AccentUK Thought Bubbles on Thought Bubble.

Well the Accent UK reports on Thought Bubble 14 are now up on the creator's blogs.
Pop over see what Colin, Gary and I thought about our last Convention of 2014.
Now we'll have to work out our schedule for 2015... we'll trade Helsinki for Copenhagen, so we can catch up with some old friends but will alternate and get back to Helsinki in 2016, apart from that and two Conventions already contacted, we've a lot of planning to do.

The Last Comic Con Of The Year.

So, we'd managed to get ourselves into the Main Hall at this year's Thought Bubble comic convention in Leeds.
We'd nearly missed out on the whole thing as tables were sold out within an hour of being announced, and for those of us with a day job we found out too late. But we got lucky as we moved from the 'hoping for a cancellation' list, through 'a table in the 3rd Hall' list, to 'a cancellation has actually happened in the Main Hall and you're in the Main Hall' list.
Our concern had been that in the new 3rd Hall we might not see as many customers as we would in the Main Hall and so we jumped at the chance.

The event had a really good vibe, with the banners etc.

Putting all of the worries behind us, I picked up Colin at around 8.30am and with Jemma in the back of the car getting excited about meeting Mark Buckingham and Kieron Gillen, we set off, and for once there were no roadworks (to talk of), no heavy showers, no lorries trying to squeeze you into the central barrier and... ok.. we did have a little diversion when we missed our exit from the motorway, but it was a good journey.
We had arrived about 30 minutes before opening time and had no trouble getting our tickets (including the extras) and finding our table. A great start.
Gary Crutchley, co-creator, co-scribe (well, he does most of the actual scribing) and artist on WesterNoir arrived not long after doors opened, which made for an even better start.

Me and Gary Crutchley.

We were good to go.
The only question was, as Colin mentions over on his report, would the extra (3rd) hall draw in extra comic enthusiasts or would it just mean that the number of people that came last year would have more to choose from.

Thom Ferrier (Ian Williams) and Colin catch up.

Well sales weren't bad. They didn't hit last year's number, but we had fewer new titles out this year, but sales were better than the year before that, so I think it's an upward trend (hmmmm... sounding a little too salesman-like). We had a lot of repeat customers (which is great), met some really nice people (and very talented they are too) from Portugal, caught up with a lot of friends in the Independent Comic scene and Jemma got her Mark Buckingham Fables sketch (Bigby) as well as Kieron Gillen's signature on her Journey Into Mystery TPB.

Gary was happy with the response to WesterNoir...

Westernoir issue 3 sold really well, to those who had the first two issues, those who picked up all three or those tempted by Gary's great sketches to buy a sketchpack. It was great to have Gary around on Saturday, and of course we manage to talk about future issues over a coffee, you can read Gary's report of his day over on his blog.


Colin and Gary.

As we weren't sure where we were going to be this year, or even if we had a table at the event, we'd decided not to book hotel rooms and so it was a quick drive back across the Pennines for a little rest and restocking.
Sunday started badly... for me.
On putting on a clean shirt (that'll teach me) I disturbed a Queen Wasp, who had decided to spend the winter in one of the shirt sleeves. My wife watched me dance around the bedroom, trying to take the shirt of without getting stung too many times, looking more like Lee Evans than John Travolta I sorry to say. Anyway... I think I only got stung once and the wasp was then introduced to the outside of the house (she was alive and buzzing when I last saw her).

Queen wasps are not small creatures.

Anyway, manning up (with a little Savlon and an anti-histamine pill from Colin's wife Karen) we were once again on our way back to Leeds.
Jemma had a new Fables book to get signed and a new character to get a sketch of.

Jemma hiding...

I had to find James McKay to get my copy of Dreams Of A Carbon Future (see my blog for more details) and Colin had a lot of people to catch up with and small press books to buy (as is his way :o).
Sunday was quieter than Saturday.
We did attract some attention with our 'Accent UK in Lego' display case, and had some fun with people matching Lego figures to Accent UK books.

Looks like the Invisible Man is missing...

We did sell enough books to make this a good Con (and I was really happy to see so many WesterNoir and Robot Shorts books selling) from that perspective, Jemma (as a fan-girl) got some quality sketches, we caught up with friends, creators, readers and would-be creators and are certainly looking forward to next year's event.


The wrist bands allowing entry always looks a bit worse for wear after 2 days.  

To Comiket and back...

Yesterday Colin, Gary and I went to the Comiket Con in London (around the back of King's Cross station).
It's the second time Comiket has been at this venue and lst time around we did pretty well.
Setting off on the 7.20am train from Crewe all went pretty much to plan and pretty soon Colin and I found ourselves meeting up with Gary in Euston station before heading off with bags full of comics. I must say that it's a tough venue to find first time around but we knew where we were going and so, apart from my suitcase wheels buckling under the pressure, we made good time and were set up 30 minutes or so before doors opened.
As is typical of these events the doors opened to a trickle of customers, the trickle being pretty constant through the day. Paul Gravett got the Drawing Parade off and running straight away. This is where artists get to sit at the front of the hall and draw, with their creative process being projected over their heads onto a large screen. It's quite absorbing watching other artists as they do their thing.

Colin, Gary and I talking with Joel Meadows (Bleeding Cool News photo)

It was a slow day, but comics did sell, not as good as the last event but this show is always fun to be at and is really like no other show in the UK.
It was great to have Gary behind the table with us, talking to customers about WesterNoir and to meet readers of the first two issues as they picked up the third (and it was good to meet you Aaron, hope you enjoyed Issue 3). I also got to see an almost complete version of Issue 4 on Gary's iPAD).
It was also good to see Owen Johnson at his table selling Raygun Roads, with art by the incomparable Indio!
All in all a very enjoyable event, the number of customers were down a bit and consequently so were sales but we had a really good time.
Travelling home was a bit of an ordeal though.
The 8.10 pm out of Euston to Crewe was delayed by 20 minutes.
When if finally set off it had to stop outside Wembley somewhere for 'isolation', which was a little worrying but nobody turned up in hazmat suits and in another 20 mins or so we were off once again.
Approaching Rugby (our first official stop) the Train Manager asked that anybody with 'medical training' go to Coach D.
We then spent about 40 minutes in Rugby station and ultimately a man was stretchered off accompanied by paramedics (I hope he's OK now).
And so we finally arrived into Crewe at about 11.30pm.
These things can't be helped but it did make it a very long day.
Still, looking forward to the next one.

Accent UK will be at Saturday's Comiket.

Colin, myself and Gary Crutchley have a table at Saturday's Comiket festival in London. We're regulars of this great little Con now and always have a very enjoyable day, which starts as we discuss the future plans of Accent UK on the train down to London.
Do pop by the stall and say hello.
We'll have some sketches of WesterNoir by Gary to offer as well as our normal range of comics.

Manchester MCM Madness.

Wow.
How busy was that ?
We decided to try something new at yesterday's MCM in Manchester. We'd done pretty well at previous events but found that we weren't tempting the non-comic reading attendees. People who were there so that their sons or daughters could meet the Knights fom the Merlin TV Series. Whilst chatting to them last year we had the feeling that they might have been tempted by the Anthologies had the price been lower.
The other consideration hitting us at the moment is storage. We have a lot of the old anthologies still in boxes in lofts and need to make space for new titles.
Combining these we decided to try out MCM Madness, where everything on the table was £3 (except of course the WesterNoir three issue sketch packs).
A simple pricing structure that was easy to talk through with potential customers. It did mean however that we'd need to leave Zombies 2, Thaddeus Mist and my little hard cover books at home.
We decided to give it a go.
It worked.
We shifted a few boxes of the anthology titles, and a good number of the one shots during a very busy day.
This was a record breaking one day event for us in terms of books sold, but due to the prices was probably equal, or close to, other events in terms of cash taken.
It certainly tempted those people who liked robots (as an example) to part with £3 and pick up a great anthology packed with short stories and pinups.
The hope is, of course, that they'll come back for more, and maybe be tempted to pick up some of the one shots. Only time will tell.
All in all it was a great day. We met a lot of old friends and returning customers, many of whom are also Facebook Friends and members of the Accent UK Comics Facebook Group. WesterNoir #3 sold really well, and a number of customers picked up all three copies. It's great to have an ongoing story and character, and having artist Gary Crutchley at the table to sign and enthuse was great.
Highlight for me though was selling a copy of Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man ? to someone who'd heard the story outline from a friend some 4 years ago and failed to track down a copy over the years. When I explained to story to him as he looked at the table he was shocked that here it was. He'd stumbled across it after all that web surfing and forum posting.
Yep, Accent UK had a great day.
Thanks to everyone who came to the table.

Comica's Comiket and other news...

Accent UK have a table at the  Comica - Comiket Independent Comic fair! in London on April 20th.

We've always enjoyed these one day events run by Paul Gravett, Peter Stansbury and Megan Donnelly, and it's a Convention like no other in the UK. I think the closest we've ever been to is Copenhagen's Komiks.DK event.  This time sees a change of venue to the new Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design just behind Kings Cross station which looks interesting.You can find out a lot more about the event over on Colin's blog.

Sadly we missed out on tables at Thought Bubble, which sold out in just 2 hours, we're on the cancellations list, so there's still a chance.

In other news, Darren Ellis, a contributor to numerous Accent UK anthologies, has started his own writer's blog, hmmm ... that's sound a little too close to writer's block for comfort, and also a new website (how does he find time to write ?). Follow the link from his name for the blog and the word website for his .... well ... website, and check them both out.

From an Accent UK publications perspective, a couple of books are on the home straight now. WesterNoir Book 3 continues to follow Josiah Black through his ever darkening world, you can watch this progress on Gary Crutchley's blog. Has Kane Mesmer Losst His Magic Touch ? sees Marleen Lowe's artwork grace another Blessed/Cursed one shot written by Dave West.

MegaCon and WesterNoir.

We're off to MegaCon this weekend, which is Carlisle's first Comic Convention and promises to be a great informal event where we'll have lots of time to chat about comics. Accent UK will be hosting a talk, so if you're in the area please do pop in, we'll be frank and honest about the whole Comic creation and publishing game, and will answer all questions.
Also, I've just received Matt Soffe's coloured version of Gary Crutchley's cover for WesterNoir Issue 2 .. awesome. It just needs for Andy Bloor to add the design elements and the cover's good to go. Gary is progressing really well with the internal artwork as well, so all is on track for a winter print date.

KAPOW !! A knockout... two views of the weekend.

Dave's View - 'Anthologies do sell'.
Last weekend saw Accent UK travel down to London for the second KAPOW!! convention.
We've heard a lot of good things about last year's event but had failed to make it ourselves as we were at the MOCCA event in New York.

Only Colin and I were going down to man the stall for the two days and so we were a bit limited as to how much we could take with us, limited that is by what we could physically carry. Or that would have been the case had it not been for support from a company that will remain nameless (as I think they prefer it that way) who we to bring with them a box of each of our old anthologies, and Stuart of UK Comics (our printer) who was bringing 2 boxes of the new 2OMBIES. This meant that, if all went to plan, we'd actually had more comics to sell than we've had at a Con for a very long time, and most of them were anthologies, which are notoriously a bit of a hit or miss affair . The danger was, of course, that we might find ourselves carrying a lot of books back up North with us, and the anthologies are pretty heavy beasts. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.
Colin and I set off for London on the Friday, rather than rush down Saturday morning. There were two reasons for this. Firstly the Con started at 9am, which would have meant a very very early start, and secondly we'd agreed to deliver some stock to Orbital Comics, following a meeting for Camila at the last Comiket event.
Before heading off to Orbital we needed to lighten our load and drop off most of our luggage (comics) at the venue. Blimey. Talk about well organised. Within minutes of entering we were looking down at our table and less than an hour later we were pretty much set up. Covering the stall with a sheet as we left to keep the dust off, job done.
We set off for Orbital Comics.
After a little wandering around London's streets we were once again reminded of the value of having an ex-scout along with us. Without Scott we were hopeless and completely failed to find the store. Still, modern technology soon came to our rescue. We phoned Scott who talked us through the route and ten minutes later and we were there.
Wow, what a great store Orbital Comics is. A full room dedicated to Independent Press. We were in heaven. Camila, and the store in general, is a real champion of comics that are outside the mainstream, and only too happy to stock our books. It's a great feeling knowing that we have our complete catalogue (except the original ZOMBIES, which is sold out) available in a London store.
As we were chatting about comics with Camilla our good friend Chris Dingsdale appeared. Chris had kindly agreed to allow us to crash at his house, despite Colin's snoring issue, see, a good friend indeed.
I was tempted, albeit only momentarily, to cry AccentUK Assemble, but we were still missing a member, as artist Gary Crutchley wouldn't be meeting up with us until Saturday, and so I refrained. Well, there was also the fact that Chris would have probably clipped me around the ear.
So, first things first then... off to a pub for a pint. Which turned into a few pints and some food.
Then it was back to Chris's for a beer, some chat and a video. The video we selected was Doc Savage which we were all old enough to remember watching at the cinema. I could say that it had aged pretty well, but that would be because it was as bad now as it had been back then. Still, great fun and a film that would be all the better for a new audio track that had us doing the vocals, agfter having re-written the script of course.
Satuday, and no headache. No idea how that happened. Must have been some of that old Doc magic.
We arrived to find that all the anthologies had been delivered, which meant we had a whole load of them to sell, and a few minutes later the stall was fully stocked... and Belmat was in position.
We had a steady stream of customers all day really. We didn't do the sales we'd hoped to do but we did sell about 2/3rds of what we expected, so it was too bad.

(photo from Bleeding Cool 

- that's us in the red circle talking to some customers)

Gary Crutchley arrived with a fabulous piece of original art and we gave a raffle ticket to everyone who bought a copy of WesterNoir. Sales, and interest, in WesterNoir were very encouraging, and although it sold very well, so did all of the books. Best seller on the day was 2OMBIES, you just can't keep them down, and it was great to hand a few copies out to contributors, and see the look of pleasure on their faces.

(photo - Chris finally gets back with the coffee only to find Dave no longer at the stall)

An added bonus of these Cons is that we often find that our table is next to someone we've never met before and this time it was the team behind Mr. Who. A really nice bunch of guys who are very passionate about the industry and their work. I've not read the comics yet but they're full of extras, in the form of CDs, that relate to the comic story itself. Interesting ideas.
It was a late finish on Saturday, 7pm, but it really didn't feel it. Usually the last hoour of a Con is pretty quite but in this case we were still talking to customers and making sales pretty much up to the last minute. Great stuff.

(photo - good friend Steve Tanner's TimeBomb stall)

Saturday night say a tired trio make it as far as the first restaurant that had a spare table, were we had food and beer. Not necessarily in that order. And then it was back to Chris's for more beer and a movie. This time it was the classic Megaforce, which is kind of a merging of Mad Maz and the Bee Gees, but not in a good way. Great fun though and once again I think our dialogue script was better. I did bounce the idea of acquiring the rights to Megaforce, what a comic book that would be, but the more I sobered up the less convinced I became.

Sunday, following a cooked breakfast (thanks Chris, maybe remember the Black Pudding next time ... just a suggestion) we made our way to the event wondering how much stock we could shift to save a few back problems on the way home. Sundays are always quieter than Saturdays. It's a fact of Comic Con Life.
But there's always the exception to every rule and this Con was it.
Sunday we did better sales than Saturday and following our passing the agreed number of anthology stockover to the guys on the Orbital Comics table, we were pretty much down to only having a few copies of most books left to sell. Phew. I even had a couple of offers for Belmat, but he's not for sale I'm afraid ... I do take commissions though :o)
I did get to wander around the event a little over the two days and it certainly is impressive. The organisation was excellent, with no queues effecting us in the main area. Most of the people behind stalls seemed to have had a very good convention sales-wise and a good cup of coffee was always close at hand.
Joel Meadows (Tripwire) pulled the winning ticket for the WesterNoir original art out of the hat (as it were) and disappointingly I didn't win, but we phoned the happy winner who will be receiving the artwork very soon.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by for a chat, to buy a comic or two or to bring me food (that's you Chris).
A great event ... I'd recommend it to all ... punters, dealers and publishers alike.
We'll be back for more next year.
                                                                     Dave West - May 2012.

Chris's View - “Deeds Not Words”

Comics events used to be about as common in the UK as hard photographic evidence of the Beast Of Bodmin.

These days you cant move for them. At least not in the merry month of May at any rate.
Last week it was Bristol Expo. This week its Kapow! at the  London design Centre in trendy Islington.
Last year’s event was a good one. I travelled down from my home in North Wales for a relaxing weekend in the Capital. Stayed in Kensington (well OK at the Youth Hostel but it is very nice….) spent some time and lots of cash in the Convention Hall, attended various panels, chatted comics, met up with old friends and even made some new ones. Nice one.
This year though I was worried. Really worried.
Now I am living in our wonderful Capital City and I have offered up my digs once already to the unfailingly nice Colin Mathieson and his son Scott for the purposes of the Accent UK presence at London SuperCon.
This time however Mr M was being accompanied by the fearsome Mr Dave West.
Yes THAT Dave West. The Eagle Award Winner. The CEO. The Chief. The Genralissimo himself.
A man with an ego so large he can only talk about himself in the third person.
Thus on Friday afternoon I was informed that Dave would be arriving in the City Centre with his “people” ( well, Colin ) and I was to await instructions as to when I would be granted an audience with the great man.
Actually what transpired was that I was looking around the excellent Orbital Comics and saw the pair of them trying to sell Accent UK books to the unsuspecting proprietors. I told Orbital they were frauds. They didn’t listen and took the books anyway.
We then retired to the “Marquess of Anglesey” on Drury Lane for beer, food and then more beer.
A return to the East End was capped off by a group viewing (with beer) of “Doc Savage The Man of Bronze” (1975) or at least my German R2 DVD. A camp classic. Dave and I laughed nostalgically whilst remarking what a good Doc Ron Ely was. Colin shared that he really liked the scene where Doc takes his early morning swim. Hmm. OK.
Saturday morning; Breakfast, Underground, London Design Centre. In that order.
I have to say that on entering, the Hall was impressive. The Design Centre is as close to an ideal venue for a Convention as you will find, just beating out the Ex Cel as it is essentially in the centre of London.
Layout was similar to last year’s event but it became apparent over the course of the weekend that the organisers had listened to the comments and acted on them where necessary.
The lower level entrance floor was taken up again by the Movie promotion area – natty flat screens arranged in a circle with couches to watch the (limited) number of movie trailers on offer. The stage area was back for events and interviews. In addition this year, a full size wrestling ring had been erected adjacent the entrance signing area.
Stairs led up to the main mezzanine floor with all the dealers’ and exhibition stands. Signing tables were once again at the rear of the floor.
The upper gallery levels that overlook the main floor again featured the main panel room and also the Auditorium for movie / TV events.

Accent UK were grouped on the main floor with a number of other independent publishers. The stand was already set up by Dave and Colin on Friday. They had gained access to the Hall early. No doubt Dave West had one of his “Don’t you know who I am ?!?“ moments to gain entry. Seen a few of those down the years.
The doors opened, people arrived and within minutes the place was packed. Really packed. To the point where it was difficult to look at dealer’s stands with any success.
One of the delights about going along with the Accent UK lads is that they recognise my many and varied skills, talent and experience. I am a Professional after all in my chosen field.
Thus within no time I was going to the Concession stand for coffees and out to the nearest Sainsburys to fetch lunch because you know it’s good to feel well, “valued”.

So Kapow! was in full swing again. In truth there was so much going on that you could not possibly participate in everything. In the Hall there were dealers, signings, the stage for interviews and wrestling going on simultaneously.
The upper galleries held panels and movie previews and this hosted some independent press and an “artists alley” also.
The Saturday ended at 7pm which is perhaps a tad too long and we retired to a local Thai restaurant before returning to the East End (via a beer stop at Tescos) for a late night showing of the 1982 classic “Megaforce”.
Some films are good and some films are bad and some films though are so bad they are good. In fact so enamoured was Dave that at one point he was considering acquiring the Comic Book rights together with us lot turning up next year in lycra jumpsuits and headbands to promote the thing. Of course that could have been the beer talking. Still, miss Kapow! 2013 at your peril eh?
Sunday morning. Full English breakfast courtesy of yours truly. Dave then asked me for one of those Hotel guest comment cards for accommodation / quality / service for him to fill in before he left. Sadly I didn’t have one. Got marked down for that one. Damn.
Once again we negotiated the weekend tube closures and reached the Design centre just prior to opening at 9.30am. Stall sorted I resumed my duties and we were off and running once again.
The Convention didn’t even seem to suffer the Sunday slowdown these events usually suffer from. The Cosplay Contest was due to be staged and thus all manner of costumed characters turned up. Some looked great. Some ah.. didn’t. Special mention to the two She-Hulks though who both looked fantastic. Not sure who won but the prizes looked spectacular.

I attended two panels; The Marvel “A Cup O’ Joe” Panel seemed disorganised and not spontaneous as I think it was meant to be. Sorry guys but it seemed like a wasted opportunity to me. Better next year huh?
The DC Panel on the other hand seemed well organised, interesting and informative, In fact I hadn’t read any “New 52” material but the Panel actually made me  want to. Well done Bob Wayne, Dan Didio, Scott Snyder et al.
(I have now read  “Justice League; Origin” and “Batman; A Court of Owls”. Excellent they were too and yes Dave, I know you told me so.).
So what is the verdict? Well Kapow! in 2011 was all nice, shiny and new just as the Super Con was this year but I am pleased to report that this years event was even brighter and shinier even though it wasn’t new. I spent more money than I have ever spent at an event.
It was great to see Marvel, DC and Image attending. DC even gave a breakdown of what the UK market share means to them (and it’s significant). We are getting the recognition that out valuable custom deserves.

Organisation was good, the problems from last year with queuing on the main floor for autographs had been solved. There was tons of activity going on simultaneously. I cannot imagine anyone being bored over the two days. The dealers sounded as if they did well. Accent UK did pretty good numbers and made a load of new contacts including retailers.
Proceedings closed at 3.30pm we packed up and Colin and I carried Dave’s bags out of the Hall. Fame and status carries its own rewards I guess.
Roll on next year then.
Actually I made up the stuff about Dave West if I am honest. I didn’t help carry his bags out of the Hall.
Colin did.

                                        Chris Dingsdale - May 2012

Every purchase of WesterNoir at Kapow gets you a chance to win...

this ...

... and I've just been told that I'm not allowed to enter ... how is that fair ? Oh .. right .. I see ... drat ...
a wonderful original image from series artist Gary Crutchley.

WesterNoir ... a great start.

I just posted some details about a new book in development over at http://www.strangestoftimes.blogspot.com/.
Co-created by myself, Andy Bloor and Gary Crutchley, this is to be a 4 issue mini-series that will be edited by Colin. It is a merging of the Western and Film Noire genres and follows the story of central character Josiah Black as he follows the expansionism of the pilgrims in the Old West.
The first issue is well on the way thanks largely to the passion and talent of Gary, and is hoping to see print early in 2012.