Battle-Ready Symposium Soldiers!

 

Had an absolute blast at the Anglo-Zulu War, Clash of Empires exhibition which still runs to 31st July and well worth a trip if you can. I'll try and write more when time allows but my two visits so far have both been great particularly the 3 day symposium, informative, interesting and fun, catching up with old and new friends alike, even Lady M enjoyed it!

Thanks to all who came and attended my presentation on the 'Water Cart Rescue' comics inspiration and development. I was a tad nervous beforehand with the calibre of earlier presenters and the audience including sundry Professors, Authors, Historians, Military Officers, Serviceman and lots of enthusiastic history and movie fans but talking about my two main passions, Comics n Zulus, soon relaxed me and thankfully, my talk was well received with some great comments afterwards and a nice spike in comics sold, thank you all very much.

All the talks have been filmed and will I understand, be made available on the exhibition's own youtube channel in due course, keep checking it here. 

Special thanks to John Freeman of comics news site, Down The Tubes, who gave the exhibition and me a wee plug ahead of my talk, much appreciated!

In the meantime, the hardworking and enthusiastic, Chris Parkinson zipped around doing a few 'on the hoof' interviews for his own excellent Redcoat History channel, which you can find here, including the one above with Tim of the Die-Hards, running through the soldier's campaign kit. Very informative and of course, the Die-Hards themselves have been a constant source of inspiration, support and friendship in my own comic endeavours!

I'm currently set for a third trip there before it finishes, so please treat yourself to a visit if you can, it would be a shame to miss it.

Dans La Tete De Sherlock Holmes!

My Accent UK buddy, Dave West actually spotted this great article on John Freeman's ever reliable Down The Tubes comics news site before I did and I thought it sounded familiar?

Checking out John's excellent article confirmed by thoughts, that this was one of the BD's I picked up when last in Brussels in summer 2019 - oh for the days of eazy, safe European travel to return!. 

I've long since fallen in love with the 9th Art since making our first trip to France many years ago and since then have steadily built up a sizeable collection of tomes, most of which have never been translated into English. 

My Francais sadly remains basic, but with strong art, a dictionary and a bit of perserverance, you can get the gist of a well told story and I've taken delight and inspiration from my BD souvenirs over the years in a way that a holiday T-shirt or trinket just can't match!.

In any case, The Sherlock Holmes book really caught my eye with it's distinctive art and cover, which like most BD's is hardback but with a unique die-cut so you can indeed see "Inside the Mind" of the great detective! 

The interiors follow this novel idea with intrically designed pages, panels and pictures which carry you carefully through the story, following the clues and making discoveries as you go - it's a real visual treat with lots of innovative tricks to enjoy along the way.    

The creators, Cyril Lieron and Benoit Dahan make a great team and have really come up with a fun and novel way of giving new life to the old detective.

We are lucky these days that more and more European works have now been translated into English so we can finally fully enjoy them and many of my recent favourite reads have come from Cinebook or IDW EuroComics impressive Corto Maltese or Magnetic Press's Sergi Toppi collection etc. In his article John hopes that someone too will pick up this Sherlock Holmes series so fingers-crossed, in the meantime I'd settle for being able to safely travel to Europe again and pick up the next installments in person! 

When Eagles Soared.....

Stumbled upon this link in the essential Down The Tubes blog of a time when Accent UK were mentioned alongside Brian Bolland, Jonathan Hickman, Kevin O'Neil, Frank Quietly, Warren Ellis, 2000AD and The Walking Dead etc, whatever happened to them?

This was 2010 and the award of best British Black & White Comic Book  for Dave West and Marlene Lowe's wonderful Whatever Happened To The World's Fastest Man? I remember it well as the awards were announced overnight at the MCM London's show at the sprawling Excel Centre which I think was only the second time that we had exhibited at? It was crazy stuff and when the award was presented and displayed on our table the following day, the comic, like the Eagle itself flew off the table.

Mike Conroy (Eagle Awards coordinator) presents a happy Dave

It was a rather special moment and the reviews and interest in the book that followed were a great reward for the hard effort in its creation. The award brought a great spotlight on the book and generated some media interest at the time and led to a Brazilian edition, translated into Portuguese!

The book's still a great read today and sells steadily. Dave of course has written several titles since but was recently re-united with artist Marlene (now Starksfield) Lowe for the engaging Jigsaw Girl  back up story in issue 1 of Stephenson's Robot which has been well received in recent reviews.

An extract of Marlene's stunning Jigsaw Girl artwork

Sadly the Eagle Awards, the UK's longest running comic awards, ceased in, I think, 2012 but left behind a rich heritage of capturing the comics zeitgeist, certainly they gave us a boost at the time and I know that Dave has a fondness for the trophy received, just watch his face light up if its ever mentioned..... 

The Comic and The Eagle!

Robots & WesterNoir in Maidstone!

Coming up this weekend is Accent UK's first convention appearance of 2015 as Dave and Gary return to sunny Maidstone for this Sunday's Demoncon 9!

Sadly my passport doesn't cover trips that far South but the chaps had a blast last time and are delighted to be returning, giving them a good chance to chinwag on all things WesterNoir with one or two exciting developments bubbling along. The most imminent is of course Issue 5 which is hoped to be launched at the event, print delivery allowing.

This issue, as Dave and Gary teased some time ago, really turns things on their head as we learn more, a lot more about events behind Josiah Black's actions, I'll not say more but look for this cover either at Maidstone or a show near you soon!

For those who were unable to attend Leeds Thought Bubble Festival last year, Demoncon will also be the next place to pick up WesterNoir's spin off 'Tales Of' series and Stephenson's Robot, both of which were successfully launched in Leeds.

And if you need any further incentive, here's a link to a very timely review of Stephenson's Robot from Down The Tubes stalwart, Jeremy Briggs.

Don't worry if you can't get to Maidstone as Accent UK's 2015 tour itinerary is starting to take shape and details will be posted here or at Accent UK's own site very soon.

Loading up for Thought Bubble!

Excellent timing sees another great review of Gary and Dave's latest WesterNoir issue by Jeremy Briggs at the Down The Tubes site here with this fantastic concluding paragraph;

WesterNoir is one of the best small press series being published at the moment and Book Three maintains the high standards of the previous two while not sticking to any plot formula. The stand-alone nature of the stories means that new readers could read this one as easily as any of the other books in the series but, with their combination of strong writing and impressive art, it is worth seeking them all out.

So if that doesn't make you want to mosey on down to the Thought Bubble Comics Festival in Leeds this weekend then have a wee gander at a sample of the sketches which Gary has produced for the special limited sketch and print WesterNoir packs!

The Accent UK posse will be at Table 14 within the main New Dock Hall sandwiched in between Image Comics and Ian Edginton with our full range of books and goodies - hopefully see you there!

 

The Lakes Comic Festival!

 

Wow, well that was The Lakes last weekend or I should say The Lakes International Comic Art Festival to give it its full Sunday name, but 'The Lakes' will do just fine I think, although 'The Rain' would also be a close second!

 

Actually its maybe a bit unfair to mention the weather for a comic show, however when that show takes over the whole lake district market town of Kendal and involves a wee bit of walking around, the weather plays its part, more so than the normal convention centre set show that we're used to. However although the frequent drizzly rain did its best, it failed to dampen the spirits of attendees, guests, exhibitors and volunteers as we encountered probably the friendliest and best-run debut show we've ever attended - no mean feat when we recall the previous contenders.

 

The Comics Clock Tower & some of Kendal's Signage!

But its true, the enthusiasm of the organisers and volunteers was infectious and helped overcome the few teething problems and the vagrancy's of the local weather. Our location, The Comics Clock Tower was in fact Kendal's town hall and as such, slap bang in the centre and not one you could really miss and ideal for reaching the nearby Brewery Arts Centre where most of the talks and events were held. I'm reliably informed that it was pretty close to the various other exhibition sites, library and 'pop-up' shops too etc but we didn't venture too far from the Clock Tower so sadly missed out on much of what else was going on but that tends to happen when you're exhibiting, but for attendees there was a lot more to see to keep you fully occupied both fun packed days and evenings!

 

John Wagner & Carlos Ezquerra take the stage

And that was true of Accent UK too, we had a fun, enjoyable time at the show and in Kendal, with this, like the recent Glasgow MCM show being accompanied by (some of ) our families which is good to all get away and share the comics fun. We were delighted to also be accompanied by long term friend Garen Ewing of Rainbow Orchid fame and I note that Garen has already posted his thoughts on the show here before scooting of to Essen in Germany for another show, busy man!

Dave, Garen and Col - add your own caption!

Its always fun sharing time with Garen and as he was also staying with us en-route before and after the show, we had plenty of time to catch up which was great and that's one thing that perhaps Dave and I have missed a bit in more recent comic shows, in terms of catching up properly with other comic folks. Too often its just a quick hello and wave then you're busy behind your table and before you know where you are, the shows over and you've still not had a decent chat with these seldom seen friends.

10 or even 5 years ago, there weren't that many comic shows in the UK so you could almost guarantee that 'everyone' would be there and you'd usually see them about town or in the same hotel etc but since those heady heights of Bristol and Birmingham, the UK has seen an explosion of shows so there's less need to chase round the country when you can just as easily stay closer to home, meaning though that the UK comics 'scene' has arguably become more splintered than it ever was, albeit independent comics are themselves possibly more accessible than ever before?



However, The Lakes had that good old fashioned feel of 'everyone' being there as you could hardly walk down the street without bumping into familiar comic faces in unfamiliar surroundings which was nice, seeing how many people had made the effort to travel to the show.

Still I heard of a possible 3 new UK shows next year and its unclear whether the UK can really support them all? Anyway The Lakes should have no such worries, confidently announcing its 2014 dates alongside its debut programming. With the promise of even better to come, it could really become the jewel in the UK comics' crown with the real potential to match France's revered Angouleme Festival which it is using as its model.




The view of the Clock Tower first floor from the gallery

While we happily give The Lakes a positive endorsement, it was difficult to say just how busy it was with actual attendees as judging purely from our Clock Tower view, it was steady footfall without being spectacular - bear in mind our last show was MCM Glasgow's amazing 20,000 crowd! - and sales, particularly during Saturday were slow but unusually almost busier on the Sunday and while overall, our sales were respectful, they were not the high numbers we'd recently encountered. That in some ways is to be expected in a new show when really everyone is investing in the shows future and of course there was a great choice available for the punter's pound - I won't list everyone here or all our shout outs as it would take too long, but have a look again at the Clock Tower's floorplan for the names of many great creators, publishers and dealers! 

Ivan and his Elsie and Mairi new book

One special 'shout-out' I will give is to Ivan Petrus, he of 'The Nieuport Gathering' book I picked up when first meeting him at the London Super Comic Convention earlier this year. Ivan had bravely driven from his home in Belgium to Kendal, which is a long, long way and he didn't have the best of journeys but accompanied by his very good friend Gert, he settled into the show and again turned out some wonderful full water coloured paintings in his books. Sadly although he had finished the next book in his World War 1 series, Elsie en Mairi, the English version is not yet available but I had a good look at the Dutch version Ivan had brought with him, which again looks great, so fingers-crossed I won't have too long to read it, if not I may just have to try and learn Dutch!



The Brewery Arts Centre

The Graphic Memoir panel

The Lakes was also special for the fact that both Dave and I took the opportunity to attend a couple of the talks, one each each day which was a rare treat with it being years since we'd done so but The Lakes programme was so good we couldn't resist! I saw the 'Graphic Memoir' panel with Al Davison, Katie Green, Nye Wright and Mary Talbot which was very good, moving and thought provoking in places with the panelists being very open with their experiences behind their very personnel stories and the reactions they'd encountered. Ably chaired by Nicola Streeten, the hour flew by very quickly.

 

Joe Sacco with Steve Bell (can you spot Tin Tin!) 

The following day was the Joe Sacco in conversation with political cartoonist Steve Bell event which I was very excited about, I am a huge admirer of Joe's work and was genuinely excited about the prospect of hearing him talk. I was pleased to again bump into Jeremy Briggs of comics news blog Down The Tubes (see Jeremy's own Kendal photo report here) amongst the packed audience and we greatly enjoyed the casual and revealing discussion between these two talented artists as they explored each others creative styles, deadlines and sensitivities in dealing with often challenging material. Their talk veered around different subjects in the same way that a conversation between two friends does and while always interesting I would have liked to hear a bit more about the nuts and bolts of Joe's techniques but I did learn that he kept very detailed journals which he carefully indexed, the art for a finished page usually takes him 2.5 days to complete and with a book like Footnotes in Gaza taking some 7 years to complete, he's now turning his attention to shorter form stories as seen in the recent Journalism collection.
 

One of Joe Sacco's amazing panoramas from his new Great War book

I was though very delighted to meet Joe at his signing afterwards and spend a few moments with him as he kindly signed my books, he was indeed as gracious as I'd hoped and, as far as I could see, made time for everyone who queued for him, a real gent and a real joy.

And that joy was mirrored around everyone I encountered at The Lakes, chatting to volunteers, strangers in event queues, signings, the locals and is a major factor in the success of the show. Despite the weather and the respectful sales, this was a timely reminder that a true comics festival is more about the experience rather than just numbers and on that level The Lakes is a major success and one we hope becomes a regular fixture of the UK calendar, so congratulations and thanks to all involved, see you next year please!



The Lakes Haul

Looking To The Lakes?

 

Here's another of my recent sketches, again I see showing someone looking wistfully into the middle distance! Well this was inspired by the old Victorian book covers for boys adventure stories that became very popular leading to the likes of (of course) Boys Own magazine, Union Jack, Chums and many, many more leading up to the popular range of boy's adventure comics from the mighty D.C Thomson!

Maybe though our friend above is looking for the way to The Lakes International Comic Art festival  this coming weekend in sunny Kendal, Cumbria. Getting quite excited about the show now and will be catching up with good friend, Garen Ewing (he of the wonderful Rainbow Orchid) later as he makes the trip up for the show, so an ideal chance for anyone not yet  acquainted with the adventures of Julius Chancer to purchase a copy and maybe, if you ask real nice, have it sketched and signed by the man himself!

The Complete Rainbow Orchid Collection

The Very Special Rainbow Orchid Supplement



Oh and  I would be remiss not to remind you that you can of course also catch up with all the latest Accent UK titles at The Lakes show including the recent Missing:Have You Seen The Invisible Man? which has just received another fine review thanks to Jeremy Briggs and those good folks at Down The Tubes. 

 

A fine example of Joe Campbell's artwork from the Dave West scribed story

 

Westernoir Book Two Reviewed

The ever reliable Down The Tube website has a great review from Jeremy Briggs of the second issue of Westernoir which I really should draw your attention to!

It includes the following quote;

"Anyone considering writing or drawing their own comic title could do a lot worse than buying, reading and analysing just how this book is written and drawn, as well as how the package as a whole is presented to its reader, because they are bound to find something in here that would improve their own work."

Gosh high praise indeed! Well done chaps but doesn't mean you can rest easy with Issue Three which is shaping up to continue and dare I say even improve on the high standards!

At the moment, Westernoir is only available directly from our website or from us at shows and festivals, but when issue four (and the first story arc) are complete, the separate issues should be listed with Diamond and available to order worldwide through your local comic retailer.

If you can't wait that long it is worth checking out artist Gary Crutchley's blog for sneaky looks at forthcoming pages and his creative process, such as this unlettered one from Book 3!