This year saw me cut my ties with Accent UK. It wasn't an easy decision to make as Colin Mathieson, Barry Renshaw and I started Accent UK a little more than 20 years ago.
Barry left us pretty early on but Colin and I were regulars at numerous Conventions, in the UK and abroad, over the years and the first 10 years or so were great.
There came a point however when I noticed that we were both looking for different things from Accent UK.
I wanted it to become bigger, to keep evolving, to produce more comics and maybe look to publish the work of others (although I was never 100% sure of this). Colin, for his part, loved the more organic small comic company that produced work we'd written and drawn ourselves. Just as we did when we started. Me with my little Strange Times comic and him with his Zulu - Water Cart Rescue comic.
I think I quickly realised that my artistic ability would never keep up with the ideas that I wanted to get out there, and I soon found myself enjoying the writing more than the art.
As the years progressed and I produced more and more books with more and more talented artists, I was always conscious that my 'stuff' was taking over the Convention tables, pushing Colin's to the edge of the table.
Little ideas I had for improving things with Accent UK, a yearly 'brochure' advertising the Cons we'd be at, the books due to be produced etc for example, never really captured Colin's support. In hindsight, I see now that it was taking him further and further away from what he wanted Accent UK to be.
I dwelled on it for a little while and then during one Thought Bubble Convention I looked at what Time Bomb Comics were doing and it was effectively what I'd been wanting to do for a few years. David Morris and I talked about my joining them, something we'd joked about over the years, and moving my work under their umbrella, and it all looked to fit pretty well. Very well in fact.
I didn't handle the message with Colin very well, for which I'll be forever sorry. I can be pretty direct and immediate when I've worked things out in my head, despite it all being pretty new to the other person. After a few weeks Colin accepted that it was probably for the best, and we started having our own tables at Conventions.
It pleases me to see that Colin now has the chance to take over the whole table and fill it with his own comics and other little bits and bobs, making it much more interesting than our old Accent UK tables. He looks happier too, in his element, and I don't think I'm just trying to make myself feel better by saying that.
He's selling more of his own books and producing little prints as well.
I doubt our friendship will ever get back to where it was, for which I'm very sorry, but I still think it was the best thing to do.
My meetings with Time Bomb Comics have all been very positive and constructive, we are all pulling in the same direction. The latest WesterNoir TPB Volume 2 is the first under the Time Bomb Comics logo but there will be plenty more coming.
