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

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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 fromtoday’s best indie comic talent, compiling their stories in a bi-monthly magazine and then leaving them around bars, coffeehouses, 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 thatexist out there in four-colour print. Because, sure, Spider-Man isfun and Wolverine is tough, but at their best comics can be everybit as adult, serious and culturally incisive as any novel or theatreproduction. And at a time like this, with the UK so nipple-deep instruggle, bold voices in every medium should be given the chanceto shine. Yes, even comic creators!

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

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

DANIEL HUMPHRY

Editor, OFF LIFE

COMICS

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TOM GAULD

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YOU HAVE BEEN READING

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EDITOR

Daniel Humphry

ART DIRECTOR

Steve Leard

COVER ART

Sean Warswwrrssddrrwwss.co.uk

DESIGN

wearerandl.co.uk

ADVISOR

Luke Harvey

OFFLIFE.CO.UKINFO@OFFLIFE.CO.UK

@OFFLIFE_COMIC

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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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Hi Tom, how are you?

Very well, thank you.

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 andloved the picture books read to me as a child – byMaurice Sendak, Janet and Allan Ahlberg, etc – so itjust seemed natural to me to like comics when I was oldenough to read them. My first love was the Asterixbooks 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 aliving and went on to study illustration at EdinburghCollege of Art. I was still interested in comics, readingEightball and the Acme Novelty Library and wouldplay around with short narratives, but it wasn’t until I was at the Royal College of Art that I started to findmy feet with storytelling.

While still studying you kick-started your comics

career in small press and self-publishing. What do

you think you gained from this?

When Simone Lia and I self-published our firstcomic in 2001 [as Cabanon Press] there were not manyother ways of getting a book out there. There are manymore comic publishers out there and more who mightpublish shorter work by a new artist – Nobrow andBlank Slate spring to mind.

However, I still think that self-publishing can dosome things better than ‘proper’ publishing: you get alevel of control, freedom and intimacy with your readerwhich is much harder to find elsewhere. I’d definitelyadvise trying it; I learned a lot of things self-publishingwhich have helped in ‘proper’ publishing.

Have you seen the comic industry change much in

the 12 years you’ve been published?

It’s definitely changed and definitely for the

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.

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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, outletsand enthusiastic readers than 12 years ago.

My only concern is that I think there is sometimesa feeling in publishing that working on anything otherthan a graphic novel is a complete waste of time. I realise this is mainly because they sell the best andhave an air of seriousness about them, but I think manyartists – and particularly new ones – benefit fromworking in shorter/different forms.

What does being a cartoonist mean to you?

I aim to entertain people. I think my generalworldview comes across in the work but I don’t startout with things I want to say to my readers, I mainlywant to tell an interesting story. My cartoons can oftenbe quite melancholy or dark-humoured, but I wouldnever make anything really nasty or completely bleakand without heart: there are enough bad things in theworld already.

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 seriousthings. In my work for the Guardian I am often given ahighbrow, serious theme and if I treated it in a serious,highbrow way it wouldn’t be interesting. So I treat it ina light-hearted, silly way and the disconnect betweenthe 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?

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

Finally, where do you see comics moving in the near

future and what advice would you give to creators

starting out today?

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 readingexactly the same things on iPads and Kindles. I downloaded some comics onto my iPad and realisedafterwards that I would have rather read them all on paper.

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

All the technological innovations, Kickstarterschemes and marketing strategies in the world won’tmake up for an uninteresting idea or a badly toldstory – they might make money, but won’t make goodart – so you just need to get on with making goodthings and then learning from those things to makebetter things!

Thanks Tom.

Thank you!

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YOU CAN SEE TOM’S WORK AT

TOMGAULD.COM

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ASPIRA

TIONSBY COMIC-ISHwww.comic-ish.com

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— YOU HAVE BEEN READING —

SARI HODIRKERCOMIC-ISH.COM

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PHILLIP MARSDENPHILLIPMARSDEN.COM

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SIMON MORETONSMOO.TUMBLR.COM

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LEWIS FARROW@LEWISFARROW

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SILENT PAIGESILENTPAIGE.WORDPRESS.COM

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MURRAY SOMERVILLEMURRAYSOMERVILLE.COM

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SEAN AZZOPARDISEAN-AZZOPARDI.COM

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EMIX REGULUSORIGAMISHIP.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK

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DANIEL HUMPHRY / WILL ELLIOT @DANIEL_HUMPHRY / @WFHIT

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TIM BIRDTIMOTHYBIRD.CO.UK

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NEILL CAMERONNEILLCAMERON.COM

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LIZZ LUNNEYLIZZLIZZ.COM

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ROB DAVISDINLOS.BLOGSPOT.CO.UK

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TOM GAULDTOMGAULD.COM

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