IT'S NICE TO HAVE A FRIEND SUCH AS YOURSELF-DIARY COMICS 2007 & THE PRESENT IS NOT A PURGATORY-DIARY COMICS 2008 by James Nash 48 pages 14.5 x 40 cm £5 each Recently, I've been fortunate enough to have found myself re-acqainted with the re-emerging world of self-published zines. While they certainly haven't ever gone away since the heady days of Paul Gravett's Fast Fiction at the Westminster Comic Mart's, or our own erstwhile CBO Uberfuhrer Mister Hooper's Zine Zone, of the 80's and 90's, there does seem to be a certain new renaissance in the form. While previously the influence was primarily the comic book world, and it's own fandom, many of the new artists using this medium originate from the Illustration and Graphics courses around the country's Universities. Certainly ,as part of their courses, they are being taught the benefits of finding ways of promoting their work that allows complete control over it's presentation, and a way of finding oneself an audience directly, as well as a perfect mode of self-expression. Which is where the perfect vehicle of the self-published zine comes in. Of course, above all else, the content and it's execution are what truly counts.
So, what do you actually do for content, when you're just finding yourself as both a person and an artist ? There's an old adage that says, "Write about what you know." Which will usually result in a plethora of work that one can lump together as "Autobiographical". Now, I've an admission to make here. Whenever I see work which is "autobiographical", I tend to want to run in the opposite direction. There are very few people who can produce work which is autobiographical, or personal, that is truly interesting, honest and revealatory. In comics I can only think of three off the top of my head, Robert Crumb, Chester Brown, and Eddie Campbell's brilliant Alec strips. After all, there's only so much chronic self-indulgent masturbation a reader can take (see my problem with perception here ?). Frankly, the zine world, like the comic book world, is full of hopelessly delusional losers, erk, sorry, um, quirky and interesting individuals who have a story to tell. But only some of them are worth reading. Two of which are James Nash and Isabel Greenberg, whose work I recently picked up at the Handmade & Bound and Alternative Zine & Book Fairs in Euston (see a previous posting by yours truly on CBO ).
What both James and Isabel's work have in common immediately is that they both produce what are essentially diary comics, small moments of their days jotted down and drawn out in seemingly simple and direct expressions within either a page or few panels. Funnily enough they also both feature briefly in each other 's work, after meeting each other I believe at one of the aforementioned events ( Yes, readers, the zine world is indeed a hotbed of incestuous artistic relationships, hence this review !) Obviously, the content of the pages revolve around their interrelationships with friends, family and work colleagues, and here and there the odd stranger.
In Isobel's That's Well Art School, we follow Issy's daily observations while attending her Illustration course at Brighton, hanging out with her flatmates and boyfriends, and on holiday with her family. Her drawing is simple, direct and has a freshness and immediacy to it that works well in visually describing each daily snapshot. Her cast of characters are well delinated and recognisable, and she maintains a diversity in visual information that means that the content never becomes repetitive or dull. It helps that the majority of the dialogue and written exchanges are bright, witty and charming. There's a lovely sense of humour throughout, as well as a really sweet-natured outlook in Isabel's observations, that on finishing reading this, made me want to see more of her work. Thankfully, as well as the Visual Journal, she's also produced some other zines of more diverse material, including the wonderfully necessary Cheer Up Love, It's Only A Credit Crunch, a zine that offers stories of hope to warm your heart when you can't afford to switch on the heating ! This zine features the strip which won her the Second Prize in the Johnathan Cape/Observer Graphic Short Story prize. I recommend you visit her website for more details at www.isabelnecessary.com.
James' two zines are a collection of small diary strips, produced daily over the course of the last two years. Each 14.5 x 40 cm page of the 48 page collection contains 6 strips, usually 2 to 3 images in length, each a small observation or episode of James' day, whether working in his job at the bank, going to gigs and parties with his friends, or loitering around his flat in an abject funk of depression, as well as some insights as to producing the very work you're reading. At first, his drawing style takes a bit of getting used to, his characters, including himself, reduced to being described in a very succinct way, big heads with dotted eyes and a slashy mouth. Initially, this seemed as if it didn't allow for too much difference of expression, but on continual reading, the seeming economy of style is deceptive.I t's actually suprising just how much detail is contained within some of these strips. What impressed me greatly about James' work, was the incredible frankness and emotional honesty within it. He doesn't flinch from depicting himself as being flawed, or a jerk in dealing with his friends on occasions, and there's a real moving honesty in his depiction of going through what is obviously serious depression. This is brave stuff for someone so young. That's not to say it's all doom and gloom, there are also some really warm and funny moments, and some lovely tender episodes with his family. What also was impressive to me, was the sheer ambition and dedication in continuing to produce work on a daily basis over the period he has, to a level of consistency and quality that is to be applauded for someone still finding themselves artistically. I certainly recommend trying at the very least one of his zines, if not all of them. Go to www.jamesnashlovesyou.com. Who knows, you may just feel the same.
In my humble opinion, both Isabel and James deserve to find a wide audience for their work.Though both in their early twenties, there is already enough substance in their work to suggest they could well be very distinctive talents if they can obtain an encouraging and supportive readership at this early stage in the development of their artistic voice. I hope they can continue their work for a long while yet. You can certainly help by going and buying their zines !
Paul "Well Arty-Farty" Brown
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