Reflections on 2018

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Firstly, a big thank you to all of you who have visited this blog over the past 12 months (and in previous years). Your interest in my work means a lot to me and I hope you've enjoyed your visits. 

It's been a steady year, in work and personal life. No huge changes, and thankfully no crisis. It was a great thrill and honour to be asked to create a brand new series of Big Eggo stories for The Beano's 80th anniversary year. Work on Toxic, Doctor Who Magazine, and Epic continued, I revived Derek the Troll for the digital comic Goof!, and I was able to publish three of my own comics; Combat Colin Nos.2 and 3 and Pedantic Stan, The Comics Fan. 

(If you're interested on ordering my comics you can get them exclusively from me:
http://lewstringer.com/page7.htm )

It was also a privilege to be invited to 13 comic cons this year. (It would have been 15 but I had to drop out of two.) Some were new to me, such as the excellent TFNation, STC25, and Nice Comic Con, and some were old favourites such as Macc-Pow!, London Film and Comic Con, and ICE. A good mixture, and varied locations all across England. My thanks to all the organisers for their hard work and hospitality, and to everyone who stopped by my table and/or came to a panel I was on.

My convention dates so far for 2019 are....

MANCHESTER COMIC FEST
27th April 2019
Wythenshawe Forum
www.facebook.com/manchestercomicfest/


To Be Announced:
Saturday 11th May 2019

To Be Announced:
Saturday 18th May 2019

COMICS SALOPIA
1st and 2nd June 2019
Shrewsbury
https://comicssalopia.com

To Be Announced:
22nd June 2019

ICE 2019
Saturday 31st August 2019
Edgbaston Cricket Ground
Birmingham
B5 7QU
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ice-birmingham-2019-tickets-52230273153


To Be Announced:
28th and 29th September 2019

Thanks also to my editors, and to my friends in the comics industry, some I've known for 40 years, some I've only met this year. It's always good to spend time with people who have similar interests and outlooks, as well as being constantly amazed at their talent.

Last but not least, a big thank you to my friends outside of comics, for being good pals and for all the laughs. 

Next year...? I hope I continue to be busy but it's a precarious business and with Brexit on the way who knows what damage it will wreak. If people take a financial hit, comics are the last thing they'll be spending money on. Time will tell.

I do have one new project I'm about to start work on but I can't reveal anything about that yet. I'll post info here in a few months. 

I'll also be selling some of my old Fleetway art on eBay sometime over the next several weeks. 

Beyond that, I'm planning to publish Combat Colin No.4 in April, and No.5 around September. It will now be a six issue series, with possibly a smaller "No.6 and a half" issue to reprint the material that came after the Transformers stories. Again, more news will be posted here as it develops.

Finally, may I wish you all a very Happy New Year! Please keep following this blog for updates, and post your feedback in the comments section below. Best wishes for 2019!