Colin's Celtic Comic Tour!

So I'm just about set for this weekend's return to Edinburgh Comic-Con and realised that the next three shows are all in Celtic countries of Scotland (twice) and Northern Ireland - I just need Wales to complete the set! This little 'Celtic Tour' is also different as I'll be 'solo' at them as, my Accent UK partner, Dave West is unable to make the trips :(

Don't feel sad though it's only logistics which is keeping Dave from accompanying me as we juggle this year's schedule of shows - the eagle-eyed may spot that we've already added two more since the last update - both in England to balance these Celtic ones! Its been a long time since I flew solo, so we'll see how I get on. It shouldn't be that bad though as the comics community is a friendly bunch and I should see a few familiar faces at each of them to I'm sure keep me company.

Mind you this is what happened at Edinburgh last year when Dave was keeping an eye on me!

A couple of weeks after Edinburgh will be Accent UK's first ever trip to Enniskillen who's Comic Fest returns for its second year. The show was highly recommended by our good friend Jenika Ioffreda and I'm quite excited about, particularly as its to be held in Enniskillen Castle itself!

Tharg has also recently awarded the Fest Official 2000AD 40th anniversary partner status as the mag continues its celebrations so expect several art & script droids to make the trip. While its our first time in Enniskillen, we have of course exhibited in Northern Ireland several times at the popular MCM Belfast shows so know there are many enthusiastic comic fans over there. At the moment though Enniskillen is likely to be our only NI trip this year as the MCM Belfast dates clash with Birmingham Comic Festival and as I've previously commented on, we sadly can't do them all.

The final leg of my wee tour suitably winds up at my North East homeland in Aberdeen's Granite City Comic-Con which is now in its third year. I shouldn't be quite so lonely here as, apart from catching up with relatives and comic chums, I should be joined at the table by Ace sales team Adam and Joe who did a sterling job last year, freeing me up for an occasional wander round the show which I, apparently, am prone to do!

Then a week after Aberdeen, the Accent UK team are re-united down south at the mighty MCM London show where both Scott and Dave will be in attendance while I perhaps take things a wee bit easy!

Please say hello if you're at any one of these shows where hopefully you will find a few new books and surprises since the last time you saw us!

Some of the new Moments of Adventure sketches ready for the tour!

Burns Nicht the Nicht!

Today's 'Burns Nicht' when folks celebrate the life of Scotland's National poet, Robert 'Rabbie' Burns and as tradition demands we will be tucking into some home cooked haggis tonight, as freshly caught during my last trip home :)

We generally are away at Burns night (and have a trip planned this weekend) and am reminded of a couple of years ago in 2013 when we managed to be in Edinburgh for Burn's night when thankfully the weather was fairly mild. The City though had several Burn's celebratory events on including a couple of costumed readings of his work which I though would be good to share here, including a willing volunteer to a reading of 'A Red Red Rose'!

At the Museum of Scotland the same day, they also had several events including a lively re-enactment of Tam o'Shanter, readings and a wee concert from Amy MacDonald! Enjoy your own Burns nicht, however you celebrate it!

 

Oh and keeping with comics, this recent graphic novel lifts the lid on the bard's previously unknown life as Scotland's Witch Hunter! It's delightful riotous fun, find out more from the BBC and order it here!

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!

Doctor WHO and the Angels!

 

 
Here's a pleasant surprise, although I'm not a big fan of Doctor Who, I've just finished reading a recent Father's Day gift (thanks Scott!) of the Tenth Doctor's graphic novel and really enjoyed it!

The collection from Titan Comics contains the 4-part Weeping Angels of Mons and the shorter Echo story, both written by Robbie Morrison and illustrated by Daniel Indro and Eleonora Carlini respectively.

The 'Mons' story cleverly ties in the good doctor's adventures with World War One in both respectful and entertaining fashion as The Weeping Angels, (of the TV episode 'Blink' I think?), descend on the war torn French town of St Michel where the defending German soldiers have strangely disappeared.

The story moves along at a fair clip and suites the Tenth Doctor, David Tennant's personality of the TV series, being equal measure frantic, playful, beligerent and arrogant. The supporting cast, paticularly the Scottish soldiers are surprisingly well rounded given their limited space and, minor character identification confusion aside, you find yourself emotionally invested in them.

That this story comes from well respected comic scribe, Robbie Morrison should be no surprise given his back catalogue (of which White Death is a classic war story) and the art from, unfamilar to me, Daniel Indro perfectly captures the characters and the action.

The short Echo story suffers in comparison with the main 'Mons' event but is a fine, fun disposable tale with servicable art and shouldn't detract from a quality collection.

2014 Moments in Music!

I've been slow with any 2014 'best of lists' so here instead is my 2014 playlist as far as I can recall from my 'go to' pile of CD's. Those who follow such things can check out previous lists for 2013 and 2012 - gosh that sounds so old now doesn't it!

1. DAVID SYLVIAN: Gone To Earth (2006)
2. KARL JENKINS: River Queen (2005)
3. JOHN BARRY: Mary Queen of Scots (1971)

4. JOHN BARRY: Out of Africa (1985)

5. DEAD CAN DANCE: Anastasis (2012)

6. DEAD CAN DANCE: Wake (2003)
7. DOUGIE MACLEAN: Essential Too (2013)

8. LONDON GRAMMAR: If You Wait (2013)

9. KATE BUSH: Ariel (2005)
10. KING CREOSOTE: Scotland With Love (2014)

Mmm, another eclectic mix of soundtracks and old favourites with just a sprinkling of contemporary-ish albums, guess that says a lot about me! Still really enjoying David Sylvian's re-mastered double Gone To Earth album which seems to suite any mood. It originally came out in 1986 and, not being a Japan fan particularly, I missed his solo career only 'discovering' him much later through the excellent Everything & Nothing (2000) retrospective. I'm still short of a couple of early releases while his later work became too experimental for me after Blemish (2003).

I do play soundtracks a lot and find myself listening to classic FM  more and more these days - along with BBC 6 Music of course! River Queen was a Classic FM discovery and is great background music with some stirring moments. The movie it comes from is an odd beast, starring Samantha Morton and Kiefer Sutherland in Victorian New Zealand and the turbulent Anglo-Maori wars. It doesn't quite deliver on its promise but is interesting and both it and its music are worth tracking down.

Through Zulu of course I've always been a John Barry fan with his short Somewhere in Time soundtrack a clear favourite but I finally caught up with his lavish Out of Africa and lessor known (to me) Mary Queen of Scots soundtracks this year, enjoying them both. Out of Africa is a very watchable movie with music to match, although the CD mood is slightly spoiled by a soft-rock number tacked on! I've not seen Mary Queen of Scots for years but the music has it all, bagpipes, recurring themes, stirring motifs even Scott Walker on vocals and has been a delight. It was though very difficult to track down the whole album with a shorter version (without Scott Walker!) more readily available.

Still enjoying my Dead Can Dance brace of albums and last year's London Grammar with this year's big new discovery (to me!) Kenny Anderson aka King Creosote and his From Scotland With Love tv/documentary soundtrack album. I guess this is his most commercial offering but its been the reason for me to finally embrace his music and I've just picked up his acclaimed Diamond Mine (2011) album with Jon Hopkins so not a bad thing - maybe a bit like David Sylvian, I get there eventually!

 

My other favourites were the two artists I saw perform live in 2014, Dougie Maclean and of course a certain Kate Bush! I've been lucky to see Dougie many times, (I think this was the 6th!) and its always a joy to hear and meet him - he normally pops out afterwards to chat and sign CD's etc. He was in demand last year with his famous Caledonia song performed en masse at Glasgow's Commonwealth Games ceremony so this was a special treat.

Much of course has already been said and written about Kate Bush and her totally unexpected return to the stage after some 35 years or so! The performance was very, very special and it was a privilege to witness. Needless to say Kate did not pop out afterwards for a chat but she did seem to enjoy herself and be truly astonished with her rapturous response she received. The show was the excuse I needed to revisit her albums with Ariel, which formed much of her setlist, a favourite.

Dundee & Comic Calendar Update

Well we're truly in the comic convention season now with Accent UK getting set for a return to the Dundee Comic Expo this weekend! The date's been known for a while but confirmation's have only recently been made but I can't wait. I really enjoyed last year's show, (see report here!) and this year promises to be a little different being a joint show with the manga/anime focused Dee-Con. 

Dundee Comics Expo 2013

This will again by a solo comic show from me but I may be accompanied by youngest son, who is currently studying in Scotland but I'm looking forward to catching up with the talented bunch of Scottish creators that I'm getting to see on a more regular basis now.

Speaking of Scotland, we're now also confirmed for a return to Glasgow for July's Comic-Con. We've also applied for our regular table at Leeds Thought Bubble which hopefully, under their new revised registration system will avoid the frustrations and uncertainties of last year. Less positive we won't be returning to this year's The Lakes festival as our application wasn't accepted which we're told is a symptom of the venue being small and heavily over-subscribed, so you can't win them all.

Actually looking at last year's record breaking event calendar, we are only planning to return to 5 of the 11 shows attended in 2014! Some such as Copenhagen Comics, (and presumably Carlisle's Mega-Con?) aren't being held this year, others like MoCCA, (held this forthcoming weekend too!) and the London Super Comic-Con are down to economics while as mentioned we've been declined for The Lakes, so a few changes.  Its perhaps a reflection of the current healthy number of comic festivals, that all 6 of these shows will be replaced with several new (to us) ones planned, so quite exciting really.

Gary Crutchley's cracking artwork

WesterNoir Book 4 - $100 reward? never!

 

At the moment, we have no overseas shows confirmed, (unless you count Belfast!) but are currently in communications for a show in a country we've never ever visited before which is exciting, with another under serious consideration, so we'll see. Just need to work on a few new releases to follow WesterNoir Book 4's earlier successful launch......

First glimpse of Martin (Man of Glass) Flink's new book 'The Lizard'!

Happy St Andrews Day

 

 

Well I thought it would be good to do another wee sketch of David Livingstone for his bi-centenary on this St Andrews Day but while I did this last night unbeknown to me sad events were playing out in Glasgow, so I think any celebrations will be somewhat tempered.

 

Our thoughts with all who are affected.

Scottish Scoff!

 

With all my attention during the recent trip 'home' taken with football and comics, I failed to bring back a single item of traditional Scottish fayre much to everyone's disappointment. I'm pleased to report then that the far more diligent Mrs M has done us proud with the very impressive haul above delivered after her trip North helping Adam get settled in at uni.

Everything pictured comes with a government health warning as most tasty Scottish treats are unfortunately bad for you! Rest assured though that the haggis and mealie puddings will go to a good home as we and our freezer indulge ourselves over the coming weeks.

Sadly the very impressive gallon of whisky (gulp!) is not directly for us but very kindly donated by Mrs M's father for a forthcoming Scouts auction, if you feel lucky?

Oh and I had been thinking of upgrading my laptop for a tablet so Mrs M brought back a couple of these interesting Scottish ones for me to try!

 

Moments in Glasgow!



Well that was a blast! I don't get to Glasgow very often let alone get a chance to combine two of my most favourite things, football and comics but the other weekend it somehow all came together. I was unusually accompanied by my younger son Adam, (after whizzing up to Aberdeen where he's shortly starting uni), who would not normally embrace either football or comics culture, (unlike older son Scott of course!) but I think even he enjoyed what turned out to be a very special weekend together.

The football came about thanks to comics writer, Jim Alexander's top tip at the recent Carlisle show, realising that the match was the night before the planned MCM Scotland comic and that was that, booked our tickets and on a stormy overcast Friday night in Glasgow, Adam and I made our way to Hampden Park to watch the World Cup qualifying game between Scotland and Belgium!


A group of Belgian fans - photo taken from our 18th floor hotel window - really!

We decided to go early to get a bit of atmosphere but in reality the atmosphere started as soon as we arrived at our hotel as reception was chaotically crammed with colourful, singing Belgian fans and so it continued all round Glasgow, through central station, bouncing on the train and then of course making the walk down the fabled Hampden concourse where it got busier and busier with the equally colourful Tartan Army hordes competing with their Flemish counterparts, all good humoured banter which sadly I missed capturing, not bringing my camera with me - Duh!

The build up inside the ground was equally breathtaking as some 36,000 fans filled the stadium and Adam and I couldn't help but be swept along with the infectious fervour and I have to say that standing side by side with my son, singing Flower of Scotland along with the Tartan Army is a memory I will long treasure. The atmosphere brought back many happy memories of being a wee boy growing up and following the ups and downs of Scotland's previous World Cup dreams watching the likes of Dalglish, Miller, McLeish, Strachan (now manager of course), Gemmill, Mason, Jordan, McQueen and more!

There used to be so many talented Scottish players, sadly not now as reflected in the matches result, a not unexpected 2-0 loss . In fairness Scotland performed better than I'd hoped and Belgium were not as strong as they may have been, probably not helped by the weather with the rain teeming down before kick-off and not stopping during the weary walk and long, long, queue for a train afterwards.

Despite this I wouldn't trade the match for anything and Adam and I took great delight in recounting our experiences when we later met Dave in the hotel bar (who had himself had a torturous drive up through the elements). We may have been tired, drenched and shoeless but we had been a small part of Scotland's Tartan Army and that was enough.

 

Up early the next day, collecting Dave and Jemma, Adam drove us to the SECC where already things were starting to fill up with many cos players in attendance. Dave as always has beaten me to it with our Accent UK report of the show which is here and it was indeed a crazily busy show, especially considering it was the first one, with reports suggesting some 20,000 came and stories of 3 hour queues to get in - absolutely amazing!

 

 

We were able to catch up with a few familiar faces not least of which was Jim Alexander who we were able to talk footy with and hear about the great reception his new comic Savant is receiving, also caught up with Sha Nazir of Black Hearted Press,and old friends Jenika Ioffreda, Genki Gear, Sumyra of Lucky Target Comics and a few others but only briefly, as everyone was just so busy with customers, what a wonderful feeling!



Dave and Colin make sure that Adam can't escape the Accent UK table!

We had record sales for a one day show (MCM have announced it will be a full weekend next year!) selling to mainly new customers, many who had not come across our work before so it was a great event for finding a new audience and well worth the long haul North.

 

As for Adam? I think he enjoyed himself, he may not be a total convert quite yet but even he was beaming when he met a familiar face, whispering in a very Scottish drawl, "It's a Trap!"

 

 

Glasgow here we come!

Still buzy, buzy, Carlisle was good fun, quieter than last year but still good to catch up with a few familiar faces, we did okay but we'll see if they run the show next year? As ever, Mr West is far more timely than me so has a little write-up at Accent UK's blog here.

I've been very lucky to have had a great little holiday trip (maybe some pics to follow!) and am now zipping up to Scotland, firstly Aberdeen then this weekend we're exhibiting at the first MCM show in Scotland at the Glasgow SECC which if its anything like the recent Manchester show will be a blast!

This of course follows on from my earlier 'solo' outing at Dundee earlier this year but with Dave in attendance will be the very first time that the full Accent UK team and range of books will be available North of the Border!

And if that wasn't reason enough to be excited I'll also be making my very first trip to Hampden Park to watch the mighty Scotland take on Belgium in a World Cup Football qualifying match ! Okay so Scotland can't qualify but I'm still excited!