Pasties Are Better Than Comics

Oh all right, that's not really true, but you'd be hard pressed to find more enthusiasm for the pastry-based food, created by the Cornish and whose reputation is frequently ruined by bakeries across the UK who simply have no idea how to make one*, than in Rob Jackson's fun new comic anthology devoted to them.

Celebrating this lunch time staple of Cornish miners, students and many others, indie British creator Rob Jackson has just launched the 28-page The Pasty Anthology, which features contributions from downthetubes contributor and new Dad Matt Badham, Jim Medway,
Steve Butler, Francesca Cassavetti, Dave Hughes, Ant Mercer and of course, Rob himself.

The Pasty Anthology available from Rob's web site, priced only £2.50 (PayPal accepted), free postage in the UK.

"I mentioned a random idea on my blog for a Pasty based story ('The Story of Greggs' – which was a Viz-style story, thinking of those pages in Viz every so often that are called things like ‘The Story of Honey’ or ‘How We Get Milk’)," explains Rob of the anthology's origins. "Dave Hughes was very keen and started drawing pages for it so I thought I’d better actually make it."

Rob admits it's a pretty off-the-wall theme for a comic, "but everyone likes pasties. I was happily surprised at how all the artists have gone for very different takes on the vague theme.

Rob tells us he hopes his fans and newcomers to his work and the other creators will enjoy the title, which he's been working on since February. "It's very funny," he enthuses, "and has lots of very diverse stories."

Despite creating a Pasty Anthology, Rob admits he's never made one of his own. "Cheese and onion is my favourite, or Greggs Vegetable pasty," he admits, "but Dave Hughes did masses of research for his two stories (which are very funny). He's like a method actor in his diligent research!"

• Buy The Pasty Anthology via www.robjacksoncomics.com

• Sample Pages and more info on Rob's blog: www.robjacksoncomics.blogspot.com

* (I once gave a proper Cornish pasty recipe to the now defunct bakery chain Birketts, which had a shop on the Lancaster University campus, but it did no good, they never produced a decent one).