Saturday saw us not at Manchester's MCM but at the Central Library in St. Helens.
It's been a bit a repeating theme of the year for us, this clashing of event dates. We had committed to the St. Helens event before we got any confirmation from MCM though and so it was to St. Helens and not into Manchester that we set off on Saturday morning.
Tom-Tom and Col-Col permitting.

It was our first event of this type. We'd presented as the sadly missed Borders before, but we've never really been put infront of 16 kids and been set the task of explaining how to make comics and from there get them to have a go. But there we were, having done plenty of preparation and having sounded out my daughter Jemma, who was the average age for the day, we were in fact pretty confident we could pull it off. And we did, I think. Keeping to a 3 panel story we had all of them thumbnailing, panelling, penciling, colouring, inking and lettering their efforts. And for those who had finished we had them designing super-hero costumes. All of the fids were very attentive, all the styles and stories were very different, and a good reflection on the industry as a whole, and all of teh efforts were very impressive. We had a great day.

A big 'Thank You' to the staff at the Central Library in St. Helens for treating us so well, and to the kids for making the event so enjoyable. We'll be doing more of these in the future I'm sure.

In other news, my old laptop has died, formal ceremonies take place next week, and so I've had to set everything up on a new one. Not a problem from a 'files' perspective as they're all on external disks, but it has caused a problem for the wesbite, as I'm having trouble getting CuteFTP to talk to the web provider. I'm working on it, and am now using their support services, but it has resulted in no website updates for a few weeks, which includes Strange Times. Apologies for that.

It's a good job we now have this blog ... and I'm therefore provided with another way to communicate, along with emails of course.

Accent UK goes digital...

Well, it's happened.
Something that I've been looking to do for a year or so now, and through a new independent comics app available through iTunes you can now download Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man?
The Lush Comics app for the iPad can be found by either browsing http://lushcomics.com/ipad, which will redirect you to the app, or by just searching for "Lush Comics" in the iTunes App Store. The iPad version is "Lush Comics HD" as opposed to the iPhone version, simply called "Lush Comics".
Justin, who created the app etc, is a keen supporter of Independent Comics and created this app as he saw a gap in the market and wanted to allow us to have a presence in the digital world that didn't find us hidden amongst the countless X-Men titles.
It is our intention to put our entire back catalogue up there over the coming weeks. If you're a contributor to one of our anthologies can you please give me your permission to use your work for this purpose. As is the case with the paper versions, there will be no actual payment for this, any funds will be put into future anthologies, but we will keep the price very low, to encourage as many people as possible to see your work. If you don't provide permission then we'll keep your contribution off of the app, not a problem, just let me know.
It'd be great to see more UK comics up on iTunes, if you would like me to connect you with Justin then let me know.

July's PREVIEWS...

Well, sad to say that Diamond again failed to list PREDATORS in the latest issue of PREVIEWS. It's nothing personal, they've just gone through some changes in personel in the USA and it appears that the transition has resulted in UK books being overlooked, again. It's not just AccentUK books that have suffered apparently.
Diamond UK have been very apologetic, and have promised the do everything that they can to get the book listed in the next PREVIEWS, so look out for it in August's edition.
Because of the delay, we've decided to print ahead of Diamond numbers, so that we can make sure the book can be launched at this years Thought Bubble event in Leeds, and Andy is just making a few very minor adjustments (perfectionist that he is) before sending the files off to the printers this week (or early next).

More brains...

Yep, I'm pretty much fully focussed on ZOMBIES 2 at the moment, which is pushing all other projects into the background sadly, but it'll be worth it.

This week I've completed two one-pagers of my own, amended the lettering on one strip and lettered another from scratch. We are keen to get ZOMBIES 2 listed in PREVIEWS as soon as we can, and certainly the aim is to do so before the end of the year. It's not far of to be honest as I've received almost all contributions now. I will however have to draw a line at the end of July and close the door, otherwise we'll never get this thing done. So please give me an update if I've not got your work as yet.

My Maker & I gets a good plug in Episode 82 of the Tales From The Parent's Basement podcast, which is appreciated as always. TFTPB can be accessed through iTunes, and Doc Zane's INDIE 500 is must listening if you are into Independent Comics. It does mention quite a few UK comics in there, as well as others from across the globe. I recommend you having a pen and paper to hand when you listen though as there's a lot of really interesting stuff out there and Doc covers a lot of them in each episode.

ZOMBIES and stuff.

We seem to have been a little quiet at the moment, which isn't say that we're not busy behind the scenes, in fact it usually means that things are a bit hectic and I've not managed to find time to blog.
Worry not, ZOMBIES 2 is still being built and it's looking (amazingly) even better than the first one, our intention is to have this printed and in shops before the end of the year, although the PREDATORS Diamond listing moving to July has challenged that, we are still aiming for ZOMBIES 2 to hit the stores as soon as possible.
If you are a contributor, and I've not received your finished pages then please send me an update as I will be closing the book on it very soon and getting the image files to Andy Bloor so he can build the print files as soon as possible.
On another note, I've now finished my Wolfmen 3 script update and Andy has it is his possession. It just involved a couple of additional lines that Andy correctly pointed out would add to the story.

A project going on behind the scenes, which is an anthology with a difference is also gathering steam. I've finished the first draft of my story and sent it to the editor (which for once isn't me ;o), so I'll wait for his comments. Once this project matures a bit we'll share more information with you all, don't want to jinx things as it is a pretty challenging thing to take on.

All that's left to report is that Colin, Owen and I have been invited to the Bromley Literary Festival on the 2nd July. We'll be there for just the one day and we'll be helping youngster create their very own comic books, and looking for future contributors no doubt. Check out more about this event over on their website.

Wolfmen and stuff.

We've had a couple of recent mentions of Wolfmen out there in the Webiverse.

Firstly from the Burnt Weiners Podcast guys on their website, and also a review from David Bitterbaum over on his blog. Great to see people are still talking about our book, with the third and final part already in production.

The Eagle winners have been announced and sadly The Man Of Glass lost out to 2000AD. Not a surprise really when you consider the number of books 2000AD sells, and we are really pleased to have made it to the last 5. We weren't listed in the Black and White category, which was won by Commando comics this year, so congrats to the people behind that book.... and as you can see from these sample images (apart from Andy Bloor's great Wolfmen Poster (coloured by Matt Soffe)), ZOMBIES 2 marches on ...

My Maker and I.

There has been a fair bit of activity of late concerning one of our future publications, titled My Maker & I. Written by regular Accent UK anthology contributor, Owen Johnson.



The Concept :-
'In a land where imagination can take physical form, one faithless preacher man walks alone. After a woman from the stars crash-lands in his path, these two most impossible of companions journey together through a perilous landscape in order to confront The Administrator – a mysterious and powerful figure who they believe responsible for society’s collapse. Through Neverland Mall and into The Library At World’s End, The Pilgrim and Eve – along with Toto the Gecko from Mars – travel to discover what rot lies at the heart of their planet. It is there that they will discover what they truly believe in'.



The art:-

As you can see from the above image it's going to be a full colour book, with art from the very talented Dan Duncan brought to even greater life through the colouring efforts of Matt Soffe. Andy Bloor has stepped in to do the lettering, which leaves myself to do a very easy job as Editor, as it's all coming together better than I could have hoped. This is gonna be one hell of a book :o)

A Preview of the book has been posted exclusively over on the Tales From The Parent's Basement website, so pop over have a look and leave a comment. We're very interested in your views.

There's also a Facebook Group that you are welcome to join and keep up to date with progress. We're also looking to use this to show of some of the processes behind to book, have some competitions and more as we get closer to the launch date.

Other news:-

I'm still waiting on a few ZOMBIES 2 contributions, please send me an update if you haven't already done so. If I've not heard from you by the end of this week then I may have to cut your contribution from the book. If I'm already aware of your progress then by all means send me an update please as we are compiling running order, page balance etc and will need to leave space etc.

The digital version of Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man? is getting closer, I hope to have an update on this in the next week or two that'll mean people can download the comic onto their iPad. I know I will be :o)