Better than a Poke in the Eye?

The answer to the above question in relation to 2020 is a tough one isn't it? No doubt all your plans were cancelled and replaced with unexpected restrictions as the whole world was turned upside down and we've all had to deal with things previously unimagined in our lifetimes. 

For those families who have suffered illness and loss or financial hardship, 2020 will be hard to get over and sadly we're still in the thick of the storm with no clear endpoint. We don't know how all this will play out and the future remains uncertain.

In these times talk of comics and plans can feel trite and insignificant and at other times can offer a comforting refuge to provide focus for a positive escape and reminder of what was and can be again. 

I have been both in and out of love with comics and creating them this year but they remain important to me, but not as important as my family who have all excelled in different ways this year to face the new challenges placed on them and in doing so they have given me many positive experiences and memories and I hope that that has been the same for you in whatever challenges you have faced.

Best wishes to all and to a brighter future ahead. 

A New Year Gift for you - if Hulk shares?

Marleen Lowe Remembered

Very sad news reached us recently that Marleen Starksfield Lowe has passed away. She was a hugely talented artist with a unique style who contributed greatly to Accent UK's independent comics breakthrough, particularly in the Dave West penned Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man? and various anthology titles including Robots, Western, Zombies 2 and Owen Michael Johnson's opus, Who On Earth Was Thaddeus Mist?.

Marleen's artwork for Teruo written by Paul Bowles from 2008's Robots anthology

It was her work on Robots - her first ever published comics work if I recall - that convinced Dave that he had found the perfect foil for the Fastest Man strip that he was developing and so it proved with the strip being a big success, enjoying worldwide distribution, selling out, leading to a second printing and an Eagle Award for the best British black & white comic of 2009.   

Thoughtful panel from Fastest Man

 
The comics success tempted Marleen to make her only comic show appearance at an Accent UK table at 2009's BICS (Birmingham International Comic Show), where she was both bemused and pleasantry surprised by the comics reaction and favourable comments received. This was the only time I met and conversed with Marleen who was a very private person, but I recall that she was genuinely happy that the comic had been so well received and enjoyed sharing it's success if not it's spotlight.  

Success breeds success though and through it's global distribution Accent UK were approached for a Brazilian version of the story which with Marleen and Dave's consent resulted in a fine Portugese language edition from Gal Editora.

Marleen continued to contribute to other Accent UK anthologies including a Western themed story written by her brother Stephen and Owen's afore-mentioned Thaddeus Mist book from 2012 and fittingly, Owen has penned a moving tribute of his memories and friendship with her at the Broken Frontier comics site which you can read here. 

Dave was reunited with Marleen for a further addition to his Blessed/Cursed series in 2017's Has Kane Mesmer Lost His Magic Touch?, which in it's story of real-life magic, gave Marleen a chance to again demonstrate her keen eye for dynamic artwork to great success. 

Our condolences go to Marleen's family and those left behind and we are grateful for the talent she shared that will forever remind us of her.

A dynamic panel from Kane Mesmer

Get ready to ROCK!

In an explosive end to the year, Accent UK has just launched the Kickstarter for an exciting new comic’s collaboration with industrial post-apocalyptic band V2A!

A continuation of the creative concept unveiled at last year’s Asylum steampunk festival, (in the short story contained within the Return to the Asylum anthology) DOOMSDAY is the first of a two part series involving an exciting team of top creative talent.

V2A with Accent UK's Dave West & Gary Crutchley at Asylum Festival 2019

Scripted by Dave West and V2A’s Drone, the comic is being illustrated by P.J Holden of 2000AD fame, coloured by Accent UK stalwart Matt Soffe (and recent 2000AD & Heavy Metal gigs) and will sport a choice of two covers by V2A’s album cover artist, Vlad McNeally and comics rising star, Ryan Brown, (2000AD, Marvel, D.C etc).

The campaign was fully funded in its first 4 hours and promises to be a bright start to next year. Check out the Kickstarterpage here and Dave’s blog for full information and WITNESS!

A snippet of Ryan Brown's stunning cover!

Creating Comics!

Catching up with things, here's a wee link to the short  'Creating Comics' video I made for Sanctuary Online, the virtual alternative to the annual Asylum Steampunk Festival.

In the video, I run through my process behind the 'Heart's Desire' story featured in last year's Accent UK Return to the Asylum comic - see also an earlier blog post featuring this and also here for a short animation of this, now famous wee story, prepared for 2020's earlier virtual steampunk gathering, Steam over Ether!.

 The whole youtube channel from the Ministry of Steampunk is worth a look for many other fun and informative videos, talks & music. Speaking of music, if you watch my video and like mystery's you can also discover my secret 80's musical crush :)

2020 Gone ?

Ah, in not unexpected news both September's re-arranged Edinburgh Comic-Con and November's Thought Bubble Festival have now been cancelled due of course to the coronavirus pandemic. Both events immediately confirmed their return for 2021 at their respective venues and regular calendar spots. Obviously everyone's health, well being and safety have determined that this was the sensible course of action but does starkly lay bare the massive impact the virus has had on our shared hobby and community with this year's calendar of events effectively wiped out.

There are still a couple of potential events in the autumn/winter timeslots that have yet to make an annoucement, (or to invite exhibitor applications) but it seems unlikely they will be able to proceed for the same health & safety reasons and/or for logistical, economic reasons as the UK, and sadly most of the world, face an uncertain immediate future.

Thought Bubble have quickly confirmed that they will fill their now vacated November dates with a virtual event so we'll see how that goes and there are similar recent announcements about  Asylum, our cherished steampunk festival doing likewise, which should be fun, if the earlier 'Steam Over Ether' event was anything to go by, so there are a couple of highlights to look forward to in an otherwise empty landscape.

At Accent UK HQ, we are, like all independent creators feeling the pinch as planned releases, appearances and of course earnings have taken a hit. We remain though optimistic and with the likes of Kickstarter - still time to check out the current succesful Kia Wordsmith campaign - we are exploring available avenues and platforms to make our future endeavours available and are using the unexpected free time to develop a surprise or two.

50,000 Adventures!

Aha, welcome all as it seems this blog is about to celebrate 50,000 views since first launched a few years back! I'm not sure if that's good, bad or average as certainly blogs seems less fashionable in this brave new instant world, but I'm happy enough with those numbers.

Of course, it's impossible to guage how many are genuine 'hits' and readers as opposed to 'bots' but it remains a milestone of such. My commitment to post updates and news remains but as observed in recent years, this will be determined by my own available time and enthusiasm so it's unlikely that I'll do any lengthy articles or convention reports like in the good ol' days - hey I'm not even sure I know what a convention is anymore!

Comic projects, art and news are though all progressing behind the scenes so I should have more to talk about and announce in the near future so please stick around and a big 'Thank You' for dropping by and sharing my Moments of Adventure!

SHAKA Comic!

While checking on the new rewards and excellent progress of Kia Wordsmith, Accent UK's current Kickstarter campaign, I stumbled upon the interesting sounding SHAKA comic, also currently funding on Kickstarter!

The video and campaign details speak for themselves but this promises to be a fun and dramatic re-telling of King Shaka's legend and the origins of the mighty Zulu nation, both subjects close to my heart! I'm not familiar with the creators, who seem to be based in Australia with South African roots but it all looks amazing.

Comics. History and Zulu's what's not to love, please check it out and remember PDF's are a good economic option if international shipping proves costly.

Kia Wordsmith Continues!

The Kickstarter for Dave West's and Ian Ashcroft's second Kia Wordsmith comic is now live and looks to be an exciting continuation of the story. Please check it out here where both issues to date can be ordered!

John Freeman at his Down The Tubes comic news site also features the campaign here.

Scottish or English Splank?

Splank NHS Thank You art by Joseph McCafferty

Further to my mentions of the newly launched Splank digital comic annual, thought it might be fun to compare the 'Scottish' and 'English' versions of one of my strips!

I have other contributions in Splank 2020, but the panels below come from a fun one-page strip called 'Boom from the Room', which is a hospital inspired piece originally included in Colin Maxwell's CHAS charity comic. The story is fired by children's imagination, regardless of where they are and was originally in black and white and, CHAS, being a Scottish charity, in my native Scot's dialect. It was fun to do and perhaps a homage of sorts to my artistic hero, Dudley Dexter Watkins, of Oor Wullie and Broons fame; Boom from the Room = Broon?

The very talented and reliable Matt Soffe provided the colours and for the strip's new audience, I took the opportunity to 'translate' the dialogue into something more recongisable to most readers, although I do have rather a fondness for the original!

Don't forget to download Splank! for the full story and some 150 pages of comic goodness and also to please contribute to editor Peter Duncan's NHS fundraiser if you are able.

Splank! Annual 2020!

John Farrelly's epic Splank 2020 annual cover!

Delighted to see the coverage that Peter Duncan's Splank! digital comic collection is receiving since it's launch a couple of days ago. It's a monster of a comic collection and just perfect for this warm sunny spell we're (hopefully) all experiencing.

The collection is free to download and is an entertaining diversion for these odd times but also provides a showcase for the contributing artists who, like myself, have lost income through the cancellation of all comic conventions and events and also acts as an NHS fundraiser.

I was delighted therefore to submit a couple of pieces including a special NHS message and, for the first-time, the Matt Soffe coloured version of my one-page strip, 'Boom from the Room', originally a black n white hospital inspired piece for Colin Maxwell's CHAS charity comic. It's fun to finally see it in all it's glorious colour alongside many other talented contributors.

Please check out Peter's contributor links for more information and download a version to read, (I found the Google Drive download option the most user friendly for my kindle) and consider making a contribution if you are able. Splank!

Coverage at the always reliable Down The Tubes comic news site is also worth reading and includes a link to an interview with Peter himself.

Watercolours Two

Here's a few more watercolour sketches to brighten your day? :)

Watercolours

At or before I attend conventions, I try and do some postcard sized original watercolours of some of my comic strip characters and sometimes I remember to take a picture so here's a few from last year that have all since gone on to find a new home :)

Richard Sala R.I.P

I wanted to mark the recent sad news that artist Richard Sala had died. He was a unique comics talent who had ploughed his own furrow in a series of regular and entertaining graphic novels which I greatly enjoyed. His imagination was fuelled by many things, resulting in a unique combination of macabre characters and settings with a strong horror vibe, not explicit, but suggestive and playfully grotesque, reminding you of some old forgotten b-movie.

I think it was his Delphine books where I first encountered his distinctive work. The story was serialised in four large oversize volumes by Fantagraphics just over 10 years ago and I had fun tracking them down as quickly as I could and devouring the story. My curiosity into the artist and his work luckily led me to his website from where he was selling off some of his art and I was privileged to purchase a couple of sequences from the Delphine books I'd been reading and have a few short communications with the man himself.

My interest piqued, I bought as many of his graphic novels as I could find - using the finding of his work in comic shops (alongside other distinct voices of Jason, Rick Geary & Tim Truman), as a kind of 'quirky quality benchmark' whether it would be worth me delving further into that store's stock in the, sadly too often superhero dominated comic marketplace. I was therefore able to build up a decent but still incomplete collection of his work, often with recurring characters and themes, some more succesful reads than others but all a delight to experience and enjoy his artistic talent.

It seems that my appreciation was not alone as there have been several moving tributes made to the man which, even if you are familar with his work are worth a read, even moreso, if you are not, in which case I encourage you to explore the fine legacy he has left.

 https://www.comicsbeat.com/rip-richard-sala/

 http://www.tcj.com/richard-sala-1955-2020/

 http://www.tcj.com/richard/

lhttps://spyvibe.blogspot.com/2020/05/remembering-richard-sala.html

VE Day

Despite the current strange times we're in, it's been heartening to see respects and tributes paid to the wartime generation who clearly suffered way more than we can imagine and still made it through, usually smiling.

I'm from a younger generation who thankfully never knew war or it's effects first-hand but it has of course been an ever present over our lifes through Remembrance, Momuments and tributes. Funnily enough much of the comics I love which entertained me as a child and still inspire me as an adult were born out of conflict and the Second World War in particular.

The Victor, The Hotspur, Battle, Wizard, Warlord and of course Commando were among the most popular, all relaying heroic tales of derring do to an eager readership both immediately after the war, and through subsquent generations. With modern perspective you do wonder perhaps why these were (and to some extent remain) so popular when the generation who had actually fought and lived the experience themselves largely rarely spoke about it. Maybe it was just such an overwhelming event that it was a way for, mainly, children to understand and process events without directly having to discuss it?

Who knows but reading those comics allowed me to gain a respect for those who had fought and learn a little of the tragic events which impacted the whole world in a way we've thankfully never seen, so it's more than appropriate that we pause to reflect and provide our own thanks.

Colin Mathieson artwork, Matt Soffe colours

The Tower King!

Catching up with reading led me to The Tower King, an exciting black and white reprint comic I'd picked up at Enniskillen Comic Festival a couple of years ago - yes I can be that slow!

This was the second edition of an authorised limited reprint from Hibernia Press, reprinting a complete story from the instalments first serialised in the New Eagle #1 to 24 back in 1982. This was a comic’s void period for me after leaving school the year before and having dropped comics as 'childish' as you did back then. I think I picked up the occasional Marvel Conan magazine around that time as, with its sword 'n' sorcery violence and sexual content it was at least considered for mature readers! Other than that though, comics passed me by for almost the whole decade, meaning I missed out on the period when comics grew up! So much of what was published back then remains unknown or new to me, such as The Tower King, a comic arguably more violent and gloomy than the Conan stories I was reading!

I think it was an online mention just before the Comic Fest by the very talented Leigh Gallagher, 2000AD artist on how the Tower King's Jose Ortiz had influenced his art that led me to seek out the issue at the event, that and the fact that the story's writer, Alan Hebden was also going to be in attendance for a rare convention appearance.

As it happened, although the one day event was hugely enjoyable I didn't get a chance to speak to Alan, (or sadly another attending legend, Carloz Ezquerra). I was exhibiting on my own and in the rare time away from the table couldn't commit to standing in line to patiently wait my turn, such are the joys of juggling creating and fandom - don't feel too sorry for me though, my table neighbours were the wonderful Cam and Isobel Kennedy who I was honoured to have a fun wee banter with.

In any case, having not at that time read The Tower King or recalling any of Alan Hebden's countless other comic stories for the then crowded British weekly comics market, I didn't feel too bad about that - in my defence, many of his earlier comic scripts were uncredited and having discovered Marvel comics around 1976, I'd largely moved away from British comics.

Anyhow, now finally reading the whole Tower King story, I can only say that it was my teenage loss; it's a great visceral frantically paced tale. Crammed into punchy 3 page instalments, it's tight script gallops along with no let up as our titular hero plunges from one death defying encounter to another, exploring the anarchic landscape of a London (and World, although we don't venture that far) left without electricity or government control.

Jose Ortiz's artwork is breath-taking, more than keeping up with the frenetic pace as danger and action explode off the page with countless groups of characters and ravagers rapidly introduced and overcome without drawing breath!

The pace is both the episodic story's boon and Achilles heel as, enjoyable as the whole experience is, it leaves no time for only the most basic of back story and characterisation, before coming to a rather abrupt end. But sometimes that is enough and perhaps like the Mad Max Fury Road movie, it's simply a case of going with the flow and enjoying the ride. I'm certainly glad I did, even if it took me a while to get there!

Hibernia's online store doesn't list any copies so probably ebay is your best bet of tracking a copy down or the original Eagle issues themselves? It's possible that the story could be collected by Rebellion under their fine Treasury of British Comics reprint programme, but the reprint credits the Dan Dare Corporation, so I don't know if that would impact on the rights?

Heart's Desire - The Movie!

Ha! Ha! That was truly wonderful! Thhe splendid Steam Over Ether virtual Steampunk Festival has unvieled the world premiere of the first Accent UK comic strip to be animated!

Heart's Desire was one my strips from last year's Return To The Asylum comic, ably coloured by the very talented Matt Soffe. As stated, the strip was inspired by a truly lovely moment at the previous year's festival, involving two members of the longstanding steampunk community (and Asylum Festival family), which I used as the basis of a story featuring their ertswhile personas, Count Rostov and Lady M.

The story was fun to produce and thankfully well received by readers and the couple themselves and that was more or less that, until a fairly recent online discussion between the Count's alter ego and myself led to a suggestion to apply the 'radio-play' treatment to the comic strip and well that was the easy part, Keith himself and of course Malika did the rest with a wee nod from Mr B.

Well you can now see for yourself how things turned out here where the finished video was revealed in all it's splendid glory, there's even an 'after credits' bonus scene of the moment that inspired the whole undertaking! Oh, the video starts about 2 or 3 mins in but worth watching the whole thing including the Brigadier's short reading before and some Scottish chap chuntering about comics afterwards :)

The SteamPaper Shopping Channel!

As part of this weekend's splendid and fun SteamPunk Over Ether virtual festival, support of the contributing artists, musicians and performers is encouraged, all of whom have had their incomes directly affected by cancellation of events and gatherings so if you are in a position to show them any support, please do so.

There will be a dedicated shopping channel featured on the Steampaper page at or around 3pm today  but please check the channel's schedule for confirmation. Don't forget though that all performances, demonstrations and chatter will be subsquently available for 'catch up' on videos on the Steampaper facebook page.

In that spirit, you can also purchase copies of some of our comics in print or digitally by contacting me or checking out the etsy store, any difficulty, please comment below, thank you.

Steam over Ether is here!

This weekend is the splendid Steampunk Online Festival, Steampunk Over Ether which is guaranteed to bring you some fun, surprises and entertainments across the ether far and wide!

Accent UK comics have already been involved in the festival's run-up with our wee interview alongside, Time Bomb comics friend and frontman, Steve Tanner - available to catch up here!

There are lots of more treats, demonstrations and musical performances to enjoy, so please check out the event's schedule and tune in when you can or catch up afterwards.

I should also mention, that on a personal note, I'm particularly excited for the festival's world premiere of an innovative 'comic-play-animation' of my steampunk story, 'Heart's Desire', dramatised by the characters themselves aka Count Rostov and Lady M!

I'll post a link to the comic video when available but please check out Steam over Ether's weekend schedule and Steampaper's own page to discover some splendid new diversions!

Hello There!

Hi there if you find yourself directed here through a link from some of our cancelled convention or festival appearances. I'm part of an independent comic creator collective producing a diverse range of comic strips and publications, please browse this blog and its links for various information, commentary and surprises on comic, history and related subjects.

Please also have a read of some of my short comic strips posted recently to provide an insight into what we do and a wee distraction to your day :)

Comic Chats & Hats!

Well that was fun, big thanks to SteamPaper's presenter Keith for herding us all t'other night in a nice Comics  Double Feature Team-Up Crossover chat with Dave and I representing Accent UK and Time Bomb's founder & scribe, Steve Tanner.

It was really good to see each other and chew the fat on our respective comic creating approaches and forthcoming projects. Keith ably guided us through the 'techy set-up' bits and it seemed to be well received with several live comments and questions.

Thanks to all who viewed or commented and don't worry if you missed it, it's available on demand direct from Keith's SteamPaper facebook page here and scroll around for several other entertaining interviews and news on the forthcoming SteamPunk over Ether event appearing in this brave new virtual world on 25th & 26th April!