Seeya, CCUK

Alexi had previously contributed to the first of the Comic Creatives UK anthologies, and is pleased to have a couple of stories in the third CCUK anthology, available to read free now!

(cover by Brett Burbridge & Owen Watts)

I Just Wanted To Say (art by Lomcia) is a wry look at people's capacity to choose to say really inappropriate things at the most inappropriate times.

What We Fight For... (art by James Newell) questions the varied motivations that give determination to your classic band of epic fantasy heroes.

Alexi was once again chuffed that such talented artists worked on stories he'd scripted. CCUK, the Discord forum, is coming to an end, but, in addition to three anthologies, it offered support and encouragement to a huge number of comic creators in the UK and around the world; it was a Good Thing.

Caught at the Court

 Having previously contributed to the 2021 and 2022 jams, Alexi now feels he cannot stop, so submitted a little game for One-Page RPG Jam 2023. Court of Whispers is a game of diplomacy and negotiation, themed around being some dreadful nobles, who've done dreadful things, who are trying to discover and reveal each other's dark secrets so they lose face in court, while trying to keep their own misdeeds secret. To be honest, it feels a little unstructured - after the setup, there's a bit of an onus on the players to come up with strategies to negotiate and lie successfully, but if you like that kind of thing, this light TTRPG/social game hopefully provides a fun framework to enjoy stitching up your friends. You can get it, and Alexi's other One-Page RPG Jam entries from alexiconman.itch.io.

A Comic Tribute To BOLT-01 Partly By BOLT-01

Dave Evans was a big influence on Alexi and on the whole UK comic scene. Alexi was shocked and saddened at his untimely passing in 2021. That it has inspired multiple tribute projects (including, for example, the Comic Creatives UK Discord community) is a testament to the impact Dave had on comic-makers.

The latest, BOLT-01: A Tribute To Dave Evans, is, fittingly, a bumper 140-page classic sci-fi comic anthology, put together by Alan & Ed of Sentinel comic, with all profits going to charity. It features some great comics by a load of creators who were friends with and had worked with Dave - and even includes several pieces that Dave himself had collaborated on.

One of these pieces is a story (originally written for FutureQuake) by Alexi called 'Mogsters'. It's an absolutely foolish tale of cyborg cats and gangsters, but artist Andy Meanock did a delightful job with it, bringing out all the fun and silliness that had been hoped for in the script (and the lettering by Dave is, of course, spot on).

It would be impossible to fully pay tribute to Dave and his contribution to comics via a short comic, but in a weird way, a daft, cheery sci-fi comic about cats perhaps is appropriate - it wouldn't exist without him and a lot of people, Alexi included, very much remember the cheeriness that Dave brought to the UK comic scene.

More info about the anthology here, and you can order digital or physical copies via the Kickstarter.

To recap:

• Big ol' comic, full of loads of quality work
• Tribute to a legend
• All profits from the comic go to the charity Survivors Of Bereavement By Suicide
• Cyborg cats
• Deadline is 9th April (or 10th? Around then! Don't wait!)

Go! Go and buy a copy ASAP!