Keep up with Mocca...

at http://ztoical.livejournal.com/.

WesterNoir has arrived in time for Mocca...

... and if you don't believe me then pop over to Strange Times for proof.
We'll be launching this at next weekend's Mocca in New York, be great to see you there, if you're in the area :o)

Comiket Report

This is just a quick write-up of what was a another great little Con in deepest darkest London. It has to be brief I'm afraid as I'm in the middle of sorting out what to take to next weekend's Mocca event in New York... yep ... I know ... it's no real hardship...

The day just flew by, from the moment Paul Gravett opened things, with Tom Gauld at the drawing table (see above) to the final call for customers to leave (at around 6.10pm)with everything going pretty much to plan, well except for my headbutting a glass door on the way out of a cafe that is.

We sold about the same as at the last Comika event, which is always a good sign, and spent the day chatting about comics to readers and creators alike.
The first outing for my new Robot Shorts book saw it sell well and the One-Eyed-Robot on the table certainly helped draw attention to our efforts... a shame I can't risk taking him to the US next week, I doubt he'd get through the scanners as he has all sorts of bits and pieces of metal inside.

As always it was great to catch up with friends, and nice to meet Becky Bagley for the first time. Becky contributed a pin-up to the Robot Shorts book, and was selling her new (to me anyway) books (as well as Tick), both of which I purchased and have now read ... impressive stuff.

Our thanks go out to the organisers, and I'm sure it's more than just Paul Gravett as it takes a lot of effort to organise something that went so well, and also to everyone who stopped by our table.
Looking forward to the next one ...

Accent UK at Comiket next Saturday

We have a table at Comiket in London on Saturday. Am event that has grown over the years into something that is really special.
Paul Gravett has crafted an event that brings together a lot of independent creators from across the country. It has a great atmosphere and is one of our favourite events.
You can find out more on the blog.
Hope to see you there.

Video Nasties.

Well, Chris Doherty has contributed to a number of our past anthologies, and I've always tried to keep up with his work, but it's a challenge as with the works of all Independent creators due to the difficulties with distribution. I finally got around to reading his collected graphic novel of Video Nasties over Easter though, I decided to buy it as I'd managed to miss a few of the single issues, and tracking htem down would be a challenge, and hell ... it's a great looking book. I couldn't believe my luck when I saw the collected edition on the shelf of my local comic shop, an opportunity too good to miss.  

I must say that the book blew me away.
It's a wonderfully dark tale about growing up in today's video culture and despite the clues that Chris left for me as I travelled the pages I was caught out by the twists and turns and the ending wasn't what I expected it to be. It was so much better.
Don't take my word for it though, pick up your own copy at www.lulu.com or catch up with Chris through his blog over at http://bittersweetfatkid.com/ and see which Cons he'll be at this year.
You can thank me later.

Thaddeus Mist and WesterNoir...

It's been a busy week.

I met up with Owen Johnson, who is editing, well it's much more than editing as he's pulling the whole concpet together, Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist?

We discussed the book's progress at some length, and the challenges that this new type of book brings with it. It's really not an anthology, although it does contain stories from different creators, but more of a bigger tale with these stories taking part in its telling. No small challenge and Owen is doing a great job, I think it would have blown my mind trying to bring it to life. We also discussed a little hard cover book that will accompany it, a kind of DVD extras idea, and if you pop over to my blog you'll see a pin-up that will accompany a few pages on what inspired me on the script that I have contributed.

Later in the week I met up with my co-conspirators on WesterNoir at the Bleeding Wolf, an appropriately named pub that's nearby. Gary Crutchley has finished art on the book, Andy Bloor has worked his design magic and it looks amazing. Having spoken to the printer however we realise that for a perfect bound edition we really need 4 more pages, so we've decided to do a little baqck story of one of the characters, rather than fill it with adverts and the like ... gives us a chance to see more of Gary's great artwork :o)

We also worked out the plot for Issue 2, and I'll be pulling the draft of that together this week. It's a real collaboration with both Gary and Andy throwing ideas around with me, and it'll be all the stronger for it.