Friday 31 December 2021

The 42nd Post

So, 2021 was a bit like 2020, and 2022 isn't promising to be much different.

We did get to a few Cons at the end of the 2021, which is great, but sadly sales (despite them being record breaking for us) didn't create enough space in my storage locker and so I'm still unable to print any new books.

Books that are ready to print:-

  • WesterNoir Volume 2
  • Right Place at the Right Time (Blessed/Cursed)

Books that are complete and are having covers/internal pages etc designed 

  • Stephenson's Robot 

Books that have all art complete and need lettering and then the design work

  • Thick Skin (Blessed/Cursed)

Books that are well underway and will be ready for lettering / design very soon

  • Stephenson's Robot - Companion Book
  • Kia Wordsmith 3

Books being coloured

  • WesterNoir Volume 3

Books where the script is with the artist

  • V2A - Wasteland Chronicles - Book 2
  • A Kia Wordsmith spinoff title - I'll come up with the title at the end I think
  • The Shadowless Man GN

...and I know I'll have missed something...

I'm also working on that Young-Adult SciFi book that I seem to mention every year. A few weeks ago Jemma, my daughter, issued the challenge to see which of us could complete a book before the end of 2022. I think I've learned something about my character as this has really energised me.  Bring it on.

Well, I do hope that 2022 is better than the last two years (plus). 

I hope that all who are able to take up the vaccine do so and we globally get on top of this pandemic and stop giving the virus room to mutate. I hope the anti-vaccine crowd actually pick up a few science books and read the facts rather than listen to people who were probably asleep in their biology lessons when they were at school. I hope those people who are forced to live in lockdown (still) because we haven't got control of the virus are able to step out of their houses safely in 2022. 

Kingdom looks fabulous

 Just came across this on Twitter.

Jon has finished adding all the little details and 'Wow'.. doesn't he look fabulous.


Now we just need to work out how best we can produce some for sale.

Wednesday 29 December 2021

Kingdom Comes

I can't believe how good this is looking.

It's a prototype of the Kingdom 3D figure I've been wanting to produce for years. 

Sadly I don't have the time (read technical ability) to do such a thing myself but very fortunately I know a man who does.

Jon Ayre, the co-writer on my Stephenson's Robot Companion titles is still busy at work modelling and printing this off of his own 3D printer. 


The plan is the then pick a pose for him and see if we can get a mould made somewhere so we can then produce a batch of them for people to purchase and paint.

I'm still smiling at how good this looks.



Monday 27 December 2021

Disney+

So, a few months ago I cancelled my NOW subscription and started one for Disney+.

I've been enjoying the MCU movies and from what I'd seen, read or heard it looked like the TV shows that Disney+ was producing were quite good. 

I really enjoyed most of the Netflix efforts from a few yers ago so I know what is possible.

I must say that I've not been disappointed. 

In order of viewing I went for 

  1. Falcon and Winter Soldier 
  2. WandaVision
  3. What if
  4. Hawkeye 
  5. Loki

Wow. 

Where to start, some were very clever (WandaVision and Loki), some had a lot of heart (Hawkeye and strangely Loki) and some where just enjoyable as they developed some of the lead characters (Falcon and Winter Soldier) or introduced new ones (Loki, WandaVision, Hawkeye and to a lesser degree Falcon and Winter Soldier).

As a long time reader of Marvel comics I guess I picked up things that people who just follow the movies will be unaware of, but I'd be surprised if that in anyway lessened their enjoyment.

and What If was fabulous too.

I'm not a big Star Wars fan but I've dipped into some of those too and enjoyed the Mandalorian  (first season more than the second). I'll check out the Boba Fett series when it lands. 

Well worth my money. 

Sunday 26 December 2021

Titles to print next year.

With the last couple of years being very poor from a Comic Convention perspective I've been beavering away regardless, producing what I would have produced anyway. 

The problem has become one of storage and it this that has stopped me printing them off. This means that as we go into the early part of 2022 I'll most likely have the following books ready to print.

  • Right Place at the Right Time - A Blessed/Cursed comic.
  • WesterNoir - Collection 2 (prints, in colour, issues 5, 6, 7 and 8, plus extras)

  • Kia Wordsmith - Issue 3
  • A New Threat - a single issue tale. accompanying Kia Wordsmith featuring two of the main characters
and second half of the year
  • Stephenson's Robot - Collection (prints the main story arc of issues 1 to 5, plus never before printed 6 and 7... plus extras).
  • Stephenson's Robot Companion - Collection (prints the back up stories, those seen in issues 1 to 5, plus a number of new tales)
  • Thick Skin - A Blessed/Cursed comic
  • V2A - Wasteland Chronicles 

I just hope that the 2022 Con Season is much better than 2020 and 2021.

Thursday 23 December 2021

Kingdom model

 I caught up with Jon Ayre, and old work friend and also co-writer of the Stephenson's Robot back stories, at the recent Northwich Comic Con an he offered to have a go at making a 3D model of Kingdom himself.

This is an early version of the model, yet to have any details added. Looking great so far.

And it looks like things have progressed really well as the next photo I got from Jon is...


Looking very cool isn't it.

A day off today...

So, yesterday my daughter was looking to travel down to stay with me over Xmas but we decided it was too risky. She'd have to take a few trains and go through London to reach me. The plan was that I'd then drive her back up North around the 28th. So, we have Covid (with very high cases in London) and then there's a possible lockdown after Christmas (too late Boris) and the weather looks like it's going to take a turn for the worse.

We'll celebrate in February, or whenever things calm down a bit.

So I had booked today as a holiday and have decided to keep the day off and write the script for a comic instead. It's about one of the characters who will appear in Kia Wordsmith Issue 3, well actually it features two of them, and I'm enjoying writing again. I'll need to come up with a title, these usually occur to me halfway through writing but I've had nothing pop into my mind as yet.

Take care over the Festive Break everyone.

Sunday 19 December 2021

Ian Ashcroft's Patreon

Just to let you all know that Ian Ashcroft, artist on Kia Wordsmith, has a Patreon where he will put up pencils for issue 3 of Kia before it sees print.

As well as the basic level there are some very attractive higher levels where you can get original art. 

Go and check it out over at Ian.Ashcroft.Art

I'm in.


The Shadowless Man walks again

A couple of years ago I wrote the story of another character who is central to the stories that surround Jigsaw Girl. 

The Shadowless Man could also move between planes, using the Nexus, and their tales are set to meet at a significant crossroad in the greater story.

Joe Campbell, who I had enjoyed working with on my Blessed/Cursed story Missing: Have You Seen The Invisible Man? agree to do the art and got to work.

The first issue was completed, and I'm very happy with it, but then one thing or another got in the way and it went into limbo.

Good news is that I've contacted Joe recently and he's agreed to pick it up again and get it finished.

We'll be producing it as a combined story as I think that works best for this tale.

I just need to get the scripts to Joe... and try not to read and play with them first.

Thursday 2 December 2021

Last Con of the Year

What a great little Con that was.

Northwich isn't a big town. It does have a comic shop, Millennium Comics run by Dan, but it has no book shop. 

I popped up and stayed at Col's house, meeting Gary at the venue. It was really just an excuse for me to get together with friends before 2022, and whatever that dumps on us all. It was also a chance to support Mike, a friend of many years, who organised the event.

I was surprised that it was so well attended. 

It had a great feel to it, despite being in a cold winter hall, and a whole range of things to interest most people. I bumped into an old work friend who had provided some really fabulous pinball machines. Jon Ayre, co-writer of the Stephenson Robot - Companion Book stories and his family popped by for a surprise visit, and it was great to catch up. 

A really nice day and I sincerely hope that Mike runs another next year. If he does then I'll be there.


Sunday 21 November 2021

Northwich Comic Con.

Next weekend, between 10 and 5.30 pm on Saturday AccentUK will be attending the Northwich Comic Con.

Northwich Comic Film Festival

Northwich Comic Film

...it'll be great to see you there if you're in the area.

Kia and WesterNoir are on sale at The Darl Knight comics store in Darlington

We met the owner of The Darl Knight comic store at Thought Bubble last weekend and he took some copies for his store.

Pop in and have a look at them if you know the store or are in the area.

The stores address is 35 Bondgate, Darlington, DL3 7JJ.

It's great that a store is supporting Independent UK Comics in this way, and is really appreciated.

The Eternals

 I went to see Eternals, I tend to go during the day when the cinemas are empty, and really enjoyed it.

Yes, the costumes were different.

Yes, it differed / diverged from the comics (or how I remember them anyway).

Yes, there were a lot of characters to introduce so character development was limited.

But wow, what a good movie. I never noticed the time, I was fully immersed in what I was watching.

The Celestials... sets up a good next phase of the MCU, are they the galactic threat this time or will be get Galactus? Time will tell. 

..and the end credit scenes did their jobs... I can't wait to see what they do next with it all.

Thought Bubble 2021

In a word...Wow.

It was my first time in Harrogate, we'd missed the previous Thought Bubble due to other commitments, and I was intrigued to see the new venue and how it fit into the local area. I'd heard that Harrogate was a bit of a pain to get to if you haven't got a car, and wondered if there was further hassle once you actually arrived in the city.

Picking up Gary Crutchley on the way meant that I had company for at least half of the drive up from the South, and it was a long drive. It's been a while (due to Covid) that I'd driven so far, so we had a couple of stops for food and caffeine, but it all went pretty smoothly really.

We decide to find the venue and offload stock before going to the hotel, and unlike most Cons, where it's a bit of challenge finding where everything is the first time you attend, this was very easy. You couldn't miss it, it was just on the edge of town and well sign-posted.

You really couldn't miss it.

Saturday arrived and it was great to see that queues were forming...


and impressively long ones at that.

Inside the hall we'd set up in the RedShirt Hall, there were three halls in all. All of the halls had wall to wall quality stalls selling posters, comics, graphic novels and everything else you'd expect in a comic con.


As you can see from the image above, there was plenty of space between the rows of tables to minimise risk of Covid infection. Everyone was asked to wear masks when in the hall, which although a little uncomfortable for 2 days, was a small price to pay. Everyone also had to prove they had a Covid pass on entry. The organisers had done as much as they could.

Two days of great sales, meeting our creative friends and really enjoying being back out there.

A great Con, good number of attendees, good sales.

What more can you ask for?

Well, how about 'When's the next one?'.

Thursday 11 November 2021

Thought Bubble.

 Accent UK will be in the Redshirt Hall, stalls 44-45, at this weekend's #thoughtbubble2021 comic festival. 

Kia Wordsmith artist Ian Ashcroft and V2A Wasteland Chronicles co-writer Drone will be with us on the Saturday. Sunday it be WesterNoir co-creator and artist Gary Crutchley and I, proving the old boys have the stamina to do both days')

Please do pop over to the stall and 'Hello' if you're passing, it's been too long since the last one.

Tuesday 2 November 2021

DUNE

One of my favourite books growing up was Frank Herbert's DUNE.

I think it was the first book that I'd read that ranged from people, through families to politics. Mixing in their a whole heap of strange characters, some of whom were very sinister, in that they were trying to shape and control everything, without most people knowing.

So, the film. The second feature film to attempt to bring such a large story to the screen. I went to see it early afternoon in an attempt to avoid a busy cinema. Who was I kidding, it was at least two thirds full.

It was fabulous.

It was different in places, which I like as it is a different media, but it maintained its grip on the characters, the world, the tribes, the families, the politics.. I couldn't fault it.

The standout moment for me though was the way the sand moved as the Sandworm moved through it. Like a Red Sea washing up against the rocks.

Fantastic and I'm glad I saw it on the big screen.





London MCM was great.

It was really good to be back at a large convention, behind the table, chatting with people as they stopped at the table.

I learned that a lot of punters missed the Cons as much as the creators.


It felt as safe as it could in current times. They checked your Covid Pass before you could get in (and repeated it each day) and they had even placed dividing walls around pairs of tables to reduce the risk of anything spreading. 

There is always a risk but I really feel that Reedpop did all that they could.

We had two great days and sold a record number of books for London MCM. We met up with friends for food, drink and chat afterwards and made new friends amongst the creators who we were paired up with.

I'm already looking forward to the next one.

Sunday 17 October 2021

London MCM

Colin and I are at this weekend's fist major Comic Con London MCM.

It'll be great to get back out there and try to sell some comics so I can make room in my storage locker for printing some more :)

Please do pop by the table and say hello if you're at the event.


Marleen's last work...

For those of you who have enjoyed Marleen Lowe's wonderful work for AccentUK, you might be interest in seeing the work she did before her untimely death.

It's a children's book called Garden Stories and is available on amazon.

I've ordered my copy and am really looking forward to reading it, and being shown once again what a talent we lost.


Tuesday 21 September 2021

Meanwhile in Coventry...


Last weekend we attended our first truly comic convention in almost 2 years.

It was the first ever Meanwhile Comic Convention in Coventry.

It was small and perfectly formed.


It was great to catch up with our friends from Timebomb Comics and Mad Robot Comics as well as catch up with Tripwire's Joel Meadows.

A weekend chatting about comics with other creators, professional and independent, passers by and customers. It felt great to be back.

It was also a pleasure to catch up with John Higgins and thank him for writing the Introduction to the second collected volume of WesterNoir. I also commission John for a Josiah Black portrait and am really happy with the result.


I may well use it for the Kickstarter.

Attended a Drink and Draw for the first time and had a great laugh with David Morris.

We had a great time and have already expressed our interest in attending next year's event.



Monday 13 September 2021

V2A Fest

 As some of you are aware, this year saw the printing of my collaboration with V2A frontman Drone.

Never one to sit back and wait for things to happen, Drone decided that the lack of events had to be rectified and so he, and his team, created the first V2A Fest.


Set in Nuke City, which is named on the map on the inside cover of V2A - Wasteland Chronicles - Doomsday, the site of a sand quarry had been turned into the perfect setting for such an event.


It was a great opportunity to meet up with post-apocalyptic friends and have a look at the stalls.

Ever the showman, Drone had also arranged for some errant knights to beat hell out of each other in The Arena.

This event will get bigger and bigger over the coming years,
and will no doubt evolve as it does so, but I enjoyed being there at the beginning. 


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.

Wednesday 25 August 2021

Strange Times 3?

 Someone recently asked me if I was working on Strange Times Book 3.

He wanted to know what exactly happened to those guys?


I must say, I did enjoy drawing those books and enjoyed the way the characters created their own story really.

Maybe, maybe I should get my pencils out...

I Before E, Except After W, That's Weird

Well, my little collage book has been getting some attention, which is fabulous.

It's not something that people tend to see at Comic Cons and I think that helps draw people to it.

I do have a sequel in mind, and it centres around...


The Extra-Dimensional.

Sunday 8 August 2021

Accent UK appearance at the Free Comic Book Day in Warrington next Saturday.

Scott’s Pops & Comics in Warrington Market have announced that their first guest at their Free Comic Book Day is none other than :- 

Gary Crutchley.
Gary’s artwork has appeared in numerous publications from the likes of Fantaco Comics, Trident Comics, 2000AD, Accent UK Comics, Insomnia and Time Bomb Comics. His lifelong fascination with the Western genre has found a home in recent years through the publication of WesterNoir from Accent UK which Gary illustrates and co-writes with Dave West. This ongoing series combines western and horror elements in the fast paced adventures of Josiah Black, gunslinger turned monster hunter turned fugitive!



If you're in the area on Saturday 14th August then do pop into the Market and say 'Hi' to Gary.

Kia Wordsmith - completing the Kickstarter postings.

I've now got all the sketched and signed sketchbooks and the A4 commissions from Ian for the Kia Wordsmith - The Inbetween Kickstarter and have been position them out. 

As expected they are wonderful.

An A4 commission example.

Ian is now working on Issue 3, which I can't wait to see as it steps things up into another gear.

If you've yet to complete your Kickstarter Reward Survey then please do so. Thanks.

Blists Hill ... it's great to be back at a Convention.

 

If you've never visited Blists Hill then I recommend you do so, it's a great slice of our history. A village from Victorian times.

We were set up outside the Victorian Schoolhouse, as the organisers quite rightly decided that two exhibitors inside was the limit, and were kindly provided with a gazebo. The gazebo was actually pretty easy to set up, even for Colin and myself, and so in no time we were ready ready to go.

The first day felt quite strange really.

It's been so long since we've spoken to really people, in the flesh, about our comics.


Sunday felt more relaxed and I was surprised that at times it felt as if we'd not had the 18 month gap.

We did really well over the two days. New customers, old customers, people just interested in chatting about what we were doing and people who just wanted to chat. 

We had a great time.

Thursday 15 July 2021

First Convention of the year.

 Yes.

We're at a Steampunk convention this weekend.

Double jabbed. Wearing masks. Socially distancing. 

Can't wait.

The Con? Oh yeah.

Blists Hill Victorian Town. 

Legges Way. 

Madeley, 

Telford 

TF7 5DU

It's a great venue. Do pop over if you are in the area or fancy seeing something a little different. Lots of people dressed up in their Steampunk finery.

Tuesday 29 June 2021

Kia Wordsmith - Review

 There's a nice little review of Kia Wordsmith - The Inbetween over at hcomicsworld.blogspot.



Kia Wordsmith - The Inbetween

 The latest issue of Kia Wordsmith shows what happened between Issues 1 and 2.


It involves the Nexus, or Inbetween, and is a realm that defies the laws of other realms. 

Time.

Space.

They are in flux.

But her little companion knows his way around the place so she should be ok.

Shouldn't she?

This issue was fully funded on Kickstarter, actually our best project to date.

Once I've fulfilled all of the orders we'll pop it up on the www.accentukcomics.com webshop.


Tuesday 25 May 2021

V2A - Wasteland Chronicles - Doomsday

 Almost all of these have now been shipped out by either Drone or myself.


A lot of signed copies, a lot of unsigned copies, a lot of medals (these were a little extra that we put in each package), t-shirts, patches and Pagan Sister Dolls. 

It was a certainly the most challenging Kickstarter to sort out but I think the most fun.

If you haven't responded to the survey yet then please do.

If you haven't received your package in the next two weeks then please let me know.

Saturday 15 May 2021

Doomsday is here!

Our V2A collaboration comic has arrived.

I met up with Drone and we went to my Storage Unit to dee how they had come out.
It's always a nervous moment, despite all the care and attention, as you can never be sure all is good. 
I needn't have feared. 

Andy Bloor and printer Rich had done their usual excellent job and it looks great.
Drone holding the two cover variants.

Friday 14 May 2021

Busy times.

 So, with the V2A comic and Kia Wordsmith - the Inbetween nearing completion, and both doing so well on Kickstarter, I've not turned my focus to my next Blessed / Cursed one shot.

This on is titled Right Place Right Time and follows the central premise for the series in so far as there is bound to be a bad side to having a special ability.

Andy Bloor had just pulled the cover together for me and is now designing the internal pages.

Illustrated this time around by Claudio Avella it'll probably see print sometime next year, when the Convention scene is in full swing.


Tuesday 4 May 2021

The Accent UK website is back...

Yep, after too many years to count we, well my daughter Jemma really, have managed to build an AccentUK website, and I couldn't be more pleased with how it looks. 

You can check it out over at AccentUKComics.com.

Saturday 10 April 2021

Ian Ashcroft and I were on ICE CAST yesterday promoting Kia Wordsmith - the Inbetween.

 Had a really interesting chat with Shane and Andy, you can find it here if you've nothing to do for an hour :o)

Friday 2 April 2021

Two days in, doubled what the target was and been tagged as a 'Project We Love' in Kickstarter, not a bad start at all.

Well, two days in and we've got more than twice our target and exceeded 100 Backers for our Kia Wordsmith - The Inbetween. 

Both are great and we couldn't be more pleased.

Until we were tagged as a"Project We Love' but the Kickstarter crew.


Now we really couldn't be more pleased :o)


Sunday 28 March 2021

Thought Bubble 2021

Yes, we have a table at Thought Bubble and as we've been busy during Lockdown Year the table will look quite different to the one at the last Convention I made it to, which was True Believers back in Feb last year.

This year we may also be joined by some of the V2A guys, as we'll have issue 1 of V2A Wasteland Chronicles available.

Can't wait.






Kia Wordsmith - The Inbetween hits Kickstarter on the 1st April.

 Yes, I know it's April Fool's Day, but we are launching our latest Kia Wordsmith comic on the 1st of April. 

This is the issue that shows us where Kia goes when she follows the creature into... well... The Inbetween.

For those who read a number of AccentUK titles you may start to notice a few things.
It's all coming together.
Again the fabulous art is provided by Ian Ashcroft.

and he just keeps getting better and better.


The wagons have rolled...

Our WesterNoir Kickstarter is now pretty much complete.

I've mailed out packages to all the Backers who responded to the survey.

Feedback has been great, people loving the book, the extras and for those who backed them, the personalised Wanted Posters.

If you have yet to respond then please do so. It's nice to have a clear campaign as Kickstarter does archive old Projects and it's more hassle when people respond after a year or so, which is a thing.



Tuesday 19 January 2021

Interviewed with Drone on 'Comics For The Apocalypse' podcast.

 It seemed only appropriate that Drone and I have been interviewed on a podcast asking us how we would deal with serving an apocalyptic event.

Appropriate in that we're producing a post apocalyptic comic book, not that we are actually living through a similar event.

Check it out over at :-

Comics For The Apocalypse

We had a fun time doing it, Samuel London is a great host.

Sunday 10 January 2021

A walk in the country

It's only been a few weeks, but somehow this latest Lockdown is more draining than the last.

Sometimes you just have to get out of the house.

Today I walked down some country lanes, not too far from my flat. 

Yes, it was cold.

But it was great to be out.


Sunday 3 January 2021

Thick skin

I thought I'd share a few pages of character studies by the very talented Joseph Parangue for an upcoming Blessed/Cursed comic.


Joseph worked on one of our Tales of WesterNoir scripts, but the lack of conventions has pushed the launch of this back a little, and did a fabulous job.


I love his style and thought it would perfectly suite a story I've been working on for a while. It's a bit gritty and a little violent and so needed an artist who could bring this across. 

Joseph accepted and has made a start already.

A great start to the year.