Thanks to everyone who came along to the Tempo Lush launch night at Gosh Comics last Friday. There was an amazing turnout which made for a fantastic evening (for me anyway)!
GETTING READY FOR THE LAUNCH
So glad I was working with Rich Hardiman of Comic Printing UK who got all four of the new titles ready and delivered in time for the big day… 
Always important to compare a printers proof of your book with your cat…
Other things that needed to be done included practicing the musical section of the party with Bang! Crash! Whizz! artist Sally-Anne Hickman! Much of this went down in Hyde Park.
THE LAUNCH NIGHT
So arriving at Gosh I knew I was in good hands as Hannah, Andrew and Steve, part of Gosh’s crack team helped get everything just right. Nice to see the new books laid out on display!
One thing I’d forgotten to organise was someone to take some nice event photos, so I was delighted and relieved that amazing photographer Mauricio Molizane De Souza was on hand taking some wonderful pics. Unless otherwise stated, all the photos of the night in this post were skillfully taken by Mauricio!
The shop soon had a busy and friendly buzz inside…
I was thrilled that so many contributors to the new comics turned up for the occasion. For those who couldn’t make it, we displayed their portraits, as drawn wonderfully by Keara Stewart (see below) so Francesca Cassavetti, Tim Hassan, Mike Medaglia and Aaron Murphy were certainly there in spirit!
After some fun mingling, Steve Walsh Of Gosh and South London Hardcore fame got the crowd’s attention…
CHATTING WITH ALEX FITCH
Alex Fitch made me feel very comfortable chatting through the new releases as we stood on a make shift stage made up of two benches!
Nice to hear the people’s cheers as each artist’s work was displayed on the screen to our right.
Alex is such a skilled interviewer and comics and film journalist he makes it very easy to chat to him even in front of a crowd!
Pic below by David O’Connell…
ROSIE AND JACINDA: DEMON CLOUD
Here’s the amazing team behind one of the books launched on the night, the second volume of teenage fairytale Manga, Rosie and Jacinda.
Top row left to right: Jade Sarson (For the Love of God Marie!, Cafe Suada), Francesca Dare (Penny Blackfeather), Chie Kutsuwada (King of a Miniature Garden, Self Made Hero’s As You Like It), Van Nim and me
Far right: Zarina Liew (The Art of Sleep, Le Mime)
Bottom middle: Inko (Ketsueki (Markosia), Rachel Moves To Brighton)
So proud to have worked with this lot!
Inkos’ cover looked amazing projected as a backdrop to the party!
Inko (left) and Chie travelled up from Brighton for the evening, with Inko cosplaying as one of the Rosie and Jacinda characters, Aaron!
That’s the first time anyone’s cosplayed as a character I’d co-created. So cool!
Award winning creator, Jade made it to the event all the way from Milton Keynes.
Here’s Francesca chilling with our good friend and Limehouse Comics associate Chantel Beaven.
Was touched that Francesca had painted me a lovely pic of the Pumfles (introduced in the new comic), to mark the event. So cute!
BANG! CRASH! WHIZZ!
Also launched was my first creator-owned kids comic, Bang! Crash! Whizz! as drawn by the amazing Sally-Anne Hickman.
Sally-Anne and me had great fun performing a musical version of the story, to a visual display of the illustrations. Engineered with great skill by Richard Carter.
Photo above by David O’Connell.
So nice that crowd seemed to enjoy it, no guitar strings broke, we remembered most of the words and we didn’t fall off the benches! 
TEMPO LUSH TALES
The biggest book launched on the night was Tempo Lush Tales, an anthology of stuff I’d written with no less than thirteen artists handling drawing duties!
Here’s good bud and artist Paul Shinn…
The talented Matt Boyer…
Portrait artist Keara Stewart… 
The cheery smile of Steve Walsh, writer of many fine things including the Tempo Lush Tales foreword…
Martin Eden chatting with comic creator Tammy Taylor and fellow Tempo Lush Tales artist Karen Rubins… 
Keara and her fella checking out the anthology…
Matt and Paul soaking in the launch party vibe.
There’s comic maker Anna Dowsland on the left!
Signing a copy of the book…
For the second musical performance of the night Sally-Anne and I were joined by musician and Tempo Lush Tales artist Steve Horry. We only had two run-throughs (in the Gosh offices!) with Steve who had learned the song on the day, but being the smooth professional he is, he sounded fantastic.
Pic below by Inko.
We performed the song Save Night-Time for my Dreams which Mike Medaglia had visually interpreted for the collection. You can see one of Mike’s pictures in Keara Stewart’s photo below.
What an honour to have all these talented artists work with me!
Top row left to right: Chie Kutsuwada, Karen Rubins, Paul Shinn, Matt Boyer, Steve Horry, Martin Eden and Steve Walsh
Bottom row left to right: Inko, Van Nim, me and Keara Stewart
Keara was kind enough to give all the contributors framed original drawings of the portraits she’d done.
My one is now hanging in my studio…
LUCY THE OCTOPUS: ANY LESS THE FREAK
Fun to see my artwork from the third volume of Lucy the Octopus projected in Gosh...
So the line up of creators working on the final comic released on the night is… just me!
Excellent then that someone else had been up to something Lucy related.
Why it’s cake maker and blogger, Jess Cave!
Jess made a big and delicious batch of Lucy the Octopus cakes!
Dr Pepper flavour no less!
Photo above by Paul Shinn.
The cakes made for a perfect combination with comics and music – my kind of night!
SO THERE YOU GO!
Thanks to all the amazing people who were involved with the comics and the party!
Back row left to right: Karen Rubins, Paul Shinn, Matt Boyer, Martin Eden
Next row left to right: Zarina Liew, Chie Kutsuwada, Sally-Anne Hickman, Francesca Dare, Jess Cave, Steve Walsh
Next row left to right: Jade Sarson, Inko, Van Nim, Keara Stewart
Me in the centre
Richard Carter at the bottom
You can buy any of the four comics plus other Tempo Lush stuff here!
I’ll leave you with one final Lucy cake that made it home.
Peace!
SALLY-ANNE HICKMAN
TAMMY TAYLOR
