Water Closet @ Bristol Comic Expo 2013

Water Closet Press is pleased to report that we had a delightful time at the Bristol Comic Expo this past weekend. This was our second time at Bristol and, while we did enjoy last year (despite some mixed reviews from fellow exhibitors and attendees), this year was better by far. We more than doubled our sales (more of a testament to the fact that we came out with a second issue since then than our skills as snake oil salesmen), and it was really encouraging to have people who picked up Ladies & Gentlemen #1 last year mention that they had been looking forward to getting the sequel. One kind gentlemen even bought some pages of original art!
 

The historic Brunel Old Station was a fitting setting to sell the Victorian-themed L&G.  The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly, and we got the distinct feeling that the comics present were the comics that everybody in the room were reading anyway; that we were all in it together, were all part of something.

Our evening activities on Saturday consisted mainly of being serenaded by a mono-toothed Sinatra-singing geezer who staggered over to the table we were sitting at in an Irish pub. It was quite endearing at first, but soon turned in to more of a hostage situation by the fourth or fifth time he sang the apt lyrics “Please release me, let me go.”  Then, perhaps inevitably, he turned out to be a wee bit racist, so that was the end o’ that.

Sunday proved to be the nicest day of the two, providing us with a chance to go and meet a whole bunch of other creators and confirm our theory that Stuart Gould of UK Comics, who prints our books, is in fact single-handedly running the entire British comics scene. We chatted with (and swapped books with) a whole bunch of folks who are increasingly becoming the pillars of the Small Press, including but not limited to:

The conglomerate of lovely chaps generating the eternal feedback-loop that is LOU SCANNON / THE PRIDE / STIFFS;  the wonderfully embeardened and bubbly RAZARHAWKS duo (I was drawn!) ; the master anthologists of the DISCONNECTED PRESS; Mark Pearce, responsible for the maniacally hilarious RONIN DOGS (and the TMNT poster to my left); Owen Watts and his many comic-fingers in many comic-pies; Andrew Scaife and his debut comic NEW YORK PARK; and Jon Lock of the glorious AFTERLIFE INC.  Not to mention all the other folks who were kind enough to stop by our cramped little table and chew the fat about comics.  Thanks to you all for your interest and support.

Whewph! All in one fantastic weekend.

NOTE: Despite us not appearing on the list of exhibitors on their website (silly us), don't forget that we will indeed have a table at the upcoming MCM LONDON COMIC CON on the Saturday and Sunday, May 25-26th. Hope to see lots of new faces, and some of those faces we met in Bristol!

WATER CLOSET TV

At the Thought Bubble convention a few months ago (which you don't know anything about because we never did get around to posting a report on it), Richard and I were caught on camera by SciPulse for a brief interview about Ladies & Gentlemen...

Now I remember why I choose to draw comics, safely behind my bristol board.  Having said that, the misspelling of my surname in the video may not be a coincidence.

While we're at it (and now that I've figured out how to embed a video), we might as well dig this one up for you.  It was made by our friend Jo Howell and was shortlisted for the Impact Yorkshire! contest after a showing at the Hyde Park Picture House in Leeds, May 2012.

Thanks for watching, reader!

Signing off,
Jordan

ISSUE 2 PREVIEW - LIONS AND RATKIN AND WERE-HYENAS, OH MY!

I don't know about you, but I like to spend a while looking at the interiors of a comic before I buy it. You can never trust those fancy covers. Well we've concocted a virtual flip-through of Curse of the Were-Hyena Part 2 to give you that luxury.  Click on the image to open it on a separate page for an up close look-see...

 

...And to think we left out some of the best bits!

KEEP CALM AND BUY A POSTER

Water Closet is pleased to present you these new poster designs to accompany the release of Issue 2.  There's one for him, for her, and for everyone in between!  They will be available at this weekend's London MCM Expo and Thought Bubble in November.  If you can't make it to either, we'll keep you "posted" as to when you can order your very own copy straight from the world wide web.  We hope you enjoy them... British and so on and so forth.

 

Available in size A4 and limited stock of A3.

UPCOMING EVENTS AND OTHER UPDATES

Last week, after pulling an all-nighter-and-a-half, the artwork to Ladies & Gentlemen Issue 2 was sent off to very capable hands of Stuart Gould of UKComics.   I feel like I've been working double-shifts in this last month, coming home from work and diving straight into drawing and (with my wife having long since gone to sleep) nothing to prompt me to stop but for the stinging of my eyes. Now I can sleep easy... or rather, wake up from stressful dreams of last-minute printing problems or art mistakes that don't really make sense but nonetheless can't be solved.  At least I know this happens to the writer and not just the artist; Rich told me he had a dream where I drew all the characters as X-Men and refused to see why that was stupid.  "Ladies and Gentlex-men"??

As soon as they're printed and I receive that glorious package at my doorstep, we're going to be hitting the cons and shop stands armed with some 200+ copies of Issue 2 and another 100+ copies of Issue 1.  Kicking it off will be the London MCM Expo on October 26th, the first time Rich and I have had a table there (but the second time we will have been, after our flopped experience at the Eagles Awards this past summer).  If you haven't been before, it's an insanely busy event crammed with hordes of costumed animangalescents (and the occasional disconcerting princess something-or-other with a beer belly and 5 o'clock shadow).  This should translate into being the biggest convention for team Water Closet so far and hopefully our most successful - a good launch venue for our sequel volume.  Otherwise, it's a great place to go if not just for the people-watching and should keep us endlessly entertained as the masses flow by our table in their pan-gendered garb.

After that, of course, it's up and over to Leeds for the darling of all comic conventions, Thought Bubble, where the winners of the Northern Sequential Art Competition will be announced.  I'm rather excited about our entry, so fingers crossed.  This will be the first time I'll have to travel to get there, since I've been lucky enough to live right in Leeds for the other years Thought Bubble's been going.  The consequences of moving to the South West, I suppose... but hey there's always Bristol again this May, and then Rich will have to haul his heiny down here.

Anyway, I don't know why I'm telling you all this in advance.  We should be writing about our experiences at these things when they actually happen.  Until then, the REASON I'm typing this in the first place is to let you know that ISSUE TWO IS FINALLY DONE.  It's journey to the prin-ters is now com-pLEET.  And that in the meantime every page of ISSUE ONE IS NOW ONLINE FOR FREE in dazzling technicolour (black and white) so you can catch up.  But by no means let that stop you from buying a good ol' fashioned paper and ink copy to put on your book shelf if you like it.  We're ever so poor and hungry fellows.  I'll also add shivering.  That invokes a certain pity associated with puppies, I think.  The kinds with their little ribs showing.

Ooh ooh, and we also have a little feature on Geek Syndicate this week for their "Autumn of Indie" elevator pitch.  Kinda nifty, and I'm interested to see what other independent comics crop up there.

So come on down to London or Leeds while we're there and we'd love to chat with you and put a copy or two in your hands.  If you can't make it to either of those, I'll be going around Bristol peddling our wares at the local comic shops (Excelsior looks promising), and we are available as always at Travelling Man and OK Comics in Leeds, and on our Emporium page.

Holy smokes! Being cooped up too long has clearly heightened my rambling disposition.  Time to stretch my back, (pretend to) crack my knuckles, scrub away the ink smears and hit the open road... I'm trembling with excitement.

Signing off,

Jordan 

HYENA MATRIARCH SKETCH

Ladies & Gentlemen Issue 2 is filled with more horrible hybrids than ever before, including this beautiful beasty. She's a were-hyena with attitude, a fitting foe for our feisty female to fight.  Take a sneak-peek here!

Posted with Blogsy

Eagle Award Nominees

Morning all. Some of you may be disappointed that there was no Teaser Tuesday this week. For that we can only apologise and instead bring you some good news. Jordan is currently on vacation with his new in-laws but on his return shall be commencing the art work for Ladies & Gentlemen Issue 2.

Another bit of outstanding news is that the Water Closet are now EAGLE NOMINATED creators in "The Huntsman's Challenge," The Eagle Awards' New Talent Competition. We were ranked first and second for story and art respectively for our short story The Land of All Sorts!

It's now down to you guys to help us go over the edge and send us to the MCM Eagles Award Ceremony in May. You can read both the nominees here (or read ours by clicking on the image above) and cast your votes... don't forget to verify by email. This would really mean so much to us and we can't thank you all enough for your support. Fingers crossed!

Furthermore, up until the release of issue 2 we will be releasing a new page of issue 1 each week meaning that issue 1 will become completely free to read online! Wowzers!

All the Best

Rik



**UPDATE**


Sadly, despite being one of the contestants to actually bother showing up, we didn't win the contest. But congrats to Alex Wilson from the US who managed to clinch it (check him out at alexwilson.com/comics/). Aside from our woefully broken hearts, we did have an otherwise great weekend in London drawing barnyard animals in undergarments for Tony Lee (who was lucky enough to win an award for his work writing for Dr. Who), and it was nifty seeing our story printed in the back of the MCM Expo programme. Next time, Gadget! Next time...

...(although there will be no next time seeing as it was announced that the Eagle Awards are now defunct).

in the gutters but looking at the stars....

Hey Ladies and Gents, another post for you all here. Firstly some business, We sold out in Travelling Man Leeds and OK Comics., we are in the process of arranging some restocking but til then you can always order online from our emporium. JC (who coincidentally got engaged over Christmas, hoorah!) is working on our exclusive online one page stories whilst as of today I have finished the script for issue two.

To wet your beaks for that, we also featured in this little documentary about comics creation that some of our friends made as a third year project. Check it out here!


We've been given so much support from friends and family and would like to give a huge thank you to each and everyone of you. I hope you enjoy Ladies and Gentlemen as much as we enjoy creating it. See you in the funny pages folks.

Rik