Return the SALUTE!

 

Yay! A welcome return to the UK's largest wargaming show this weekend in London for SALUTE! Amazingly will be my fourth time exhibiting with my comics, art & more and each time I'm feeling more comfortable with the event being as its, obviously, not a traditional comics one. However being as many of my comics have a historical or fantasy basis there is a crossover with people's interests who would not otherwise likely come across my work. 

This year I'm in a different corner of the Excel convention space at TJ16 which, as you come in, is towards the back, bottom right as you'll see on the website's main map here. If you're able to attend, please stop by and say hello!

Thought Bubble 2025!

Delighted to be confirmed for this year's Thought Bubble Comic Convention, the UK's premier (with Macc-Pow and Enniskillen!), pure comics festival. Follow their website for updates!

Denmark Return!

Copenhagen Comics 2025 Poster by Craig Frank

Delighted to have the opportunity to return to our spiritual Comics home this summer!

Martin Flink's distinctive 2004 banner artwork

Since making the initial trip in time for the first 'modern' Danish comic convention, komiks dk, all the way back in 2004, Dave West and I as Accent UK regularly made the trip at subsequent events, (see here for a few of them!) through committee, venue and re-branding changes to Copenhagen Comics until covid, brexit and changes of our own brought things to an end.

I'm further delighted to confirm that Dave West will again be my travel and table sharing buddy as we attempt to roll back the years and try not to bore everyone about the good old days when it felt that we were trailblazing pioneers of British comics or something like that anyway!

Trailblazing Pioneers of British Comics or just a couple of naive chancers?

It was thanks to an encounter with Copenhagen Comics committee members and some old Danish pals  at last year's Thought Bubble Festival that led to Dave and I sharing a pint and discussing the possibility of returning and here we are now confirming plans. It will be different with another new venue and need to showcase samples of our latest endeavours, but we'll look forward to it and seeing who remembers us, Mange Tak for the opportunity!

Macc-Pow is Back!

This year's events calendar is starting to take shape with a few applications pending but just received welcome news that I'm returning to Macclesfield this summer for the 10th Macc-Pow!!

It's testament to Macc's own Marc Jackson that he's made a success of this fun annual event over the years, boasting a fab line-up of the UK's (and beyond!) comics talent. Guests announced for this year so far include the following;

Alongside Yorkshire's own Thought Bubble Comic Art Festival, which have also recently confirmed their 2025 dates, Macc-Pow stands strong as one of the UK's finest celebration of comics - put the 28th June in your diary now for fab comics fun!

Birthday Bowie

Happy Birthday Starman, gone but not forgotten - almost 9 years now! Playing my favourite album of his, not only a great listen but the first I bought on release, happy memories.

Sale Christmas Comic-Con!

Fab poster art by local artist Rick Eades!

This coming Saturday is a special Christmas edition of Sale Comic-Con, a nice local one for me and a great festive way to finish off the convention season amongst artist friends and like minded people.

The summer edition back in June - seems ages ago now - was good fun and surprisingly busy for a small town's event. This Christmas edition has more attractions spread out throughout Stanley Square, the Library, M33 Emporium and more, including a fab sounding Ray Harryhausen exhibition at Sale Waterside theatre, just round the corner!

I'll be in Zone 5 the Market Way shopping throughfare with special comic gift packs & more alongside several other comic creators, artists and traders, so potential to find unique gifts for the big day!

Hopefully see some of you there :)

An unknown artist now known

Driving while listening to Radio 4 - an increasingly common choice from the handful of available stations remaining after an unwise carwash decision, I caught the end of an interviewee passionately discussing the art, works & life of artist Frank Auerbach who's death the previous day had been announced. 

I didn't recognise the name and was unsure of its spelling given its, to me, unusual pronunciation but the passion of the interviewee and her assurance that his art would survive him caused me to make a mental note to check him out. Doing so I discovered that he had indeed lived a remarkable life but it was  the description of his painstaking method of painting that really stood out, the habit of starting each day by scraping off the paint of the day before and starting afresh on the same canvas, continuing the laborious process for weeks, months, sometimes years until the raw truth of the subject was revealed to him.

Almost as remarkable was the realisation that in searching for images of his paintings, I immediately recognised the style, being identical to the cover of a long treasured album from the band Japan, Oil on Canvas pictured above. Sure enough the release had used one of his paintings, Head of J.Y.M II created in 1980, a couple of years before the album's 1983 release.

I was not a huge fan of Japan at the time but for some reason I had bought and enjoyed this double album and the subsequent Exorcising Ghosts compilation on release. I eventually replaced it with it's CD re-master in 2003, which on checking doesn't appear to credit Auerbach as the artist, although the original vinyl sleeve may have?. 

(This incredibly insightful article goes into great detail about how Sylvian may have first encountered Auerbach's work and how it led him to use it on the album).

The Oil On Canvas album ultimately led me in the early 2000's to belatedly follow the solo releases and career of Japan's lead singer, David Sylvian which I continue to find rewarding, (along with the music of Vangelis), as a motivating soundtrack to my own creative endeavours. 

However it is only now, sadly on his death, that I now know the name of the enigmatic artist behind the album's distinctive artwork which has been in my collection for more than 40 years and I look forward to discovering more about the man and his art, Frank Auerbach.