The Asylum event was great fun.

Time Bomb Comics had a great time at this year's Asylum steampunk event in Lincoln.

It was my first time in a few years due to Covid and then a health issue that I had all on my own, so this one was all the more special for me.

A great chance to catch up with old friends, and that's how we feel about the people at the Asylum events. Customers and fellow creators/stall holders, they all feel like friends.

This was the first time that I had the Kingdom figure on the table and he drew plenty of interest.

It made me laugh that Steve, having never painted a figure himself, just thought I'd used a silver paint spray can. Assuming that it had taken me mere minutes to 'paint'. I explained the true process and whilst I'm not convinced that he believed me he did take this photo of me with the collected Stephenson's Robot graphic novel and Kingdom.

It was really nice that people snapped up copies of the Graphic Novel, which they'd been following in comic format up to issue 5. The book collects the remastered issues, with additional pages, and has been completed with what would have been issues 6 and 7. A nice little package with the addition of the original short story from our ROBOTS anthology, coloured by myself, and some design sketches for the characters from El Indio! All wrapped up by a wonderful cover design from Andy Bloor.

Kingdom seemed to enjoy the day, especially when the belly dancers did their display.

We had a really enjoyable Bank Holiday weekend, I should be fully recovered by Saturday.

Looking forward to next year.

The Kingdom Figure

Well, it's finished.

It's been quite a while since I've painted anything like this. I used to paint figures to play D&D with but haven't done so for many years.

I'm quite happy with how it came out.

Well worth the time and effort.

I still need to glue it all together and then varnish it.

I'll try a few varnish samples first though as I seem to remember never being overly happy with the effect varnish has on a figure.

If you're at next weekend's Asylum Steampunk event in Lincoln then you'll be able to have a look at it in person.

Newark Steampunk Market

In the absence of the wonderful event that is The Asylum, for a second year, Colin and I ventured to Newark for the Sunday Market. 

About a third of the market was given over to Steampunk traders and it was pretty well attended by Steampunkers and locals alike.

It was a good chance to catch up with my daughter Jemma again, and nice to see her working the table... err... stall.

We had a really enjoyable time and would do that again without a second thought.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the stall for a chat and to those who bought some of our comics, hope you enjoy them.

Lettering.

I'm having a break from colouring to catch up with some lettering.
First up is my short story, for the next Asylum anthology, featuring Constable Brass and illustrated by the very talented Claudio Due Avella, and it's coming together nicely.

Next up will be issue 2 of Kia Wordsmith, can't wait to have the excuse to look through the pages of artwork from Ian Ashcroft again. Should keep me busy over Easter.

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.

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.

ASYLUM-X

We must say that we were pretty excited about this year's Asylum event.
This is THE Steampunk event and is probably the biggest in the World, it's certainly the biggest in Europe. This year we had our secret weapon..

No, not Colin, our very own comic that tells stories about the Steampunk personas wailing around us for the three (or four) days.
This year Jemma came down to visit my in High Wycombe and we both set off early Friday morning to get to the event and set up in the University building before the weekend's event took off. Interestingly when we arrived we found that the hall we were to put our table in was already very busy and so it was an even quicker than normal set up (helped by the fact that Colin hadn't arrived yet and so I could get away with my less than perfect attempt).

And trade was brisk.
I'm glad we didn't stop off for a coffee on the way up, as I'd intended.
Colin arrived later on and re-arranged things a bit but we had a very busy afternoon.
Gary arrived even later on, he'd stopped for a nice cup of tea with Karen on his way up Steep Hill.
The highlight was when Lady Clarajane (one of the characters in the Enter The Asylum comic) turned up and let us borrow the airship (made from Lego) that her husband, Capt. Rivington, had made based on the image in the comic. It added very nicely the table display.
On Saturday we were moved a little and found ourselves next to Timebomb Comics, selling their Chapbooks and Flintlock. We had enough people manning the stalls that Jemma and I could wander into town where we met old friends who had just popped over to see what it was like and I met up with Ian Ashcroft, artist on Kia Wordsmith, our new comic. It's always great chatting to Ian and we discussed Kia's  (which is now launched over at www.kickstarter.com) future issues amongst other things.

Saturday evening saw us all chilling over a meal and talking about how well Enter The Asylum had done. It had been a risk but it seemed to have captured the attention of the Steampunkers.
Sunday was similar to Saturday, just as busy and we met a number of the Mountain (errr... Steep Hill) Climbers from one of the Enter The Asylum stories..

which was great fun. They loved the story and felt honoured to be in the book. The honour is all ours of course.
A few presentations and a good day at the table later and we found ourselves sat with Timebomb comics enjoying a nice meal.
This is a great event and one of our favourites for many reasons.
Monday was much quieter which meant more time to socialise and we took this great photo of the Enter The Asylum cover stars...

It was funny that we had to close the door that someone (what ? me?) had opened in front of the banner and which had obscured one of the 'stars'...

I've no idea how that happened ... honest.
So, another great Con and one that celebrated 10 years of Asylum.
I'll leave the post with my favourite costumes.
Group costume...

and individual...

but there were so many to choose from.
I need to work on mine for next year. I've got a hat that fits now, which is a start and something that some people thought impossible :o)

Another event at the Asylum.

This was our second visit to the UK's (and possibly the world's) largest festival celebrating all things Steampunk, set in and around Lincoln's Castle and Cathedral.
Unlike last year, where we spent the three days in the Cathedral Centre (rooms above the cafe) which weren't that well attended, being a little out of the way, the organisers had decided to try moving the literary folks (that's comics and books) around the event. Each day at a new venue.
Day 1 then saw us in the Castle itself.
Being out there amongst the event in this way allowed us to really appreciate what it was all about. It struck me that this wasn't so much an event but more a spectacle. You could see this in the faces of those people who weren't dressed up, and may not have actually been aware of what they were walking into. You could see in their faces however that they were stunned by what they saw.

All the costumes on display.
All the modifications made to everyday objects with such care and attention to detail.
Stall scattered around the castle grounds had all manner of stock, from material for you to use to make your own steampunk gear to items ready to wear.
And all the while beautifully garbed people wandered around, perusing.
It really did feel like I'd wandered into a steampunk dimension and that this was a normal market in such a world.

Now, I've never been one to dress up but even I've started to feel the vibe and bought a few items. I've an idea for where to take my character but it's very much a work in progress and I expected to add an item or two each year.
Colin however needs only the slightest excuse to get his kilt out...

with matching socks of course.
We saw many more visitors to the store than last year, with returning customers looking to pick up the latest issues of Stephenson's Robot and WesterNoir.

Steve Tanner and David Morris where there with Flintlock, although we didn't get to see them for much time during the day as they were in a different venue. I popped over to check on how things were going and bumped into Ian Ashton and his family, which was great as we were able to talk about Kia Wordsmith, our collaboration which will be out next year.
We did get together with the Timebomb crew for a meal after a busy day though, to swap stories and give some insight into each other's first day venues.

Accent UK and Timebomb Comics crossover event.
(not sure where Steve Tanner was though)

On the second day we were back in the Cathedral Centre and did find that the venue had started to feature in people's plans. A good showing in the programme, and some new signs we put up, saw more customer's than we had the year before.
One of the things I love about the whole Steampunk thing is the diversity of costumes, ranging from Victorian through Western to Science Fiction (futuristic but with a steam overtone), and there was also the disturbing...

Sunday night saw us go to a Steampunk Giraffe concert, a band I'd only become aware of following last year's event. Accent UK treated Steve Tanner to the event as it's a significant birthday for him this year. It's funny that as we stood there in the audience we had to position ourselves to avoid our view being obscured by large top hats and feathers. Not a problem in most concerts these days. A great night out and I'm a bit hooked on the band now I must admit. Thanks Colin for getting me that CD, I played it all the way back to London in the car on Monday night.

Monday then was quieter.
I think people were spent up and had pretty much seen all they wanted to see.
We were in the University venue and I feel a little too far out for the casual browsers to wander back to if they'd been there on a previous day. We did however meet some people in wonderful costumes..

Lovely people and such amazing costumes. You may well see these three in a future comic of ours...
And then it was over and driving back to London with Steampunk Giraffe CD in the player I couldn't help but smile at what had been a very enjoyable Bank Holiday weekend and start to think about a number of steampunk projects of my own.
Damn ... it's infectious.