V2A has got to £6k before the New Year.

   As I took the opportunity to do a little lettering on the V2A comic, Kickstarter announced that we had gone over the £6K mark, which is fabulous.

   We are a little behind with Stretch Goals but I really happy to say the next will be from the pen of Andy Bloor, my collaborator on The Wolfmen and my 'go to' designer for the Accent UK books.

   Yep, things are moving along nicely.

Stephenson's Robot Issue 2 is nearly ready to print.

The great news is that we've nearly pulled together issue 2 of Stephenson's Robot.
Once again Andy Bloor has pulled the design together follow on from the look he crafted for us with issue 1.
Gary Crutchley has illustrated the Backstory this time around, a tale about the Carnival Master written by one of the co-creator of the series Jon Ayre.
Indio! once again illustrates the main story, written by myself, which carries on exactly where issue 1 left off.

...and for those of you interested in collecting the limited edition Tarot cards that accompany each issue, this time around it's The Emperor.

..all is good.

The last Convention of the year.

You may have got a sense of it from reading Convention reports on this blog, 2014 has been the best year yet for Accent UK.
We've made record sales at Conventions and our on going series WesterNoir has really begun to gather more and more readers with each Con we do, as well as bring existing readers to the table to pick up the latest instalment.
Before WesterNoir however Stephenson's Robot was going to be our first on going series, well a 7 issue mini-series, and it's a very ambitious project for us which meant it has taken longer to get to print. But it did. And Thought Bubble saw it on the Accent UK table in all its splendour.

It's a very different book to WesterNoir and there's always the slight concern that readers of one wouldn't naturally be interested in the other.
So, with two new books and one of them, Tales Of WesterNoir, extending an existing series, we felt well placed to do well at this Convention too.
Driving over and setting up the morning of the first day of the Con is nothing new to us and we made it in plenty of time for 'doors opening'.
We were joined once again by WesterNoir co-creator Gary Crutchley (and you can read his report over on his blog) and Scott (Colin's son), so we had enough cover to allow us all to take time out from behind the table and wander around.

It was great to bump into Bridgeen Gillespie again after so many years and I of course picked up her great little collection of short stories, Flash Fiction.
This year we had Andy Bloor on his own table sat next to us, selling his own self published book Midnight Man. It's a very different book to Wolfmen, being written by Mo Ali and is a frantic fast pace actioner from beginning to end. It looks great with Andy's moody style jumping at you from every panel.

The organisers of Thought Bubble had changed things once again, this time adding a large Marquee to the square sat between the Main Dock hall and the Armouries. And it worked really well. This then was where most of the professional guests were sat and this is where the fan boys queued for signings and sketches. I was one of them for a while and spent a nice half hour chatting with Brian Hurtt as he drew a great sketch in my collected The Sixth Gun. We handed him a copy of the WesterNoirs as a thank you.

A typical slow start soon turned into a busy day, with repeat customers, Facebook friends, new customers and interested folk coming in waves.
WesterNoir being very well established now got the most interest but Stephenson's Robot had more than its fair share of sales as people were drawn to INDIO's wonderfully crazy artwork. It really is a gem of a comic.
So, by the end of the day we realised this was our best Thought Bubble ever, and that we'd already sold more books than we had over both days last year.
A nice evening spent talking comics over a burger and beer, and it was the perfect end to a great day.

Sunday started slower than Saturday. it always does, but unlike previous years, rather than sell half as many books over the day we actually sold nearly as many as we had on Saturday.
This was turning into one of our best ever Cons.
All books sold well but newer books sold better than the others, which is to be expected.
The Tarot Card edition of Stephenson's Robot went down well, as hoped, and we'll certainly continue producing a new card with each issue.

Andy Bloor, next to us, also had a good con with plenty of sales.
So, all in all it was a great two days and certainly just what we needed to keep us energised over XMas to continue working on the next issues of WesterNoir, Tales Of WesterNoir and Stephenson's Robot, as well as a number of other projects.

Comic books launched at Thought Bubble next weekend.

I'm creatively involved in two books to be launched at next weekend's Thought Bubble in Leeds.
Stephenson's Robot has been in development for a while now, but it's quite an undertaking and we've taken our time a bit to make sure we're all happy that it's the best it can be. With amazing art from INDIO!, this builds upon the characters introduced very briefly in a tale in the ROBOTS anthology we produced a few years ago.

With a fabulous cover, designed by Andy Bloor, and a back up story illustrated by Marleen Lowe (whose work you'll have seen Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man ?) this seven issue mini-series will see events unfold in an alternate reality First World War. Written by myself and Jon Ayre with all character designs by INDIO!. I've been looking forward to seeing this book on our table for a long time now. And it's a full colour comic, I can't wait for next weekend.
The other new release is a companion comic to our WesterNoir mini-series, which will be continued early next year with Issue 1 of the second mini-series. Tales Of WesterNoir then allows us to tell the stories that surround events in WesterNoir, featuring main characters and minor characters alike. The first issue has tales from Gary Crutchley and myself illustrated by Roland Bird and Pedro Lopez respectively.

Again wrapped in a cover designed by Andy Bloor, illustrated by Gary Crutchley and coloured by Matt Soffe.
And if you're a fan of our Wolfmen books then be sure to check our Andy Bloor's self published Midnight Man... he's got the table next to us.

WesterNoir Issue 4.

Well, it's a great way to start the year, Issue 4 of our on going Western Horror title is complete. OK, there may be a little tidying up left to do but the story pages are done and the cover...

well, the cover looks awesome.
Gary has produced another striking cover, beautifully coloured by the very talented Matt Soffe (and do pop over and check out Matt's work on his blog, you'll thank me), on top of which Andy Bloor has worked his magical design fingers to add the logo he designed for the book, the title(s) and that aged effect that works so well.
Peeling back the layers we can see the coloured artwork without the design elements...

and taking away the colour we're left with Gary's great penmanship...

If you study the picture you'll spot a certain Colin Mathieson and also Andy Bloor on their own WANTED posters. You'll only get $100 for turning in Colin it seems, but Mr Bloor is worth a not inconsiderable $1500, I'll go get my sidearm.
We intend to launch this issue at the upcoming DemonCon7 event in Maidstone, which will be our first Con of the year and also our first time at DemonCon.
For those who don't know, DemonCon is a ''family friendly comic convention in the centre of Maidstone, Kent. With the new venue, Royal Star Arcade, proving to be a massive hit, this Demoncon promises to be the best yet, with more artists & writers and a number of big names. Amazingly talented guests, vendors, bar, cafe, traditional sweet shop, gaming and cosplay, what more could you ask for. An after show party I hear you ask....done''.
See you all there on Sunday 16th February.

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.

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.

WesterNoir Issue 3.

WesterNoir Issue 3 arrived Thursday morning. Once again the guys at UKCOMICS had come up trumps and delievered to a very high standard in a very short time. Stuart Gould, at UKCOMICS, gets comics and more importantly he gets Independent Comics. He knows what we're like. He knows we only manage to pull things together on the 11th hour and he takes this in his stride. I'm always really happy with the results.
So, here we are with Issue 3 in our grubby little hands.
And it's a beauty.
Andy Bloor's cover design layout still makes me smile and the three of the books sat together really do have the feel of a cohesive on going story. Inside the pages are sharp and clean and my worries about the double page spread lining up were needless, once again Andy made sure it all came together nicely.
Gary Crutchely is driving this book for us. He's the one who prompts the get togethers where we lay out the plot, the twists, the ebb and flow, and he's the one who then lays out the plot and thumbnails the pages before we agree the issue and he sets down to work his magic on the finished art.
We took Issue 3 to the Manchester MCM Expo yesterday and it was a real pleasure to see customers of previous issue just walk over to it and pick it up. No need to hit them with any details, they just bought their copy as they would any ongoing series. Yes, we now have an ongoing title on the table, and it feels great.
Gary and I had a busy time (and you can see a fuller report over at accentukcomics) but still managed to take time out to sit and discuss Issue 5 over a coffee. Issue 4 will be a defining issue for the series but Issue 5... well...
Gary and I will be sending out review copies over the coming weeks, so if you're a reviewer for a website or blog then get in touch (the email address can be found on the Accent UK website) and we'll send a copy your way.

Strange Times Book 2 - Evolution of a cover.

Strange Times was always going to be a trilogy in two parts, and I'd always intended the cover of the second book to reflect that of the first. I wanted it to be similar, but different.
The danger though, as I've experienced a little with my Blessed/Cursed books, Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man ? and Missing - Have You Seen The Invisible Man ?, is that this can confuse people. I've had customers at the table in conventions say that they'd read The Invisible Man when I knew that they couldn't have. When I then show them Fastest Man and point out that it's different they have all then bought the new book.
So.
Strange Times Book 2.
How to make it similar, but different.
How about use a different character in a different car. How about it being a car that flies (which does appear in the book). Hmmmm ... still looks too similar...
OK, how about setting it at night.

OK, that seems to work. I had to lose the animal this time as it's night but I quite liked it.
Time to send it off to Andy Bloor to work his magic.
Andy had problems with the moon. I hadn't thought about the placement of the book title.
That's why I'm not a designer.

Yep. I like that. I had thought to make the lettering red, similar to the car but once again Andy had been right to make it blue.
A day or so later however I wondered that maybe the background fields were a little too light and that they lost the impact of the vapour beneath the car.

And there you have it. I'm really happy with the finished look.
Now I just need to sort out a quote for the back cover... oh, and finish the internal pages.
Thanks as always to Andy for his help in making our books so polished, and for being patient with my 'ideas'.

WesterNoir 3, cover image is all sorted.

Well, as promised WesterNoir #3 is the Mermaid issue.
Once again Gary Crutchley has worked his magic on the cover (and pulled the script in all sorts of interesting directions), Andy Bloor has continued with his great design and Matt Soffe has worked wonders on the colouring.

How good does that look...
Gary is well into the book now with all the inking done, he's applying the grey tones and lettering. All coming together really well.
And then it'll be onto book 4, last in the mini-series, I'll say nothing more on that... for now.

WesterNoir ... nearly there ...

I've just printed off and read Gary Crutchley's pages for our first issue of WesterNoir, and they are great. As always Gary has done wonders and the story flows very nicely.

This comic came about following a chat with Andy Bloor, where he suggested we work together on a kind of film noire detective in the Wild West, and whilst Andy was happy with how I took this concept, he quickly realised that he would struggle to fit it in amongst his other commitments and so he took the script to Gary to see if he'd be willing to take it on.

Gary liked what he saw, suggested a few changes most of which I took on board and then we were off and running. Andy has reamined involved, designing the cover around an image of Gary's, for example, and is designing the whole book.

This will be the Accent UK book to follow ZOMBIES 2, and is our first traditional comic sized effort, at 28 pages.