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Slice of Life
Real life fiction and character based serial drama. Also includes auto bio
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TITLE: CRUEL BRITANNIA
Publisher: Andrew Reed, Pages: 24, Format: A5 Colour Cover
A collection of short character driven slice of life stories about living in the UK in 2005. Sub titled "One Night In Blighty", the stories altough not linked, are all set in one night. It's exciting to see a new artist developing his style in print, and I hope to see more work from Andrew in the future.
Issues Available:
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Price: £1.80
TITLE: DORMITORY
Creators: Quiana and Keita Browne, Pages: 32, Format: US Colour Cover
Manga meets South Park in this teenage comic soap from the states.
The computer toning used on the artwork gives this book a singular quality.
Issues Available:
1,
Price: £1.80
TITLE: ELSEWHERE
Publisher: Gary Sullivan, Pages: 24
Format: US Ashcan Colour Cover
Written entirely from "Japanlish" (e.g., "King Fucking Chicken"; "Give a rainbow a smailing") and drawn from photographs taken while in Japan, the Japanese Notebook, featured in the first issue of Elsewhere, reinvents the travel diary, reducing it to literally only that which was seen. The results are surprising, poetic, and at times, hilarious.
Issues Available:
1,
Price: £2.20
TITLE: FIVE DAYS OUT OF SEVEN
Publisher: Stephen Knowles, Pages: 32
Format: 205x240mm 2 Colours
Five Days Out Of Seven (1) is the first installment of a comic book series by Illustrator Stephen Knowles. The book contains four short stories, all based around the author's own experiences as he attempts to document the disillusionment, hopes and fears of being let out into the real world, having just graduated from art school.
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Price: £3.50
Creator: Oli Smith, Pages: 20
Format: A5 monotone interiors
Early one morning in autumn a young woman and her son pack their things into a battered blue mini and drive off into the sunrise, in search of a new life living on a comune in Wales. On the way they visit steam railways and sandy beaches, meet strange people and suffer unpleasent realisations.
The first comic by Oli Smith is a personal work looking back at his childhood. A loose pen and ink style paints this dreamlike journey, as seen through a three - year -old's eyes.
Price: £2.00
SOLD OUT
TITLE: HOOFPRINTS
Creator: Malcy Duff, Pages: 24, Format: A5 B/W
With this comic, Malcy moves away from humour, and explores his themes much more directly with astonishing results.
We are left with an expressive and thought provoking story.
Available:
Price: £1.50
TITLE: HUNT SABOTEURS
Creator: Alan Mitchell, Pages: 24, Format: A5 B/W
This title ( as you may have guessed ) is an anti blood sports story. Therefore, if you're pro hunting you probably won't like it. On the other hand, it does try to tell the story in an even handed fashion, but the writer's bias is all too evident.
You may recognise the artwork, with it's strong inking style, and confident storytelling from another popular small press title.
Issue Available:
Currently Out Of Stock, Sorry
Price: £1.00
TITLE: MOOCHOWSKI
Publisher: Thomas Brass, Pages: 36
Format: 198 x 258mm Card colour cover
New York City, 1986. Legal ace and society doyen Hermann Wexler has died, taking a lot of secrets with him to the grave. Unfortunately for sons Earl and George, he's left one behind. One that really needs a place to crash...
Moochowski is a 12 part comedy saga set in a beautifully realised and obsessively detailed world.
I personally can't recommend this lovingly crafted book enough. It's a hit TV series that will never be made, and it should certainly be a hit Comics book series.
Issues Available:
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Price: £4.00
Creator: John Robbins, Pages: 32, Format: A5 b/w interiors
This accomplished volume is a collection of short strips and articles from one of the small press's most talented writers of the last decade.
Somehow more story is crammed into one page here than most can fit into a whole issue. With a great eye for design and an often bleak, but always honest outlook on the world around us, these stories are never judgemental, and leave the bare events unfolded within to allow the reader to create their own emotional response.
In a word...superb!
Recommended to mature readers
Price: £1.20
TITLE: THE RISE AND FALL OF TREVOR MELBURY
Creator: Adam Davison, Pages: 16, Format: A5 (landscape) B/W
I'm not sure whether this story was inspired by certain media events, but it certainly hits a topical chord, and is a good documentation of a that phenomenon: The Television celebrity lifestyle. The title is surely a tip of the hat to Ziggy Stardust, but this comic has a much more solid narrative than that classic album.
The landscape format is a nice touch, and one thing I loved about this comic, is that it can be read in about 5 minutes.
Available:
Price: 1.00
Creators: Fortenski & Mardou, Format: A4 Colour Cover, Pages: 28
A british, mostly slice of life, anthology with a very European look and feel.
The cover blurb says: " For men and women", and that is true. The comic appeals to a very wide audience, and the artwork looks to be improving greatly since issue #1. ( Which is now available again).
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Price: £2.50
TITLE: THERE'S NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT
Publisher: Paul Rainey, Pages: 28, Format: A5 Colour Cover
Although not completely set in the real world (ok, it'a a fantasy book really but what the hell..) this series boasts many of the qualities of true slice of life.
These characters are wonderfully flawed, and the more I read this title the more I enjoy it. The relationships are portrayed with depth and charm and there are many moments the reader can identify with.
In my opinion, Paul's best work to date!
Recommended to mature readers.
Issues Available:
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Price: £2.50
TITLE: TRAIN TO SHANGHAI
Creator: Rob Jackson, Format: A5 B/W, Pages: 28
This is a wonderful story of a young man's train journey from one end of China to the other taking 33 hours in total. Rob really manages to give the reader that feeling of isolation that being alone in a foreign country can create. The characters he meets are realistic, and un clichéd, and the art's naive, and simplistic style all add to the charm of the whole comic. When I finished reading the comic, I almost felt tired myself, and that's a compliment!
Available:
(One Shot)
Price: £1.20
SOLD OUT
TITLE: TRUE STORIES
Publisher: Tony McGee, Pages: 28- 56, Format: #1: b/w, #2: A5 Colour Cover
Tony gives us something closer to his classic 'Dark Weather' than to the current 'Frontiers' series of Sci-Fi Stories. However "The Right Girl" is more of an English lad's Ally McBeal. There's some post teen angst, and some wonderful moments of natural humour, all presented in Tony's distinct, and constantly improving art style.
In the second issue we are treated to two stories written by Tony, with one illustrated by the talented and prolific Chris Askham.
Both stories are set on an Island, but are of a very different flavour. The main feature- "Island" is a wonderful story which almost brought me to tears with it's tender moments and almost heartbreaking ending.
The Third issue follows on from the first and is entitled "The Wrong Girl". A charming although slightly dark story of a brief but intimate affair.
Recommended to mature readers
Issues Available:
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Price: £2.00
TITLE: WHATEVER
Creator: Adam Jakes
Pages: 32, Format: US Colour Cover
A brilliantly drawn and enticingly well written story about a girl in various stages of mental breakdown from an extremely talented creator.
You may have already read some of this comic on the 'CU Comics' site, well now you can buy this high quality publication right here at smallzone.
Issues Available:
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Price: £1.95
TITLE: WHITBY
Publisher: Eyelid Island Comics, Pages: 36, Format: A5 b/w interiors
After reading American Splendor in 2003 comic artist Gavin Ross was so influenced that he decided to do his own autobiographical comic stories. This comic contains Gavin's first two efforts which show much promise. There's a lot of honesty in these stories especially the second one, which is quite unsentimentally moving. The events and the characters tell their own story, and Ross is just the storyteller, but the way he tells the story, the way he edits his life to comic book form is quite compelling.
The artwork is smooth and stylised and conveys emotion and character well. I'd be really interested in reading a story about an ordinary day, rather than a night out on the town, or a visit to a prison. These are interesting situations, but a normal average day at work, or a weekend at home might bring out more of the personal stuff that is only hinted at in this issue.
Issues Available:
1
Price: £3.00
TITLE: YOU ARE HERE
Creator : Jen Michaelis, Pages: 24
Format: 130x170mm Hand Made 2 Colour Cover
A wonderful collection of mostly autobiographical stories, told in an original and entertaining style.
Although childlike in appearance the artwork is bold, and accomplished with a strong line and clear design sense.
Issue Available:
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Price: £1.50
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