I've modified a Lone Ranger figure, turning him into a very own Josiah Black for the Accent UK table at Comic Cons.
Pop over to http://www.strangestoftimes.blogspot.co.uk/ if you'd like to see how he turned out.
Monday, 21 April 2014
Sunday, 6 April 2014
From Birmingham to Dundee.
Well, Comic convention season has started to get into full swing and a couple of weekends ago saw Accent UK at the Memorabilia MCM cross over event (sounds like something Marvel or DC would dream up). We'd done pretty well at the Glasgow and Manchester MCM events and so expectations were high that we'd do similar in Birmingham.
...although this was the first time we'd attended one that had combined MCM with the spectacle that is the Memorabilia will all of its stars signing photos for very long queues of fans.
...and assorted look-a-likes and cos-players.
Colin and Scott had arrived on the Friday to set up the stall, so all Jemma and I had to do was turn up Saturday morning with copies of WesterNoir issue 4 and my little Robot Shorts and Strange Times books.
And we were all set...
...but for what.
It was a slow two days, with few people venturing into 'Comic Village', which meant that we didn't hit the same figures as we had in either Manchester or Glasgow, in fact we sold about half as many books.
What we did though was take the opportunity to chat to a number of people in the industry about what Accent UK was doing and where we were trying to get to.
Are we a publisher first and foremost, or in fact creators who publisher our own books and some books by others ?
Looking at our stall, and talking to our books with customers we were definitely coming across as publishers and losing our identity a little bit as creators in our own right.
Chatting with Paul Birch, Steve Tanner (Timebomb Comics) and Stuart Gould, we decided to have a good hard look at what we were about over this coming year and maybe re-invent ourselves a little.
All in all it was a really enjoyable Con. I managed to meet a couple of stars of a couple of my favourite programs growing up (pop over to Strange Times if you like to see who they are), Jemma got a couple of 'selfies' with some of her favourites, Colin took a photo of me in Stuart's hat (pop over to Momentofadventure.blogspot.co.uk if you want a laugh) and Scott bought some of those little big-headed-figures that are quite popular. And we did sell some comics and I think picked up some new Customers. So all in all pretty good.
This weekend Colin popped up to the Dundee Comic Expo, it's an opportunity for him to visit his son Adam and his family, who live nearby, and also sell some comics. You can check out how it all went over at Momentofadventure.blogspot.co.uk .
...although this was the first time we'd attended one that had combined MCM with the spectacle that is the Memorabilia will all of its stars signing photos for very long queues of fans.
 |
| Simon Cowell spots Wally and calls it in... |
And we were all set...
 |
| Jemma check to see if it really is Colin's birthday whilst Colin proudly shows off the present that Dave bought him.. kinda. |
It was a slow two days, with few people venturing into 'Comic Village', which meant that we didn't hit the same figures as we had in either Manchester or Glasgow, in fact we sold about half as many books.
What we did though was take the opportunity to chat to a number of people in the industry about what Accent UK was doing and where we were trying to get to.
Are we a publisher first and foremost, or in fact creators who publisher our own books and some books by others ?
Looking at our stall, and talking to our books with customers we were definitely coming across as publishers and losing our identity a little bit as creators in our own right.
 |
| Dave, Stuart Gould and Colin. |
This weekend Colin popped up to the Dundee Comic Expo, it's an opportunity for him to visit his son Adam and his family, who live nearby, and also sell some comics. You can check out how it all went over at Momentofadventure.blogspot.co.uk .
Sunday, 16 March 2014
2014 Events Schedule Update.
Colin has been busily booking us into a number of shows for the year.
You can see what where at, and when, over on the top right of this page... it's looking to be a busy year already with a number of new events for us to go to.
You can see what where at, and when, over on the top right of this page... it's looking to be a busy year already with a number of new events for us to go to.
Sunday, 2 March 2014
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.
Check out the WesterNoir Book 4 figure over at strangestoftimes.blogspot.
Friday, 21 February 2014
DemonCon7 - to Maidstone and back again...
So, there I was at 6.30am on a cold February morning, sat in my Ford Focus, in a bus stop layby, somewhere in Newcastle-Under-Lyme, waiting for Gary Crutchley. As I sat there thinking about the long drive ahead it occurred to me that maybe the bus stop that Gary had meant to meet at was the one that I'd passed a few hundred meters back up the road.
I decided to text Gary, just to let him know where I actually was, on the off chance that I had somehow managed to stop in the wrong place.
Which of course I had.
And so at around 6.45am with Gary sat beside me riding shotgun, we left Newcastle-Under-Lyme and hit the M6.
We began chatting straight away, well it was more like we picked up where we had left off the last time we had got together, and started talking about WesterNoir.
By the time we reached the M1 we had plotted up to about issue 20.
By the time we reached the M25 we had gone back and tweaked a few things. Enriched a few situations and fleshed out some of the rules that constrained what we were creating.
At around 10.40am, we stopped off for breakfast in a Service Station somewhere just off the M25, I love a nice Full English Cooked Breakfast, Gary turning his nose up at it as it wasn't too healthy decided instead to have pretty much the same thing, but in a roll. I deduce the the bread must have some fat-absorption-conversion property that I'd never been made aware of.
During the journey, conversation had roamed from books to film through comics and onto comic companies. It always helps a journey go faster, well, seem faster when you have someone to talk to, and so it was that 3 and a half hours later, but seeming like only an hour, we left the motorways behind and found ourselves in Maidstone.
For once, we actually found the venue pretty easily, maybe it was because we used Tom-Tom and not Col-Col, who can say. Maybe it was just that Maidstone really isn't that big. We even managed to park the car not too far away.
Of course it was far enough when you have to make a couple of trips lugging boxes but, with Gary still talking about the need for Accent UK to buy a trolley, we soon found ourselves set up in the Royal Star Arcade. It was all pretty hectic at first with people setting up shop as potential customers wandered around us, potential customers that is, that consisted of a troop of Storm Troopers, Darth Vader and various other Star Wars characters.
We sold only one book in the first hour and had that feeling that it was going to be one of those days. Both Gary and I made a quick dash to pick up a hard cover copy of It Came ! by Dan Boultwood (he had a very small pile of copies and we didn't want to miss out).
And then we got back to find our stall getting a little busy. And it pretty much stayed busy for the whole day.
All books sold in pretty good numbers but WesterNoir sold most copies, and true to form Stuart Gould of UK Comics, our printer, turned up with a box of Issue 4. And great it is too. The best seller for us was actually our sketch pack editions, where we bundle all 4 issues of WesterNoir in a bag and then the customer persuades me to part with one of Gary's great little original sketches.
A nice moment occurred when one of our customers, having just bought both of The Wolfmen books, told us how her ex-boyfriend had left her and taken all of her comics and CDs with him, amongst which was her treasured copy of The Man Of Glass. What else could we do but give her a replacement copy. We couldn't help with the CD collection though, she didn't look the type to be interested in Pink Floyd.
I did make a trip out from behind the stall to top up the Car Parking ticket, and one to get a few drinks but that was pretty much it, the rest of the day we had a constant flow of customers or people wanting to chat. It was a really enjoyable day.
Graham Beadle knows how to run a great little con, and I hope it stays just the size it is and keeps the atmosphere it had on Sunday.
For those who picked up WesterNoir Issues 1 and 2, on the promise that Graham was going to stock the books in his Grinning Demon store, he took 4 copies of Issues 3 and 4, so if you liked Issues 1 and 2 then I wouldn't wait too long before getting him to put them aside for you.
I decided to text Gary, just to let him know where I actually was, on the off chance that I had somehow managed to stop in the wrong place.
Which of course I had.
And so at around 6.45am with Gary sat beside me riding shotgun, we left Newcastle-Under-Lyme and hit the M6.
We began chatting straight away, well it was more like we picked up where we had left off the last time we had got together, and started talking about WesterNoir.
By the time we reached the M1 we had plotted up to about issue 20.
By the time we reached the M25 we had gone back and tweaked a few things. Enriched a few situations and fleshed out some of the rules that constrained what we were creating.
At around 10.40am, we stopped off for breakfast in a Service Station somewhere just off the M25, I love a nice Full English Cooked Breakfast, Gary turning his nose up at it as it wasn't too healthy decided instead to have pretty much the same thing, but in a roll. I deduce the the bread must have some fat-absorption-conversion property that I'd never been made aware of.
During the journey, conversation had roamed from books to film through comics and onto comic companies. It always helps a journey go faster, well, seem faster when you have someone to talk to, and so it was that 3 and a half hours later, but seeming like only an hour, we left the motorways behind and found ourselves in Maidstone.
For once, we actually found the venue pretty easily, maybe it was because we used Tom-Tom and not Col-Col, who can say. Maybe it was just that Maidstone really isn't that big. We even managed to park the car not too far away.
Of course it was far enough when you have to make a couple of trips lugging boxes but, with Gary still talking about the need for Accent UK to buy a trolley, we soon found ourselves set up in the Royal Star Arcade. It was all pretty hectic at first with people setting up shop as potential customers wandered around us, potential customers that is, that consisted of a troop of Storm Troopers, Darth Vader and various other Star Wars characters.
And then we got back to find our stall getting a little busy. And it pretty much stayed busy for the whole day.
All books sold in pretty good numbers but WesterNoir sold most copies, and true to form Stuart Gould of UK Comics, our printer, turned up with a box of Issue 4. And great it is too. The best seller for us was actually our sketch pack editions, where we bundle all 4 issues of WesterNoir in a bag and then the customer persuades me to part with one of Gary's great little original sketches.
 |
| Gary was more than happy to tell the customers just how good WesterNoir is... |
I did make a trip out from behind the stall to top up the Car Parking ticket, and one to get a few drinks but that was pretty much it, the rest of the day we had a constant flow of customers or people wanting to chat. It was a really enjoyable day.
 |
| A Cyberman stopped by to pick up a copy of Robots, I didn't have the nerve to tell him he wasn't in it. |
For those who picked up WesterNoir Issues 1 and 2, on the promise that Graham was going to stock the books in his Grinning Demon store, he took 4 copies of Issues 3 and 4, so if you liked Issues 1 and 2 then I wouldn't wait too long before getting him to put them aside for you.
Tuesday, 11 February 2014
First Convention of the Year - DemonCon7.
We've a table at this year's DemonCon event in Maidstone, on Sunday.
and mostly through the hard work of Gary Crutchley, we'll be launching Book 4 of WesterNoir at the event... and if I can get things sorted, we might even be raffling a page of his artwork.
That's if I can bear to part with it ...
Gary will be with us signing books and generally enthusing about the whole WesterNoir story, which gets more and more interesting every time we meet up.
It'd be great to see you if you're in the area.
Gary will be with us signing books and generally enthusing about the whole WesterNoir story, which gets more and more interesting every time we meet up.
It'd be great to see you if you're in the area.
Sunday, 12 January 2014
The 2014 Event season starts...
..with the DemonCon7 event in Maidstone, Kent on the 16th February.
We've been wanting to make it to this event for a year or so now but it's always either clashed with something we'd already booked, or been the week before or after. This time we put it to the top of the list. We are aiming to launch issue 4 of WesterNoir at this event, and all is on track to see this happen. Pop over to Strange Times blog to see the cover development for Issue 4 and Gary's blog to see the first three pages.
..we've also book a table at the MCM event in Birmingham on the 22nd and 23rd of March.
It's looking like it's going to be another busy year.
We've been wanting to make it to this event for a year or so now but it's always either clashed with something we'd already booked, or been the week before or after. This time we put it to the top of the list. We are aiming to launch issue 4 of WesterNoir at this event, and all is on track to see this happen. Pop over to Strange Times blog to see the cover development for Issue 4 and Gary's blog to see the first three pages.
..we've also book a table at the MCM event in Birmingham on the 22nd and 23rd of March.
It's looking like it's going to be another busy year.
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