A review of Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist ?

Paul Birch has just posted a very fair and balanced review of our concept anthology, 'Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist ?' over at http://targetmediawebs.wix.com/comic-time.
Thanks Paul.

Where On Earth Is The Thaddeus Mist Lego figure ?

Well, here he is...

It's taken a little while mainly as I've been hunting down a figure with a suitably impressive hat...
Check out the WesterNoir Book 4 figure over at strangestoftimes.blogspot.

Thaddeus Mist reviewed.

There's a great review of Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist? over at www.geeksyndicate.co.uk.

Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist? reviewed...

Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist? gets a great review over on forbiddenplanet.co.uk.
Well done to all involved.

WesterNoir 2 is now available to purchase online...

If there's one problem with our new improved website, it's me.
As I go onto it so infrequently, that is when we publish a new book (about 3 times a year), I have trouble remembering how to update it.
We'll I think I've managed it now for WesterNoir #2, which can now be purchased at www.accentukcomics.com.

 

... this issue will also be available digitally soon through LUSH Comics, alongside issue 1, and will be available through iBooks, iTunes apps and Android. I'll post an update when this is the case but all files are uploaded and are going through the acceptance process.

When I get stock of Missing - Have You Seen The Invisible Man? and Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist? I'll add these to the website as well. Should be in the next week or two.

Also, I've posted another panel from Stephenson's Robot (Issue 3) over on my other blog Strange Times.

Thought Bubble ... how was it for us ...

We never do particularly well at Thought Bubble conventions. We don't know why, unless it's due to the incredible number of great comics on other stalls competing for the customers' pennies. But the cold fact is that Thought Bubble is our usually our worst UK Con.
Or it has been until now.
This year we were determined to break the cycle and timed the launch of three new books to coincide with the event, as well as enlisting support from a couple of extra creators for the full two days. Oh and there was the surprise in store for people outside the hall as mourners of Thaddeus Mist entertained.
Where to start then ?
OK, the beginning.
Saturday morning was cold and damp, and following a typical Holiday Express breakfast I stepped out, accompanied by my daughter, Jemma, to lug four boxes of comics from my car (on the 5th floor of the multi-story car park) to the venue. That and a few extra bits and pieces, the banner, the raffle prize (a piece of original Gary Crutchely WesterNoir art, which I was not at all happy to part with), and some Thaddeus Mist posters.
A few trips later, I am getting weaker as I get older, and we were all set.

That is we would be once the three new books arrived, and as is typical, we'd left it all so late that Stuart Gould, of CITRUS CREATIVE & UK COMICS CREATIVE, was bringing a number of boxes of each to the Con for us.
And there he was, with a smile on his face that told me that once again he'd come through for us.
A few trips to his car later and we now had more boxes under the table than could really fit and a whole load of comics to shift, but what great looking comics they were. Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist ?, WesterNoir 2 and Missing - Have You Seen The Invisible Man ? all looked fab.
Owen Johnson, the driving force behind Thaddeus Mist and Gary Crutchely, the driving force and artist on WesterNoir arrived pretty soon after all the hard work lifting and shifting boxes, and helped set up what stock we had on an over crowded table.

Gary talks to a Customer about WesterNoir whilst in the
background Owen discusses Thaddeus Mist.

And then Colin turned up expecting help carrying his three boxes of stock from the car park. I think one look at my tired expression helped him to decide that he'd best do it himself and so by about 10.30am we were all ready to go, with even more comics on the table.
Our best sale of the day was pretty much our first as a customer bought pretty much one of every book we had (leaving out the few he had brought from us before), a fantastic start to what turned out to be a very busy day. Owen and Gary helping energise Colin and I, and Gary's special sketch packs really doing well to clinch the deal with anybody who hesitated over whether or not to buy both issue 1 and 2 of WesterNoir.

Gary and Colin ready for anything...

The actors that Owen had persuaded to come down from Carlisle and act out the Thaddeus Mist Funeral scene were on stage, we'll in the area between the halls, around lunchtime and they were really very good.

The Thaddues Mist mourners...

I didn't know what to expect but must confess that I feared the worst. How wrong could I have been ? They were great, and certainly helped generate interest in the book, and additional sales (thanks guys .. and girl).
I won't attempt to list all of the contributors to Thad who stopped by, but it was nice to see designer Danielle Horton at what I believe to be her first ever Con.
An incredible day drew to an end and we almost collapsed. It had been a draining but very rewarding experience.

A quick trip back to hotels to refresh and then we were off out to meet up with Sumyra of Lucky Target Comics and her crew at The Palace. A pub that was allegedly only 10 minutes away. Thirty minutes, a walk down by a canal and a rat sighting later and we all knew that I'd taken us in the wrong direction. But everybody was understanding and decided not to throw my into the canal (or river... it was too dark to tell) and so a mere 30 minutes later we were sat in the pub drinking and waiting for the food to arrive. A great night followed talking about comics and telling convention stories.
Sunday was a quieter affair, as Comic Cons always are, but we still did pretty well, and at the end of the day we'd had probably our most successful Con ever, not just from a sales perspective but also in meeting creator friends, and chatting about and developing new projects with a couple of them.

Biff and Gary draw winning ticket, Dave is kept well away
through fear of him trying to fix the result...

We got Biff (of ACE Comics) to draw the Raffle ticket, and number 300 came out of the hat... the winner has since been emailed, and I'm already missing the artwork that used to sit in my room.
All that's left then is to thank everybody for making it such a great Con. Gary and Owen for all the help, The Funeral Mourners, creators popping over to say 'Hi', Chris for being Chris and all those who stopped by to chat about our books and buy a couple.
See you all again next year.

Thought Bubble

Accent UK have a table at this year's Thought Bubble Con in Leeds, which is this weekend.

and for the first time ever, we are launching three new booksMissing - Have You Seen The Invisible Man ? is the follow up to Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man? in that it is set in the same universe and is another in the Blessed/Cursed line of books. Written by Dave West with art by Joe Campbell.
WesterNoir issue 2 follows on from issue 1 and sees Josiah Black facing aligator men in the swamps of the Mississippi. Written by Dave West and Gary Crutchley with art by Gary.
and...
Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist ? a concept anthology that follows the widow of Thaddeus as she attempts to find out who he really was by questioning guests at his funeral. A very victorian drama in every sense. Owen Johnson pulled this one together and wrote the main story with art by Conor O'Boyle, there are a number of other contributors who tell of Thaddeus through the eyes of his friends, relatives and even a mistress.
Over the weekend there will be a raffle for a piece of original art from Gary Crutchley, which recreates the cover pencils for issue 1. A raffle ticket will be given out with every purchase.
Also, we have a limited number of teaser posters for Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist ? signed by a lot of contributors that will be given to people who buy a copy of the Graphic Novel, until they run out.
and finally ... look out for actors dressed in victorian garb who will be bringing the funeral to those outside the convention hall.
We'll be at  Table 50 of the New Docks Hall for both days, so do come over and spend some time with us talking about comics.

Great reviews for new Accent UK books over at Burnt Weiners..

'Missing - Have You Seen The Invisible Man ?' and 'Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist?' get great reviews over at the Burnt Weiners podcast, Episode 133, and if you scroll down a but you'll find that Owen Johnson, the main mind behind Thaddeus Mist, was interviewed by the guys.

Both of these books, and the next installment of Josiah Black should be launched at Thought Bubble next month... if all goes well.

Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist ?

Well, you'll all be finding out soon.

Cover artwork from Marleen Lowe

Preview Sample PDFs are being sent out to Reviewers in the hope that we get to hear their thoughts on the book, and hopefully a mention on their podcasts or blogs. If you'd like a peview copy then leave a comment below, or email me.

Contributor details page designed by Danielle C Horton

Initial feedback has been very positive, which is great as we'll be launching the book at Thought Bubble in a couple of months.

Internal Artwork from Conor Boyle

It does look very very good ... full credit to Owen Johnson for writing the main story, editing and well, pretty much bringing it into being, and a big 'Thanks You' to everyone else involved.

Megacon was Mega...

Last weekend we attended the Megacon event in Carlisle. It was my first time in the city and so I decided to take Friday off and make a long family weekend of it. What a great little city. Always a big plus to me are cities or towns with decent bookshops and Carlisle has some great book shops, top of the list being the Bookcase which had rooms and rooms of old books on a number of levels covering every subject you could come up with. A hurried hour was spent in there, and it wasn't nearly long enough.

Saturday morning Jemma and I set up the table, amidst the usual hustle and bustle that accompanies such events.
We got to meet Mal Earl, who has done some impressive concept design work for the 'Who On Earth Is Thaddeus Mist ?' book, and also Conor Boyle, who is doing (or has done) the majority of the artwork, and it really is very very good. Owen Johnson was busy as one of the event organisers and for a first event it really was very well organised. I guess, having attended a number of events in his time, Owen knew what worked and what didn't.  This event certainly worked.
It had the same diversity of stalls seen somewhere like KAPOW, the heart of events like Caption (which was sadly on the same weekend) and was the size of Comiket. It pulled all of these elements together really successfully.

People get ready for the Accent UK panel

During what was to turn out to be a pretty busy day sales-wise, Colin and I were pulled away from the stall, which Jemma then covered for us, to sit on an Accent UK Panel, along with Owen, Connor and writer Max Deacon. We talked about all sorts but did manage to cover why we do this comic thing, how others can do it and what new books we all had coming up.

The Accent UK Panel

It seemed to be pretty well attended and from follow up chats at the stall it seemd to be pretty well received as well. Sat in the middle of the hall with stalls on a higher level all around us, it really had a great feeling of being an integral part of the event, whereas these types of panels are usually held in rooms somewhere away from the main halls.

Stacey Whittle asks the tough 'Why no more anthologies ?' question

When we remembered we also gave out some 'teaser' posters for 'Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist ?' drawn and designed by Mal Earl.

Dave looking through Conor's wonderful Thaddeus Mist pages.

I got the rest signed by all the creators present for future prizes and purchased a couple of Conor's excellent pages from the book. I've seen a lot of the book now and it really is going to be one of our best yet. I can't wait to see this on the table at Leed's Thought Bubble.

Two pages of original Conor Boyle art and the teaser poster.

We had a great day, sold well (sales were about the same as other one day events, which was really good for a first time) and met a lot of people we hadn't met before (both creators, podcasters (nice to meet Stacey Whittle of Small Press Big Mouth fame) and readers)... can't wait for next year.

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.

'Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist?' gets a mention in Starburst.

As you may have heard, Starburst is back in paper format, having spent the last few years on the web. You have to subscribe to the magazine to get the issues, I think, but it's a great little package and also promotes Independent comics.

Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist?, a future publication from Accent UK, gets a mention in the first revamped issue (no. 374)

and Robot Shorts get on in the issue that follows, check the Strange Times blog for details of that one.

Manchester Mart, Robot Shorts and all that jazz.

They've arrived. Robot Shorts have been delivered and once again MPG Biddles have done a great job. Of course they were working from Andy Bloor's files and his design on the book, but you never know how things are going to turn out until you have the book in your hands. And it looks fab. Steve Holder's artwork will be new to most of you and you'll be very impressed. The book will be on sale at Cons but I'll see if I can manage to update the new Accent UK website and make it available for purchase through there as well.
Last weekends Manchester Mart was pretty successful. We didn't take any Accent UK stock to sell, the aim being to shift some of our own collections, which we both did a pretty good job of. Chris Doherty popped in we had an update on what he's up to. Video Nasties can now be purchased in complete collected form through Lulu at http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/video-nasties-complete-collection/18714872

which is great, and is well worth the purchase.

I met up with Owen Johnson during the week, he was on his way from the North to the South and Manchester was somewhere in the middle. Had a great lunch discussing Thaddeus Mist and how we promote it. Lots to do but the whole 'marketing' thing is something we need to improve at.

In other news, ZOMBIES, which is sold out in printed copy, will soon be available through Lush Comics for digital download to a whole heap of different devices. If you're an Indie publisher/creator and would like an introduction to Justin at Lush then just let me know. It's great to have your books available digitally.