Strip Magazine: Rebirth of the UK Comics Industry...?

[MacNimon]

...and do you have what it takes to be involved?

There's a new UK comic strip anthology title on the way, called Strip Magazine, first issue due for release in October. It aims to recreate the feel of old 60s/70s UK strip comics such as Action, Valiant, Lion etc but in a modern way, with a mix of action/adventure, fantasy, humour strips etc.



So, who is Strip Magazine aimed at?

Following up on feedback about Strip Magazine, we're letting potential readers - and creators - know a little more about the magazine's format.

We want to emphasize that Strip Magazine will be aimed at a general audience and won't be "preaching to the converted" (i.e. existing comic fans). The strips should be enjoyable for a younger readership - older than The DFC's readership range (although some of its strips were, I'd argue, more sophisticated than others - Mezolith and Mirabalis being just two examples from that terrific title).

Strip Magazine is not being pitched as old as 2000AD's target age group as it is today, or Judge Dredd: The Megazine, but I still think readers of those comics will enjoy it - I hope so, anyway!

That doesn't mean we're shying away from violence, for example, but it certainly be as graphic as some strips, and we won't be looking for strips packed with swear words. Action is the by word of this title - fast-moving, character driven stories - and we'll have some humour content, too.

Our writer and submission guidelines will be available soon but older comics fans who enjoyed the format of classic British comics like Battle Picture Weekly, Valiant and Action should find Strip Magazine enjoyable, without us being stuck in the past.

We believe that an action adventure title, with a couple of humour strips is a winning formula - it worked for decades, so why not now?

A contest has been announced at the Bristol Comic Con,The Strip Spotlight Challenge, for new comic strip creators to be featured in the comic...do you have the ideas, and talent, to break into the world of comics?

Strip Spotlight Challenge - Full Details

STRIP Magazine has lined up some great creators for its launch in October 2011 – but will YOU be one of them?

We're looking for six page self-contained action adventure strips to feature in STRIP Magazine. The selected strips will feature in our special Strip Spotlight section – and the creators of published strips will win a cash prize of £250 for publication and, perhaps, the opportunity to turn their story into an ongoing series for our first comic title.

The strip and characters featured will remain your copyright (so if you want to feature your own characters you think would be great part of STRIP Magazine, go right ahead).


STRIP SPOTLIGHT: WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR

Six page, self-contained black and white or colour adventure stories which can have twist or shock endings, or a 'snapshot' of an ongoing tale from creator-owned strips. The strips should be action-oriented, reflecting the tone of STRIP Magazine; they can have an adventure, war, fantasy or science fiction setting but should not veer to the adult, horrific or horror.

You should use the stories as the means to promote a character or a setting you want the reader to know more about. Those strips that get the best response will be considered for ongoing strip slots.

Strips must, of course, be original and not feature characters belonging to other comics companies, and it must be finished work – drawn, inked, coloured (if applicable) and lettered.

WHAT WE ARE NOT LOOKING FOR

Ongoing tales; stories full of talking heads; cryptic tales full of unfulfilled mystery and no explanations for what the characters are up to; stories without a beginning, middle and end. Think of this slot as a platform for your best work - in terms of both script and art.

HOW DO I SUBMIT MY STRIP SPOTLIGHT?

* Send art (JPGs or PDF only, please at this stage) or links to your strip online to edATstripmagazine.co.uk. Please include 'Strip Challenge Entry' in your subject line.
* Or mail your entries to STRIP Magazine, Print Media Productions Limited, PO Box 721, Lancaster LA1 1XE
* Entries must be received by 12 noon BST 21st July 2011. Judging will be carried out by the editor and publisher of STRIP Magazine, John Freeman and Ivo Milicevic.
* After an initial round of judging, narrowing submitted entries to a final 15, the final editorial decision will be made (in partnership with one external judge) to help decide the final winning FIVE entries. The competition will then be re-launched in Issue 5 of STRIP Magazine.
* All 15 final selections will receive an appraisal of their work from the editor and publisher of STRIP Magazine

Good luck!

Full Terms and Conditions



Entries for our first Strip Spotlight Challenge, which closes 12 noon BST 21st July 2011, must abide by the following guidelines

• Any entries must be sent to Print Media Productions Limited, PO Box 721, Lancaster LA1 1XE. Strip Challenge Entry Submissions Email address: edATstripmagazine.co.uk (Please include the words " Strip Challenge Entry " in your subject line)

• Strip dimensions should ideally be no smaller than 25.5 x 18.5 centimetres

• Only six page, self-contained black and white or colour adventure stories will be accepted; these must be complete art, including lettering

• The strips should be action-oriented, reflecting the tone of Strip Magazine; they can have an adventure, war, fantasy or science fiction setting but should not veer to the adult, horrific or horror.

• You may use the stories as the means to promote a character or a setting you want the reader to know more about. Those strips that get the best response will be considered for ongoing strip slots.

• Strips must be original and not feature characters belonging to other creators, comics or other media companies

• Strips must not include any lewd, adult, sexual material or material including extreme violence (if such action happens, suggest, don't show – let the readers imagination imagine the worst)

• Prose submissions will not be considered

• Do not send original art or other materials – make sure you send copies only

• Make sure that each page includes your name, address, and phone number – written on the back of each art page or contained within the "File Information" if submitting electronically

• If submitting by email, send only material as LOW RESOLUTION .jpgs or PDFs only in the first instance. The strip dimensions should ideally be no smaller than 25.5 x 18.5 centimetres. (Final art for publication will need to be in any standard format such as JPG, TIFF, etc. All files MUST be CMYK. Final files must be 300 dpi (colour), 600 dpi (black and white) and the strip dimensions must be no smaller than 25.5 x 18.5 centimetres)

• We do not accept unsolicited submissions as Word documents or any other image format

• Files sent on CD or DVD should be in any standard format such as JPG, TIFF, etc. All files MUST be CMYK. Files must be 300 dpi (colour), 600 dpi (black and white) and the strip dimensions must be no smaller than 25.5 x 18.5 centimetres)

• All submissions by post should be sent to

Strip Challenge
Print Media Productions Limited
PO Box 721
Lancaster
LA1 1XE

[Lissa]

What is it with new comic magazines giving themselves titles that have to hurt their position on the newsagents shelf? First there was CLiNT which was meant to look as rude as humanly possible, now Strip Magazine with a cartoon bird seemingly about to bear all on the cover. People must be put off by stuff like that.

[MacNimon]

It's about time they tried something because kids today are missing out on something which should be a big part of any childhood. However, as Lissa says, who exactly is this going to be aimed at?

It looks to me as if they're trying to entice adults into buying this, which would be a mistake imo. The cover should concentrate on one of the action sequences featured inside, and attempt to sell the title on the type of contents rather than showing a close-up of an unknown character, particularly at such an early stage.

This is maybe pretty innocent stuff, but sex or at least suggestive images shouldn't be used to sell kids comics. At the very least it sends out mixed messages about what's inside, as well as possibly putting off parents from buying it for their kids. Something like this shouldn't be aimed at adults,there's already an audience there who know what they like. The secret is to win over the new, unsuspecting young audience who have never encountered a comic before...that's where the future lies...

[Paul Monk]

I hadn't realised the Clint thing. I'd really like a go at submiting something but I can't draw!
Its quite sad that there's not a category just for writers though. Plenty of the coomic industry's top writing talents are not artists.

[Rob McCow]

Well, I can't fault them for trying. And as the lad's mags of the 90's showed, MAGS WIV TITS ON SELL BETTAH.

[Alex]

now Strip Magazine with a cartoon bird seemingly about to bear all on the cover. People must be put off by stuff like that.

Sadly not, going by the covers of a lot of DC and Marvel stuff. And the outfit the woman is wearing on the cover of Strip is positively restrained compared to some of the costumes the women have to wear - Power Girl suffers the most, it's lucky she's a superhuman as her enormous breasts would otherwise normally give someone terrible back problems!

Funnily enough this is all a bit similar to a small press comic my friend writes - http://www.massacreforboys.co.uk/ - they're anthology issue "Massacre For Boys In Colour" is almost exactly along the lines of what "Strip" supposedly offers...

[Alex]

Following on from the above, I've just read the latest issue of the Astonishing X-Men:



It's so ridiculous it's untrue. And whilst quite busty in the comic, Emma Frost is nothing like that depiction on the cover.

I guess the target audience is male and 12 plus though, so that's why they do it.

[MacNimon]

Following on from the above, I've just read the latest issue of the Astonishing X-Men:



It's so ridiculous it's untrue. And whilst quite busty in the comic, Emma Frost is nothing like that depiction on the cover.

I guess the target audience is male and 12 plus though, so that's why they do it.

Brilliant!

[Paul Monk]

Hmmm... is this thread just an excuse to print excessively booby comic book characters.

I saw the cover of Clint today and it has a nipple on the cover. A ladies nipple!

[Dirk Gently]

And whilst quite busty in the comic, Emma Frost is nothing like that depiction on the cover.

If you Google Emma Frost all the pictures look very similar to that. I know, I just checked.

[Alex]

If you Google Emma Frost all the pictures look very similar to that. I know, I just checked.

Ah, but those are either cover art pics (known for over-exagerating her bustyness) or fan art (which are even worse!)

That said, maybe she had a boob job in an issue I missed...

Hmmm... is this thread just an excuse to print excessively booby comic book characters.

I'm shocked you could accuse me of such a thing, in what's clearly a serious discussion!

But whilst I'm here...



Tis disgusting, I tell you! Disgusting!

[Stuart Wallis]

Dear Sir,

I wish to complain about the rampant pornography that is appearing in this thread and the comics industry in general, especially as I have no pornograph on which to play it.

Joking apart: Paul, you think nipples are bad enough in comics - full-frontal nudity, male and female has snuck into Judge Dredd recently.

[Dirk Gently]

That reminds me, I must start reading Judge Dredd.

[Paul Monk]

full-frontal nudity, male and female has snuck into Judge Dredd recently.

That is just WRONG!

[Alex]

That is just WRONG!

I couldn't agree more.



It should be in PSI Anderson!

(I do agree with you though actually, 2000AD or Dredd The Magazine should be no place for nudity unless there's a genuine reason to include it, and I can't imagine that's the case).

[Stuart Wallis]

It does take one by surprise to see a man's parts in a strip (pardon the pun!) where tight-fitting uniforms were the limit not too long ago. I don't even know whether they can justify growing up with their audience. It wouldn't have happened when we were reading The Cursed Earth, he said showing most of our ages! Why do it now? Would even Vertigo do it?

[Rob McCow]

If it's in a non-sexual situation, (for example, group showers or nudie natives with spears) I don't see a problem with it.

On the continent they never wear any clothes anyway.

[Alex]

It does take one by surprise to see a man's parts in a strip (pardon the pun!) where tight-fitting uniforms were the limit not too long ago. I don't even know whether they can justify growing up with their audience. It wouldn't have happened when we were reading The Cursed Earth, he said showing most of our ages! Why do it now? Would even Vertigo do it?

I'm struggling to think if Vertigo ever has. I'm pretty certain we've never seen an erect penis, but perhaps an unerect one has popped up (pardon the pun!) in something (I have a vague feeling in the latter issues of The Sandman) but I can't be certain...

[Stuart Wallis]

Just to show that someone can tell an adult story without resorting to it then, if they haven't.

On the continent they never wear any clothes anyway.

I can see Tim booking his plane tickets as we speak!

[MacNimon]

I can't help wonder though... what proportion of comics readers today are actually children? At one time, comics were aimed mainly at kids and it just so happened that some adults liked them. The covers were clearly designed to appeal to kids (despite the fact that I love looking at them as an adult!) but for some reason over the years comics in general started to lose their appeal and sales plummeted. If it wasn't for adults buying the likes of Panini's current Marvel reprints, or 2000AD, or the few Titan DC reprints would there actually be enough kids buying the comics to keep them going?

I think that perhaps by way of trying to keep their 'current' readership, during the 80s and beyond comics tried to grow up with their audience by offering more complex and intelligent storylines but by doing so alienated the kids audience which had kept them going for 50 years or so. They've made a mistake if that is the case, because by appealing solely to such an audience then they're missing out on young readers from future generations which may never get into the comics because they seem too adult!

Which is a strange thing to be saying about something which in the eyes of many (at least those who never had the pleasure of growing up with them) is supposedly kids stuff...

Instead of bringing out a title such as this, which apparently is meant to appeal to teenagers, wouldn't it make more sense to attempt to attract an even younger market first, say the 6-10 age group, and then bring out something like this a year or two down the line? And it wouldn't hurt to try to create a title which would appeal to young girls as well. There used to be plenty of girls comics out there as well, after all!

In a roundabout way, all I'm trying to say that if, as in the eyes of the general public, comics are kids stuff, then it's about time they all got off their creative a***s and actually brought out something specifically for kids, rather than concentrating on making them seem cool for adults...

[Stuart Wallis]

If it weren't for the sake of the depression doing the rounds when the Thatcher government came in, I daresay a lot more comics would be doing the rounds these days; that era saw the death of the British comic era we grew up with, to the point where we've only got 2000AD, Beano and Dandy to speak of. It confounds and niggles me that there are kids' titles about, but they're so busy cashing in on TV programmes, rather than, as you say, doing something more creative. OK, so Thomas The Tank Engine existed long before Ringo got involved; and DWA is a spinoff of DWM, but those titles wouldn't have existed withut the existance of the former and the revival of the latter series.