Small Press in the UK: Our Favourite Comics from the Alternative Press Festival 2010

Avoid The Future, a UK/France based comics blog, have posted a piece on their favourite comics from the Alternative Press Festival and Brighton Zinefest.
Their choices include comics by Hurk, Kevin Ward, Dan Locke, Jimi Gherkin, Julie Homersham, Karoline Rerrie, Peter Lally, Bird, Hannah Glickstein, and me!

Nostalgia and Comics calls out to cartoonists across the land :

The newly refurbished Nostalgia and Comics shop in Birmingham is encouraging small press comics creators to send in their zines and comics. This is great news, as decent shops that are welcoming to, and actually engaging with small press and indy creators are not only rare, but can have a hugely beneficial effect on the scene and artform. One word of encouragement, one extra comic sold, can make all the difference to someone who is just testing the waters... or to seasoned self-publishers for that matter.
Maybe one day, all comic shops will be judged by the size and range of their self-published section!

More about this on the Forbidden Planet Blog and Down The Tubes.

Electric Baby

I was happy to be given a copy of Jimi Gherkin's new zine "ELECTRIC BABY" at last month's Web & Mini Comix Thing. I don't know much about zines, but if they're all as good as this, then the zine scene must be the place to be! Well, I call it a 'zine', as that's how Jimi himself describes it, but there's plenty of cartooning included, so to me it feels as much like a comic as a zine. Within it's pages, Jimi uses a very clear comic-strip sequence to show us how to screen print at home (something I didn't know about), lays out his views on religion, and numb complacency vs positive action, and in my favourite sequence, takes the history of life on Earth back to the Big Bang - to remind us just how amazing it is we exist at all. Everything is shown in a well designed, pleasing manner, clearly lettered, with a drawing style that makes me think of a more upbeat Dennis Worden.
Anyway, this lil' mag is so damned optimistic and good natured, that I'd recommend anyone to pick it up. It'll put a smile on your face.



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