Steampunks in Space!

 

In a surprisingly busy end to a fairly quiet year for events, we have the middle of our three November events this weekend with Steampunks in Space!

Being held at the National Space Centre in Leicester, a venue familiar to me after I featured it in my popular 'Heart's Desire' story for Accent UK's Return To The Asylum anthology comic! 

The event has run for several years in conjunction with the Space Centre and The Ministry of Steampunk who host Asylum, The Town That Never Was and other splendid events that we try to attend or exhibit at when we can. Finally the stars have aligned allowing us, (well me really as the others can't attend), to countdown our liftoff to space!

Full details can be found at the Space Centre's website but be warned I think they have already almost sold out of tickets!

Salute Salute!

The splendid tote goodie bag given out!

Well that was fun! Just a brief word to accompany a few snaps from last weekend's SALUTE 2020(2021) wargames show at the Excel Centre, London Docklands. 

It was our first time exhibiting and attending and although we were a little nervous as to how comics would be received at a primarily wargaming event, we were pleased with our reception. Lots of curious browsers, interested persons and several surprises of folks recongising us and our titles from other comic conventions or events.

We sold decently given the circumstances and unfamiliarity but had many positive reactions to our comics, particularly my (mainly) historicaly based, Moments of Adventure series and our Asylum Steampunk books, the first of which quickly sold out of the comics I had! 

A closer look at our two 'special guests' !!

It was odd being at the familiar Excel Centre not surrounded by other comic artists, art stalls or cosplayers - although the Excel also hosted a Star Trek convention, so that at least felt 'normal' to me and I wasn't phased at all !!!

A wee look at the hall and one of the games tables

Thanks to the South London Warlords for being to host an event of this type in unusual and challenging circumstances and, while I understand from others that we were experiencing a very different and scaled back SALUTE, we still enjoyed the day and hopefully can return!

 

Ready for Action!

Great to return to London so soon after MCM Comic-Con, this time for SALUTE, the wargamming event.

It's been fun to prepare my special Moments Collector's Packs with exclusive prints, comics and original watercolours, mainly based around historical characters.

Salute to London!

"Comics Ahoy!" Yes, no sooner do we make our first trip to London in over two years, we return next weekend for our first ever wargaming event at SALUTE!

SALUTE is the annual showcase event from wargaming club, the South London Warlords and is now almost in it's 50th year and established as one of the largest, (if not the largest), wargaming event in the UK and possibly Europe!

Salute Salute!

It is therefore quite a thrill to attend for the first time with our comics and see if the crossover potential with gamers exists? If not, it still promises to be quite a spectacle.

We were due to attend the show's traditional April 2020 slot but well you know what happened to that.....The date then moved a couple of times before settling on November 13th, accommodated by the venue's availabilty and allowing a little distance before their next April 2022 event, fingers-crossed. 

The change in date was personally unfortunate as it now clashes with Thought Bubble, the UK's largest pure Comics Festival and one that we normally try to attend. Luckily though we have some flexibility so Accent UK's Dave and Gary will be in Harrogate while I'm in London and will be ably supported by guest attending creators' Kia Wordsmith's artist Ian Ashcroft and V2A Wasteland's co-creator, Drone!

I too will have my own guest star at Salute who I will not reveal quite yet!

So yes next weekend will see a return to the Excel at booth TE05 with a selection of Accent UK's finest Historical, Post-Apocalyptic, Steampunk & Western Horror comics, wish us luck!. 

 

 

Back with a bang!

Yay! After several enjoyable 'pop-up' events since the summer, we were delighted to safely attend our first 'big' event the other weekend at ReedPop's MCM Comic Con in London!

This was our first comic con since October 2019 so we were both excited and, given all that's happened since then, a little nervous too. Thankfully the Excel's protocol's and vast space together with a reduced capacity meant that attendeess could feel safe and distance themselves should they want to.

New table layout and 'Hadrian's Wall' behind!

That said it was still a busy affair for us, possibly with less attractions elsewhere, people made a point of exploring everything that was available so made their way to Artist's Alley (the re-branded  Comic Village) to see what was on offer. Overall we did better than we had expected in the circumstances and were happy with how things went.

We only had two hiccups; the new application process meant that Dave and I's tables were in seperate aisles but being virtually 'back to back' we weren't too concerned, until we saw the new safety feature of dividing walls around each table pairing meaning that we couldn't see each other let alone have a natter, ah well, safety first.

Dave's table - the view 'behind the wall'!

  The other hiccup? My puncture and delay the following day, back with a bang indeed!

Newark here we come!

At this time of year we're normally gearing up for one of our favourite events, the Asylum Steampunk Festival, but well for obvious reasons it's not happening but we are attending a much smaller scaled back, steampunk market in nearby Newark-on-Trent! 

It's obviosuly not the same - what is these days? - but it's a lovely gesture by the Ministry of Steampunk and the local council to accommodate those, like us, who had booked their accommodation in good faith and were intending to travel just for a well deserved break, so now there will be a steampunk flavour to Newark's regular artisan and food market this Sunday, market place, 10 am to 3pm.

We're looking forward to it and if half as enjoyable as both Blists Hill and Scott's Free Comic Book Day event we'll be happy - Dave may even wear his shorts! 

I've done a few English Civil War Sketches for Newark!

FREE COMIC BOOK DAY 2021!

After a fun and succesful return to Blists Hill a couple of weeks ago I'm delighted to confirm our next appearance, (with a further few to follow as some sense of 'normality' returns!).

Free Comic Book Day celebrates it's 20th anniversary this year as a global event amongst comic stores and stockists as a way of highlighting the comic industry and reminding readers, old and new, of it's uniqueness as a medium of entertaining storytelling.

To play our part in this annual celebration, Gary 'WesterNoir' Crutchley and I will be representing Accent UK alongside three other amazing local comic creators at Warrington's finest comic shop, Scott's Pops & Comics in the new Warrington Market!

Delighted to be part of this, not least of which because Scott is of course our eldest who bravely opened his shop last year during the pandemic and recently celebrated his first anniversary - no mean feat in the challenging circumstances!

All are welcome to join us for what promises to be a fun day, please check out Scott's Facebook event page here for full and further details! 

And if Warrington is a bit too far for you to travel, try a search in your own area to see what your local comic show is up to next weekend.