So that was 2012...

2012 was quite a busy year for me and Accent UK. I think we published more books, and attended more Conventions this year than every and have had a great year. We had to make some tough calls along the way, turning down some interesting books due to financial and space constraints but looking back they were the right call for us. We also decided to make Victoriana our last themed anthology for a while, and maybe forever. They just aren't getting the sales through stores, despite doing well at Cons, and we've decided to spend more money on producing one shots and mini-series. We had a lot of response to this, but people have been very understanding for which we thank you. Never say never, we may retunr to them one day.
Personal highlights for me are many (and I know when I read this later I'll remember some more), and in no particular order :-
WesterNoir - working with Gary Crutchley on this book has been great fun and he is certainly taking it somewhere that was never considered when Andy Bloor and I discussed a Western Detective story a year ago. It certainly is all the better for it and Gary's art is making it something special, as is Andy's cover design.
Missing - Have You Seen The Invisible Man? - I love how this book came to be. The script had passed artist's hands a couple of times and despite them liking the script something happened in their lives to cause them to have to step back from it. And then came along Joe Campbell and it just got done. Keeping the cover design, again from Andy, the same as Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man? was always the intention and they do look great on the table at Cons sat side by side.
From SuperZeroes To SuperHeroes - This is happening in the background and Sebastian Velez is doing a great job on the artwork, which is a pleasure to greyscale. The plan is for this book to come out sometime in 2013 as another little hardcover book.
Robot Shorts - speaking of hardcover books, this little gem came out early in the year and got some great reviews. Artwork this time from Steve Holder and myself it allowed me to tell a whole heap of robot tales and I really enjoyed creating it with Steve.
Stephenson's Robot - INDIO! is producing some wonderful artwork on this and as I colour the pages I'm always discovering something that jusst makes me smile. This will be a mini-series of 7 comics and the first issue is intended to come out early next year.
Belmat - the little paper mache robot getting great comments at Cons and also being selected for an Open Craft Exhibition was great.
Has Kane Mesmer Lost His Magic Touch ? - Marleen Lowe continues to stun me with how great an artist she is and this will be the third book in the Blessed/Cursed line.
Strange Times 2 - I'm still working on this in my spare time and it WILL be finished in 2013. There, that's a promise.
Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist? - How good is this book. All the hard work of Owen Johnson, driving the story, editing, worrying, nudging creators... Owen learned a lot from this book that I'm sure will put him in a good place for all of his future books and he certainly delivered a book that was worth the effort. I have a little story in there illustrated by the very talented Steve Howard.

And then there's the one that got away. Joe Campbell and I submitted a Future Shock to The Mighty Tharg, and it got returned with the comment that it wasn't what they were looking for in a Future Shock, which is fine. They know their market and whilst it's a shame, who wouldn't want to see their work in 2000AD, I understand and being an Editor myself I also reject books/scripts that just don't fit with what I'm looking for. I've attached them here for you to have a read of (hmmm ... it doesn't seem to show full size image when you select it ... let me know how I fix that and I'll update the page). It was fun to do but there you go... you can't win them all.

All the best to everyone for 2013.

Favourite film this year... it's a tough one...

I'm torn between Batman - Dark Knight Rises and Avengers Assemble.
Two very different films and both exceeding my expectations. I'd hoped for the Avengers movie to live up to its promise, the build up in the other related Marvel movies had us all eager to see it, and it didn't let me down. If I had only one criticism it was that Thor's humour was a little too human, but that was so minor in a film full of great scenes, characterisations and where the CGI just, well, worked.
Batman however I think clinched it, just. A fabulous way to end the trilogy. Drawing on the story told in the previous two movies and throwing in some surprises with a great ending. I loved the Tim Burton Batman movies but the latest three have been outstanding, I can't imagine how anybody is going to follow up on them but I hope we don't get a re-imagining as we did with SpiderMan (which wasn't that bad actually and deserves a second outing).
The new Dredd movie again was a completely different film and whilst it's budget was low, and it was in 3D (which I'm not a fan of), I really enjoyed it. Not in the same league as Batman and Avengers it did show a lot of promise and I'm really looking forward to the next one.
Lastly there's The Hobbit, which I also really enjoyed even if it did feel very similar to the Lord Of The Rings... yes, I know, it's bound to as it's got Hobbits, Dwarves, Elves and Gandalf in it, but it just had the feeling of watching the same film. The group get together and go on a quest which involves being chased by Orcs on Worgs, Goblins in mines and walking across mountains. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed it but I'm hoping that Mr Jackson mixes things up a bit in the next one, which I'll definitely be seeing.
Guilty pleasure confession time ... I'm quite enjoying the Twilight movies. There, I've said it.
So film of the year was the latest Batman movie for me, with the Avengers coming a very very close second.

Books I've read this year.

Well this year I finished the fabulous Malazan - Book Of The Fallen series by Steven Erikson. Not a set of books that you can, or would want to, dip into now and then, this series totally consumes any spare time that you have and really is best read from beginning to end, in my opinion, with no breaks for other books. It's a very rich, and consequently very complicated, world of characters, religions, politics and ... well let's just say it pretty much has it all. I loved it from beginning to end and once Erik has finished the trilogy that he's currently working on, and I've had a little time to invest in the work of some other writers, I'll be back for sure.
I've also read a couple of books by Glen David Gold, Carter Beats the Devil and then Sunnyside. I really enjoyed them both and the writing style reminded me of that of Michael Chabon and whilst Carter Beats the Devil was more accessible I found Sunnyside more intriguing and a little disturbing.
I also managed to sneak a few old favourites in there, A.E Van Vogt's Slan hadn't aged well, great story premise but the writing seemed a little tired following on from the books I'd already read this year. I also managed to fit a couple of R.E Howard's Conan stories in there, which read as well this year as they had when I first read them many years ago. The man could write.
Add to this the latest Skulduggery Pleasant story (I've been a fan since reading the fisrt few to my daughter at bedtime quite a few years ago) from Derek Landy and it's been a pretty good year's reading all told.
Amazon have finally managed to put the Wild Cards books in Kindle format. These books are to me what comic books should be. George R.R. Martin does a great job writing and editing tales of Jokers and Aces, previously normal people who have been altered by an alien mutagen cloud. Thanks to Chris Dingsdale for letting me know that they were now Kindleable, I'm two stories into the first books, Wild Cards, and really enjoying it. I'll read these until I run out of them and then maybe I'll be ready to dip my toe back into the Eriksonverse.
Having time to read is definitely the plus of now having to travel to work by train every day and 45mins must be a good length of reading time as I'm certainly getting through a good number of books.

Josiah Black and Invisible Man... in Lego.

A while back, and you can find them somewhere on this blog, I started reflecting our comic book titles in the form of Lego Men.
I'm not sure if I've posted this one up before but here's Josiah Black, central character in the WesterNoir comics that I'm working on with Gary Crutchley.

The other recent release from myself is Missing: Have You Seen The Invisible Man? illustrated by Joe Campbell. It would be wrong to miss him out of the Lego line-up and so here he is as well...

Hope you all had a great Xmas and are looking forward to what 2013 brings.

Missing: Have You Seen The Invisible Man? can be purchased online.

I've finally managed to get the time to both get some stock and also update the Accent UK website and so you can now purchase copies of Missing: Have You Seen The Invisible Man?, illustrated by Joe Cambell, by hitting the 'BUY' button on the website and pay through Paypal.

You can email me via the 'CONTACT' button if you prefer not to use Paypal and we can sort something out.
I've also got a short story in Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist? illustrated by Steven Howard, and that can also be ordered through the Accent UK website ...
... it may be late in the year but I finally feel that I'm getting on top of all those little jobs I've not managed to sort out already.

The Last Stephenson's Robot coloured page before a break for XMas...

I'm going to have a short break from colouring Stephenson's Robot, going to be too busy eating chocolates and drinking mulled wine.. well... maybe the chocolate.. and probably some beer... regardless it'll not be the best frame of mind for approaching a page of artwork.
Here's the last page before the XMas break... I'll see if I can resist doing any more until after the 16th January 2013.

Artwork from Issue 3 by INDIO!.

Has Kane Mesmer Lost His Magic Touch ?

Marleen Lowe has completed artwork on the internal pages of Has Kane Mesmer Lost His Magic Touch ? and it's fabulous.

This is the third in our Blessed/Cursed range and will be available next year. It'll have the same look to it as Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man? and Missing: Have You Seen The Invisible Man?

More Stephenson's Robot...

Still busy in my spare moments colouring pages of Stephenson's Robot.

I'm really enjoying studying INDIO!s panels in detail, there's some crazy, scarily good stuff in there.
I had a meeting with Andy Bloor last week and discussed the design aspects of the book, as a high level. Andy has already worked his magic on the cover design and as always it's very impressive. This is gonna be a very solid book I think.
Talking of great books, I've also been updating the Accent UK website with details of WesterNoir Issue 2 and today hope to have added it to the BUY page. It's a challenge for me as I'm no expert and the new(er) look website is more complicated to maintain than the old one, but looks so much better it's worth the effort.

Stephenson's Robot.

I've spent the last few weeks getting back into colouring Stephenson's Robot. This is the book that is an alternative history Victorian mixture of science, magic and steam, drawn by the incomparable INDIO! and written by myself and Jon Ayre.
This page is the first from Issue 3,

 

Issues 1 and 2 are coloured and lettered, and the four pages that INDIO! has completed of Issue 4 are also coloured. I did them before starting Issue 3 as I had a clear idea of the effect I wanted to achieve and couldn't do Issue 3 until I'd tried it out.

Colouring is a long process, and you wouldn't believe how much time and effort goes into it unless you've had a go yourself, so I really do respect those who colour for a living, it's a hell of a lot harder than you might think, even to do it to the level that I do it.

Righto.. on to page 2..

It's been a strange few weeks. I went to the opening of the Contemporary Craft Open Exhibition and was a little humbled by the professionalism of the other entries. True to any form of art there were those that I liked and those that I didn't, but overall I felt a certain amount of pride that Belmat was even there.
He didn't get a prize of course, but he did look the toughest exhibit in the room and I certainly noticed that none of the other exhibits would look him in the eye.
I have plans for entering something next year, but we'll see if I ever find the time to make it.

Yesterday Accent UK had a table at the Comiket in London and sold a good number of our books. All was going very well until I sold a copy of Robot Shorts to a Spanish (I think) couple.
'My partner makes robots', the lady stated, very proud of her chap.
 'Hey, so do I', I felt a bond forming between myself and the gentleman. 'I make mine out of paper mache' I explained.
'Oh, he programmes his to avoid objects...'
'Oh... real robots...' I felt a little like Androx The Mighty and crawled back behind the table to deal with the next customer.
Still, it feels good to know that a Robotics Engineer now possessed a book of my about robots.
Next weekend I'll be at the Leeds' Thought Bubble Festival, so do pop in and say hello if you're in the area, and if you happen to be a Robotics Engineer it might be best to mention that early in the conversation, to avoid my embarrassing myself... again.

Belmat delivered...

I dropped Belmat off with Jennifer Collier yesterday for the Contemporary Craft Open Exhibition, which opens to the public from the 1st Nov - 25th Nov 2012.

Jennifer referred to me as a 'Maker', which is the term used to describe people who are in the craft world. I quite like the term. Looking around Unit 12 I'm certainly feeling inspired to make some more robots and have something in mind to enter next year, it won't have the charm of Belmat though so we'll see how it goes and how it is received.

Belmat gets selected for a Contemporary Craft Open Exhibition

On the insistence of my wife, I entered Belmat in the Contemporary Craft Open Exhibition at Unit Twelve, in Stafford. And he has been selected.

Both my wife and I love visiting galleries and workshops around the country and we have been drawn more to the 'craft' side of the art world these last few years.

I would never have considered entering Belmat, but Jane was convinced that he deserved to be seen by more more people and so I agreed, never expecting for him to be selected, but there you go, the little guy won through.

The exhibition will run 1st - 25th November, and all visitors will be entered into a prize draw to win £100 voucher to spend with madebyhandonline.co.uk

Sadly One-Eye wasn't selected, but he'll get over it I'm sure.

If you've not been to one of these Contemporary Craft Open Exhibitions before then I'd recommend it. Very inspiring and it's amazing how many ideas from one medium can leak into another, so I'd be surprised if any comic creators who might happen to attend don't come away with some new ideas.

Facebook comment...

Manny over at Whatever Comics sent me this the other day. It always gives me a lift when I get something like this. Thanks to Manny for continuing to promote our books in his store and also to Josh for taking the time to pop this on Facebook.

All Quiet On The Western Front ?

I've been pretty quiet on the blog for the last few weeks. But rather than that mean that I'm not very busy it's actually the opposite. I've a number of projects in various stages of development at the moment and it's hard at times picking which one to focus on. A nice place to be.
In order of publish date I guess, I'm finishing off the final touches of Missing - Have You Seen The Invisible Man ? with art from Joe Campbell. Just playing around with the back cover, assisted as always by Andy Bloor, and then it's pretty much off to the printers.

Sample of a page from Joe Campbell

I'm also starting to pull together the script for Issue 3 of Josiah Black (WesterNoir), following a gerat couple of development meetings with Gary Crutchley, meanwhile Gary is busy completing art on Issue 2.

Gary Crutchley unlettered page

 And then there's Has Kane Mesmer Lost His Magic Touch ? illustrated by Marleen Lowe. Our follow up to Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man ? but obviously not featuring Bobby Doyle himself.


Marleen's artwork shows Kane Mesmer taking some down time.

A new project From SuperZero to SuperHero, is now also underway. Sebastian Velez is providing art on this one. It's my first all out Superhero book, and of course it's my take on things so you know what to expect. Seba draws a great superhero.

Seba's design for 256 (pronounced Two Fifty Six)

I've also been pretty busy at work (the day job), and even had time for a Community Day, where we are let loose on the community to do some good... or try to anyway. This year we moved weeds from a pond to a lake in a park in Bolton. A good fun, if tyring, day. Alan Rigg was the team photographer (and you can follow his blog on the right), and so I had him take a couple of extra photos for me.

Photo by Alan Rigg

I'm not sure what it is about me and rust...

Photo by Alan Rigg

maybe it's that there's something slightly 'old-robot' about it all.
No wonder I'm finding it difficult to get back into Strange Times Book 2...

A relaxing 10 days on the Kent Coast.

Well, it's been too long since I've last seen my parents, who have moved out of London into a nice retirement bungalow on the Kent Coast, so this year we decided to combine a long visit with our Summer break.The Kent Coast used to be the favourite summer holiday destination for us growing up and many a holiday was spent in Broadstairs, where we dug holes in the sand outside our beach hut and swam in the cold sea, when the heat got too much.
We spent most of our holiday in and around Birchington, where my folks now live, where we walked along the coast line, cycled to Reculver Castle and also took the plunge in the Channel (and it is as cold as I remember it). We did however also spend a day in Broadstairs and had lunch in Bleak House (of Dickens' fame), or as Jemma and I called it Beak House, home of Darles Chickens.

I must confess to not recognizing much, but I guess that's because my sister and I were always either building sand castles or swimming, we weren't much for taking an interest in the local shops and buildings when we were kids.
Jane and I also visited Canterbury, Jemma deciding to stay behind with her grand parents, and had a great day discovering art galleries and an amazing little book shop. No visit to Canterbury would be complete, of course, without a visit to Whatever Comics, and a chat with store owner Manny.
It was great to see Manny as passionate about comics as ever, and my wife even popped in to suggest a school bag for Jemma (a Marvel one no less), Jane's first comic shop visit in many a year.
Leaving Manny with a Magnificent Seven WesterNoirs (the number seemed appropriate) it was soon time to leave, but I'll pop into that great little store whenever I'm in the area, which is all the more likely now.
The only other 'time out' from the holiday was taken to watch the new Batman movie. Jemma and I went to The Vue at Westwood ( a retail park). All I can really say is 'Wow', what a great end to the trilogy.
No rest for the wicked of course, as we're all off to Carlisle next weekend fopr the MegaCon, which I'm really looking forward to.. be good to see you there.

The Rufus Trimble of Infinuum 1001137.

Another of my Rufus Trimble character collages, this time it's the Rufus from Infinuum 1001137.

I've been distracted a little of late... but in a good way.
Having written the working script for Issue 2 of WesterNoir, which Gary Crutchley is illustrating with typical pace and excellence, I've been inspired (after meeting up with him and the emails that followed) to begin scripting Issue 3, even though it won't actually see print until spring 2013. These early drafts undergo plenty of revisions, mainly due to the fact that Gary throws in such great ideas, and are only ever seen by both of us as a 'Starter for 10'.
I've also been finishing off my contributions to Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist ? which is now coming together and looking awesome. We've all written our 'Bio's from with a Victorian slant, and attached appropriate photos. The Graphic Novel will be accompanied by a super little limited edition A5 hard cover book, that will contain a lot of extras from the creators involved and a few invitees. I can't wait to see both of these ready for print.
And finally ... another review of Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man ? has hit our facebook page (Accent UK Comics group), this time from www.talkcomix.com It's great to find that people are still coming across this book for the first time and enjoying as much as people did a year or so ago.

...and a new review of Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man ?

... can be found at www.liberationfrequency.co.uk.

WesterNoir gets the thumbs up from Starburst.

A great surprise this weekend as the latest issue of Starburst (issue 379) was delivered...

in that it contained a review of our first issue of Westernoir...

A great review (I must confess that Gary actually added a lot to the dialogue of Issue 1, which improved it and no doubt impressed Starburst... there... my conscience is clear :o), which I read before setting off to a great Convention at the MCM in Manchester, where we sold plenty of copies and artist/co-creator Gary Crutchley was on hand to show people the first 13 pages of issue 2.
It was good to meet Daniel Brown again at the Con, who won the piece of Gary's artwork at KAPOW!, if only to prove to Gary that he did exist and that I hadn't spirited the page away into my own collection :o)
I'll post a full report on the Event over on the AccentUK blog... soon.

The Rufus Trimble of Infinuum 2001219

This story is coming together in my mind now. The story of each of the Rufus Trimbles and that of their nemesis The Great Mind. I keep finding the odd moment here and there to play with collages like this, and once I've completed Strange Times Book 2 I'll start on this book in earnest.

Next Saturday I'll be manning the Accent UK stall with Colin Mathieson at the MCM in Manchester. Please do pop over and say hello if you're in the neighbourhood.

The Great Mind.

Still playing at collage, and this time around I thought I'd have a go at The Great Mind, nemesis of the The Inter-Dimensional Society of Rufus Trimbles.

It's strange that the more I play with finding images with a view to combining them into something different, it strikes me that I've done this type of thing for many years. Previously I guess I've worked in three dimensions with building robots from f bits and pieces of broken down household gadgets, and now I've moved to two dimensional pieces of paper.

I'm having more fun with this than I've had doing anything artistic for a long time.

The Inter-Dimensional Society of Rufus Trimbles.

Had another little play with collage, I really enjoyed creating the look of the different members of the Society and this has set my mind to telling their story, and so they may well end up in a future book ...

I just wish there were more hours in a day.
If you have trouble reading the text on the collage it reads -

Before their final battle with the self titled ‘The Great Mind’, the founding members of the Inter-Dimensional Society of Jethro Milners breakfasted in Kensington’s wondrous gardens and discussed the day ahead over scones and a pot or two of Earl Grey tea.

In other news, a friend at work is sorting out a way to get Strange Times back on the website as a webcomic again, which'll focus my attention away from cutting and sticking and back to drawing and frowning.

Robot Shorts gets another great review...

.. over on the Small Press Big Mouth podcast. It's Episode 39 and can be accessed from their blog.

Belmat at Kapow!!

Colin has emailed me the photos of Belmat manning ... err .. robotting the table at the Kapow Con.

He had a great first event.
He was almost sold twice, manhandled about 10 times by people who couldn't work out how he was made, asked a question once and met another cool robot (someone dressed up as part of the Cosplay).

All in all a great Con and one we will certainly do again next year.

MEGACON, Collages and Coldplay

A new event has been announced to take place in Carlisle on the 18th Aug. I'll be there with the Accent UK crew, and it looks to be shaping up into a great opportunity for comic readers in the North West to get a feel for what Cons are all about, and meet some of the creators and publishers face to face. I love these smaller events as they are much more informal than events like KAPOW and allow readers and creators more time to chat.You can find out more on their blog and facebook group.
Whilst I'm busy writing more than drawing (or what I pass off as such) I've taken the opportunity to do some more cutting and pasting on the side of my desk, and produced another little collage. This time it's what I think Captain America would have looked like had he been created to help the Union soldiers in hte American Civil War.

I quite enjoy playing around with collage ... might try something a little bigger next.
I took my daughter, Jemma, to see Coldplay at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester last nigh,t for her 14th Birthday present, and we had a great time. They certainly put a lot into these events these days. In my day you were lucky if the whole band turned up. These days there's giant globes bouncing around and confetti blasts. I did find standing for 6 hours a bit of a strain, it's my age, and am suffering a bit today but I must say that I really enjoyed the experience.

WesterNoir gets reviewed over on Burnt Weiners...

WesterNoir has had a great review over on Burntweiners, pop over and have a listen.
It's reviewed as part of their Indie Rack (and is No. 4), and is discussed alongside such worthy titles as 'Into The Woods' from the Small Press Big Mouth people, under a wonderful cover from Andy Bloor.
We are very grateful to podcasts like Burnt Weiners, Tales From The Parents Basement and Small Press Big Mouth for raising our profile by reviewing our books, and as Jim says on the Podcast, these podcasters are an unsung hero of the Independent Comic scene. The hardest part about publishing an independent book is making people aware of it and these guys really do help, so 'Thanks podcasters, wherever you are'... hmmm ... sounds like the last line to an old TV Series that I used to watch .. what was it now .. Night Caller springs to mind but I've no idea if that's correct or even what it was about ...

Playing around with collage...

I've been spending most of the last few months either preparing for Conventions, attending them, recovering from them, blogging, tweeting, facebooking or writing (and I'm pleased to say that I've roughed out Issue 2 of WesterNoir).It's difficult to do all of this and still attempt anything 'art'y (I was tempted to say artistic but that would imply a certain amount of prowess).
To keep my hand in with the cutting and sticking, I think they're called collages in the real world, I've decided to have a go at making a few cards that are roughly the size of those old Victorian photos and follow this theme so far as to setting characters into that time period.
First up in The Iron Man...

I think I got a bit too heavy with the background brown, and will try a good old cup of Earl Grey tea for the next one rather than acrylic paint.

Belmat goes to Kapow!!

Well, he's finished...

 ... and ready for his trip to London this weekend.

 I'm really pleased with how he has turned out ...

 it took quite a while...

 but he's worth it ;o)

 The final touches were his hands...

and then the handle on his loading door ...



not that the door opens on this model of course... not like it does on the real thing...

So, if you're at the Kapow Comic Convention this weekend then please do pop over and say 'Hi'. as well as seeing Belmat up close, we also have our new WesterNoir comic for sale (with artist Gary Crutchley on hand to sign copies with me) and hopefully the latest themed anthology, Zombies 2 or 2OMBIES as it says on the cover.



Robots I met last month in Brooklyn.

Every year I attend the Mocca Comic Convention in New York, and as this was Accent UK's second visit we decided this year that we'd venture a little further than we did last year, and go to Brooklyn. There were a couple of comic shops to visit after all.
One of these stores was Desert Island Comics, a shop that sells, pretty much exclusively, independent comics.

Gabe, the owner, is really passionate about comics and comic book art, and a really nice bloke.

As I purchased a copy of a book called Jammer Slammer, it's got robots in it, he told me that R Nicholas Kuszyk (the writer/artist) was local and that his murals could be found dotted around Brooklyn.

A slight detour was in order,

and it wasn't long before we came across examples of his work.

And I was in Robot Heaven.

I'm a bit of a fan of street art, if it's done well and isn't just someone's initials, and this cetainly ticks all my boxes.

Maybe next time I visit Brooklyn I'll come across some more of his work. I certainly enjoyed looking at the few that I found and also his great little comic book.

Well, off to London's Kapow!! Convention next weekend. Pop over and say 'Hi' if you're in the neighbourhood. I might be found sketching robots at the Accent UK table, but I certainly won't be found doing so outside on a huge wall. I wouldn't know where to start.