Good news is that our latest WesterNoir Kickstarter is one third funded

 Yep.

And if you'd like to see more and risk being tempted yourself then please pop over to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kiawordsmith/westernoir-tales

It's coming along nicely.

Just submitted my WesterNoir Tales for Review on Kickstarter

It's been a while since I used Kickstarter but am happy to say that, whilst it has changed a little, I could still work things out.

You can check it out at:- WesterNoir Tales Kickstarter

WesterNoir Tales

This weekend I'll be working on the Kickstarter for our collected WesterNoir Tales.

WesterNoir Tales is a collection of the tales in the three published Tales of WesterNoir, and includes some new tales and also things that we didn't find room for in the ongoing series.

The stories are all by Gary and/or myself but the art is from a lot of people we admire, and are friends, in the independent comic book scene.

Originally the printed tales were in greyscales but Gary and I have been colouring pages for a few months now, adding to some pages already coloured by Matt Soffe, and the book is now fully coloured and pretty much ready.

Here's the first view of the cover... by Gary Crutchley, coloured by Matt Soffe and designed by Andy Bloor, as always.

Remastered WesterNoir on SmackJeeves.

WesterNoir is on a journey.
What started as an idea for a one shot idea quickly moved on to become a greyscale limited series.
In this format it has reached issue 8, with issue 9 in development.
It has seen the first 4 issues collected as a Trade Paperback.
And it has a spin off companion title, Tales Of WesterNoir.
During this time co-creator and artist Gary Crutchley and I have often played with the idea of seeing the book in colour. Wouldn't that be cool.
And then we got to know Matt Soffe and work with him on the covers.
And we just knew that we had to do it.
If we were going to do this then could we use the opportunity to redo a few things that we wanted to improve?
Well, why not?
Produce a remastered coloured version of the trade paperback.
The only reason we could see against doing this is that it might annoy people who have already got the greyscale versions of the comics or trade paperback.
What if we put the thing online then? So they could see it and read it without having to pay for it?
And what if, when we do print it, we give them a discount to offset the fact that they have the greyscale versions?
OK, we thought that could work.
So, you can follow the pages, we release one a week, over on Smackjeeves, we're currently up to page 50. We were going to announce this later but I think in the current climate it might be nice to have something to read.
Hope you enjoy it.

Kickstarter .. another success.

Well our second Kickstarter has also been successful, hitting the £1000 target, which is great.
This one is Gary Crutchley's Hard Country

it's a great story that we're linking to our WesterNoir world.
The book is going through some final minor changes and then it'll be off the the printers.
A big thank you to everyone who backed it on Kickstarter.
All backers will get free Art Cards.
Here's the original art from Gary with colours by Matt Soffe.

We're hoping to make it a 2 sided print card..

We'll see how it goes.

Tales Of WesterNoir #3.

Issue 3 of Tales of WesterNoir is almost ready for the printers.
This is the special Willows Fall issue, which tells a huge piece of the backstory of Josiah Black. Gary Crutchley and I do the writing honours as always, and as always we have some talented artists helping us out.
Three new artists in fact : Ian Ashcroft (who produced the art for the cover), Gustavo Vargas Tataje and Chris Przygrodzki.
All work wonders bringing the stories alive in a larger edition than is the norm for the Tales comics.
The comic should be available at the Liverpool MCM event on the 11th and 12th of March.
See you there.

Kia Wordsmith

I wrote the first issue for a fantasy story a while back.
It's one of those stories that needs the right artist to bring it to life, and I guess I forgot about it as I focused on the other comics that I currently have in production.
And then Ian Ashcroft got involved, producing art, with a Tales of WesterNoir story and when I saw his artistic style the Kia Wordsmith story sprang back into my mind and I asked Ian if he'd consider doing something bigger than  a 10 page story with us, once Tales of WesterNoir was done and dusted.
He said 'Yes'.
And so I sent his the script a few weeks ago, and he loved it.
Kia Wordsmith is in production.
And I can't wait to see how the world develops around her.

WesterNoir Reviews.

WesterNoir has had a couple of reviews over the last few months...

First off we have a review of Tales Of WesterNoir 2 over at DownTheTubes, and also a WesterNoir 6 review over at WritingCobblers.blogspot.co.uk.

Tales of WesterNoir #2 and a review of WesterNoir #3.

Tales of WesterNoir Issue 2 (and not book 2 following a few comments... rightly made) has arrived and it looks great.
Both stories in this issue feature Jim Wilson, the monster hunter before Josiah Black, and who Josiah killed in WesterNoir Issue 1.
My story 'Lure for a Monster' has been illustrated by the very talented Mal Earl and Gary Crutchley's 'A Righteous Man' by the equally talented Joe Campbell who brought my Missing : Have You Seen The Invisible Man? story to life a couple of years ago. Two very different styles make for a very interesting book visually.
Tales of WesterNoir Issue 2 will be launched at the DemonCon event in Maidstone on the 7th February.

WesterNoir Issue 3 got a great review over at IronShodApe.wordpress.com, from a new reader of the series.

Tales Of WesterNoir #2 is at the printers.

Tales of WesterNoir Issue 2 will be available at the first Convention of 2016.
I've just received the proof copy from our Printer, Stuart Gould, and it looks great.

Cover art is from WesterNoir co-creator Gary Crutchley and is coloured as always by Matt Soffe.
This issue has two tales of Jim Wilson in the role of Monster Hunter with artwork from Mal Earl and Joe Campbell. Two very different styles both work very well with stories from myself and Gary respectively.

All wrapped up with the design eye and talent of Andy Bloor.
Should be a great start to the year.

WesterNoir... the saga continues.

I've just had it confirmed by Stuart Gould, our trusted printer, that WesterNoir #6 will be printed in time for the London MCM event in October.

The tale is really picking up pace now as Josiah Black faces... well... now that'd be telling.
As the sketch packs, which include issues 1 to 4 and Tales of WesterNoir #1 (what we call 'Season 1'), are selling really well, Gary has had to fit in drawing another batch for the London MCM event. I've been busy painting them whilst Gary gets on with art on Issue 7.

There are a limited number of these, so if you're interested then I'd recommend popping over to the Accent UK table sooner rather than later.

Of course ... I might keep some myself and hope that Gary doesn't notice...
And whilst you're looking at a picture of one of the 'Gator-boys' as we call 'em, check out a recent review over on Reading-with-a-flight-ring.

Giant Monsters Attack...but not Accent UK comics...

I got a tweet yesterday from Giant Monsters Attack...

I remember the two guys buying some books at last weekend's Manchester MCM, and I remember them saying that they did a local Podcast ... it's always really interesting to hear what people think of our books and I used to love listening to the Tales From the Parent's Basement, Burnt Weiners and Small Press Big Mouth podcasts a few years ago, but one after another these all ended.
So... armed with my iPhone, which makes all of this a lot easier, I followed the link...

Turns out I had to download a new App onto myPhone, PodBean, but as usual this was pretty painless,and then a quick search and I was subscribed.

I decided to dive straight in and listen to Episode 39 - Love Interest as I was keen to hear what the guys thought of our efforts. 

Wow, they really enjoyed them and are very respectful in that they call out all the creators involved in the books, which is really nice. 

I listened to the whole episode in the end and it was good to hear their very positive comments about Mike Garley's very interesting The Killscreen and to find throughout the podcast that they had pretty balanced views and were quite willing to say they didn't like something if that was the case.

We've been invited into their Shed (which I think is their secret lair) for an interview, which we'll be sorting out in the very near future. 

Manchester MCM

We're really getting into the whole 'MCM' things these days.
The comic village is growing its own identity as a regular section of the event and attracting a good number of people, whether these are bemused Cosplayers, mainstream comic customers or fans of independent comics.
It has quiet periods but it also has completely hectic 'can't deal with all the customers wanting to buy stuff' periods.

The sea of people in strange costumes seems never ending and it's fun working out who they are dressed as... or trying to in some cases (due to my poor knowledge of Manga and Anime, my daughter Jemma always had to explain those to us).

Two days stood on your feet, when you're not sat at the table painting or sketching, can be pretty tiring but you only notice it at the end of the day and it's a good kind of tired.

On a personal note the highlights for me were :-

• Stuart Gould (our printer) driving all the way up to the event from Birmingham JUST to deliver copies of Stephenson's Robot #2. It was great to have them on the table and very good of Stuart to put himself out in this way.
• The customers who pounced on Issues 5 of WesterNoir and Issue 1 of Tales Of WesterNoir, as it wasn't on the table at last year's event.
• Watching Gary Crutchley pitch the WesterNoir concept to a number of people, he's a far better salesman than I'll ever be.
• Catching up with some great friends from my days working in Manchester :- Neal Morrow, Alan Rigg with his son and Claire Smith with her daughter Olivia.
• Seeing Olivia (dressed up in Frozen Princess costume) walk up the stall with her face painted like The Hulk. Not a princess then ? Not for Olivia :o)  Frozen-Hulk Smash !!
• Meeting and chatting to so many new Customers
• Sitting at the stall and painting some of Gary's great sketches for the WN Sketchpacks.
• Watching my daughter Jemma look so at ease explaining the comics to potential customers.
• Catching up with some of our comic creator friends.
• Selling a record number of books, yep, this Con took us over any previous record ... by about 20%.

My water colours on top of Gary Crutchley's great sketches.

The MCMs are quite an event. I only got to wander around a little on the Sunday and it is incredible how it has grown. On the logistics side, the queue system has been improved, the space between the stalls is about right, the food area is big and out of the way and the car parks are close. And more importantly everybody seemed to be having a great time.

Being our local MCM meant that we drove in each day, so there were no hotel bills and no hangovers. We did miss the socialising that comes with staying over but it is nice not to have all the hassle with sorting out hotels (and also the cost). As an Independent Comic creator, who needs to make enough money selling comics in order to be able to afford to print the next one, this is all important stuff. Which makes the fact that we sold more in Manchester than we did at the London MCMs all the more significant. 

This MCM event also say one of the great mysteries of Comic Cons solved at last.
When Colin goes to get the tea, why is it always cold ?

Colin chatting with Adam Cadwell for 10 minutes ...
holding my cup of Earl Grey Tea, so close and yet...

A great two days and a great Con.

Next weekend Accent UK hit Warrington Market.

A bit of a surprise for us, we've been invited to attend the first Warrington Comic Con Style event which takes place next Saturday. It's not going to be your typical Comic Con, there are no famous artists attending (that I'm aware of anyway), but it should be fun.
From a comic-in-development perspective Matt Soffe (our regular colourist for the WesterNoir covers) is in the process of adding his magic touch to the Carnival Master back story for Stephenson's Robot issue 2. Illustrated by WesterNoir co-creator Gary Crutchley and written by Jon Ayre, the issue will be printed a little later in the year. Here's a sample...

And if that isn't enough, the cover of Tales Of WesterNoir issue 2 is now complete, colours again by Matt, and is with Andy Bloor for his design touches. This will also be printed a little later in the year, but it's nice to have these things ready and waiting.

this issue will focus on Jim Wilson...

Belfast MCM here we come... and another great WesterNoir review.

This weekend we'll be at the MCM Belfast event, we had such an enjoyable time at the last Con we couldn't resist. Do pop over to the table for a chat if you're in the area.

Also, there's a great review of the first issue of Tales Of WesterNoir over at Down The Tubes.

WesterNoir reviews.

Well, the new comics haven't been out that long, one having been at two Cons and the other only one, but we're starting to hear what people think of them.
Patrick over at Curiosity of a Social Misfit has reviews posted of both WesterNoir Issue 5 and Tales of WesterNoir Issue 1. It's great to be able to say that he liked them both, and like myself can't wait to see the next issue.
Both WesterNoir Issue 6 and Tales Of WesterNoir Issue 2 are in production. 'Tales of' has two new artists to the series, Joe Campbell (who illustrated Missing : Have You Seen The Invisible Man) has illustrated a story by Gary...

and Mal Earl (who produces the inspired Bulletproof Nylon) has illustrated a story by myself.

Two very different styles, both featuring Jim Wilson, making for a very interesting read.
Gary is working on the cover for this book and we'll get it in print as soon as we are able to.

DemonCon 9.

It's the start of a new year of Comic Cons.
We now have an ongoing series on its 5th issue and another just starting out.
We've listened to the advice of our friends, both competitors, customers and our printer (Stuart Gould) and have decided to heed their advice and change the look of our table.
We've decided to move away from having a table full of all sorts of comics to having one that focuses on displaying the ongoing series, and whatever we might have that's new.
This meant putting all of the old books into a box on the table, making them harder for potential customers to spot when passing the stall.
DemonCon 9, being our first Con of the year, was where we tried it all out.
We had some new WesterNoir Standees.
We took my little Accent UK modified Lego figures.
We had Gary's great sketches.
We had to try it.

Gary awaits the first customer.

It was a long drive down, and we met Graham owner of the Grinning Demon comic shop and DemonCon event organizer as we were setting up. He was worried that the event wouldn't have as many customers as last year, there had been a problem with printing the fliers in time, and he wanted to apologize up front. We were pretty relaxed about it though, we were here and we were going to enjoy ourselves.
We were happy with how much less cluttered the table looked, and in fact I'm not sure we could have fitted everything on if we set it up as we had in the past.
The standees were great...

...giving a nice third dimension to the table. We will certainly be getting more of them made for future Cons.
The whole WesterNoir side of the table was a pleasure to look at. It's amazing having 5 issues of a title on sale, and interest in them was pretty constant throughout the day. A good number of customers bought all 6 titles (they picked up Tales of WesterNoir as well), and it was great to have customers from last year pick up the latest issues with a contented smile on their faces.
It did seem a little quieter than last year, but the customers that we did have more than made up for it and by the end of the day we'd increased our sales by 10%.

WesterNoir 5 ... can't wait for Issue 6 now :o)

The box of back issues also seemed to work, with a good number of customer looking through it and some pulling out and buying our older stock.
So, all in all I think the new layout is pretty successful. We'll no doubt play with it over time and modify it here and there, but on the whole it'll stay pretty much as is.
My little modified Lego Figures were also a success and drew a lot of people to the stall. The kids had great fun matching the figures to the comics, and also demonstrating their knowledge by telling me which bits of which figures I'd used in their construction. I also got a top tip from a father who was often trying to find that illusive final figure without spending a fortune and amassing hundreds of doubles.
A great day. A great little Con.
We'll be back next year for certain.

Bulletproof Nylon and Withering Looks.

Yesterday was a pretty busy day.

The postman handed me a large envelope which contained my copy of the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival Limited Edition of Bulletproof Nylon from the pen and mind of the very talented Marl Earl, and as if this wasn't enough, I opened the package to find that Mal had included a page of his original artwork for our upcoming Tales Of WesterNoir #2.

A great start to the day.

Colin and I had booked a table at the Comic Mart in Manchester's Thistle Hotel. We do this once a year and use it as an opportunity to get rid of a lot of the comics that we'd amassed since the last one. We sell it all pretty cheap and typically sell pretty much everything. 

What struck us this year was that there were far fewer dealers and those that were there we selling comics as cheaply as we were. There seems a much stronger market in Graphic Novels these days, with only true collectors willing to pay the higher prices demanded by Silver Age comics. Personally I think this is a healthy turn of events.

We did pretty well, I managed to shift more than 2/3rds of what I took with me, and managed to resist buying much to replace it all.

And then we all, with our families, went to see the latest play from Lip Service.

This year, we saw Inspector Norse last year, it was Withering Looks.

As with the previous play, the two ladies, using only two sets and a few changes of clothing, managed to portray what life must have been like for the three sisters... probably... maybe. 

Very enjoyable, British humour at its most British. 

Yep, can't wait for the next one, which is called Doreen Grey.

January activity.

WesterNoir #5 is very nearly completed, and we're looking to launch it at the DemonCon event in Maidstone on the 15th February.

This is the issue that really turns things around I think, and leads deeper into the bigger story that is taking place around Josiah. You can see a page or two over on Gary's blog.
INDIO! has been busy as well, and has now completed all artwork on the main story pages of Issue 4 of Stephenson's Robot, I just need to colour them now. Fabulous as always. I'll need to give issue 1 a bit more of time to sell at Cons this year before printing Issue 2, but am looking to print it over the summer at latest, ready in plenty of time for the year's autumn and winter conventions.

A page from Issue 2 sees Stephenson and Brunel hard at work.

Apart from these, Mal Earl is sending some great pages to me on our collaboration for issue 2 of Tales Of WesterNoir and I'm busy greyscaling pages of From SuperZeroes To SuperHeroes.
So, a pretty busy start to the year.

The 42nd Post.

Well it's been a pretty busy year for me.
I started the year with a new job, leaving a lot of good friends and making a lot of new ones. The two don't balance each other out though and I still miss seeing some people around the office everyday. I did pop back for the XMas do of the last project that I worked on before I left, a project that I was on for around 8 months or so, and it was nice to see everyone again, albeit briefly.
The new job is more me though, so I'm happy I made the move.

Accent UK has done incredibly well this year. We've doubled last year's sales, I think down to the fact that we now have an on going series on the table at Conventions. Added to WesterNoir it's also great to have Stephenson's Robot #1 out, it's been a while in development but it is amazing to see Brad Tuttle (INDIO!)'s art in all its glory. There'll be more coming next year with two issues of WesterNoir, another Tales Of WesterNoir and at least one Stephenson's Robot, as well as Strange Times Book 2, which wraps things up for Samuel Close and the guys.

I've seen plenty of movies this year, Jemma has made sure we got to the cinema more than we have in previous years, and picking my favourite is even harder than usual. I really enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy, I loved the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, I was suitably shocked by Under the Skin and surprised that I actually enjoyed The Amazing Spider-Man 2 but I think my favourite has to be Captain America - The Winter Soldier. It just carried on the whole Marvel Universe so well and moved it to a very interesting place, whilst still being a film the worked as just a sequel to Captain America 1. It had it all and whilst Guardians of the Galaxy was novel and fun, this was just a great film that worked for me on a number of levels.

I'm actually reading less these days, the train journey to work has been replaced by a car journey, where I'm the one driving. I did manage to read the last Skulduggery Pleasant book however and it ended things really well, pulling together all the threads and not ducking out of a few deaths and emotional moments, I'm looking forward to see what Mr. Landy does next. Apart from that I've enjoyed the Long Earth books by Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett, an interesting concept, good characters and nicely written.

My favourite comic book of the year has to be Mind Mgmt by Matt Kindt. I only picked up the first two collected editions at Thought Bubble in November, as Mr Kindt was there to sign and sketch them, I'd heard that they were good, and Sumyra of Lucky Target Comics had recommended it to me. Wow, what a great story, crying out to be made into a TV series. I'd read Revolver by Matt, which I enjoyed, but I'm loving this series. Apart from that I've been following Lazarus and C.O.W.L, but interesting comics, and my only Marvel book has been Elektra, which I picked up for the artwork but am enjoying the tale being told.

I looked back at last year's 'To Do' list when I sat down to write this...

1. I will finish Strange Times Book 2 next year.
2. I will try to finish that book I've been playing with for quite a few years now.
3. I hope to publish Has Kane Mesmer Lost His Magic Touch ?with Marleen Lowe's art.
4. I will publish at least one WesterNoir book, and current plans have it at three new books.
5. I hope to publish From Super-Zeroes to Super-Heroes with art from myself and Seba Velez, and
6. I'm really hoping that we get a few issues of Stephenson's Robot in print.

And as I expected it's a patchy result. I have finished Strange Times Book 2, just need to get the cash together to get it printed.  WesterNoir, thanks mainly to the driving force that is Gary Crutchley, is going from strength to strength, and Stephenson's Robot book 1 is in print. Kane Mesmer has stalled a little as I've been so wrapped up in the other books, as has From Super-Zeroes To Super-Heroes but I'll sort that next year. As to that book I've been playing around with ? Well, I'm still playing around with it...

So, this year's list then...

1. Published Strange Times Book 2
2. Publish Kane Mesmer, more Westernoir and Stephenson's Robot comics
3. Publish From Super-Zeroes To Super-Heroes
4. Work with Andy Bloor on Wolfmen 3, he has told me that he wants to make this his next book, and
5. Try to finish that book I've been playing with for quite a few years now...

All the best for 2015 to all you comic book creators out there, professional or amateur ....