The above is the cover to OFF LIFE issue 1 - it's a new street press comic that's launching soon, and is going to be distributed FREE - in London and Bristol to start, I think - and which features a rather fantastic line-up of contributors. They've got Tom Gauld, and Sean Azzopardi, and Rob Davis, and Lizz Lunney, and... seriously, just a whole bunch of amazing others. Go check out their site or follow them on twitter for more details, it really does sound like its shaping up to be something cool. And also: me! Yeah, I'm gonna be in there.
I think it's a really interesting idea, putting together a bunch of exciting contemporary indy comics voices and then just plain giving it away. M'colleague Jamie Smart wrote a blog post recently on the idea of giving comics away free and - I dunno, I think it's a really interesting area, and there's all kinds of pros and cons to be considered, certainly. But in this particular case I think what OFF LIFE are proposing to do is really exciting, and a great kind of Comics Outreach Programme of the sort I'll always want to support - taking the medium to people who would maybe never have gone into a comics shop, and showing them the kind of work they might never have expected.
Anyway, I'm delighted to be involved. The strip I'm contributing is one that may be familiar to long-term super-attentive excellent-memoried readers of this blog, but seeing as that's only about 4 people I'm hoping it will be resonably exciting for everyone else. It was something I was really pleased with, anyway, so I'm really happy it will be getting a bit wider of an audience. Which is to say, an audience.
OFF LIFE are currently running an Indiegogo campaign to help with the print costs of the first issue, and I'd really encourage you to consider throwing a couple of quid at it. My thinking is: they're making what sounds like a really cool comic, and they're going to be giving it to you free. If it sounds like the kind of comic you'd consider spending, say £2 on, then why not go and donate that £2? Out of the goodness of your heart, and for the good of comics, and all that. And help take comics TO THE MASSES!
Hey Neill,
ReplyDeleteDidn't realise you were in on this. Good to be another publication together. Thanks for the mention.
Hopefully catch up sometime in the near future.
Hey Sean! Yeah, this'll be the first time we've been in a thing since the halcyon days of weird Japanese-masterminded experimental poetry comics, right? Only hope this is half as much fun.
ReplyDeleteooo, interesting :D
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