Richard Sala R.I.P

I wanted to mark the recent sad news that artist Richard Sala had died. He was a unique comics talent who had ploughed his own furrow in a series of regular and entertaining graphic novels which I greatly enjoyed. His imagination was fuelled by many things, resulting in a unique combination of macabre characters and settings with a strong horror vibe, not explicit, but suggestive and playfully grotesque, reminding you of some old forgotten b-movie.

I think it was his Delphine books where I first encountered his distinctive work. The story was serialised in four large oversize volumes by Fantagraphics just over 10 years ago and I had fun tracking them down as quickly as I could and devouring the story. My curiosity into the artist and his work luckily led me to his website from where he was selling off some of his art and I was privileged to purchase a couple of sequences from the Delphine books I'd been reading and have a few short communications with the man himself.

My interest piqued, I bought as many of his graphic novels as I could find - using the finding of his work in comic shops (alongside other distinct voices of Jason, Rick Geary & Tim Truman), as a kind of 'quirky quality benchmark' whether it would be worth me delving further into that store's stock in the, sadly too often superhero dominated comic marketplace. I was therefore able to build up a decent but still incomplete collection of his work, often with recurring characters and themes, some more succesful reads than others but all a delight to experience and enjoy his artistic talent.

It seems that my appreciation was not alone as there have been several moving tributes made to the man which, even if you are familar with his work are worth a read, even moreso, if you are not, in which case I encourage you to explore the fine legacy he has left.

 https://www.comicsbeat.com/rip-richard-sala/

 http://www.tcj.com/richard-sala-1955-2020/

 http://www.tcj.com/richard/

lhttps://spyvibe.blogspot.com/2020/05/remembering-richard-sala.html

VE Day

Despite the current strange times we're in, it's been heartening to see respects and tributes paid to the wartime generation who clearly suffered way more than we can imagine and still made it through, usually smiling.

I'm from a younger generation who thankfully never knew war or it's effects first-hand but it has of course been an ever present over our lifes through Remembrance, Momuments and tributes. Funnily enough much of the comics I love which entertained me as a child and still inspire me as an adult were born out of conflict and the Second World War in particular.

The Victor, The Hotspur, Battle, Wizard, Warlord and of course Commando were among the most popular, all relaying heroic tales of derring do to an eager readership both immediately after the war, and through subsquent generations. With modern perspective you do wonder perhaps why these were (and to some extent remain) so popular when the generation who had actually fought and lived the experience themselves largely rarely spoke about it. Maybe it was just such an overwhelming event that it was a way for, mainly, children to understand and process events without directly having to discuss it?

Who knows but reading those comics allowed me to gain a respect for those who had fought and learn a little of the tragic events which impacted the whole world in a way we've thankfully never seen, so it's more than appropriate that we pause to reflect and provide our own thanks.

Colin Mathieson artwork, Matt Soffe colours

The Tower King!

Catching up with reading led me to The Tower King, an exciting black and white reprint comic I'd picked up at Enniskillen Comic Festival a couple of years ago - yes I can be that slow!

This was the second edition of an authorised limited reprint from Hibernia Press, reprinting a complete story from the instalments first serialised in the New Eagle #1 to 24 back in 1982. This was a comic’s void period for me after leaving school the year before and having dropped comics as 'childish' as you did back then. I think I picked up the occasional Marvel Conan magazine around that time as, with its sword 'n' sorcery violence and sexual content it was at least considered for mature readers! Other than that though, comics passed me by for almost the whole decade, meaning I missed out on the period when comics grew up! So much of what was published back then remains unknown or new to me, such as The Tower King, a comic arguably more violent and gloomy than the Conan stories I was reading!

I think it was an online mention just before the Comic Fest by the very talented Leigh Gallagher, 2000AD artist on how the Tower King's Jose Ortiz had influenced his art that led me to seek out the issue at the event, that and the fact that the story's writer, Alan Hebden was also going to be in attendance for a rare convention appearance.

As it happened, although the one day event was hugely enjoyable I didn't get a chance to speak to Alan, (or sadly another attending legend, Carloz Ezquerra). I was exhibiting on my own and in the rare time away from the table couldn't commit to standing in line to patiently wait my turn, such are the joys of juggling creating and fandom - don't feel too sorry for me though, my table neighbours were the wonderful Cam and Isobel Kennedy who I was honoured to have a fun wee banter with.

In any case, having not at that time read The Tower King or recalling any of Alan Hebden's countless other comic stories for the then crowded British weekly comics market, I didn't feel too bad about that - in my defence, many of his earlier comic scripts were uncredited and having discovered Marvel comics around 1976, I'd largely moved away from British comics.

Anyhow, now finally reading the whole Tower King story, I can only say that it was my teenage loss; it's a great visceral frantically paced tale. Crammed into punchy 3 page instalments, it's tight script gallops along with no let up as our titular hero plunges from one death defying encounter to another, exploring the anarchic landscape of a London (and World, although we don't venture that far) left without electricity or government control.

Jose Ortiz's artwork is breath-taking, more than keeping up with the frenetic pace as danger and action explode off the page with countless groups of characters and ravagers rapidly introduced and overcome without drawing breath!

The pace is both the episodic story's boon and Achilles heel as, enjoyable as the whole experience is, it leaves no time for only the most basic of back story and characterisation, before coming to a rather abrupt end. But sometimes that is enough and perhaps like the Mad Max Fury Road movie, it's simply a case of going with the flow and enjoying the ride. I'm certainly glad I did, even if it took me a while to get there!

Hibernia's online store doesn't list any copies so probably ebay is your best bet of tracking a copy down or the original Eagle issues themselves? It's possible that the story could be collected by Rebellion under their fine Treasury of British Comics reprint programme, but the reprint credits the Dan Dare Corporation, so I don't know if that would impact on the rights?

Heart's Desire - The Movie!

Ha! Ha! That was truly wonderful! Thhe splendid Steam Over Ether virtual Steampunk Festival has unvieled the world premiere of the first Accent UK comic strip to be animated!

Heart's Desire was one my strips from last year's Return To The Asylum comic, ably coloured by the very talented Matt Soffe. As stated, the strip was inspired by a truly lovely moment at the previous year's festival, involving two members of the longstanding steampunk community (and Asylum Festival family), which I used as the basis of a story featuring their ertswhile personas, Count Rostov and Lady M.

The story was fun to produce and thankfully well received by readers and the couple themselves and that was more or less that, until a fairly recent online discussion between the Count's alter ego and myself led to a suggestion to apply the 'radio-play' treatment to the comic strip and well that was the easy part, Keith himself and of course Malika did the rest with a wee nod from Mr B.

Well you can now see for yourself how things turned out here where the finished video was revealed in all it's splendid glory, there's even an 'after credits' bonus scene of the moment that inspired the whole undertaking! Oh, the video starts about 2 or 3 mins in but worth watching the whole thing including the Brigadier's short reading before and some Scottish chap chuntering about comics afterwards :)

The SteamPaper Shopping Channel!

As part of this weekend's splendid and fun SteamPunk Over Ether virtual festival, support of the contributing artists, musicians and performers is encouraged, all of whom have had their incomes directly affected by cancellation of events and gatherings so if you are in a position to show them any support, please do so.

There will be a dedicated shopping channel featured on the Steampaper page at or around 3pm today  but please check the channel's schedule for confirmation. Don't forget though that all performances, demonstrations and chatter will be subsquently available for 'catch up' on videos on the Steampaper facebook page.

In that spirit, you can also purchase copies of some of our comics in print or digitally by contacting me or checking out the etsy store, any difficulty, please comment below, thank you.

Steam over Ether is here!

This weekend is the splendid Steampunk Online Festival, Steampunk Over Ether which is guaranteed to bring you some fun, surprises and entertainments across the ether far and wide!

Accent UK comics have already been involved in the festival's run-up with our wee interview alongside, Time Bomb comics friend and frontman, Steve Tanner - available to catch up here!

There are lots of more treats, demonstrations and musical performances to enjoy, so please check out the event's schedule and tune in when you can or catch up afterwards.

I should also mention, that on a personal note, I'm particularly excited for the festival's world premiere of an innovative 'comic-play-animation' of my steampunk story, 'Heart's Desire', dramatised by the characters themselves aka Count Rostov and Lady M!

I'll post a link to the comic video when available but please check out Steam over Ether's weekend schedule and Steampaper's own page to discover some splendid new diversions!

Hello There!

Hi there if you find yourself directed here through a link from some of our cancelled convention or festival appearances. I'm part of an independent comic creator collective producing a diverse range of comic strips and publications, please browse this blog and its links for various information, commentary and surprises on comic, history and related subjects.

Please also have a read of some of my short comic strips posted recently to provide an insight into what we do and a wee distraction to your day :)