Unico Launches Collections Title

After a two-year gestation period, indie British publisher Unico Comics is soon to publish a special annual collecting a number of strips from some of the best amateur comics talent in the UK.

Unico Collections was started in 2007 by the artists and writers involved with Unico Comic’s core projects such as their first book, Dragon Groove. With Collections, the North-East based company have put together an amateur ranked only comic book, open to any artist from across the UK who felt they were up to the challenge to draw their own comic but had not yet been published in any other small press comics. 15 scripts were written by members of the Unico writing staff and submitted to all the artists to pick their favourite to work on.

The finished Collections annual, which runs to over 100 pages and includes colour material, will have ten small comics ranging from four to 14 pages in length and covering a huge range of original independent stories and characters.

Stories include Say Goodbye to Hollywood (picture above) by Phil Cuthbertson with art by Steven Howard, the team behind Unico's first ongoing title, Dragon Groove.

"Apart from entertaining its readers, the other point of this annual is to give all the people involved who are wanting to break out into the comic world a chance to show their talent through this annual," explains Michael Burness, who co-runs Unico, "and present them with that rare first step on to the small press network."

Unico Comics was founded in July 2005 and aims to bring amateur comic book creators out of their bedrooms and into the big scary world of the small press comic business. "We provide an environment for amateur creators, artists and writers to join like minded people and produce some original British work," says Burness, "that will be taken from the basic ideas to a full printed comic available to buy."

The small press publisher's first three comics were released in 2008. The first was Dragon Groove, aimed at the younger market, with the more mature Unico Collections and The legend known as… scheduled to follow in the second half of 2008.

"With each year Unico Comics grows in size," says Burness, "and with our 2008 releases we hope to have a healthy and productive year in 2009."

The Collections line up is as follows:

Killer Born
Script by David Wallace
Artwork by Adam Whitfield

Fallen Hero
Script by Michael Burness
Artwork by Johnnie Iley (see right)

Say Goodbye to Hollywood
Script by Phil Cuthbertson
Artwork by Steven Howard

The Son
Script by David Wallace
Artwork by Mark Nevins

Crash
Script by Michael Burness
Artwork by David Byrne

War God
Script by David Wallace
Artwork by Adam Whitfield

Snowfall
Script by Phil Cuthbertson
Artwork by Mark Bell

Reapers
Script by Michael Burness
Artwork by Brian Gorman (see right)

Confessions of the Trade
Script by David Wallace
Artwork by Steven Howard

Amy’s Story
Script by Michael Burness
Artwork by Cleo Delcour-Min

• Unico Collections will be available through Smallzone and other outlets. For more information on the title and Unico Comics visit www.unicocomics.co.uk