As 2006 draws to a close and we look back on another inventive and successful year for British talent, from the ongoing success of stalwarts such as John Wagne, Alan Grant, Cam Kennedy, Trevor Hairsine and many, many more, plus more exposure for great indie titles such as Beaver and Steve, Zarjaz and Futurequake, I wondered who British creatives thought were "up and coming" for 2007.
An appeal on various comic boards including Comics International and EFA Yahoo groups confirmed some of my thoughts and turned up several talents I'd not heard of, so ...
Beano creator
Kev
Sutherland brims with
suggestions, not least his own work, which was to be expected -- after
all, you don't get anywhere in the comics business if you aren't brimming
with confidence and determination, which Kev's learnt from many years
experience. Jamie
Smart is Kev's top tip. " He writes and draws the
indie title Bear,
which is anarchically brilliant," argues Kev.
"Even better, in my book, is My Own Genie which he writes and draws in The Dandy (it's briefly on hiaitus while he finishes a book, but we're told it'll return). My Own Genie is possibly the best strip DC Thomson have published since the days of Ken Reid and Leo Baxendale," he opines.
"The next best talent is Gary Northfield who writes and draws Derek The Sheep in the Beano," offers Kev. "It's possibly the second best strip DC Thomson have published since etc..."
Kev also points to the artusts whose whose work is on show in Banksy's makeshift LazInc gallery on the corner of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road, most of whose names I don't know but who include David Shrigley and Modern Toss." (The gallery also features work by Jamie (Tank Girl) Hewlett (note, link is not official). "Their work crosses over between illustration, cartoon, fine art and street art and is, definitively, the state of all the above arts at time of writing."
"I'd suggest Neil Cameron," writes comics journalist and archivist Richard Sheaf. Cameron's Thumpculture strip can be read online at www.thumpculture.com, with new pages appear every Monday and Friday, so add to your bookmarks and check back frequently for new episodes.
Shane
Chebsey, who runs the smallzone
indie press service has some more names for the hat: Garen
(Rainbow Orchid) Ewing, Ben
Dickson, Martin (The O Men) Eden,
Lindsay Pollock and Tom
Brass, Steven Knowles and Oli
Smith. "and even
though he's been around a while, Paul Rainey for his outstanding workload
over the last 24 months."
"That's a hard one," ponders veteran comics creator Terry Hooper when asked about up and coming talent, a man who has been spotting new talent and working with artists and/or getting them work with companies since 1983. "I must have seen, according to my own mail receipt records, 1200 artists wanting to get into comics.
Hooper has found it no easy task spotting new talent down the years. "Artists varied from the excellent such as Art Wetherall, Matt D'Israeli Brooker, Jon Haward, John Royle and Duncan Fegredo to some really awful ones (believe it or not, out of the 60-100 art packages a week I received at least five would have characters accidentally drawn with six fingers... it wasn't noticed!)"
Harder still has been convincing creators some hard work for little dividend might just pay pay off in the long term. "Out of [those] 1200 artists only about 20 stuck to it," Hooper reveals. "In the last ten years I've found it near impossible to get a British creator who can produce five pages a month. You point out that if they were pro they'd need to keep up a steady stream of pages for 22-23 page comics but they all say that's ridiculous!
"I have seen many very good artists," Terry continues, "but they cannot hack it as comic artists able to work long hours -- all want [to be paid] huge amounts per page for samples but make it clear they would want a large amount from the comic deal before accepting the work. So, they want me to pay them for samples I'll use to try to get them work but will not reimburse me for what I paid if they got the job.
"In the 1980s/1990s we churned out the work and presented it to editors/publishers to try to sell the concept. I often made 2-3 journeys a week to London to cart this stuff around. The idea of "No, it might be paying work but I can't be bothered drawing that genre -- I'll see what else turns up" was unheard of. "Sadly," he feels, "it's not artists being more business savvy: it's a lot of people who draw badly/fairly well who want huge sums of money from publishers before work.
"So, there may well be good artists out there who you can say is good, new talent -- but will he/she be able to work pro in comics?
Despite the problems Hooper has faced persuading rising stars to try out for new projects for no immediate reward, he's lost none of his enthusisam for comics. "If you know good talent, let me know!" he declares.
Barry Renshaw, one of Britain's fervent supporters of indie comics and nurturing talent, is perhaps has a more optimistic on the future of British comics. "I think that in the British comics scene, it's a cycle of growth that has reached new heights in recent years, for mostly two reasons," he feels, "First, the growing availability of printing technology means that it's becoming cheaper and easier to self publish short runs of comics, and get them seen on the internet. And second, the lack of avenues for upcoming talent to develop in 'mainstream' comics after the collapse of the newstand market in the 1990's recession.
"In many ways, what would have been termed 'small press' or 'homemade' comics now look as professionally produced as anything from a large publisher," Barry argues. "As such, the independent press has become the UK comics scene by default.
"When I started the Engine
Comics collective in 2001, I was surprised at how few titles there were available
for new talent to develop," he reveals, "so I started an
anthology, and having learnt a lot from the experience, created a Rough
Guide to Self Publishing to help people avoid the expensive mistakes I did.
This seemed to do very well, and as I saw the amount of new creators self
publishing (and some older professionals returning to its freedoms) growing
each year I started Redeye Magazine in 2003, to attempt to chart its growth
and provide some focus. The page count threatens to double each issue,
theres so much to cover these days!
"The British comics scene is a rich and diverse movement at the moment," says barry, "and it's exciting to see who will be the next Alan Moores and Grant Morrisons for the 21st century.
"It's hard to name a few, but if I had to name names, I would
say Paul
Rainey; the brothers Etherington (www.malcolmmagic.com), Daley
Osiyemi and Dave Bircham (www.brodieslaw.com)
whose comic is currently being adapted for a big budget movie by Renny Harlin;
Jason Cobley (www.bulldogempire.com); Shane
Chebsey (www.smallzone.co.uk);
Simone Lea (www.cabanonpress.com)...
"The list goes on!"
Thanks to all the creators who've offered their views so far. Who do you think is an up and coming British comics talent? Let us know!