So this is it, my very first Blog (oh, the excitement!). As well as sharing info about my upcoming Small Press comics (more of that in a bit) I will be posting comments about comics in general. Y'know, stuff about which SP comics I like and what I think about what's going on in the mainstream titles that I am reading. That sort of thing.
Now, my first experience of SP comics was waaaaay back in the early 90's, long before I had heard of the term "Small Press". It was an anthology called "The Book Of Manifestations" and was published under the banner of "Searchville Comics". It was a mixture of sci-fi, horror, fantasy and humour strips and boasted some pretty good artwork, especially from my best mates brother, Aaron Pocock. The thing is, I was so caught up in my world of Marvel and Image comics at the time that I failed to fully comprehend what I was holding in my hands. This was a comic book that was written, drawn and published by people in my home town. Not far away across the Atlantic but practically on my front doorstep. What I should have done was insist on meeting all of those guys, offered my assisstance, made the tea, got the Mars bars in, anything to be able to see a comic being put together. The experience would have been invaluable to a kid that spent far too much time daydreaming about drawing the X-Men "when he grew up" (still waiting!). I never saw another issue of TBOM and soon forgot all about it. I've no idea if any of the guys that contrbuted to that issue ever went on to do more work, either in the SP or comics industry. But they were certainly a talented bunch (don't just take my word for it, go to pocockart.com and check out some of Aarons' award winning book illustrations).
The second time I picked up an SP comic was many, many years later at a comic book convention in Bristol. It was a free copy of Grant Springfords Pest Control (if you have'nt checked it out yet please do so. I think you can still order copies from Smallzone.co.uk). It was full of these strange but intriguing characters and felt different to what I had been reading (although I could sense those Moore/Morrison/Ellis influences). It prompted me to seek out other SP comics and I soon found such gems as Sgt Mike Battle, Tales Of the Wonder Kind, Omnivistascope, Future Quake, The O-Men, Mongrel, Solar Wind, Magic Beans Comics and many more (Google them all, you'll be glad you did). I was even reading the small press reviews in Comics International before anything else in that magazine (oh Comics International, how I miss you!).
Anyway, I was enjoying this new world of DIY comics so much that I eventually decided to have a go myself. I've been working on a couple of comics recently and hope to have them "out there" over the summer. so over the coming weeks and months I will be posting "art" for you all to point and laugh at as well as some more details about the comics themselves. I tried including some pages with this post but there seems to be some problem with uploading images from paint shop pro. Hope I can sort it out soon. In the meantime here is what I can give you at the moment;
N!B!C! (NEW! BOLD! COMICS!) is the banner under which I will be publishing my comics. The first comic is called S.C.I (Superhuman Crime Investigations), and is about the Thames Valley branch of a government agency set up to tackle superhuman crime. It is set in a world very much like our own except spandex clad superhumans were a common sight up until the early 90's when a tragic event prompted the government to crack down on those with special abilities. There are still superhumans walking around, they're just not advertising it via colourful spandex costumes. S.C.I is still in the superhero soap opera tradition, though. It features office politics (and romances!), myths and urban legends of the T.V area, twisted takes on super powers, heart break, fisticuffs, betrayal, sex, people making really, really bad decisions and all of those other things you like. Except spandex costumes. S.C.I is intended as an ongoing series.
The second comic is rather cheekily titled Britains Best Comics and is a one off collection of some short comics stories I had swimming around in my brain. Just stuff that worked best over 1 -3 pages. This comic has got super heroes (in spandex this time), zombies (you can't do a comic without them these days. Well, either zombies or Deadpool), ghosts, your favourite reality tv shows and my cat, Fudge (Fudge says "miaow", btw).
Right, I'm going to leave it there for now. It's my intention to post every sunday so hopefully I'll be able to share some art with you next time, as well as give my opinions on what comics I picked up on thursday.
Speak to you soon.
Now, my first experience of SP comics was waaaaay back in the early 90's, long before I had heard of the term "Small Press". It was an anthology called "The Book Of Manifestations" and was published under the banner of "Searchville Comics". It was a mixture of sci-fi, horror, fantasy and humour strips and boasted some pretty good artwork, especially from my best mates brother, Aaron Pocock. The thing is, I was so caught up in my world of Marvel and Image comics at the time that I failed to fully comprehend what I was holding in my hands. This was a comic book that was written, drawn and published by people in my home town. Not far away across the Atlantic but practically on my front doorstep. What I should have done was insist on meeting all of those guys, offered my assisstance, made the tea, got the Mars bars in, anything to be able to see a comic being put together. The experience would have been invaluable to a kid that spent far too much time daydreaming about drawing the X-Men "when he grew up" (still waiting!). I never saw another issue of TBOM and soon forgot all about it. I've no idea if any of the guys that contrbuted to that issue ever went on to do more work, either in the SP or comics industry. But they were certainly a talented bunch (don't just take my word for it, go to pocockart.com and check out some of Aarons' award winning book illustrations).
The second time I picked up an SP comic was many, many years later at a comic book convention in Bristol. It was a free copy of Grant Springfords Pest Control (if you have'nt checked it out yet please do so. I think you can still order copies from Smallzone.co.uk). It was full of these strange but intriguing characters and felt different to what I had been reading (although I could sense those Moore/Morrison/Ellis influences). It prompted me to seek out other SP comics and I soon found such gems as Sgt Mike Battle, Tales Of the Wonder Kind, Omnivistascope, Future Quake, The O-Men, Mongrel, Solar Wind, Magic Beans Comics and many more (Google them all, you'll be glad you did). I was even reading the small press reviews in Comics International before anything else in that magazine (oh Comics International, how I miss you!).
Anyway, I was enjoying this new world of DIY comics so much that I eventually decided to have a go myself. I've been working on a couple of comics recently and hope to have them "out there" over the summer. so over the coming weeks and months I will be posting "art" for you all to point and laugh at as well as some more details about the comics themselves. I tried including some pages with this post but there seems to be some problem with uploading images from paint shop pro. Hope I can sort it out soon. In the meantime here is what I can give you at the moment;
N!B!C! (NEW! BOLD! COMICS!) is the banner under which I will be publishing my comics. The first comic is called S.C.I (Superhuman Crime Investigations), and is about the Thames Valley branch of a government agency set up to tackle superhuman crime. It is set in a world very much like our own except spandex clad superhumans were a common sight up until the early 90's when a tragic event prompted the government to crack down on those with special abilities. There are still superhumans walking around, they're just not advertising it via colourful spandex costumes. S.C.I is still in the superhero soap opera tradition, though. It features office politics (and romances!), myths and urban legends of the T.V area, twisted takes on super powers, heart break, fisticuffs, betrayal, sex, people making really, really bad decisions and all of those other things you like. Except spandex costumes. S.C.I is intended as an ongoing series.
The second comic is rather cheekily titled Britains Best Comics and is a one off collection of some short comics stories I had swimming around in my brain. Just stuff that worked best over 1 -3 pages. This comic has got super heroes (in spandex this time), zombies (you can't do a comic without them these days. Well, either zombies or Deadpool), ghosts, your favourite reality tv shows and my cat, Fudge (Fudge says "miaow", btw).
Right, I'm going to leave it there for now. It's my intention to post every sunday so hopefully I'll be able to share some art with you next time, as well as give my opinions on what comics I picked up on thursday.
Speak to you soon.
