and after a great first day it was tagged as a Project We Love on Kickstarter which is great.

Jason Cobley enjoyed 'Boy Abducted By Aliens Returns'.

It means a lot to me when a fellow creator praises one of my stories.
Jason Cobley has just done so on facebook and it made my day.
Thanks Jason.

Asylum XI is fast approaching.

Well, the biggest Steampunk event in the UK, if not the world, takes place every year over the Bank Holiday Weekend at the end of August.

Last year, due to my focus on the new steampunk anthology Enter the Asylum, I failed to get my Stephenson's Robot Issue 5 out. Not so this year.
Yesterday I received the boxes from great printers @CPUK (you can contact Rich via Twitter).
They look fabulous...

Andy Bloor has done his usual great job designing the comic and giving it a colour that allows it to fit in with but stand out from the other issues.
INDIO! has worked his usual crazy magic, each page I receive makes me smile.
The Back story this issue is by the equally talented David Hitchcock. working his own kind of pencil and ink magic on a tale set in the time period that's he loves, Victorian. I've done something with the colouring on this that I'm really happy with. Subtle but effective, I hope.
That doesn't mean that the next Asylum anthology has been put on the back burner though, oh no. Return To The Asylum (see what we did there) is with the printer as I type this.

Manchester MCM

Accent UK will be at this weekend's Manchester MCM, pop over and say 'Hi' if you're at the Con.

Boy Abducted By Aliens Returns - Reviews

It's difficult getting reviews these days and to be honest, I'm rubbish at sorting them out.
I have Gustavo to thank then for sending out PDFs of the comic and getting the book reviewed by the following:-

The first from Pipedreams :- www.pipedreamcomics.co.uk

then Devils and Warriors :- www.daredevilsandwarriors.com

then Mass Movement Magazine :- www.massmovement.co.uk

and finally in the latest issue of Comic Scene :-

All in all they are pretty good.
Some seem a little put out by the misleading title and some wonder at the science (I linked the power to his Y chromosome connecting to another Y chromosomes, so it wouldn't effect women), but I like that.
I like that people have a think about it and question what they've read.
Yep. Happy with these.
Thanks to the reviewers for taking the time to read our comic, and to Gustavo for sending them review pdfs in the first place.
Oh, and if you're a reviewer and would like to review the comic then please email me or contact me through Twitter.

London MCM

The last Con of a very busy May was the London MCM.

Last May's event hadn't been great. We'd had one table, which was stuck in the middle of a row of mostly artists selling prints and we were effectively invisible when approaching from one side due to the wall of prints that the table next to us had put up dividing the tables.

Still, I'm not one to complain and we took this in our stride.

Some Cons are better than others.

This time around we had two tables again and Jemma and I were joined by Colin and Scott.

We were hoping that this May's MCM would be better than the last.

In short, it was.
It certainly got off to a fun start when, on arriving, I found this on my table..

Gary Erskine is a constant at the MCMs and always fun.
Friday was it's usual very slow affair, and really isn't worth a day off work.

Saturday made up for it though and Sunday was almost as solid, so overall we did pretty well.

MCM is under new management and there have been a number of improvements over recent Cons. 

This time around the Stewards were much better organised and attentive.

I liked the way the professional comic creators were placed around the Comic Village so the punters looking for them had to wander a little, and maybe notice something of interest that hasn't had any involvement from Stan Lee.

Yep.

MCM is still a huge corporate monster of a Con.

It still attracts more people looking to spend £70 on 2 seconds and a signed photo from some extra in some Star Wars movie or other.

It still has loads of Cosplayers who just aren't interested in the source of the character that they are dressed as.

But, because it's so big there are still plenty of plenty coming around the Comic Village to see what's on offer.

I think it's trying to raise the profile of Comics and it's not doing a bad job.

The rest is down to us to produce quality comics, engage with browsers and look to build a reader base.

Can't really ask for much more than that.

TCAF!!!

Yep.
Accent UK went to Toronto's TCAF event.
Toronto.
Canada.
These trips are more about meeting completely new creators and making new connections than we were expecting to sell the number of comics needed to turn a profit, but we try to do at least one Convention abroad every year.
It's also about seeing what the independent comic scene is like in other countries.
And how do our books stand up in comparison.

In Canada it's also about the Maple Syrup.
We arrived a day or so before the convention with the intention of just wandering, which is what we tend to do. Checking out the comic shops, in this case the rather impressive Beguiling Comics (who are involved with the Convention itself) and books stores and just, well, wandering.

I like Toronto.
I like the feel of the city.

On Friday we attended a few of the lectures, by other independent creators and registered.
It all took place as billed and was pretty professionally managed.
It all bode well for the Convention itself.

Saturday saw us walking the streets of Toronto again but this time pulling our suitcases, loaded with comics. We took advantage of the underground and it was all pretty straight forward.
The Convention itself was in the Library, on a number of floors, and the range of quality books was very impressive.

And there we were on our own little table in the corner.
Saturday was a slow start, and we did OK sales-wise. We had a lot of fun chatting with the Canadians and surrounding creators and also had the chance to wander around the Con a little ourselves.
Wow.
What a fabulous Convention.
Saturday night we decided to just chill and found, typically, a British themed restaurant where we had a good laugh with the waitress about some of the things that they hadn't got quite right.
Sunday was a better day, we sold out of a number of things and got low on the rest.
Had it been a Con in the UK we would have classed it as a good one for sales.
But it was in Canada.
So we classed it an excellent one.
We met a load of great people, met a lot of new people who now have a copy of at least one of our comics in their homes and had some fun with the creators on adjoining tables, and across the aisle.
Monday's flight back was in the late afternoon so we decided to go and say goodbye to The Thing..

Oh, and try to pay a visit to the Museum of Illusion...

although for some reason we never did manage to find the entrance...

Portsmouth Comic Con

I've a lot of catching up to do, things have been very busy, the day job, life and comics all competing for attention.
May was very very busy for Accent UK, with 3 Cons, which unbalanced my usual balance.
It all started with the second Portsmouth Comic Con.
A Con where I fly solo.
Driving there and back to my flat each day to drive (sorry) down costs.
Last year's event was had all the right signs of this Con growing into something quite special.

And signs were good in that's when I arrived, with about an hour until doors opened, there was already a queue building.

I was happier with my position this year, being in a smaller hall with more independent comic people, rather than the main hall where there were more comic shop and Lego dealers.
There was an extra 'hall' this year, outside in a marquee, which I feared might have a negative effect on sales, but chances were that the Con would attract more visitors, following the good feedback on last year's event, so I kept positive.
Saturday was fairly good. My table was next to Soaring Penguin and it was nice to chat to Tim Pilcher for the first time. Between chats we had plenty of browsers and customers, for me a number of returning customers who picked up issues 5 to 8 of WesterNoir, having bought the TPB last year.
Despite decent sales, the highlight for me was catching up with sculptor Alan Longmore. At least ear's event we had discussed him taking on making a model of Kingdom. I'd not been in touch over the last few months as I don't like to pressure people so imagine my surprise at seeing...

He'd done the job, and brilliantly.
I love his version of Kingdom. A little leaner than Indio! draws him, so its very much Alan's artistic version but having all the ingredients. I love that.

We're looking to get this 3D printed if possible, so if anyone knows a 3D scanner company who aren't too expensive then please let me know.
Saturday night, despite the drive home, was spent chatting comics over a burger and beer, ginger beer as I was driving. I met Chris Sides for the first time that night and spent a nice evening with him, Steve Tanner and Dave Morris.
Sunday was actually pretty much a repeat of Saturday.
Sure the quiet periods were longer but overall sales were pretty much the same and the chat with browsers just as much fun.
Will I go back next year?
I've already sent in my request : o )

Boy Abducted By Aliens Returns

Well, my latest Blessed / Cursed book is back from the printers.

Once again it has a short snappy title :o)
This time illustrated by the talented Gustavo Vargas it's another tale that sees the two sides of having a special ability.
...and it's the thickest one yet.

It will see it's first appearance at the Portsmouth Comic Con the first week in May and then it'll be off to TCAF in Toronto.

Nice little mention of WesterNoir.

We get a nice little 'WesterNoir' name drop from our friend Steve 'TimeBomb Comics' Tanner over on Downthetubes.net.

Thanks Steve.

If you've heard about WesterNoir and not picked up a copy yet then you can check out the remastered pages over at http://westernoir.smackjeeves.com. 

We'll be adding a page a week. 

If you are reading WesterNoir then you can still check out the pages there and see if you can spot the differences, apart from the obvious one that they are now coloured by the very talented Matt Soffe.

Nottingham Comic Con.

I've just booked on this year's Comic Con in Nottingham in October.

Gary Crutchley and I love this Con. Small enough to give everyone time to chat but busy enough to be financially viable.

Glasgow - Always something new to discover.

I spend last week up in Glasgow visiting my daughter and as always we did plenty of walking and talking about films, books, comics and Pokemon.
That last one was new but hey, I'm open to new things.

Maybe opening a Barber's Shop is a little too big a step though, so I kept on walking.
I love discovering time worn stickers that have been stuck in seemingly random places on the walls of many city's and this one caught my eye this visit.

I love that I don't have a clue what they are about and that I never will.
I just find them really interesting.
Also, you can always trust Glasgow to throw something at you to make you laugh. This time it was the bus that passed us as we were having one of our many coffee breaks.

The message is clear ... and valid. Glasgow doesn't welcome tossers.
Looking forward to my next visit.