A relaxing 10 days on the Kent Coast.

Well, it's been too long since I've last seen my parents, who have moved out of London into a nice retirement bungalow on the Kent Coast, so this year we decided to combine a long visit with our Summer break.The Kent Coast used to be the favourite summer holiday destination for us growing up and many a holiday was spent in Broadstairs, where we dug holes in the sand outside our beach hut and swam in the cold sea, when the heat got too much.
We spent most of our holiday in and around Birchington, where my folks now live, where we walked along the coast line, cycled to Reculver Castle and also took the plunge in the Channel (and it is as cold as I remember it). We did however also spend a day in Broadstairs and had lunch in Bleak House (of Dickens' fame), or as Jemma and I called it Beak House, home of Darles Chickens.

I must confess to not recognizing much, but I guess that's because my sister and I were always either building sand castles or swimming, we weren't much for taking an interest in the local shops and buildings when we were kids.
Jane and I also visited Canterbury, Jemma deciding to stay behind with her grand parents, and had a great day discovering art galleries and an amazing little book shop. No visit to Canterbury would be complete, of course, without a visit to Whatever Comics, and a chat with store owner Manny.
It was great to see Manny as passionate about comics as ever, and my wife even popped in to suggest a school bag for Jemma (a Marvel one no less), Jane's first comic shop visit in many a year.
Leaving Manny with a Magnificent Seven WesterNoirs (the number seemed appropriate) it was soon time to leave, but I'll pop into that great little store whenever I'm in the area, which is all the more likely now.
The only other 'time out' from the holiday was taken to watch the new Batman movie. Jemma and I went to The Vue at Westwood ( a retail park). All I can really say is 'Wow', what a great end to the trilogy.
No rest for the wicked of course, as we're all off to Carlisle next weekend fopr the MegaCon, which I'm really looking forward to.. be good to see you there.

The Rufus Trimble of Infinuum 1001137.

Another of my Rufus Trimble character collages, this time it's the Rufus from Infinuum 1001137.

I've been distracted a little of late... but in a good way.
Having written the working script for Issue 2 of WesterNoir, which Gary Crutchley is illustrating with typical pace and excellence, I've been inspired (after meeting up with him and the emails that followed) to begin scripting Issue 3, even though it won't actually see print until spring 2013. These early drafts undergo plenty of revisions, mainly due to the fact that Gary throws in such great ideas, and are only ever seen by both of us as a 'Starter for 10'.
I've also been finishing off my contributions to Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist ? which is now coming together and looking awesome. We've all written our 'Bio's from with a Victorian slant, and attached appropriate photos. The Graphic Novel will be accompanied by a super little limited edition A5 hard cover book, that will contain a lot of extras from the creators involved and a few invitees. I can't wait to see both of these ready for print.
And finally ... another review of Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man ? has hit our facebook page (Accent UK Comics group), this time from www.talkcomix.com It's great to find that people are still coming across this book for the first time and enjoying as much as people did a year or so ago.

...and a new review of Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man ?

... can be found at www.liberationfrequency.co.uk.

WesterNoir gets the thumbs up from Starburst.

A great surprise this weekend as the latest issue of Starburst (issue 379) was delivered...

in that it contained a review of our first issue of Westernoir...

A great review (I must confess that Gary actually added a lot to the dialogue of Issue 1, which improved it and no doubt impressed Starburst... there... my conscience is clear :o), which I read before setting off to a great Convention at the MCM in Manchester, where we sold plenty of copies and artist/co-creator Gary Crutchley was on hand to show people the first 13 pages of issue 2.
It was good to meet Daniel Brown again at the Con, who won the piece of Gary's artwork at KAPOW!, if only to prove to Gary that he did exist and that I hadn't spirited the page away into my own collection :o)
I'll post a full report on the Event over on the AccentUK blog... soon.

The Rufus Trimble of Infinuum 2001219

This story is coming together in my mind now. The story of each of the Rufus Trimbles and that of their nemesis The Great Mind. I keep finding the odd moment here and there to play with collages like this, and once I've completed Strange Times Book 2 I'll start on this book in earnest.

Next Saturday I'll be manning the Accent UK stall with Colin Mathieson at the MCM in Manchester. Please do pop over and say hello if you're in the neighbourhood.

The Great Mind.

Still playing at collage, and this time around I thought I'd have a go at The Great Mind, nemesis of the The Inter-Dimensional Society of Rufus Trimbles.

It's strange that the more I play with finding images with a view to combining them into something different, it strikes me that I've done this type of thing for many years. Previously I guess I've worked in three dimensions with building robots from f bits and pieces of broken down household gadgets, and now I've moved to two dimensional pieces of paper.

I'm having more fun with this than I've had doing anything artistic for a long time.

The Inter-Dimensional Society of Rufus Trimbles.

Had another little play with collage, I really enjoyed creating the look of the different members of the Society and this has set my mind to telling their story, and so they may well end up in a future book ...

I just wish there were more hours in a day.
If you have trouble reading the text on the collage it reads -

Before their final battle with the self titled ‘The Great Mind’, the founding members of the Inter-Dimensional Society of Jethro Milners breakfasted in Kensington’s wondrous gardens and discussed the day ahead over scones and a pot or two of Earl Grey tea.

In other news, a friend at work is sorting out a way to get Strange Times back on the website as a webcomic again, which'll focus my attention away from cutting and sticking and back to drawing and frowning.