OFF LIFE issue one

FEATURING AN INTERVIEW WITH TOM GAULD AND COMIC ART FROM THE BEST INDIE TALENT AROUND

ISSUE #1 OCT/NOV 2012 FREE

COMICS

Pages 2 — 27 TOM GAULD

Page 13 YOU HAVE BEEN READING

Page 28 — EDITOR

Daniel Humphry ART DIRECTOR

Steve Leard COVER ART

Sean Wars wwrrssddrrwwss.co.uk

Welcome to Issue One of OFF LIFE magazine, the UK’s only street press comic anthology.

What does that mean? Well, that we’ll be collecting stories from today’s best indie comic talent, compiling their stories in a bi-monthly magazine and then leaving them around bars, coffee houses, shops and galleries for good people like you to pick up – free of charge.

Some of you may be new to comics. To you, I hope that OFF LIFE will be a stepping stone to all the works of genius that exist out there in four-colour print. Because, sure, Spider-Man is fun and Wolverine is tough, but at their best comics can be every bit as adult, serious and culturally incisive as any novel or theatre production. And at a time like this, with the UK so nipple-deep in struggle, bold voices in every medium should be given the chance to shine. Yes, even comic creators!

Finally, I’d like to thank all who helped this issue reach the surface. To the designers, contributors, friends and those who’ve spread the word of our very existence... nice one!

Now, why on God’s shit-strewn Earth are you still reading this waffle? There are comics to read. Get to it!

DESIGN

wearerandl.co.uk

DANIEL HUMPHRY

Editor, OFF LIFE ADVISOR

Luke Harvey

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OFFLIFE.CO.UK INFO@OFFLIFE.CO.UK @OFFLIFE_COMIC

This magazine has been partly funded through crowd sourcing. We’d like to thank the following donators: Derek Hamilton, Pete Ashton, David Panaho, Matthew Smith, Paul HMD, Phlebas, Jamie Smart, Sarah Casey, Tim Parker, Lauren Carnall, Tim Harries, David O’Connell, Marion Cromb, Calum Johnston, Stuart Perrins, Lucy Rice, Mark Allen, Nick Burton, Monkleus, Dean Simmons, Andy Oliver, Steph Miller, Emma Mould and Joe Stone.

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FOR OVER TEN YEARS TOM GAULD HAS BEEN TAKING HIS DISTINCT COMIC ART TO THE WORLD. WHETHER IN THE FORM OF BEST-SELLING GRAPHIC NOVEL GOLIATH OR AS A CARTOONIST FOR THE GUARDIAN NEWSPAPER, TOM’S WRY INSIGHTS AND SIDEWAYS GLANCES HAVE OPENED COMICS TO A CROSS-OVER AUDIENCE AND PUSHED PEOPLE’S PERCEPTIONS OF WHAT COMICS CAN BE. OFF LIFE CAUGHT UP WITH TOM TO ASK WHAT COMICS MEAN TO HIM.

While still studying you kick-started your comics

Hi Tom, how are you?

career in small press and self-publishing. What do

Very well, thank you.

you think you gained from this?

When Simone Lia and I self-published our first comic in 2001 [as Cabanon Press] there were not many other ways of getting a book out there. There are many more comic publishers out there and more who might publish shorter work by a new artist – Nobrow and Blank Slate spring to mind.

However, I still think that self-publishing can do some things better than ‘proper’ publishing: you get a level of control, freedom and intimacy with your reader which is much harder to find elsewhere. I’d definitely advise trying it; I learned a lot of things self-publishing which have helped in ‘proper’ publishing.

You’ve been published as a cartoonist for over ten years now, what first drew you to comics?

I’ve been drawing constantly since I was tiny and loved the picture books read to me as a child – by Maurice Sendak, Janet and Allan Ahlberg, etc – so it just seemed natural to me to like comics when I was old enough to read them. My first love was the Asterix books then I got into Tintin and moved onto Battle – a war based comic for boys – and then 2000 AD. When I left school, I knew I wanted to draw for a living and went on to study illustration at Edinburgh College of Art. I was still interested in comics, reading Eightball and the Acme Novelty Library and would play around with short narratives, but it wasn’t until I was at the Royal College of Art that I started to find my feet with storytelling.

Have you seen the comic industry change much in the 12 years you’ve been published?

It’s definitely changed and definitely for the

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better. I think we’re in a real golden age for ‘alternative’ comics, both in Britain and in the world generally.

It seems we have more good artists, publishers, outlets and enthusiastic readers than 12 years ago.

My only concern is that I think there is sometimes a feeling in publishing that working on anything other than a graphic novel is a complete waste of time.

I realise this is mainly because they sell the best and have an air of seriousness about them, but I think many artists – and particularly new ones – benefit from working in shorter/different forms.

Finally, where do you see comics moving in the near future and what advice would you give to creators

What does being a cartoonist mean to you?

starting out today?

I aim to entertain people. I think my general worldview comes across in the work but I don’t start out with things I want to say to my readers, I mainly want to tell an interesting story. My cartoons can often be quite melancholy or dark-humoured, but I would never make anything really nasty or completely bleak and without heart: there are enough bad things in the world already.

Obviously, things are going to change because of digital technology, but I’m not sure it’ll be a simple swap-over from reading paper comics to reading exactly the same things on iPads and Kindles.

I downloaded some comics onto my iPad and realised afterwards that I would have rather read them all on paper.

I love books so I hope that they continue to be a viable thing to make, and I’m quite optimistic that they will be for the forseeable future. I have a hope for books generally that cheap digital editions will hurt the publishers of badly made, ugly books and encourage the sales of beautifully designed, well-made books.

All the technological innovations, Kickstarter schemes and marketing strategies in the world won’t make up for an uninteresting idea or a badly told story – they might make money, but won’t make good art – so you just need to get on with making good things and then learning from those things to make better things!

Many people will recognise your work from the Guardian. What do you think cartoonists can bring to news issues that perhaps other mediums don't?

Cartooning can bring a certain lightness to serious things. In my work for the Guardian I am often given a highbrow, serious theme and if I treated it in a serious, highbrow way it wouldn’t be interesting. So I treat it in a light-hearted, silly way and the disconnect between the two is what makes it interesting – to me, anyway!

Do you manage to keep up with UK comics? If so, who have you been reading recently and who is impressing you?

Thanks Tom.

Yes, I go to Gosh! Comics in Soho most weeks and get new stuff there. I’ve really enjoyed Jon McNaught’s work with Nobrow and I’m really looking forward to his third book [Dockwood].

Thank you!

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YOU CAN SEE TOM’S WORK AT TOMGAULD.COM

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AS PIRA TIONS BY

COMIC-ISH

www.comic-ish.com

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— YOU HAVE BEEN READING —

EMIX REGULUS ORIGAMISHIP.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK PAGE 2

SARI HODIRKER COMIC-ISH.COM PAGE 17

DANIEL HUMPHRY / WILL ELLIOT @DANIEL_HUMPHRY / @WFHIT PAGE 3

PHILLIP MARSDEN PHILLIPMARSDEN.COM PAGE 20

TIM BIRD TIMOTHYBIRD.CO.UK PAGE 4

SIMON MORETON SMOO.TUMBLR.COM PAGE 22

NEILL CAMERON NEILLCAMERON.COM PAGE 6

LEWIS FARROW @LEWISFARROW PAGE 24

LIZZ LUNNEY LIZZLIZZ.COM PAGE 7

SILENT PAIGE SILENTPAIGE.WORDPRESS.COM PAGE 25

ROB DAVIS DINLOS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK PAGE 8

MURRAY SOMERVILLE MURRAYSOMERVILLE.COM PAGE 26

TOM GAULD TOMGAULD.COM PAGE 13

SEAN AZZOPARDI SEAN-AZZOPARDI.COM PAGE 27

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WOULD YOUR COMPANY BENEFIT FROM THOUSANDS OF RAMPAGING NEW COMICS FANS EYEBALLING YOUR WARES? THEN GET IN CONTACT WITH OFF LIFE ABOUT ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES AND HELP US BRING FREE COMICS TO THE UK! OFFLIFE.CO.UK EMAIL: INFO@OFFLIFE.CO.UK

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