Portsmouth Comic Con - The most family friendly show I've ever seen.

We had a great time at the Portsmouth Comic Con last weekend.

Steve Tanner doing his usual
post set up celebration :o)

Catching up with creative friends, chatting to customers both new and old and just soaking up the energy and spirit of the event itself.

Hugo Strange considered buying 
a copy of Quantum...

This has got bigger and better every year and feels just about perfect now.

We followed the event with this year's Time Bomb Comics AGM. Lots was discussed, lots of plans, interesting times ahead.

Three big things that happened to me this year - Part One.

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. 

Ending of an era.

Sad news for me to report, Colin and I have been finding that we're looking for different things from Accent UK over the last few years and have decided it best if we close AccentUK down. 

It's a very amicable split, we'll still be seen chatting at Cons and at social gatherings, but from here on I'll be printing my comics under TimeBomb Comics Ltd as I join Steve Tanner and David Morris on their board.

Here's the official press release:-

Accent UK Comics No More

Accent UK Comics, comprising creator's Dave West and Colin Mathieson, one of the UK's longest established independent comic collectives announce that they are to disband.

Founded in 2001 in the North West, Accent UK united the small press publishing activities of Barry Renshaw’s Engine Comics, Dave’s Deva Comics and Colin’s M56 Comics into a single collective.

A string of themed anthology titles were produced such as Remembrance Days, Phobias and Pirates  drawing on submissions from the UK’s then small press community including the likes of Dave Baillie, Jason Cobley, Ben Dickson, Garen Ewing and Dave Hitchcock. Red Eye Magazine, a much loved spotlight on the UK independent comics scene with contributions from Matt Badham, Leon Hewitt and others, was edited by Barry and published by Accent UK until his departure in 2006. 

From 2007, Accent UK’s titles were distributed globally by Diamond Comic Distributors leading to contributions to their themed anthologies ZOMBIES, ROBOTS, WESTERN etc. from the likes of Keiron Gillen, Steve Bissette, Frazer Irving, John Reppion, Leah Moore and many others. A series of self-contained one-shot or comic series written by Dave and illustrated by other artists were published, including WOLFMEN with Andy Bloor, the Eagle award-winning WHATEVER HAPPENNED TO THE WORLD'S FASTEST MAN? with Marlene Lowe, STEPHENSON’S ROBOT with Indio, the acclaimed WESTERNOIR series co-written with artist Gary Crutchley and KIA WORDSMITH with Ian Ashcroft. The MOMENTS OF ADVENTURE series collected Colin’s historical fiction strips and a trilogy of works were published from Danish artist Martin Flink; THE MAN OF GLASS, THE TROLL and THE LIZARD. 

In recent years, Accent UK returned to their anthology roots with a series of annual comics, THE ASYLUM based on the world’s largest steampunk festival of the same name in which Colin, Dave and  Gary Crutchley regularly participated in talks, workshops and events.   

Accent UK published around 60 comics and graphic novels, the majority of which were designed by Andy Bloor and featured regular colour collaborations from Matt Soffe.  

Regulars on the convention scene with nearly 200 appearances, many overseas including the US, Canada, Finland and Denmark, where since 2004, Accent UK were regulars and enjoyed a loyal following. 

Colin says “It is with great sadness that this announcement is made but both Dave and I can take great pride from the respect that the Accent UK name is held in and the achievements of the many writers and artists that we have worked with. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to, reviewed or bought our books over the years and to our families for supporting us”.

Dave says “It’s been a great journey, both Colin and I evolving our styles and perfecting our craft over the years and with Accent UK we both have much to be proud of. We have lots of great memories of collaborations and things that happened at the many Comic Conventions and we will both continue to be involved in the independent UK Comic scene, in our own ways, for many years to come. Thanks to all who were with us over the last 20 years, in whatever capacity, your support has always been appreciated”.

Accent UK's website and social media channels will remain open until further notice to allow outstanding orders and distribution obligations be fulfilled. Both Colin and Dave remain active in the comics community and news of forthcoming projects and activities will be released in due course.

Neither of us are stopping our comic creative output, I have the latest Volume of WesterNoir up on Kickstarter at the moment and Colin is applying finishing touches to his Zulu Graphic novel, so keep your eyes open for us at Cons and the like.

Halfway through our WesterNoir Kickstarter and all is going well.

We've managed to unlock 3 stretch goals so far and we're halfway through our WesterNoir campaign. 

It's great to see something that we're really proud of picking up interest across the globe, and particularly to see that readers in the USA are willing to give a couple of Brits a chance with writing a Western.

Time Bomb Comics are also into their latest campaign, with Brawler Issue 2, and interestingly Gary Crutchley has a tale in that book too. To celebrate this, and support each other's campaigns, Gary has produced a Team Up piece of art.

Featuring both lead characters and coloured by Matt Soffe, it's a great image and one that we'll be adding as Bonus Print for those Backers who support both campaigns with physical purchases. 

Pop over to Kickstarter to learn more about both projects.

WesterNoir

Brawler 2

MCM London... lots to think about.

It was another busy weekend for Independent Comic creators across the land as they descended on London for the first of this year's London MCM events.

We were fortunate to get two tables, as we have too much stock to squeeze onto one, and as always I was stunned by the quality of work on offer to those people who would wander through the Comic Village, whether it be on a mission to get to a particular publisher / creator or wondering what on earth the Comic Village was all about.

For us the MCM events are where we shift most of our comics these days. Diamond Distribution are proving more and more difficult to navigate and it's almost impossible dealing with stores direct, apart from those in your local area.

There has actually been a lot of talk on the web at the moment about events, and MCM events in particular. Jon Lock over at Afterlife-inc.com and Joe Glass over at Bleedingcool.com both talk about the diminishing market that we are experiencing.

Yep, making your own comics is tough.
Getting them into people's hands is even tougher.

We have also experienced a dip in sales this year. Last year for us was our best ever, by some way, and this year we are back to 2015 figures.

Why is this ?
Is it a slump due to the uncertain times we live in ?
Is it due to the large areas of space that effected footfall flow over the three days ?
Is it because some Independent publishers had too many tables ?

Modok probably knows the answer,
but isn't telling.

We had decent sales over the weekend. We expected to do about two thirds of last year and that is pretty much how we did.
The MCM events are not like Thought Bubble. At Thought Bubble it's all about returning customers. People who turn up every year and know what they want to pick up.
MCM we've found is always about new customers. Sure we get those who return, and sometimes in a happily large number, but this is very patchy and unpredictable. I don't think many, if any, of the people who go to the MCM events are pure comic fans. A good percentage are interested of course, but most are there for the spectacle and to spend money on 'stuff', whether that's comics, t-shirts or a signature from their favourite member of Firefly (yep ... she was there).

So, all the potential customers are people who are wandering through the Comic Village looking to pick up something that catches their eye, peaks their interest.

To me it's a matter of your product and simple mathematics.

• If your books don't interest them then they won't buy them.
• The more competition there is the less of your books you'll sell.
• The more competition there is the more these potential new customers will be spent up by the time they reach you.

What annoyed me more than anything this year was the lack of ethics of some of the other publishers. I walked past one publisher (who had a good number of stalls) to be told that the writer was better than Alan Moore ... I was told (when asked what comics I read) that there was WesterNoir in their books. Basically they were lying. Telling you what they needed you to hear, so that if you weren't that knowledgeable about comics in general you;d be convinced that this was what you were looking for. Whatever it was you were looking for. And from the count of comics sold, they were pretty successful at it.

The bottom line is that the more books these guys sold, the less money the customers had for any other books.

Steve Tanner, of TimeBomb comics, sold boxes of his new Flintlock books because he's hit on something that appeals to the people who wander past his stall. He doesn't have to pretend his writing is better than Alan Moore. The characters and the artwork, and what Steve says about them, are sufficient.
Unlike the aforementioned publisher, Steve can be honest because his books are good enough to interest people on their own merit.

The Minion was impressed by the Independent Publisher who seemed to
have studied the Trump rule book... and refused to talk to me...
I got a photo with him anyway.

Jon Lock in his article (link above) talks about the price being a possible driving force. He suggests we all get together and agree a standard price. Sorry Jon, that's probably illegal as we live in a free market and competition is what it's all about. That said, our books are typically cheaper than Steve's but he probably sold more of his over the weekend than we did of ours.
Not because of the price, but because his concept / product is more attractive to the MCM customer.

As to Fan Art ... I'm not a big fan (excuse the pun). It's also something that is illegal as the people producing it have not paid the owning company for the right to do so. I'm fine with artists selling their own paintings of elves and werewolves, but Wolverine ? Sorry. That's illegal. There's always a danger than one day Disney will turn up and shut the whole show down due to copyright infringement. Hopefully they'd do it in an imaginative way though ... get someone Cosplaying Kingpin to bring the Desist papers.

So, I think a good Comic Village will be one where :

• There's a healthy mix of genres of independent comics.
• Publishers / creators are honest.
• There's a healthy proportion of comics /  artists selling their own work.
• There is no Fan art.
• There's a good number of artists drawing portraits 
• The prices vary as much as the publishers want them to.

The customers will then decide what they want to buy and will do so.

I used to love watching Monkey as a kid,
he's aged really well I think ...
I guess immortality does that for you.