Creative Report Bronte Hall
For this task I decided to contact Breakdown Press, who are an independent publisher based in London. They primarily put out works by alternative comics artists and illustrators, ranging from contemporary to cult classics. I find what they do to be important because they are bringing these selected works to a wider audience, representing both UK and international artists. My interest in Breakdown Press could be compared to others that follow certain record labels. The artists and titles they publish, as well as the types of work they champion all come together to form a ‘brand’ of sorts. In an interview for The Comics Journal they were questioned on what led to the creation of their publishing company. Simon Hacking, a co-founder at the press, said it originally stemmed from wanting to create a magazine that covered the content they wished to see, but with an aesthetic that was ‘attractive’ and ‘nicely produced and designed’. Tom Oldham, fellow Breakdown Press co-founder states ‘we were bonded by taste. There was very much a sense of be-the-change-you-want. We wanted to do something that would reflect what was interesting to us’.
They also hold Safari Festival which is a ‘celebration of the new wave of alternative and art comics from the UK and beyond’ where artists and publishers can exhibit and sell their work. Breakdown has stated that the exhibitors in the festival have been selected due to their ‘innovative, fearless, diverse approaches to making comics’. When I contacted Breakdown Press, the questions I asked were about their experiences of running an independent press and what their work entails, as well as more personal questions like what they find rewarding about the process, and what their aims for future publishing ventures and projects may be.
In a conversation with It’s Nice That in 2015, Breakdown’s art director Joe Kessler discussed what it is they look for when working with comics artists; ‘…We aren’t looking for a particular aesthetic; its more work that we think is great, really, and different…it’s just stuff that we think is important’, leaning more towards artists that have a ‘unique, defined voice’ and a personal vision Kessler described as ‘eloquent, accessible, engaging’. It was also mentioned that as a publisher, they value when a publication considers everything. Not just the aesthetics of the drawing, or the narrative element, but all of these things together. Breakdown is an important voice in the alternative comics and visual publishing world, and more so because they are based in the UK. They recently partnered with American comics publishing giant, Fantagraphics in order to get their books to a North American audience. Fantagraphics President, Gary Groth, had this to say about Breakdown; ‘Breakdown is the UK’s most ambitious, progressive, and editorially risk-taking comics publisher, so it was logical to partner with someone we considered a kindred spirit’.