Making the Most of your Self Published New Comic at BICS

Comics Worth Reading, a great US indie comics advocate, has featured a recap on some recent posts following last weekend’s Small Press Expo in the US, and offers some useful advice on using possibly duff copies of your new book, that I thought might be useful for indie press publishers going to the British International Comic Show at the weekend.

"When you’re unpacking your books, comics, or minicomics for a show, you’ll notice some copies don’t look as good as the others," notes site runner Johanna Draper Carlson. "Maybe they’re print errors... or packing damages.

"Set those copies aside, and give those out as review copies or press freebies," she suggests. "Save the good ones to sell. Most press members won’t mind; if you explain, they’ll even understand.

She also suggests taking some some kind of small stickers (red dots) or flags to the con, and mark your damages as you see them so you’ll be easily able to find them when you need them. If you have more damages than you’d like or want to give away, sell them at a discount to bargain hunters. One respondee to the post also suggests they would also make good donations to a school or local library.

CWR is a great site: it's posted lots of info, often on Manga information on to selling you Manga in Japan and PR: What Not to Do: Review Copies and Guilt Trips

• Comics Worth Reading Site

Tube Surfing: 2 March 2009

• The Century 21 hardbacks -- TV Century 21 and Lady Penelope comic collections lovingly put together by British publisher Reynolds & Hearn (see news story) featuring art by the likes of Frank Bellamy, Mike Noble and others -- are now available for pre-order from their website (www.rhbooks.com).

• Stickleback artist D'Israeli (aka Matt Brooker), currently working on a new project, Lowlife: Creation, has been discovering an old dog can learn new tricks thanks to an old book, How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way - funnily enough, a book I regularly recommend to aspiring artists, not talents like Mr D!

• Artist Andrew Wildman tells us there's an exhibition of art from his Frontier comic, which is running in The DFC at present. The exhibition is being held at Jaffe&Neale Bookshop in Chipping Norton and will run until 24th April. On 28th March Andrew and writer Jason Cobley will be at the shop answering questions and signing copies of The DFC.

• No comic strip in this mag, but a quick plug for the latest issue of the really bizarre title The Chap, which features a fab feature on steampunk and a chap's guide to Doctor Who, "maddest of all scientists". Plus, Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore tackles The Chap questionnaire. If you think you might be a Chap, send them a photograph and they'll assess your Chappist credentials and may feature it in the mag. There are some comic creators who definitely qualify...

• Caption 2009 will be happening on Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th August at the East Oxford Community Centre in erm, Oxford. Mark your diaries now!

• Congratulations to former 2000AD editor and flat mate David Bishop (no, we never had Tharg round for tea), who has just penned his 40th issue of The Phantom, and completed the first draft of a talking book project for Big Finish. He says he can't reveal any more details about the latter job yet, "but it proved to be more fun than I'd expected."

• Rufus Dayglo has moved house and finished a Tank Girl cover for Judge Dredd: The Megazine. How organised is that?

• 2000AD artist Cliff Robinson is featuring the pencils and final inks of a 2007 Judge Dredd story he did with Mike Collins on his blog. "Mike and I had talked about working on a strip together for years and it was good to eventually team up with him on this Dredd story," he reveals. "I had an absolute blast working over Mike's blue line printed pencils ( I also had photo-copies of the 'normal' pencils for reference). We've also just recently finished collaborating on another Dredd strip which was just as much fun."

• Matt Badham points us to Guardian cartoonist Tom Gauld’s work is now up to browse at your leisure on Flickr. Ace!

• Warren Ellis reports that Angel of Death, a tv series for the net written and created by Ed Brubaker, starts today over on the Crackle web site. A new seven-minute episode every weekday for the next two weeks.

• Do you live in the North East and make comics? If so, comic artist, illustrator, shark wrangler, intrepid explorer, professional ninja and fighter pilot Leonie is keen to make contact with small press or self publishers. Contact her via her blog and spread the word. (Some of the description for her may not be true, but you'll have to visit her main web site to find out which at: www.lomoore.com.

• And finally... there's a review of Rian Hughes Yesterday's Tomorrows collection from Knockabout on Hipster Dad, praising the Dare strip but noting The Science Service script by one John Freeman "left me a little cold, as though it was waiting for a good deal more meat and background before letting readers embrace it..." Hey! I wrote that over 20 years ago. I think I'm a littel better now!

Small Press Idol Launched

US Comics fans have launched Small Press Idol via Facebook, an event not tied to the USA if you're interested in getting involved. "It's International, this is an internet event," says organiser Ian Shires, "not tied to a physical location."

You can view the projects of Small Press Idol as they roll in via www.dimestoreproductions.com and, if you're a creator, you have until the event's end to get a project in.

If you're a simply fan of indy comics, check back on the site as often as you care to, to read the new pitches as they come in, get voted on by the judges, and turned out for your comments as well!

Contestants are currently chasing $440 cash (grows with each new contestant) and a four-issue publishing deal!

Small Press Iidol is accepting new projects till the deadline of March 20th - it is not too late to get in.

Kez and Luke Collected

Recently arrived at the downthetubes lair is a copy of The Adventures of Kez and Luke by TOXIC Comic sub-editor Luke Paton, a collection of strips published first published online.

The drawings comprise simple stick figures throughout but there's some nicely observed relationship humour that gives an added and funy dynamic to the whole. The difference between the sexes is rarely so dramatically revealed, as a quick visit to the web site for a taster will hopefully confirm.

Copies of the indie-published print edition can be bought from www.theadventuresofkezandluke.com (click the store link) and cost £2.99 with free p+ p.

Alternative Press Anthology Planned

Photo courtesy of Richard of Handmade & Bound @ Alternative Press Fair. More of Richard's pics here

Hot on the heels of last weekend's Alternative Press Fair in London comes news of plans for a new Alternative Press Anthology.

Masterminded by the event's organisers Jimi Gherkin and Peter Lally, who are also planning a further APF event later in 2009, deadlines, themes and specifications of the book will be issued shortly.

"We hope that you had fun at the fair," say the pair in a posting to the APF web blog. "Maybe you've seen something that inspires you to create your own alternative media; to draw a comic, produce a zine, or to write a book or some poetry - anything’s possible. Perhaps you’ve simply enjoyed what people are doing and are interested in seeing more.

"...This is why the world of small press publishing is so important," they continue. "There is the freedom to express, without having to serve others. We organised this event in order to show what is going on in the world of small press publishing and for people to meet and exchange ideas.

"To present people's work in another way, we are putting together an Alternative Press Anthology book. This will showcase the talents of small press creators and introduce people to what the scene has to offer. Please get in touch with us if you would be interested in being a part of this. We would like as wide a variety of work as possible, and to cover areas such as perzines, comics, art books, poetry pamphlets and radical literature – anything that’s out there really."

The APF team aim to a book that will do justice "to what we believe is a great scene and you too will need to do the same... The point is that we really show the best of the small press so get your pens and pencils out, your glue and glitter and let's show people what we're made of!"

• For more details and latest info on APF events and projects, visit comicsandzines.wordpress.com
• Collective Memory of London's Alternative Press Fair over at Bugpowder: a list of reports from around the Web
• View pictures from the APF event on Flickr

Creator Reports
• David O'Connell
"..."Organizer Jimi Gherkin and team had put a lot of effort in the publicity of the event and it certainly paid off, as from door-opening until the end of the day the place was chock-a-block with punters..."
• Sarah McIntyre
"I had my own stall! This was a first for me and very exciting. And it couldn't have been a friendlier place; thanks to the huge publicity campaign..."
• Tom Hughes
"I just wanted to say a big thank you to all the people who purchased some of my comics!"

Review: The Most Natural Thing in the World by Frances Cassavetti

Right, time to review cartoonist Francesca Cassavetti's The Most Natural Thing in the World (hereafter referred to as The Most Natural Thing).

Ok, here goes... The Most Natural Thing is a joy. One of the best comics I've read all year.

There. Job done. Time for a full English and a steaming hot mug of tea (it's cold, in case you hadn't noticed)... what's that? You want to know what makes this one of the best comics I've read all year? Awkward sods. Okay, let's try that again...

The Most Natural Thing (and Francesca admits that, in future, she's going to choose shorter titles for her comics) is a 96-page collection of Francesca's mini-comics of the same title, originally published and released in four installments. It's presented with a bonus story, Shadow of the Curriculum, that is, in itself, a tiny masterpiece and which perfectly complements the material that has come before.

The Most Natural Thing is Francesca's account of the difficulties inherent in deciding to have children, getting pregnant, giving birth and taking your first, few fumbling steps as a parent. Francesca doesn't pull any punches in her depiction of the stresses and strains of childbirth and parenthood. That's not to say that The Most Natural Thing is depressing; far from it, in fact. Francesca often manages to see the humorous side of even the most traumatic aspect of parenting, such as when mum and dad spend hours trying to calm their screaming baby, only for said baby to finally stop crying when they are both in tears themselves (trust me, it's funny on the page).

Inevitably, there are going to be two types of readers for this collection: those, like me, who are parents already and who laugh in recognition at the mistakes the two lead characters make as they negotiate being a mum or a dad for the first time. The second group of readers will be those who have yet to have children and, indeed, perhaps never will.

For the former group, The Most Natural Thing is all about recognition and memory; suddenly being transported back to that point when you had a new-born and life took on a slightly hyper-real quality (or was that just the sleep deprivation?). Most parents will, I think, be able to remember inadvertently waking their new-born because they were checking her to see if she was still breathing. I'm sure they will certainly remember the hours that it took to then persuade their baby to get back to sleep.

For those readers who do not have children, The Most Natural Thing provides a glimpse into a world that they are probably familiar with and may have been on the periphery of, but are unlikely to have engaged with fully (I suspect that there's nothing more boring to non-parents than proud mums and dads; a fact I try to remember to stop me from becoming a dad bore). The warts-and-all nature of The Most Natural Thing's portrayal of parenthood makes me think that it should be a set text for secondary schools as part of their sex education programme. It's a very balanced account; The Most Natural Thing shows the positive as well as the negative aspects of parenting and there's a sense in the comic that each low that comes your way as a parent will be balanced by an equal high.

In short, The Most Natural Thing is a triumph, with an insightful, witty script and easy on the eye cartooning. The bonus strip, Shadow of the Curriculum, shows how your priorities shift when your children become teenagers and is a welcome addition to what is already a very strong collection.

This comic is a must-buy for parent and non-parent alike!

• Frances Cassaveti's blog is here and her website is here.

Small Press Week at FPI

Joe Grodon writes to tells us Richard Bruton, who write the Propaganda reviews for the Forbidden Planet International blog is posting a pile of themed reviews this week, all on British small press comics creators ahead of the Birmingham International Comic Show. You can view them at: http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/?cat=19.

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

Sound of Drowning #11 On Sale Now

The Sound of Drowning #11 from creator Paul O'Connell is out now and available from eponymous web site priced just £3.

The issue includes strips such as 'The Optician', 'Mexican Surgery' and Daze: The Post Apocalyptic Avon Lady in Happy Daze, among others.

Also on sale from the same site is the beautifully drawn She's Leaving Home Mini Comic, featuring art by Lawrence Elwick.

Always busy on the comics front, Paul tells us he's currently accepting submissions for the second Soda anthology of illustrated song lyrics - a collection of illustrations inspired by lyrics from those songs that get stuck in your head all day.

Submissions should be single page A5 300dpi, deadline 1st June 2008. More information here, plus details of the contributors to the first volume, who included Indigo, Nelson Evergreen, James Daniel Rory Price, Lawrence Elwick, Lee O'Connor and many, many others.

Oli's Comics Reviews for Cross Hatch

(Updated after short break 27/3/08, with apologies to Oli Smith and Oliver East): Trains Are Mint creator Oliver East is letting UK small press publishers know someone at alternative comics blog The Daily Cross Hatch "has taken leave of their senses" and asked him to write a column on the comics scene in the UK and Europe.

If you want to send Oli comics to review here (UK and European comics only, please) e-mail Oli for his postal address at: east@rollingstockpress.co.uk

The Daily Cross Hatch was created with the intention of spotlighting the absurd amount of talent currently toiling away in the world of alternative comics, and bringing into focus some of those artists attempting to break into this largely thankless field.

Their goal is to provide information in the form of news stories, interviews, reviews, and features, in order to keep fans a bit more connected into the goings on of this sometimes enigmatic field.

"We’re also attempting to keep things relatively ‘underground.’" say the editors. "We love tights and taglines as much as the next blog staff, but let’s face it, if that’s what you’re really looking for, there are more than a few places around to appease your needs."