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.

Belmat goes to Kapow!!

Well, he's finished...

 ... and ready for his trip to London this weekend.

 I'm really pleased with how he has turned out ...

 it took quite a while...

 but he's worth it ;o)

 The final touches were his hands...

and then the handle on his loading door ...



not that the door opens on this model of course... not like it does on the real thing...

So, if you're at the Kapow Comic Convention this weekend then please do pop over and say 'Hi'. as well as seeing Belmat up close, we also have our new WesterNoir comic for sale (with artist Gary Crutchley on hand to sign copies with me) and hopefully the latest themed anthology, Zombies 2 or 2OMBIES as it says on the cover.



Robots I met last month in Brooklyn.

Every year I attend the Mocca Comic Convention in New York, and as this was Accent UK's second visit we decided this year that we'd venture a little further than we did last year, and go to Brooklyn. There were a couple of comic shops to visit after all.
One of these stores was Desert Island Comics, a shop that sells, pretty much exclusively, independent comics.

Gabe, the owner, is really passionate about comics and comic book art, and a really nice bloke.

As I purchased a copy of a book called Jammer Slammer, it's got robots in it, he told me that R Nicholas Kuszyk (the writer/artist) was local and that his murals could be found dotted around Brooklyn.

A slight detour was in order,

and it wasn't long before we came across examples of his work.

And I was in Robot Heaven.

I'm a bit of a fan of street art, if it's done well and isn't just someone's initials, and this cetainly ticks all my boxes.

Maybe next time I visit Brooklyn I'll come across some more of his work. I certainly enjoyed looking at the few that I found and also his great little comic book.

Well, off to London's Kapow!! Convention next weekend. Pop over and say 'Hi' if you're in the neighbourhood. I might be found sketching robots at the Accent UK table, but I certainly won't be found doing so outside on a huge wall. I wouldn't know where to start.

Happy New Year...

Not wanting to start the New Year on a down note, but when will I get rid of this damned Flu Virus ? Not only is it messing up my Bank Holiday enjoyment but has also chewed its way through three days of holiday that I took between XMas and New Year ... due to this I've done little more than sit in front of 9 hours of The Lord Of The Rings with my daughter (and her comment at the end of it all ? ' I prefer Harry Potter...').

We did manage to get a few games in there and as is traditional I managed to own the Bank at the end of our Monolopy session, I won't talk about the other games, being beaten at Scrabble by a 12 year old is something that I need to deal with in my own time ....

A friend at work showed me a book that I found really amusing. It's called Movie Charts, by Paul Copperwaite, and using pie charts (etc) to reflect certain elements, and messages, of films we all know and love. I've not copied any here, but have made one up concerning the movie 300 that should show you the type of thing it contains. Not to evertone's taste I know but it appealed to me.

I've made a few New Year's resolutions, in the hope that one makes out beyond January, but am not brave enough to share them with the wider world, as they'd then be played back to me on a weekly basis.

On the comic front, The Fall Of The Wolfmen, written by myself and illustrated by Mr Bloor has been reviewed over on http://www.hypergeek.ca/2010/12/comic-review-fall-of-the-wolfmen.html. Good timing as the comic itself is listed in Jan's PREVIEWS. if you'd like a copy then now id hte time to pop in to your local comic shop and get them to order one for you.

In other news, Steve Holder has a blog up and running over at http://holdersteve.blogspot.com/. Steve and I are collaborating on a couple of projects at the moment. Robot Shorts, a collection of tales about ... Robots .. that are .. well ... short. The stories that is, not the robots themselves. Steve is also illustrating a future Blessed/Cursed comic, but I'll keep that under wraps a bit at the moment.

Here's an image of Steve's that I've greyscaled, but sadly we've decided it best not to include it. To find out more then pop over to Steve blog, there's a link on the left :o)