In 2013, Britain's logest-running comics and genre magazine Tripwire celebrates its 21st birthday and, to commemorate, publisher and editor is planning to publish a must-buy book.
Tripwire has been Britain's only features-driven comics and genre magazine which has published since 1992 and with 2013 being the magazine's 21st anniversary - its coming of age if you like - the publishers thought it would be remiss if they didn't do something to commemorate it.
The book - if successful in its Kickstarter funding - will come in regular paperback and in a limited hardcover edition. "Between its covers will be a selection of new material," says Joel Meadows, "including art either never seen before or rarely seen."
This includes work by the likes of Drew Struzan (poster artist for Indiana Jones, The Shawshank Redemption, Star Wars), Mike Mignola (Hellboy), Phil Hale (award-winning portrait painter), Howard Chaykin (American Flagg, The Shadow, Blackhawk), Frank Quitely (Batman & Robin, All-Star Superman), Walter Simonson (Elric, Thor), Dave Taylor (Batman, Tongue Lash) and many more.
It will also include features looking at the trends and issues that have played a major part in comics and genre over the past 21 years, including the best and worst comic and genre movies 1992-2013, the 21 most important creators to come to the fore in the last twenty-one years, the 21 best graphic novels (mainstream and independent) and much more. It will also include the best content from twenty-one years of Tripwire, a magazine which has covered the cream of comics and genre and will include the likes of Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Guillermo Del Toro, Mike Mignola, Joss Whedon, Joe Kubert, Will Eisner to name but a few.
It will also include a selection of photos pulled from the magazine of genre movers and shakers. It will be a must-buy for fans and aficionados of comics and genre, approached with the same level of professionalism and quality that people have come to expect from the magazine.
OFF LIFE, described by its creators as the UK's only street press comic magazine, is to launch this autumn - and has just launched a crowd funding campaign to back the first issue.
Published bi-monthly, distributed free in galleries, coffee houses, bars, stores and expos in cities across the UK - and with a free world wide digital edition via www.offlife.co.uk - OFF LIFE Magazine will be full of one to five page comic stories and aims to provide a platform for up-and-coming indie talent while opening the comic medium to a whole new audience. Since the title was announce at the end of July, the editors have had over 60 submissions for consideration.
It's hoped the title will provide a space for the next generation of comic creators and a new model for our beloved medium to build on.
Editor Daniel Humphry says the magazine will feature the best new, undiscovered and underground comics artists taking aim on modern life with adult humour, slice of life storytelling and harsh realities.
In short: if it's happening out there, it'll be in here.
The team behind OFF LIFE are a team of experienced magazine editors and designers, who point out that although comic culture is at an all time high among mainstream audiences, with people watching The Walking Dead, Scott Pilgrim or Dark Knight, many will still not venture in to a comic shop to experience their first title. By bringing comics to the audience, free and literally under their noses, they hope to change this.
With Issue One due out in late September OFF LIFE has already received tremendous buzz and support. The project has been featured by us on downthetubes, Creative Review, Forbidden Planet, Comic Book Resources and many others while Guardian Cartoonist and comic book creator Tom Gauld has signed to contribute.
To date over 60 submissons have been received with many more pledged and tweets of support have come from every corner of the comic industry.
By helping fund Issue One of OFF LIFE, say the team, you will be helping create a platform for the next generation of comic creators and a new model for our beloved medium to build on.
All funding received from supporters will go directly to funding the print run and distribution of OFF LIFE Issue One. The £1000 plus target set for this Indiegogo page will fund over 3000 print copies and a free digital edition, and, should they reach target, the plan is to increase the print run accordingly.
After Issue One they plan to sustain the magazine through advertising and provisions for this have already been set in place. The magazine will always stay free to read.
No money from this donations page will be taken by the team behind the project.
"If we do not reach our entire goal then all funds will be combined with investment from the team to ensure a print run," says Daniel.
Even if you don't have spare cash to support the campaign, there are other ways you can help. For example, you could tell any comic creators you know to submit a piece.
The editorial team are inviting any and all interest in the publication. Whether you're a talent with a story, a potential stockist or an advertiser looking to target our unique market they'd love to hear from you.
Most importantly, come September please read our magazine. And if you can, enjoy it!
Here's a small selection of some of the amazing art Tripwire publisher Joel Meadows hopes to publish in an anniversary editon celebrating 20 years -- 20 years!! -- of his magazine.
The project is seeking crowdfunding via Unbound here.
Over the last twenty years, Tripwire has been covering comics, TV and
film with interviews and columns by now-famous names like Grant
Morrison and Warren Ellis. Still running as an annual publication, it
continues to run feature-length articles and one-off artwork cover
commissions.
2012 marks the 20th anniversary of Tripwire, and to commemorate this
milestone, Unbound are working with editor-in-chief Joel Meadows to
crowd-fund a beautifully bound hardback celebration of the publication.
It will be filled with the sort of content that has garnered praise from
many of the biggest and best names in genre over its twenty-year
existence.
As well as the art samples here, the magazine will also include work by Mike Kaluta, Phil Hale, Mike Perkins, Dave Taylor, Roger Langridge and many more.
"One morning in 1988, I woke up to find I'd gone blind," the Coventry-based artist and author explains. "At the time, I had no idea that it was temporary. I just knew that along with the blindness I was losing my visual memory, the ability to visualize my family's faces, even simple shapes, and that the partial paralysis I'd had as a result of being born with Spina-Bifida had returned.
"I was blind for three months on two occasions that year. My reaction to my visual memory fading was to continue to draw, even though I had no idea if the pen contained ink or whether the paper was blank or not. When my sight returned I began to analyze the drawings I'd produced, and what I'd leaned about tapping into the unconscious, perception, dreams, and drawing. I have been teaching art based on that knowledge for over twenty years.
"Now seems like a good time to put all that on paper," he continues. "But a typical 'how to draw' book doesn't seem appropriate, given the subject.
"Utilizing the techniques I have discovered to create the book is the only way to go. I've ended up with part autobiography part 'how to draw' and part dream showcase. I've taught everyone from school children to senior art students, from dream researchers to teenagers at risk and abuse survivors. I hope this book will allow me to continue reaching more and more people."
Al and his partner Maggie, who also run Astral Gypsy, a graphic novel, manga shop and art studio in Coventry, are committed to the idea of the book as an art object in itself, as well as the book as a medium for reaching as many people as possible.
"Our project combines both," says Al. "We want to produce a limited edition collectors item. 200 hardback copies with a quarter cloth spine, printed with vegetable based ink in an outsized format 31cm x 22cm printed by Calverts containing an original black and white drawing in each copy and priced at $49.00 All the proceeds of the limited edition will then used to print an affordable trade paperback edition."
Al has turned to Indiegogo to try to raise the funds to print the limited edition graphic novel - but if they can't generate the $6,498 required but do get enough money to print a trade paperback they will do that, and contributors will receive a copy of that plus artwork to the value of their contribution.
"If we fail to raise enough for even the trade edition, the money will go into a pot until we can explore other funding opportunities," says Al. "Contributors will receive artwork to the value of their contribution anything from a pencil sketch to a archival art print to a full color acrylic painting.
"Should we reach our goal, and have money left over after printing the trade edition, that money will go towards equipment to help run art courses for young people in Coventry."
After many months of preparation and deliberation, comic creator Andrew Wildman's official fundraising and pre-order campaign for his Horizon project has begun, using the crowdfunding web site indiegogo.com.
The project focuses on the story of Ali, a 15 year old girl. "An age in-between," says Andrew. "An age where she isn't a child or an adult. An age of confusion. Bullied at school and after a row with her mother that she cant even remember the reason for she sits in her room. Alone. With that dark tension boiling in her gut again. Why is it like this? Why don’t they ever listen?
"The tears dry in her eyes and she grabs hold of the only thing she cares for from 'back then' and may even take with her into her future, her toy rabbit... and falls asleep.
"BANG! Eyes wide open she is awake, or so she thinks. And then... The adventure begins.
"We are then in a dream world interwoven with her daily life. It is within the dreamworld that the real story unfolds. Dreams are quite simply metaphor. It is in our dreams that we resolve issues about ourselves and our lives and Ali is no different. The only difference here is that she has a talking toy rabbit called Moon to guide her through the challenges that await her.
"And what does she meet on the way? Well, all kinds of things, mostly very big robots.
"Ultimately though, she finds herself and that is the point. Her resolution is one we can all identify with as it deals with those very human issues of Love and Loss, Fear and Freedom and what becomes possible when we let go of the things about us that hold us back. Those ways of being, behaving and relating to our circumstances that stop us from being all we can be."
Andrew, whose credits include Transformers, The X-Men, Spider-Man and GI Joe and who was one of the founding members of the comics-based fund raising charity Draw the World Together, is clearly charged up about the project, which he has been trying to get off the ground for some time.
"Horizon is a graphic novel project that in essence began about 12 years ago or possibly more," he explains. "The seed of a story began and occasionally resurfaced. Over the last few years, the themes of the book have come up in various embryonic versions that I have put together with writer colleagues but none of them ever seemed to quite get off the ground.
"After it seemed like all possibilities had been exhausted, I had a breakthrough," he continues. "The very simple suggestion from friend and fellow creator, Sara McIntyre: 'why don't you write it yourself?'
"This was the seemingly obvious answer to a seemingly insurmountable problem. And so there we are. Horizon is born as an project.
"There have been various bits of artwork of Ali, my main character, presented on my web site, so you may already be familiar with some aspects of the project," says Andrew.
"It's going to be a lot of fun," he enthuses, "and with all good intention and a favourable tail wind I will publish by the end of 2011. A new Horizon for me in this amazing Year of the Rabbit."
So far, Andrew has raised over $800 in backing for his project using indiegogo, and hopes to raise $5000 in total to bring it to life.
"The book will be published," he insists. "It is unlikely that it will be ready by the time this campaign expires but if people join in, they will get constant updates as to when the launch will be. There has already been some interest from mainstream publishers but even if in the final analysis they choose not to take it. I'll publish it under my own PaperTheatre imprint. The funds raised on indiegogo will act as seed money to cover some of the time that it will take to develop the book but also to cover some of the marketing costs.
"But it's not necessarily about that," he continues. "It's more to do with giving others the opportunity to be involved in the genesis of something new. A pre-order campaign that will allow comic fans to be along for the ride and get their name forever in the book. Or to take up any of the other opportunities on offer here to order limited edition prints, deluxe format books and original artwork."
