Starting small across the pond: British small press artists

While an image can be universal, comics that depend on the written word don’t always translate across cultures. When it comes to British indie books (or “stripzines” as they were originally called), though, it doesn’t take much to pick one up and understand. The only hard part is finding them!Usually the easiest way is by mail or websites, or at festivals like Oxford’s “Caption” event and London’s “Mini Comix Thing.” Writers who start small don’t always stay that way, though. Many have gained at least a moderate audience, both in their home and in America. A few are listed below.Eddie Campbell started writing autobiographical comics in the 1970s, with series like In the Days of the Ace Rock and Roll Club and Alec. He also created a comics character named Bacchus based off of the Roman god of wine. In 1989 he illustrated the graphic novel From Hell, a Jack the Ripper tale which gained acclaim with the release of the 2001 American film.Another artist who has seen his work transferred to film is Jamie Hewlett. That work was Tank Girl, Hewlett’s story of a punk girl who drives a tank and is in love with a mutant kangaroo. For some reason, the 1995 film didn’t catch on with a wide audience, but a later project didHewlett is also the co-creator of the animated band Gorillaz.Paul Grist is a creator who has worked with now-mainstream writers Grant Morrison and Mark Millar. However, Grist’s most popular work is still the stuff he wrote and drew himselfa crime series called Kane and the unique superhero series Jack Staff, which is now published by the American Image Comics. The series follows a very oldor immortalhero who has been fighting crime since the Victorian era.