Back to Scotland!

After almost a month's break, the Accent UK tour bus is rested and ready for a return journey to Glasgow, this time for a much anticipated return to the MCM Scotland show! We were fortunate to attend the inaugural show there back in 2013 and had an amazing time but sadly events and commitments have kept us away since, so we've missed out as it's developed, we understand, into a vibrant and successful two day show, rivalling MCM Manchester in it's attendance.

I think we've over a dozen new releases since 2013 so hopefully we'll find an appreciative audience waiting for us there, wish us luck!

The Accent UK team at Glasgow 2013 - Adam's started and completed his uni course since then!

2015 Comic Reflections!

Accent UK's impressive two table spread in Copenhagen, June 2015

Plans are already well underway for this year's comic convention season so while the Accent UK tour bus receives it's annual service I can briefly reflect on what a cracking year 2015 was.

Accent UK attended 12 shows in all, a new record for us, throughout England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and our usual bi-annual visit to Denmark. A few of these were new to us including one of my personal highlights, a trip to Aberdeen (just North of my native Stonehaven!) where we and the organiser's were blown away by the Granite Cty's overwhelming response to it's first ever comic show, virtually selling out of the stock we brought.

Adam & Colin in Aberdeen's Extreme Indoor Climbing Centre!

In fact most of the shows we attended were top performers meaning we intend to return to them all, if possible, this year which makes for an even fuller schedule than normal. Disappointingly at the time of writing, we don't know if the successful (in terms of sales at least) shows in Blackpool and Warrington will return but this does free up space to accommodate new locations in Edinburgh, Liverpool and Oxford. While some of these are still to be confirmed - see full list on the right - it potentially makes 2016 even busier than 2015's record. Whether it proves to be as successful remains to be seen and no doubt depends on what new books we can release this year, more of which to be revealed later!

Accent UK's 2015 releases - did you catch them all?

We released 5 titles in 2015 which, alongside cracking reviews helped to propel us to our best ever sales performance. These included the ongoing WesterNoir series which is really building a solid audience keen for Josiah Black's latest exploits as creators Dave West and Gary Crutchley put him through the wringer with surprise, intrigue and danger around every corner!

WesterNoir spread at London MCM May 2015

We were also delighted to  publish a new book from the talented Martin Flink with The Troll which like his earlier Man of Glass was well received both in reviews and with a healthy advance sales order through Diamond distributors.

Martin Flink, Dave & Colin at The Troll's Copenhagen launch

It seems that finally after all these years the audiences are there for quality independent comics and graphic novels. Most cities we attend on the convention scene have at least one well stocked comic shop which helps promote the industry but people genuinely enjoying stepping out to local shows and making new discoveries as we, and many other indie creators, have seen our readerships grow.

It's a great time to be involved in the creation of comics and we are grateful for sticking it out these long years to now be able to enjoy this particular purple patch, hopefully this will continue into 2016 and beyond, if so we best get cracking on our new releases - watch this space!

In the meantime, here's a few snaps from some of our 2015 shows;

D C Thomson legendary artist Ian Kennedy & fan in Birmingham

Fredrik Stromberg hides Martin Flink!

The WesterNoir creative team in action in Copenhagen

Team Mathieson fly the flag in Glasgow

Colin and Steampunk Alan share a moment in London

Jemma, Scott & Dave at work in London

Spider-Man doing his thing in Aberdeen!

A happy Anna & Neil with their signed Troll in Leeds!

Jemma & Dave in Leeds

Erm, make your own caption here I think......

Re-United in Manchester!

Well after a fun Glasgow and wee trip round Scotland, we're back and revving up the Accent UK tour bus for this weekend's Mighty Manchester MCM Comic-Con! This is a special one being as it's our hometown gig and re-unites the full Accent UK Team, including Dave West and WesterNoir artist Gary Crutchley, after Team M went solo at Glasgow!

Scott, Colin & Adam aka 'Team M' in Glasgow! (photo by Jeremy Briggs)

          
(Speaking of Glasgow Comic-Con, as I'm super slow with show reports at the moment, please see these links from those fine folks at Down The Tubes for their show and photo reports, where you might recognise one or two familiar faces!).

Last year's Manchester MCM was an incredibly busy and enjoyable show and I hear that ticket sales for this year's have gone even quicker so fingers-crossed It'll be another good one. Accent UK should have six new titles since last year's show which itself is amazing including the first English appearance of Martin (Man of Glass) Flink's gorgeous The Troll, successfully launched at Copenhagen and proving very popular in Scotland at the Glasgow show, it's a timeless all ages title featuring a young boy's imaginative walk through the Danish woods where he encounters a strange creature which may or may not be real.....

Also released in Manchester should be the second issue of our new serial Stephenson's Robot, after issue one was launched at Thought Bubble late last year. This features Kingdom a steampunk robot with a mysterious past and a forceful present as he fights to protect his circus friends from an invading enemy which threatens the hard-won peace of an alternative Europe at the turn of the 20th century...

Kingdom aka Stephenson's Robot by Indio!

Written by Dave West and lavishly illustrated by Indio, issue 2 propels the action further with a Dave West and Jon Ayre co-scripted back-up story featuring the circus's Carnival Master's reflective past, illustrated by WesterNoir's own Gary Crutchley!

Gary Crutchley's Carnival Master

There will be our customary special offers at the show where you can find Accent UK in the Comic Village at tables CC2 & CC3 - yes that's right two full tables to contain our full range of books, including the unexpected return of an old friend in the shape of the long out of print Zombies anthology which gets a new airing for 2015!

Steve Bissette's classic Zombies cover

Manchester Comic-Con: Bigger & Better!

Outside the Manchester (G-Mex) Central venue

Blimey that was good! Accent UK are all smiles after another incredible comics weekend, this time on 'home turf' at the MCM Manchester Comic-Con! This was the 4th show here, the first over two days and again attendance records were broken, despite Saturday's poor weather. Local paper, the Manchester Evening News reports that just under 40,000 people attended, 23,000 the first day and 15,000 the next which I think is double last year, justifying the move to two days.

The new signing area, taking queues away from the main hall

With more room for impressive costume displays

The new chillout & catering area

Inside there was a noticeable difference to previous shows as the event now extended into Manchester Central's conference facilities rather than just the distinctive railway shed. This provided extra space for seating, catering and a separate hall for media signings, props and costume displays, effectively moving the queueing areas away from the main hall. There were still bottlenecks here and there but the movement was generally comfortable and manageable, not something you could have said about previous years, so a major improvement.

The rain didn't dampen the crowds too much

There were still some problems 'outside' with Saturday's pay on the door entry taking up to 4 hours to enter, in the rain! After my own experiences in London last weekend, those poor folk had my sympathies and admiration for sticking it out. In contrast to London though, come 4pm, the event organiser's starting letting those who had waited so long in for free so at least they got to enjoy the last 2 hours of the show. This seemed to help keep tensions down and I heard little complaints from those I spoke to.

Whatever ticketing problems that there were seem to have been resolved on the Sunday with people quoting only minimal queueing times, so well done to the organiser's for taken steps to ensure a smooth entry to the show.

Inside the main hall

And what of the show you ask? well once inside it was the usual MCM explosion of colour, costumes, displays, gaming, manga, anime, movie props, special guests and more. This time though it was less frantic given the extended floor area, making for a more enjoyable experience all round.
 

Col & Dave strike the obligatory table pose

Gary strikes a pose - note WesterNoir banner & Jemma behind!

Of course Dave and I spent most of the time behind the Accent UK table in the comic village but managed our usual wandering to catch up with friends and fellow exhibitors. This was easier on the Saturday when team Accent UK was complemented by top artist and salesmen Gary Crutchley, (read his own report Manchester here), who is always a delight to spend time with and of course Scott and Jemma, fresh from their Glasgow stint.

Steve Tanner & Colin's turn to pose

We had been joined this trip by Steve Tanner of Time Bomb Comics, making his regular sortie North for the show and had a decent chance to spend time together rather than the usual short 'snatched' conversations we usually have. It was a real delight to catch up with Steve and share thoughts, experiences and ideas on the UK comic scene - not sure Dave and I are quite ready to share Steve's taste in loud shirts though! Steve and Time Bomb have some exciting plans ahead including the imminent launch of Longship at the forthcoming Birmingham ICE show, (which sadly commitments mean we can't attend), so be sure to keep a lookout for them.

Scott & Jemma take their usual turn at the table

Very good to also catch up with show regulars, Jeremy Biggs, David and Art Goodman, John Maybury, Siobhan Hillman, Adam Cadwell, Dave Bulmer, Abby Ryder, Lyndon White, Rudra Purkayastha and the ever busy Jenika Ioffreda - this was something like her 14th show of the year compared to our 7th! Also pleased to chat to 'longtimer's' Martin Eden (of Spandex and O-Men fame) and Laura Howell (of Beano and Gilbert & Sullivan fame!) whom we'd not seen for a long time. Laura was actually one of our table neighbours and its always nice to see a familiar face, on the 'other' side we'd the talented Jack Baker and Tom Stephens who I don't think I'd met before but they've made a few appearances since making their comic debuts in the last year or two. That's whats often good about the MCM Comic Village layouts that you meet new people and discover new comics even when you're not able to escape your table!

One familiar face was that of Barry 'Baz' Renshaw and his family. Baz, as some may recall, was along with Dave and I, the founder of Accent UK back in the day and of course the driving force behind the indie comic press magazine Red Eye. It was therefore particularly good to catch up with him and hear about his own comic plans which we wish him well with.

Baz & daughter Amy enjoying the show

Cap & friends dropped by

This guy talked & walked!

These were a great group of cool steampunk cosplayers

Sales-wise, the extra floorspace and duration of the show meant for a more relaxed affair with a steady flow of customers to the Accent UK table, some new, some returning and many great comments on the books. Robots, Zulu (again, last couple of packs!) and Dave's Strange Times sold out and all four issues of WesterNoir proved very popular, (as did Gary's sketches!). Thankfully though the recent pattern of these shows was repeated with the whole of our back list receiving interest so all books including old favourites, Wolfmen and Man of Glass enjoying decent sales. Adding up afterwards we were pleasantly surprised to find that MCM Manchester was indeed bigger and better with overall figures surprisingly rivalling that of the recent London show!

We seem to be enjoying a bit of a purple patch at the moment but being cautious chaps we won't get too excited just yet.We are now though having a short break from exhibiting with family and other commitments meaning no more shows until September when we have a very special trip indeed lined up, watch this space!

You will buy Accent UK comics!

Glasgow Comic-Con!

Hannah Berry's Glasgow Comic-Con artwork

Glasgow Comic-Con was a great excuse for us to make a family weekend of it with several relatives travelling from other parts of Scotland for a get together for Mrs M's birthday and a great time we had too. Dave's prompt show report is here, we were again bowled over by our reception, with the Dundee shows and last year's MCM Glasgow, this was now our 4th Scottish show, but easily the biggest in terms of comics hungry fans. Sales were steady throughout the first day and very healthy the second resulting in only a handful behind the near-record Belfast figure, so pretty chuffed. 

A view of the CCA and prominent Accent UK table!

And from above, note no Col or Dave!

The Glasgow comic-con in its wonderful quirky arts centre setting had a great vibe and atmosphere to it and again folk were so friendly with most new to our books. My limited Zulu packs again sold out on the first day as they had also done in Belfast (and London and Birmingham before!), leaving me with a dilemma whether to carry on selling the last 1/2 dozen copies I hold or to keep these for posterity. I'm chuffed they've still found an audience but desperate to complete something new.....In fact all books sold well in Glasgow as they have in fairness at all recent shows. Its gratifying that the quality of even the older books still stands up and attracts people.

GCC crew and organisers Ish & Sha model the very creepy 'Laptop Guy' dummy eek!

We were delighted to catch up with guests and old friends Leah Moore and John Reppion at the show along with the likes of Jim Alexander, Ellie Winter, Ed Murphy, Sumyra and Darren of Lucky Target Comics, Daryl Cunningham, the delightful Hannah Berry, Owen Johnson, Guillermo Ortego, the Dundee Uni crowd and many more!

Adam and Scott man the stand

The show was spread around three local sites and across three floors of the main CCA and from past experience of 'split-venue' shows we were a bit concerned but amazingly (to us!) this actually enhanced rather than hindered the show. There were few crowd bottlenecks, the talks (and queues) were well attended and managed and there was plenty going on for punters to wander about or to sit, chill and grab a coffee or beer, the perfect comic show really!

The CCA's bar, cafe and guest signing area - can you spot Gail Simone & Howard Chaykin?

An ariel view of the guest signing area, now also featuring Peter Milligan & Erik Larsen!

From an economical point of view, the tables weren't cheap but the crowd, while only a fraction of the MCM ones, were serious comic fans, keen for new discoveries and happy to buy books. One particularly fine fellow we'd spoken to on the Saturday duly kept his promise to return on the Sunday and bought virtually our whole range of books! It was just that type of show and also one where when going for a wee wander you'd bump into someone and have a chat as you went along, something you can't really do at the big bustling shows. I'd almost go so far to say that it had the same relaxed, vibrant atmosphere as we enjoy on our Danish trips, high praise indeed!

The West's about to team tag the Mathieson's!

Oh and the reason Dave and I managed to wander about was that for a little while on the Saturday we were able to leave Scott, Adam and Jemma in charge and very capable they were too. The next generation of Accent UK is shaping up nicely I'd say, giving us older fella's a deserved rest!

A rare sight - all Mathieson Men manning the Accent UK table!

Despite the wandering I sadly didn't really buy much, (I usually do my buying on the Sunday and the kids had gone by then - no stamina!), but my one must buy was Sally Heathcote:Suffragette!  I'd been holding off buying this until I got the chance to catch one of the talented creators and luckily for me, artist Kate Charlesworth was there and what a lovely lady she was too, very funny and down to earth. She was signing with top Scottish crime writer (and Girl with Dragon Tattoo graphic novel adaptation) Denise Mina. The pair were obviously good friends, enjoying each others company and a riot to chat too. I'm halfway through Sally Heatchcote and really enjoying it, historical action well done, just my cup of tea! (check out this great new interview with Kate by Padraig O'Mealoid).

Denise Mina and Kate Charlesworth share a joke

So congratulations to Sha, Mark, Jack, Ish and all the Glasgow Comic-Con crew for a great show and one, along with MCM Belfast we hope to return to next time.

GCC crew member Jeremy who Dave & I stared at all w/e, given his uncanny resemblance to old friend, Phoenix artist Neil Cameron - we made poor Jeremy draw a dinosaur to prove that he finally wasn't Neil!