Floating High on a Thought Bubble!

Well, that was fun! My first Thought Bubble Comic Art Festival since 2018 (and its subsequent move to Harrogate), was simply amazing! Thank you to the organisers, volunteers, fellow exhibitors, creators and everyone I met, chatted to or waved at, you all helped make for a wonderful experience.

Although I'm a show veteran now and, (pre-2018), a Thought Bubble regular, I was feeling a little anxious about this one, being as it had been a four-year break, was, to me, a new location and the first time I was 'flying solo' at the UK's largest and best comics focused event. However, with Scott by my side, (when not attending the retailer special events) and a warm reception from everyone I encountered, I was soon at ease and once again blown away by the sheer creative endeavour on display!

I saw so many familiar faces that I hadn't seen for so long and who don't attend the other events I do, that I spent much of the first day just smiling, chatting and waving at folks from behind my table - don't worry I won't attempt to name them all, but if you were among them thank you and sorry for those I missed. With some 400+ tables and exhibitors and guests, its near neigh impossible to see everyone you want, let alone have a decent look round the three, (yes three!) massive halls themselves.  

The prolific Colin Maxwell 
with a couple of his latest
published Commando titles!

It really was incredible to see the rich diversity of creative talents on display with a warm inclusive atmosphere throughout, it really felt like something special, which of course it was and I appreciated being back and part of it.

Of course, working the show, I only saw a small part of it and heavy Friday traffic meant I missed the launch of the Ian Kennedy Art exhibition which I was planning to see, and finding somewhere to eat in the evenings proved challenging. However, I was able to chat with members of Ian's family and the team who had put on his exhibition, which runs to January and may then re-locate elsewhere, so I should be able to visit at a later date, so didn't spoil an otherwise excellent weekend.

The Red Guard - not a lobster as
I mistakenly called her!

Sale wise, I did better than I expected, given the economics and size of the event, not record sales like I experienced at this year's MCM and Asylum Steampunk events but comfortably my best ever Thought Bubble tally so I'm very pleased. There were some lovely comments about my work, art style and enthusiasm for my next project, which is all very encouraging in the scheme of things so I'm rather upbeat about my comics future at the moment.

A fun pair who recognised me
from the Asylum Festival!

On my little sorties from the table, I also managed to buy or receive a rather decent haul of comic goodies - photo to follow - so I've plenty to keep me quiet in the months ahead, albeit I still missed out on getting everything I'd planned to.

So there we go, didn't get to take many photos or get to the epic mid-show party but I greatly enjoyed the event itself and the company of those I met, chatted and dined with, thanks to all and hope to see you next time!

Thought Bubble 2022 - a Return!

Yay, first time at Thought Bubble since their move to Harrogate, if you're there, please drop by and say hello - I'm exhibiting in the Comixology Hall, table 146 :) 

MCM a Smash!

Wow that was something! When you've been doing events for a long time, it's easy to take them for granted in a way but in this new 'living with covid' world, there's been a certain joy in returning to things and enjoying yourselves again. This was certainly the case with last weekend's London MCM Comic-Con event which, like it's earlier spring show, was a blast!

These fine Father Ted folks kept me chuckling for ages! 

I've not heard any official figures, but it felt even busier that the May event, which itself was a record breaker, with huge crowds and increased footfall in our Artist Alley area, meaning good to great sales for most people. Without my new graphic novel, I didn't quite match May's record-breaking tally, but came close to it, so very pleased.

Scott enjoying his break from selling comics at his shop!

Having Scott, (returning to his first MCM since 2019), really helped so I had some company and assistance at the table which makes a difference. That said, I still didn't wander around the show much, other than my favourite TinTin pop-up shop, so didn't really see the event itself or everyone that I would've liked to have caught up with.

There was near constant browsers and conversations at the table and selling out of the little watercolour sketches I do with the Moments packs, meant I had to work hard to quickly prepare more, some to customer order! All great stuff and it's nice to be popular!

Howard & Vicky smashing it!

As always there was some great cosplay and where I could, I got a few snaps, thanks to all for obliging and posing, particularly long-time readers Howard and Vicky who were cosplaying for the first time and did a great job! There was a real friendly vibe at the show despite the crowds with folks really enjoying themselves.

Arthur & The Tick

The Fat Controller

We stayed over Sunday as well to give ourselves a wee break and easier journey home which we needed after a fun and successful weekend, already looking forward to next year, fingers-crossed, when I'll make sure I have some new material and plenty of art prepared!

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 :) 

Tripwire Award Results!

Thanks to all who voted for Accent UK in the recent Tripewire Magazine Awards, we were runners-up in their UK Independent/Small Press category! A very commendable result and a nice swansong of sorts.

Thanks to all who took the time to vote for us and congratulations to all winners and nominees.

Please visit Tripwire's site through this link for the full list of winners :)

Farewell To The Queen

Lilibet and the Queen image © Speakeasy

Learning of Her Majesty's passing yesterday, shortly after I updated this blog, was a bit of a shock and while not a royalist, her passing deserves respect for her longevity, service and the loss her family and many more will mourn. Farewell Queen.

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