Rabbit Rabbit - Record Sales in London!

 
We had high hopes for last weekend's MCM show in London and it didn't disappoint, record crowds - over 100,000 reported! - and record sales made it a show to savour!
 

Mr Stay puft shares Accent UK's joy!

Held at its usual Excel centre in London's docklands the shown has continued to grow since our 2010 visit. If I recall that show had around 16,000 attendees, a record at that time, but although we did well, the travel down from Manchester by train, carrying stock and bags ultimately put us off as we concentrated on 'purer' comic shows instead.

The truth is though that while comics are not the main attraction at MCM events, the comic village is an integral part and enjoys its share of the huge footfall so the opportunity is there to reach a new and potentially huge audience. Our successes at recent Manchester and Glasgow MCM's had tempted us south again and while we were a little nervous after our disappointing Birmingham experience, the vibe was good coming into the show.

These were the Saturday lunchtime queues - still huge!

'Bravely' I had decided to drive to London, the first time I've ever ventured beyond the M25 by car and while I had a few moments, Dave's borrowed sat-nav, voiced by Aussie Bruce saw me through. I all but missed the Friday setting up slot, but was pleased to find the venue and parking relatively easy. Caught up with our good friend Chris and his son on Friday for an enjoyable Mexican tea.

We then arrived nice and early at the venue on Saturday morning to properly set up. This was about an hour before the show opened and already there were big crowds forming, so much so that when Dave and Jemma arrived later by train, they had a 45 minute wait just to find the exhibitor's queue!

Anyway we didn't have much time for chatting as the show got busier and busier with us enjoying steady and brisk sales all weekend long, comfortably beating our highest ever MCM total by the end of the first day and with a new all record high the following day!

Chas n Dave man the stall - Rabbit Rabbit!

As the crowds were so big and diverse, many folks were newish to comics or at least new to indie comics but willing to have a look at what the comic village had to offer among its 200+ tables! We were delighted to find that all our stock sold pretty equally, not just the new stuff. Zulu was again very popular and quickly sold out on Saturday afternoon!

The re-jigged stall on Sunday morning with the last few Zombies, Wolfmen & WesterNoir 1's

The Sunday started slowly as it tends to do before again gathering pace with Man of Glass, Zombies 2,  Wolfmen 1 and WesterNoir 1 soon selling out along with our older Accent UK packs. We of course found it hard to sell Wolfmen 2 and WesterNoir's 2-4, after selling out of their first issues otherwise I'm sure we would have sold even more. As it was, Sunday was about 2/3rds of Saturday's sales and overall we enjoyed our highest ever show total of books sold in some 12 years of exhibiting, no mean feat!

Sadly Dave wouldn't let me spend Accent UK's takings on a new car....

The scale of the show does make life difficult in terms of getting out and about and looking round so although the Comic Village was huge we only had a glimpse of some of the stalls. Delighted though to have familiar faces as neighbours in John Maybury, Siobhan Hillman of Spacebabe 113 fame and talented brothers, Art and David Goodman,  who we've known for a long time. this gave me the perfect opportunity to pick up their Oscar Charles Drayton newspaper strip collection which they'd all contributed to. I'd heard about it some time ago but not had a chance too see the finished collection, in the style of a scrapbook, for myself, its an intriguing, unique and rewarding read.

Interior page of 'Oscar Drayton's' Newspaper collection

Behind us was the irrepressible Jim Alexander of Planet Jimbot fame, who I seem to be following round these days. On our other side was the crazily creative Cristian Ortiz and his wife Alice who worked incredibly hard at the show selling his Golden Campaign books and prints and were also rewarded with great sales.  Thankfully with so many familiar and friendly faces around us, life was never dull during the shows surprisngly regular lulls and time passed really quickly. I did also manage quick hellos to Gary Erskine, Sean Azzopardi, (one of the few comicy folks I can talk football with, even if he is a Chelski fan!), Dave O'Connell and a couple more but not many such was the nature of the show. Shout outs though to Accent UK contributor Danny Hayles who with writer Gareth Wood was tabling his intriguing new Atlantis comic and also to Lyndon White and Rudra Purkayastha who were launching their Cosmic Fish book first discussed at Comica last year.

Dandy Island's impressive Funko collection!

We enjoyed a bit of socialising on the Saturday with Chris and again long time friends Sumyra and Darren of Lucky Target Comics, including some unforgettable Greek music - Chas n Dave it wasn't! -, but we were all too sensible or tired for a heavy night after a long day and more to come on the Sunday.

Even the Johnny Depps couldn't remember the words to 'Snooker Loopy'!

Er, 'Snooker Loopy, nuts are we?', no thats not right......

That said it was really a great show for us (see Dave's MCM thought here) and although we didn't get to see much ourselves we're delighted to have found so many new readers for our books so, all being well, will make MCM London one of our regular shows - next stop MCM Belfast!

My MCM Comics haul

A Corner of An African Field...

I will post soon about my wonderful tour of Zululand but first, on this special date of 15 May, I wanted to share something totally unexpected that we found in a small lonely cemetery across the Buffalo River, not far from Rorke's Drift;

The small cemetery containing civilian and 1880's British soldier's graves

The large headstone of the grave on the right immediately stood out for me;

 Here's a closer look at the inscription;

'Mathieson' is my surname, (complete with the rarer 'i' spelling) and 'Alexander' is both my late father and my elder brother's name. You can see therefore why this particular 'find' really affected me.

 

Rather touchingly the headstone also bore the message " This stone is erected by a few of his friends".

At the moment I'm not aware of a direct family link with this particular Alexander Mathieson but the "Jock" confirms that he was of course Scottish. His age was 53 when he died in 1903, so sometime between 1850 and then he'd likely emigrated to South Africa and ended up in this remote spot.

Had he witnessed the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879 or had he made his journey after that and the later Boer War conflicts? At this stage I don't know and it won't be easy finding out but, seeing 'Jock's' grave all the way out here close to Rorke's Drift with the infamous iSlandwana hill in the background was really quite moving. To think that I may have a family connection so close to the sites that I have been fascinated with for much of my life is really quite something.

Jock's headstone looks towards iSlandwana hill

I of course wanted to show my respect and together with a local flower, placed a small cross on Jock's grave which Kate from our group had kindly and selflessly given me.

Today is the 15th May, the anniversary of his death so, whether we're related or not Jock, I'll be thinking of you, rest in peace.

Out in Africa!

Wish Me Luck!

Bannockburn: On Dangerous Ground!

Wonderful panoramic panel of Conor Boyle's Battle of Bannockburn artwork!

Just a quick mention of an unexpected comic bonus from my Dundee Comic Expo trip when avoiding our usual motorway service station stops, we instead stopped for lunch at the newly refurbished Bannockburn visitor centre near Stirling.

Mighty impressive the centre looked, befitting for the forthcoming 700th anniversary and is one we will defiantly plan to visit properly when we have time, maybe as part of this year's Homecoming festival?. However my wee foray into the gift shop provided unexpected dividends when I discovered that the much anticipated Battle of Bannockburn graphic novel had been released and was on sale!

My excitement stemmed not just from my natural Scottish historical and comic connections but from the fact that the book's art is provided for by the talented and very good friend of Accent UK, Conor Boyle! I first heard about the book over a year ago from Conor and his wife, Lizzie, (of Disconnected Press fame!) and had short updates as we bumped into each other at last year's comic shows. I've not seen them so far this year so this was indeed an unexpected find and one i look forward to reading.

The graphic novel written by historian Fiona Watson comes partly in colour and 3D no less and can be purchased direct from the National Trust for Scotland's website here. Good luck to all involved with its production.

Moments in Dundee!

Dan's surprised that Colin's much shorter in real life!

Aye, Aye fit like? Oops sorry gone 'all Doric' after being home for the Dundee Comics Expo - that's what happens when Gentleman Dave isn't around with his Earl Grey tea!

Anyway I'm glad to report that the Dundee Comic Expo was a good one with decent sales for Accent UK, actually selling more books than the year before so quite happy. This may have been down to my son Adam's keen promotional skills as he joined me on the table for the first time since last year's amazing Glasgow MCM, but probably was more to do with the joint manga/anime event taking place across the quadrant, Dee-Con, which attracted big crowds which were shared across both venues.

A glimpse of the Dee-Con  crowd after the queue had gone down!

Actually next to the beast that was Dee-Con, the Comic Expo was a modest affair with less exhibitors than the year before and no 'big' comic names in the way that Bryan Talbot, David Lloyd, Gary Erskine (and others) had previously provided. There wasn't a huge attendance but rather a steady flow of folk which made for a nice relaxed stream of browsers and buyers. Many were new to Accent UK but there were also returning readers, so the show was great value to us in showcasing our books north of the Border.

The obligatory 'stand by your table' picture!

The University of Dundee's Chris Murray and Phil Vaughan deserve great praise in organising and setting up the Comics Expo. They ensured that the cream of Scotland's independent comic creators were there in abundance including Black Hearted Press, Planet Jimbot, Rough Cut Comics and Team Girl Comics alongside D C Thomson's Commando and Glasgow's Plan B shop and others. It's a shame that their fine programme of talks and panels wasn't better attended but that was probably just a symptom of the casual flow of visitors into the expo making things seem a little sparse at times.

Jim Alexander holding fort

Being based 'doon sooth' I'm still finding my way round the Scottish comics scene so was pleased to have time to chat to many of the other exhibitors especially the likes of Jim Alexander who I've met a few times now and like me had his son there to help him out!

Colin and Treehouse Comic's Andy Herd do a bit of neighbourly sketching

Our table neighbours were new to me, Treehouse Comics, a recently established Dundee based collective who have already released their second anthology title, called of course Treehouse issue 2! They were a fine friendly bunch with 4 or 5 of their creators in attendance playing table tag. It was enjoyable chatting to them and hearing their enthusiasm and I'll be very interested to see what they come up with in the future.

Can you tell what it is yet?

I also caught up with Graham Neil Reid and Jeremy Briggs, Allan Lowson (of Back Street Heroes biker magazine fame), and a few others which is always fun and another valuable part of these shows. Adam's help meant that I wasn't stranded behind the table as I'd largely been the year before but the friendly relaxed atmosphere encouraged lots of conversations but maybe that's just the Scottish friendly nature?

Kirsteen, Colin and Winnie!

To my delight, my Zulu:Water Cart Rescue comics again sold well and I was even asked to do a special Zulu themed sketch of Winnie the Pooh which I enjoyed doing - thanks Kirsteen! Actually my Zulu comic stocks are now very much depleted so I am seriously considering a reprint to bring both issues together in a single volume? Of course I also desperately need to produce something new which an event like this always inspires me to do, so let's see what I come up with. I think maybe that July's Glasgow Comic-Con is a realistic deadline to aim for finishing one of my in progress projects....

Anyway thanks again to the Dundee Comics Expo team, I hope that they were as pleased with the day and that it becomes the regular comic event that Dundee deserves. Thanks also to Adam for his fine company and for taking the day's photos!

Zulu Pooh reporting for duty Sah!

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'!

MCM Moments in Birmingham!

Ah, been  a really hectic week or so since Accent UK's appearance at the Birmingham NEC's MCM & Memorabilia show so here's my review of the show.

From a purely comic sales perspective the show was a little disappointing. After last year's MCM madness in Glasgow and Manchester we had high expectations, but in the end only sold about 1/2 as many books as at those one day shows, so with Birmingham being a full weekend, it was disappointing.

I enlist some help to snare a few comic customers!

Chatting to folk it was hard to pinpoint reasons why, the attendance itself seemed busy enough and comparable with Glasgow and Manchester but the comic village didn't seem to get the same footfall that those shows had. It reminded us of the early MCM London shows we tried when the thousands of teenage cosplayers didn't seem too interested in the comics side of things - something I understand that London has 'grown' out of as its attendance has since soared and comic village regulars enjoy brisk trade, (something we will test for ourselves when we return to London in May!).

You could buy anything at MCM but these weren't the droids I was looking for....

I understand that this Birmingham show is a different beast to others in the MCM stable in that it has Incorporated the long established Memorabilia shows which ran for many years. There was evidence of this both in the media star signings and the dealer hall with various toy, book, magazine and vinyl record dealers amongst the regular MCM roster of manga, prints, t-shirts, accessory stalls etc. I think Dave and I rather enjoyed this eclectic mix of dealers with some unusual finds amongst the many stalls - old Lion annuals for Dave and a couple of Zulu movie lobby cards for me!

Alexander and me - despite a slow day, Zulu sold first & sold out!

It may be though that the comic village hasn't yet matured in its own identity within this varied show and struggled to make itself heard. There were some 'hotspots' though with a couple of comic exhibitors doing well but for the majority it was pretty modest stuff.

Dave, Stu and Col share the love!

As always though it was still a very enjoyable time catching up with old and new friends including Steve Tanner of Time Bomb comics, Paul Birch of the Birmingham Mail's Speech Balloons column, Lou aka Naniiebim, Rudra and Lyndon White, (whose promising Cosmic Fish comic is imminent!), Jeremy of the popular  Zombie Bear Comics and of course the irrepressible force that is Stuart Gould of UK Comics Creative. 

Here's me & Jemma about to bust open the 'Colin the Caterpillar' birthday cakes Karen had bought!

As we had the capable Jemma and Scott with us, Dave and I took the opportunity for a few wanders and a coffee to reflect on where we are with Accent UK - something we of course regularly do - but we've had a growing feeling that we're a little 'muddled' in our own identity, possibly mirroring the MCM/Memorabilia's own identity crisis! We also had some valuable constructive feedback from folk we trust so are mulling these over at the moment and hopefully will implement a few positive changes going forward. Nothing overly drastic, maybe just a timely 'resetting' of where we are and what we want to achieve, mmm well that does sound rather drastic and serious doesn't it - anyway I've asked Dave to keep all this under his hat for now............

Dave struggling to contain his ideas hat !