Our dazzling 400-page art book celebrating the work of Louise Evans and Jonathan Edwards has been making some waves since its Foyles debut, but Louise and Jonathan live 200 miles from London and they really wanted to celebrate their book a little closer to home.

We hope you can join us between 2.30 and 6pm, to meet the team behind this amazing book. Felt Mistress herself, her partner, illustrator and toy designer Jonathan Edwards and the book’s editor and designer Woodrow Phoenix will be hosting an afternoon of creature-based creative celebration, which may include some live chat about the making of the book.

Various creatures featured in FM:CC, including those shaggy rockers The Furry Mayhem, Demetri the yeti and Goth heartthrob Edwin will be displayed around the shop in their felt majesty. Anyone buying a copy of the book on the day will get a wonderful and unique ‘creaturized’ portrait of themselves drawn by Jonathan. Also available will be limited edition prints by Jonathan Edwards and BSB’s gold vinyl toy of the strangely perky Tippy Winkles!

Early birds also get to sample tasty drinks and jelly beans courtesy of Jelly Belly Sodas. Sound good? See you there!

Chances are that by now you’ll have seen some of the images from the Felt Mistress: Creature Couture launch on your social network of choice (OK, maybe not Friendster), but we had so much fun we’re going to post some here, too. A huge thanks goes out to every single person who came to party and watch the conversation between Louise Evans, Jonathan Edwards and editor/book designer Woodrow Phoenix. Yet more gratitude goes to literary legends (and huge comics and graphic novels supporters) Foyles for hosting.

And, of course, how could we forgot the wonderful people of Jelly Belly UK and the equally lovely team at Tunnock’s for sponsoring the launch with their wonderful goodies:

Jelly Belly Gourmet Soda! The French Vanilla was our fave.

It took about 10 minutes for the Tunnock’s Teacakes to be decimated. This platter was initially twice the height!

Wish you could have been there? That gallant chap, Woodrow Phoenix, captured the exhibition part of the show via iPhone before the crowds poured in (with Lightt, you can click, hold and scrub forwards/back along the timeline at your own speed). Don’t forget that if you want to lean a few secrets of Felt Mistress’ craft, Foyles are also hosting a workshop with Louise this very weekend.

Can’t get to a Foyles and want the book? Grab one in our webstore! We’ve also got a limited edition pack with a golden Tippy (Felt Mistress’ signature creature) designer toy and all purchases before 31st December get entered into a prize draw to win the book’s cover star, Elspeth!

PS) As always, Sarah McIntyre was on the scene to deliver one of her always-amazing reports on events. Check it out!

Last Saturday at The Royal Armouries in Leeds, the first British Comics Awards Ceremony was held, after day one of the Thought Bubble Comic Festival. We are delighted to report that Nelson was voted the Book of The Year!

Editors Rob Davis and Woodrow Phoenix gave a very short, sharp thank-you speech and although Woodrow tried to prise the trophy out of Rob’s hands, there was no chance of breaking Rob’s iron grip. Congratulations to them and to all of the contributors whose combined efforts made Nelson the triumph that it is.

Blank Slate would like to thank the judges of the BCA for selecting Nelson as winner of the debut award as well as the committee for their original nomination of it. Also, we thank each and every reader and retailer out there for supporting the book; it’s a real honour. Our most sincere hope for the book is that it continues to do what the editors intended, show people the vast and diverse range of talent existing and emerging the UK scene.

And judging by Thought Bubble, that talent just continues to grow and grow. Here’s to  everyone making more great comics in 2013!

Also, be sure to check out Kenny talking about the awards and comics in the UK in general over on the Bookseller website. Does your local bookstore stock comics? Be sure to show them this if not!

The British Comic Awards is a brand new initiative to annually celebrate the very best in British comics, aiming to commend and highlight the best stories told by writers and illustrators over the past twelve months. In their own words: “Our awards recognise the finest examples of creativity, ingenuity, skill and originality in sequential storytelling in all genres and formats. We don’t distinguish between printed work and digital, or between published and self-published work; our only criteria is that the creator(s) be from the UK.”

We’re very pleased to report that our books have received three nominations this year.

Nominated in the category of “Best Book” is Blank Slate’s own Nelson, which was also nominated earlier this year for an Eisner Award.

Nominated in the category of “Best Comic” is The Accidental Salad, by Joe Decie.

Nominated in the Young People’s Comic Awards is Dinopopulous by Nick Edwards.

The first annual BCA Ceremony will be held at the Thought Bubble Comic Con, on Saturday 17th November 2012. Nelson editors Rob Davis and Woodrow Phoenix and Accidental Salad’s Joe Decie will all be in attendance. We’ll let you know what happens!

Do you know why Brazilian sports television is better? Their coverage of London 2012 will feature comics. No, you aren’t reading that incorrectly: it’s 100% true. Brilliant, huh?

Yesterday, SporTV’s London correspondant Marcelo Barreto stopped by the Detonator studio to interview Woodrow Phoenix and Simone Lia about Nelson. As part of the channel’s Olympics coverage, the channel are delving into London’s literary scene, interviewing all kinds of authors about their work.

We’re hoping to grab a copy of the footage when it airs during the games. Until then, Woodrow tells us that they covered a wide range of comics, from the depictions of London in the book, to their experiences of the city, The Olympic Park and Nelson representing the plurality of voices within the UK comics scene.

Still haven’t read the (ahem, Eisner-nominated) book? It’s available now in the Blank Slate webstore. If you have, be sure to let the newly-announced British Comic Awards committee know.

We’re honoured to hear that the Eisner Awards committee has selected NELSON as a nominee in this year’s Best Anthology category. Anyone who has followed the book from inception to release and beyond knows just how proud we are of the book: featuring 54 of the UK’s best and brightest comics creators from all areas of the industry, it’s genuinely great to see the book receive recognition in this way.

Check out Kenny’s impassioned rallying call for the book here: http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2012/nelson-and-the-eisners-hurrying-hurrying/ .

It’s been a big news day for our very own HARVEYJAMES so far. Head on over to the Inkstuds site to hear Robin McConnell chat with James about his Chalk Marks title A Long Day of Mr James-Teacher. The perfect primer on James’ work, the interview features talk about the comic, the trip to Korea that informed the book, his background in animation, the influence of Shintaro Kago, his dance skills and his current work. Also on the podcast, James well and truly blows the lid off his new full-length graphic novel project with Blank Slate: Zygote. Get excited about the upcoming book on the freshly-launched Zygote mini-site, here.

Also generating some noise following McConnell’s mention of it is James’ in-depth look at what he believes is the murderous subtext behind the entirety of Daniel Clowes’ career: It Is Only A Matter Of Time Before We Find Out Where Dan Clowes Hid The Bodies.

From HARVEYJAMES’ blog:

I think the most prevalent theme in his comics has been entirely overlooked, and it stares me in the face every time I see his stuff- that Dan Clowes wants to kill a lot of people, and has possibly already killed.  Let’s examine the evidence!

Clowes seems to position himself as the only right-thinking character on earth. Right from the early issues of Eightball, the rest of humanity are alternately described as maggots, ants, or vermin.

The earth is sick with humanity. There’s too many people. He equates them with lice.

The cure?

A machine gun!

For more, go check out the entire article on James’ blog today. Not before grabbing a copy of A Long Day of James-Teacher and sharing the good word of Zygote with all your Facebook & Twitter pals though. No sir.

We’re excited to see that Broken Frontier have selected Blank Slate for nomination three times across two categories in their 2011 reader-voted awards.

Vying for Best Original Graphic Novel are both Nelson and Luchadoras, which go against titles like Habibi and Infinite Kung fu for the gong.

Just as excitingly, we’re nominated in the Best Publisher category against the big four: Marvel, DC, Dark Horse and Image.

Who doesn’t love the underdog? Head on over to the ballot page now to help cause an upset.

This year’s holiday cheer is provided courtesy of our very own Mawil. Fresh from his UK mini-tour with fellow Blank Slater Uli Oesterle, Mawil put together this year’s card, featuring our very own Kenny “the Scottish Santa Claus” Penman and the angelic Iz Rips. The toppling pile of comics goodies in the back may or may not be inspired by our recent misadventures trying to load stock back into the van after Thought Bubble.

Those who can tear their eyes away from Mawil’s art long enough will find the following roster of Blank Slate artists on the back:

The eagle-eyed among you will no-doubt find a couple of surprises. All will be revealed in 2012!

We’re excited to announce that we’ll have a table at this year’s Comica Comiket, staffed by myself and Chalk Marks young guns Nick Edwards and Joe Decie. In the words of the venerable Director of Comica, Paul Gravett, himself:

The spectacular Great Hall at the Bishopsgate Institute is the new venue for Comica Comiket, the Comica Festival’s 6th one-day comics and art fair – bigger and better than ever, offering the best of British creators, publishers, small presses, graphic artists and suppliers under one roof. Throughout the day, top artists will be taking part on stage in the Comica Drawing Parade, with their live artworks and demos projected on a giant screen.

Here at Blank Slate we are huge supporters of free comic events as necessary to continue the rapid growth of readers in the UK. If you’re in the London area on Saturday 12th of November, consider it your duty to enthusiastically guide your friends, families, acquaintances, enemies and even total strangers to Comiket. See you there!