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British small press comics
British small press comics, once known as stripzines, are comic books self-published by amateur cartoonists and comic book creators, usually in short print runs, in the UK. They're comparable to similar movements internationally, such as American minicomics and Japanese doujinshi. A "small press comic" is essentially a zine composed predominantly of comic strips. The term emerged in the early 1980s to distinguish them from zines about comics. Notable artists who have had their start in British small press comics include Eddie Campbell, Paul Grist, Rian Hughes, Jamie Hewlett, Alan Martin, Philip Bond and Andi Watson.
Small press comics are traditionally sold by mail, using reviews and classified adverts, websites, email lists and word of mouth to reach an audience. There are usually one or more mail order services, commonly known as "distros", operating in the UK. These will hold a wide range of titles and take a cut of the cover price. They are also sold at conventions and festivals, with small groups of like-minded creators often sharing a table at a reduced rate. Specialist small press events included CAPTION in Oxford (produced from 1992 to 2017), and the UK Web & Mini Comix Thing in London (produced from 2004 to 2010). Creators will often make international links to these forms of distribution in other countries and vice versa.
The traditional format has been a photocopied and stapled booklet, usually at A5 size. This is similar to American minicomics, although other sizes are known. Some creators continue to produce publications in this style, emphasizing the hand-made aspect and often decorating each copy by hand. In recent years the increasing availability of digital printing has made professional printing affordable for short-run publications. Some of the spirit of small press comics can now also be found in webcomics.
Traditionally, a small press publisher was simply a publisher who operated on a small scale, often with a manual printing press in-house. They produced limited print-runs of publications that larger, more commercially inclined publishers would reject.
The history of British small press comics is tied up with the underground press of the 1960s, with publications such as Oz and International Times. The British underground comix scene was led by Nasty Tales and Knockabout Comics of the 1970s, as well as the popularization of Punk zines in the late 1970s. The latter had a larger audience from cheap and accessible photocopying. This dramatic lowering of technological barriers to entry meant anyone could produce a publication with a print run, regardless of its commercial potential.
Within the British comics fandom of the 1970s and early 1980s there were many zines about comics, mainly concentrating on American superhero titles. Since high-street retailers of comics were scarce, these zines ran mail order services and relied on the postal service for distribution. The first and most famous of these was Fantasy Advertiser. There were also regular markets or "marts" which served as a social meeting place for artists and fans. This was the backbone of small press comics.
Among the earliest British small press comics was The Tale of Beem Gotelump. It told the story of an aging jazz musician who was tasked by the Archangel Gabriel with playing the last trumpet at the end of the world. It was created and published by Eddie Campbell under the pseudonym "Roland Bunn" in 1975.
Kevin O'Neill and co-writer Jack Adrian published Mek Memoirs in 1976. It was a 12-page "stripzine" about a robot war, which can be seen as a precursor to O'Neill's later work on 2000 AD.
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British small press comics
British small press comics, once known as stripzines, are comic books self-published by amateur cartoonists and comic book creators, usually in short print runs, in the UK. They're comparable to similar movements internationally, such as American minicomics and Japanese doujinshi. A "small press comic" is essentially a zine composed predominantly of comic strips. The term emerged in the early 1980s to distinguish them from zines about comics. Notable artists who have had their start in British small press comics include Eddie Campbell, Paul Grist, Rian Hughes, Jamie Hewlett, Alan Martin, Philip Bond and Andi Watson.
Small press comics are traditionally sold by mail, using reviews and classified adverts, websites, email lists and word of mouth to reach an audience. There are usually one or more mail order services, commonly known as "distros", operating in the UK. These will hold a wide range of titles and take a cut of the cover price. They are also sold at conventions and festivals, with small groups of like-minded creators often sharing a table at a reduced rate. Specialist small press events included CAPTION in Oxford (produced from 1992 to 2017), and the UK Web & Mini Comix Thing in London (produced from 2004 to 2010). Creators will often make international links to these forms of distribution in other countries and vice versa.
The traditional format has been a photocopied and stapled booklet, usually at A5 size. This is similar to American minicomics, although other sizes are known. Some creators continue to produce publications in this style, emphasizing the hand-made aspect and often decorating each copy by hand. In recent years the increasing availability of digital printing has made professional printing affordable for short-run publications. Some of the spirit of small press comics can now also be found in webcomics.
Traditionally, a small press publisher was simply a publisher who operated on a small scale, often with a manual printing press in-house. They produced limited print-runs of publications that larger, more commercially inclined publishers would reject.
The history of British small press comics is tied up with the underground press of the 1960s, with publications such as Oz and International Times. The British underground comix scene was led by Nasty Tales and Knockabout Comics of the 1970s, as well as the popularization of Punk zines in the late 1970s. The latter had a larger audience from cheap and accessible photocopying. This dramatic lowering of technological barriers to entry meant anyone could produce a publication with a print run, regardless of its commercial potential.
Within the British comics fandom of the 1970s and early 1980s there were many zines about comics, mainly concentrating on American superhero titles. Since high-street retailers of comics were scarce, these zines ran mail order services and relied on the postal service for distribution. The first and most famous of these was Fantasy Advertiser. There were also regular markets or "marts" which served as a social meeting place for artists and fans. This was the backbone of small press comics.
Among the earliest British small press comics was The Tale of Beem Gotelump. It told the story of an aging jazz musician who was tasked by the Archangel Gabriel with playing the last trumpet at the end of the world. It was created and published by Eddie Campbell under the pseudonym "Roland Bunn" in 1975.
Kevin O'Neill and co-writer Jack Adrian published Mek Memoirs in 1976. It was a 12-page "stripzine" about a robot war, which can be seen as a precursor to O'Neill's later work on 2000 AD.