Comics UK

Today, "small press comics" are a respected form in their own right. Thirty years ago we called them stripzines and, on the whole, standards were pretty low.

Here's a sample of the first comics work I unleashed onto the public in 1978. Bloomin' awful, but you might get a kick out of it:

http://lewstringer.blogspot.com/

Lew

lew,

ha that's awesome sir, really enjoyed seeing your earlier work. it's always interesting to see how an artist has progressed, and how their toilet humour might continue throughout ^_^ long may it live.

small press comics is an intriguing world to delve into, something i myself am about to enter. the resources you listed are invaluable to look through, thank you.

jamie

Lew, brilliant stuff I didn't manange to keep my old Stripzines (got a few of the fanzines though from the 70s) but as you say the standards weren't always very good (some noticable exceptions). My first memory of a Lew Stringer strip was from Fantasy/Comic Umlimited (a large A4 Fanzine printed on a Gestetner type thingy - hope thats not too technical) a small 3 panel strip about a snake??? I knew then the lad had ability. In the 70's there were just to many superhero strips, almost , all terrible trying to imitate Neal Adams, Buscema or Kirby (if your gonna try I suppose go for hte best). It wasnt really until the undergrounds took off (ie more cartoony styles) that for me the quality improved I remember all those brillaint Hunt Emerson early strips (what ever happened to that guy lol) especially the brillaint "Dogman" ( I still have a copy somewhere of that)

Cap Haggis wrote:My first memory of a Lew Stringer strip was from Fantasy/Comic Umlimited (a large A4 Fanzine printed on a Gestetner type thingy - hope thats not too technical) a small 3 panel strip about a snake???

I can't even remember that! Must look through my old copies.

Comics Unlimited was the first fanzine I contributed to; just a letter, but I was thrilled to see it in print. (I'd be about 17 at the time.)

I'll be digging out some old fanzines soon and posting covers on my blog. It's a shame they're almost gone now, but instead we have websites like Comics UK which give us instant access. (Remember how we'd have to wait two months to see if our letters got in print? Then another two months to see what response those letters had! Ha!)

Lew

I think because there was so little information out there on comics and artist etc to the average fan (DC Direct Currents, Marvels Bullpen etc) in the 70s that we put up with anything as the alternative was basically no news at all - plus it was all new and exciting then I remember being a big fan on BEM (the early version) justr packed full of details which at the end of the day was mostly just collected from the US comics. Today is just so immediate and most fansites/zines are really beautifully produced (like Comics UK) I can't believe the sheer amount of information thats is now avaialble and the work people like Al must put into their sites, it reallyis a golden age.

Cap Haggis wrote:I remember being a big fan on BEM (the early version) justr packed full of details which at the end of the day was mostly just collected from the US comics.

I think BEM just used the same news source. Good fanzine; lighthearted and chatty. Main one of that time though, for me, was Comic Media News; very slick and professional. Edited by Richard Burton who went on to work at IPC (Tiger, 2000AD) and later Egmont (Sonic the Comic).

Once I've finished the current work I'm on this week I'll dig out those old zines and put the covers on my blog.

Lew

Lew - It would be great to see some of the old Fanzines covers again. I have a few in my loft that I will need to look out for a nostralgia boost. I have a couple of "Comic Media News" and, as you say it was very nice indeed probably the most professional at the time (some good articles I have one on Sydney Jordan thats excellent) my favourites , along with BEM were the early " Fantasy Advertiser", "Arkensword" (what ever happened to Paul Duncan after the Trident comics folded he was very prolific at one point in fan scene?) "Comics Unlimited" and a little known one called "Comics Plus" (mostly underground comics and only last 3-4 issues I think) I even liked the adzines like "Thing" .It would be good to see some of your own Fanzines as I never managed to pick many of these up at the time. Sorry I'm prattling on here in fanboy mode again.

Cap Haggis wrote:Lew - It would be great to see some of the old Fanzines covers again. I have a few in my loft that I will need to look out for a nostralgia boost. I have a couple of "Comic Media News" and, as you say it was very nice indeed probably the most professional at the time (some good articles I have one on Sydney Jordan thats excellent) my favourites , along with BEM were the early " Fantasy Advertiser", "Arkensword" (what ever happened to Paul Duncan after the Trident comics folded he was very prolific at one point in fan scene?) "Comics Unlimited" and a little known one called "Comics Plus" (mostly underground comics and only last 3-4 issues I think) I even liked the adzines like "Thing" .It would be good to see some of your own Fanzines as I never managed to pick many of these up at the time. Sorry I'm prattling on here in fanboy mode again.

Not sure what happened to Paul Duncan. I think he eventually became more interested in noir crime fiction than comics but I haven't seen him for years.

Over the years I've produced 18 self-published fanzines and stripzines of one description or another. (I didn't realise it was so many until I just added them all up.) Dunno if I should feature them on my blog or not as I don't want it to become the typical self-centred blog.

Lew

Well I think as one of the "major players" in the UK fan scene (a regular contruibutor, cartoonist and publisher of fanzines) you could be excused for putting on a couple of your earlier Fanzine covers. I def think people would be interested in seeing them in a historical context at least.

I've dug out some of my old fanzines and scanned them for you...





Trying to find local shops or businesses that'll stock them is a headache...