Thought Bubble Time!

Looking forward to returning to Thought Bubble next weekend, arguably the UK's biggest and best comics convention! Always a firm favourite from its humble beginnings in Leeds Town Hall's basement to its subsequent moves to larger premises at The Royal Armouries, Leeds City Centre before moving to it's present home of Harrogate's Conference Centre. 

It has grown and grown and now attracts comic creators from across the world, attracted by its reputation for showcasing a diverse range of talents and the capabilities of the comics medium. You'll find creators behind the latest polished superhero juggernauts to small press publications telling the most intimate personal stories and everything else in between!

This year I'll be in the DSTLRY Hall (one of an expanded four halls this year!) at Table C45 with my latest releases, art and prints. If you're around please stop by and say hello and if you've never been or not been recently, it's not too late to buy a ticket here!

Double Header Part 1: Macc-Pow!

Another busy weekend ahead with firstly a welcome return this Saturday to Macc-Pow! Macclesfield's very own Comic Art Festival curated and hosted by Marc Jackson. Marc is a talented whirlwind of comics ideas and community who's back I 'watched' at Sale Comic-con! 

Colin and Marc say 'Hiya'!

It's a great purely comics focused event but one that I sadly haven't been to for I think 5 years now given Covid and date clashes with other events, so I'm delighted to make my return among so many talented comic creators. Check out the poster below for a veritable who's who of comic goodness, there's so many that I'll excuse him the spelling mistake - Hey I always wanted to be a big name in comics!

"Is it Dusty in Here?"

Last few years I've been honoured to be invited as a guest artist to a number of steampunk festivals and events which are great fun with my good lady and I really enjoying them, getting dressed up, meeting friends and making many inspiring creative discoveries along the way, not to mention the gin!

We made several comic strips inspired by the people we met at the UK's (and arguably the world's) largest steampunk festival, the Asylum, held annually late August in Lincoln and this comic page is from the second of them, titled Heart's Desire about a romance which may or may not run smoothly..... 

Colours again provided by the excellent and adaptable, Matt Soffe.

All the characters in the comics were based on real people and their respective steampunk personas encountered at the festival and used with their permission. We were always though a little nervous anticipating their reactions when the comics were released, but luckily everyone seemed to enjoy them and were pretty pleased seeing their alter-egos in the comic spotlight!

The comics were published by Accent UK under various 'Asylum' titles and became nice little souvenirs of the event. The first one quickly sold out and I have limited supplies of the second and third titles available directly from me - see convention appearances on the right, or from contacting or visiting Scott's Pops & Comics comic shop in Warrington, UK.

"Maybe I Should Just Give Up!"

A re-worked page from my quirky and troubled escapologist character, The Curious Chancer and his debut in the short Special Performance story from my own M56 JUNCTION COMICS.  

The story touches on our own expectations and those placed on ourselves by others and the difficulty sometimes in how these are or aren't met. This can be particularly true for all those in a creative or performance field where  often unexpected and hidden challenges can keep you from meeting those expectations.......

I love comics that can have different interpretations and maybe a 'deeper meaning' if you choose to read them that way. Comics can be a very powerful medium and a re-reading of your favourites can often be rewarding and reveal something below the surface of the main story.

My comics are currently only available direct from me - see convention appearances on the right, or from contacting or visiting Scott's Pops & Comics comic shop in Warrington, UK.

"That Wasn't Very Nice Michael!"

A page from the Cornelius MacBeth story, Neighborhood Threat from MOMENTS OF ADVENTURE comics collection Vol. 2.  Ghosthunter MacBeth tracks down lost souls and usually does what he can to help them find peace, usually.......

I love creating comics with a historical and mysterious element, often with 'hidden extras' such as why I chose the American spelling of the story's title?

The comics are currently only available direct from me - see convention appearances on the right, or from contacting or visiting Scott's Pops & Comics comic shop in Warrington, UK.

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.

On the road again?

The 2022 'season' convention table before it's 2023 revamp!

A chance to catch my breath a little after another wee trip North for happier reasons and now  recharged, to continue to attend to the creative year ahead. I'm pleased to say that things are progressing well behind the scenes with new material and the forthcoming events season.

There are already a number of confirmed shows and festivals with applications pending for others so all being well I'll return to 'the road' before too long and see how 2023 shapes up. I think, post covid, I've finally learnt not to go too mad with the number of events attended where you can actually dilute yourself by doing too many. Each one takes time to prepare for and recover from, creating specific art and leaving little time to work on your main projects.

A couple of my unique convention watercolours from last year

Last year I 'only' did 8 events when before I would average 14 or so a year - I think 18 was my record! While this can be a good way to get out there, raise your profile and generate some interest in yourself and your work, it can, as noted, distract from everything else. The interesting thing for me was not only was I able to better pace myself and take time to enjoy those 8 shows, I actually sold better overall for the year than I'd previously done!. 

There may be a number of reasons for that but I reckon the fact that I carefully curated which events to apply for was a big factor. The post covid comics convention scene is still finding its feet somewhat, so its more important than ever to select the events which most suite you and your work. It may be best to stick with a local event or a tried and tested larger or prestigious one rather than every one going or just to try something new or niche which looks fun! 

We're lucky that there is a lot of choice out there and while I don't feel comfortable returning overseas quite yet, I am quite excited about the UK events I've earmarked and applied for this year as the best ones to be involved with for me and my work, hopefully see you around!

Don't look back in anger!

Well one of us had the 'hump' last year!

Happy New Year all, can't believe it's 2023 already! Last year just flew by with an especially busy last few months meaning things rather crept up on me, but we're here now.

The year end can be a time of reflection and with several unscheduled trips to Scotland I'd plenty of time for that accompanied by a fine soundtrack on the car stereo - The Associates, Bowie, Marillion, Gerry Rafferty, Waterboys, Scott Walker keeping my thoughts company.

All in all, I'm fairly happy with how the comic year panned out, despite the demise of our Accent UK comic publishing collective. Sad and unexpected as this was, I was determined not to give up and to carry on with the events and festivals already committed to, buoyed by the many messages of support received. 

Thankfully comic sales were strong and I was flattered by the many encouraging comments about my art style and story themes - one kind chap at a busy London MCM Comic-Con sought me out to say how much my World War 2 story had touched him to the degree he'd brought the comic into work to show and discuss with his colleagues as an example of not knowing what people you meet are going through or have experienced. I was a bit overwhelmed by this to be honest but very grateful he'd taken the time to share with me.

A panel From Moments Vol. 2's 'Smokes' story

It just shows that you never know how your work will be received or what it means to people and I certainly encourage you to pass on your own positive words of support to your favourite comic creators as you may just say the right thing at the right time to help them through a difficult period as this chap had done to me when I had been at a low ebb.

Most of my creative time had gone into producing new art prints and unique watercolour character sketches for my comic packs and while the prints were only a modest success, I struggled at times to keep up with demand for the character sketches which was gratifying.

Positives aside, I won't deny there were a lot of challenges being a newly independent solo artist, particularly at larger events. I think I'd forgotten how logistically tough they could be and again was grateful for the offers of assistance and support received. It takes a lot of courage to put yourself and your work out there, riding the rollercoaster of rejection and praise and I was reminded of the respect all artists should receive for just being there, following their passion, regardless of whether their work is to your taste or not.

I've already a few events lined up this year as I continue my creative journey with it becoming increasingly clear that people are eager for my new material so I'm pleased to say that in-between everything else going on that things are happening - watch this space!

London Colin!

 

A hectic wee time recently with some time away and a lovely happy event :) I've also had some IT issues so this coming w/e's return to MCM Comic-Con in London has crept up on me a little so currently getting prepared.

The London show has become a firm favourite and a great chance to catch up with readers, reach a new audience and be inspired by the many other artists and creators out there.

If you're around, please come and say 'hi' in Artist Alley where you'll find me in Booth G-9 :) 

Accent UK No More!

Accent UK's Original Logo

Well the news is slipping out and sadly it's true, Accent UK, the long running independent comics collective run by Dave West and I is no more and is disbanding its operations.

We've been fortunate to last so long and achieve what we have in what has been a fun rollercoaster ride along the independent comics wave these last 20 years or so. 

Dave and I, along with Barry 'Baz' Renshaw and others were all producing our own small press comics in the Greater Manchester area in the early 2000's and meeting at local comic marts, chatted about joining forces to pull resources and have a greater voice within the UK's burgeoning indie comics scene.

So it was that on Remembrance Day 2002 (or was it 2001, my memory is hazy now!) that Accent UK was born in a Stockport Mill with Dave, Baz and myself agreeing to drop our respective small press publishing identities; Deva Comics, Engine Comics and M56 Comics and adopt our new moniker on all future publications. This we did and our new themed anthology comics cemented the partnership and welcomed contributions from the UK's brightest new indie talent at that time including likes of Dave Baillie, Jason Cobley, Ben Dickson, Garen Ewing, Dave Hitchcock etc. 

We kept things fairly informal with it understood that our shared objectives should not prevent us individually pursuing whatever other creative opportunities presented themselves, thus Baz left the collective in 2006 to pursue a new publishing venture building on his success with the popular (and much missed) Red Eye comics news magazine and also to concentrate on his freelance comic art work.

Accent UK's New Logo

Dave and I continued and had a relaunch of sorts in 2007 which, embracing better quality printing and working closely with WOLFMEN artist and graphic designer, Andy Bloor resulted in a significant step up in our production values. The year before, I had met industry giant and lovely fellow, Stephen Bissette during our second trip to Copenhagen for the Komiks.dk festival, (introduced by our chums, Leah Moore & John Reppion) and although retired from comics, he agreed to provide the cover for our next anthology, ZOMBIES, as long as he could also submit a strip he was working on with his son. This coup together with the rise in production values provided a welcome boost and clinched global distribution for our new titles through Diamond Comics Distributors which until then had been but a pipedream.  

More anthologies, one-shots and collaborations followed with returning contributions from not only Stephen Bissette, John and Leah but Keiron Gillen, Mark Buckingham, Frazer Irving, Dave Hitchcock, Ben Dickson, Owen Johnson and many more. Dave turned more to writing and alongside his WOLFMEN titles with Andy Bloor, produced several one-shots under the BLESSED CURSED theme, picking up an Eagle award in 2010 for his and the sadly missed Marlene Lowe's WHATEVER HAPPENNED TO THE FASTEST MAN?

We became more adventurous in our convention plans and buoyed by our Danish experience, where we successfully grew a loyal following through attending Copenhagen events from 2004 until 2019, when Covid (and Brexit) interrupted matters, we attended many overseas conventions including New York's MoCCA, Seattle's Emerald City Comic-Con, Chicago's C2E2, Toronto's TCAF and Finland's annual comic art festival in Helsinki. 

This was of course in addition to the ever expanding UK comics convention scene where there were now multiple events compared to the much missed Bristol Comics Expo that we had first attended. We did our best to go to as many as were viable, often joined by our family members, Adam, Scott and Jemma who all regularly took turns behind the table and helped Dave and I have a welcome breather.

Our Danish connection was further enhanced by a trilogy of titles published from writer/artist Martin Flink in his distinctive, thoughtful style; THE MAN OF GLASS, THE TROLL and THE LIZARD, all of whom were warmly received.

Although, global distribution became tougher in later years through changing submission guidelines (which thankfully seem to have recently relaxed), the evolution of crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter provided a new opportunity along with the increased frequency of events to get our titles into the hands of an eager audience.

A new collaboration between Dave and frequent anthology contributor, Gary Crutchley gave birth to WESTERNOIR, the supernatural tale of gunslinger Josiah Black in the Wild West, which arguably replaced our themed anthologies as the most recognisable of all Accent UK's titles. Planned as an ongoing series its first collection quickly sold out, requiring a colour reprint and its subsequent volumes are warmly anticipated. Dave's writing continued and further successful collaboration's followed with artists Indio on STEPHENSON's ROBOT, Ian Ashcroft on KIA WORDSMITH and PJ Holden in WASTLELAND, the V2A band comic co-written with it's lead singer, Kev Judgedrone.

My own artistic contributions ebbed and flowed alongside my museum art commissions but I was pleased to produce a couple of issues of  MOMENTS OF ADVENTURE featuring my historical strips, coloured by frequent Accent UK collaborator, Matt Soffe and Aljosa Tomic, which have been warmly received since their release.

Special Steampunk Logo

In recent years, regular invites to the annual Asylum Steampunk Festival in Lincoln saw a return to our anthology roots with a trilogy of comics inspired by the splendid people we met there. The most recent of these, ESCAPE FROM THE ASYLUM with its intriguing 'Q' concept was launched at this year's festival, a mere 2 weeks ago and is likely to be the last new title with the Accent UK logo, although discussions are ongoing about this.

As stated earlier, we've always kept things informal so that our shared objectives shouldn't prevent us individually pursuing other opportunities and so it is now that Dave and I recently found ourselves at a creative crossroads. Realising that Accent UK couldn't fairly continue without the both of us, we've decided it best to gracefully retire the brand. 

We can both be justly proud of what modestly we've achieved in our small part of the independent comics landscape and give thanks to everyone out there who has been part of our journey, whether it be a contributor, reader, supporter, retailer or reviewer.

Dave and I both plan to remain active in the comics community so please watch this space and our social media channels for news of forthcoming events and projects.

Thank you for reading and for your support over the years.

 Colin

Accent UK nominated in Tripwire Awards!

Exciting news, our Accent UK comics collective have been nominated in top pop culture Tripwire Magazine’s annual awards, in the best UK small press/independent comic publisher category! 

It’s quite an honour to be included and a great way to mark the 20 year journey that Dave West and I have shared after Accent UK was formed with Barry Renshaw way back in 2002. 

There's lots of other fab nominees across the world of comics and pop culture, so if you’ve ever enjoyed our work, please consider voting, thank you very much :)

The link to the google docs form is here and quick n easy to use !

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.

Salute Ahoy!

Ahoy all! Hope the year is treating you all well so far? Things may appear quiet here within Accent UK Towers but the comic creating machines are in full swing for the convention season ahead - in fact our co-founder and friend Dave west has already kicked the year off with a trip South to Cheltenham and the annual True Believers Comic Festival, see his remarks here. 

While a few events are still to be confirmed for our full 2020 itinerary, we are though taking careful aim at the year with a few shows already scheduled including a very exciting debut in April at SALUTE!, the UK's premier wargaming event at the Excel centre in London - a familiar venue for us with MCM Comic-Con's also held there. Running since 1980, the event is organised by the South London Warlords wargaming club, and is the UK's biggest one day independent wargaming and gaming event and looks like great fun.

It is a bit of a 'throw of the dice' (ahem!) to see how our comics and artwork will be received but since we have several titles covering history, military, steampunk and fantasy subjects, hopefully we'll receive some interest. At the very least I'm sure we'll be inspired ourselves aplenty from the amazing sights and talent we'll see and you never know gamers may be inspired by our comics too!

Watch this space for further information on this and our other 2020 events and in the meantime here's a little flavour of what we'll be taking with us to Salute!

 

Viking Comics and Cheese!

Just finished reading Rob Jackson's latest delightful comic, 'Ragnar The Cheesemonger'!

I've known and been a fan of Rob's work for many years now with his French revolution set 'Cafe Le Guillotine' (from 2006?) being the first to attract my attention and I've been a fan of his storytelling ever since. He's amazingly prolific, usually producing 2 or 3 titles a year and always has a project or two on the go, putting most of us indie creators to shame.

Ragnar is his new one, set in Viking times and at 52 b&w pages is quite the epic, but Rob being true to form concentrates his tale on an ordinary fellow, a cheesemonger, who through no real fault of his own finds himself trapped in a potentially deadly situation.

The Fighting ground where Ragnar may meet his destiny

Told in Rob's easy engaging style, Ragnar doesn't disappoint with its moments of tension, humour and absurdity which makes for an entertaining read. If you've not sampled his work before this makes a great starting point and can be purchased for only £6 including UK postage from his shop here -while there, why not take an inexpensive gamble on any of his other titles for a refreshingly honest and rewarding approach to comic making!

For updates on Rob's comic activities, also see his blog or follow the link from my site, enjoy!

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......