Anthologies

The Paper Jam Comics Collective is proud to provide a platform for local talent to exhibit their comic book work, whether they're experienced creators or completely new to the medium (so get involved!). As an extension of our 'everyone welcome' approach to life, the anthologies generally only follow two core editorial rules:

1) The work must be linked to the theme, however loosely or rigidly this may be.
2) Nothing deliberately hateful or vindictive.
3) No, that's it. If it follows the first two rules and is on time and in the right format, it's in. All our anthologies are a joyous jumble of varied work from creators of varied experience.

Here's the complete list of our published anthologies from oldest to newest. We've posted several online for you to read RIGHT NOW for free, and you can order physical copies of those we still have in stock via our online shop (bigcartel).



...And That
The idea to start making anthologies came about fairly quickly, when, after four months of meetings, we realised how many creative types we had in our midst. So we drew some comics, each chipped in a few quid and printed the first ever 'And That' anthology comic, simply entitled '... And That', to give away on Free Comic Book Day 2007. It was a great rush, and featured some fantastic work, but the lack of theme meant it wasn't as cohesive as we'd have liked. Every comic we made after this had a theme of some type - but we kept the 'And That' as part of our titles, to suggest the sometimes loose approach we've taken to interpreting the themes.
Status: out of print and lost to the mists of time.

Halloween... And That
Another great little anthology. What it lacked in shelf-life it made up for in quality. This is where Jack came up with the Gentleman Ghost character. We also experimented with a colour wrap-around banner - ooo, er!
Status: out of print and lost to the mists of time.

24 Minutes... And That
We wanted to make something FAST, so spent a whole Paper Jam meeting creating 24 Minute comics (read more about that here), then took the funniest, crudest and most profound from the pile and chucked them together in a lovely, nasty little rag. Printed in true old-school fashion on a photocopier.
Status: out of print and lost to the mists of time.

You Will Have To Wait... And That
A truly experimental phase for the collective. Members brought random objects to one of the meetings, and used these objects as a stimulus to base a story around. One such object was a magic eightball, where the anthology found its title.
Status: out of print and lost to the mists of time.


Robots... And That
At the time, by far the biggest and most successful of the anthologies, this square-shaped behemoth was chock full of great takes on the sci-fi theme. It was also coupled with a mega launch at the Star & Shadow cinema, where cakes were eaten, beers were drank, films screened, bands heard and comics read.

Status: out of print and lost to the mists of time.



Space Monkey... And That
Published in 2009.
The collective started to notice that their presence at fairs, conventions and festivals tended to attract younger readers, and that we had nothing suitable for them to read! So we put together this kids anthology (that adults should totally read as well, on account of all the awesomeness).

Status: out of print but free online Download Space Monkey... And That on itch.io



Art... And That
Published in 2010.
It's bizarre that it took us so long to get around to this theme, but it coincided really well with a gallery show at the DLI in Durham and a subsequent event at Empty Shop, who kindly funded the project, so we're not complaining. Equal parts high-brow observations and general silliness.

Status: out of print but free online Download Art... And That on itch.io.



History... And That
Published in 2010.
The idea was simple - we each chose a period in history to document, comment on, or base a story around, then collected them in chronological order in a big tasty book. We had a swell launch at Made In Newcastle with photography, prints and comic stuff all over the walls and stalls.

Status: out of print but free online Download History... And That on itch.io


Alcohol... And That
Published in 2012.
Booze has had a strong presence since the humble beginnings of the collective, so we did our best to say thank you for all of the support, inspiration and disastrous misadventure it has provided us over the years.

Status: out of print but free online Download Alcohol... And That on itch.io




Newcastle... And That
Published in May 2014.
After seven years of paper-jamming, this anthology was something of a love/hate letter to the city that brought us all together. It was launched in collaboration with The Holy Biscuit gallery's 'Urban Fictions' exhibition as part of the 2014 Late Shows.

Status: out of print but free online Download Newcastle... And That on itch.io




Food... And That
Published in October 2015.
Comics about food, what's not to like? This anthology explores the joys and horrors that come from being a human - or occasionally other animal - that consumes food. What we like, what we dislike and what we're surprisingly indifferent about.

Status: available in print -  buy now (bigcartel)



Happy... And That
Published in 2015.
Having already established a general interest in food, alcohol, Newcastle, history, art, robots, Halloween, space monkeys, etcetera, this lo-fi comic/zine is about other things that make us happy, and the experience of being fans of things - demonstrating that, occasionally, we can be a surprisingly positive bunch.

Status: out of print but free online Download Happy... And That on itch.io



Making... And That
Published in April 2016.
The PJCC is all about making things... well, pretty specifically comics, but occasionally non-comic things too, and that's what's this anthology is about - from D&D characters to jam to space stations, it's all in here. It was launched at Maker Faire 2016.

Status: out of print but free online Download Making... And That on itch.io



Amazing Adventure Comics Machine... And That
Published in March 2017.
Our first comic to appear in full colour and our second to be aimed at kids. A journey through time, space, and the comics medium itself, playing around with the theme of 'adventure'. Launched at Canny Comic Con 2017.

Status: out of print but free online Amazing Adventure Comics Machine... And That on itch.io



 
Bad Decisions... And That
Published in October 2017.
A wide variety of idiocy, foolishness, poor-planning and regret. So, y'know, business as usual.
 
Status: out of print but free online Bad Decisions... And That on itch.io




 
Weird Romance... And That
Published in April 2018.
Aliens, insects, cacti and even various humans, trying (and often failing) to find love. Our first anthology where we tried deciding on a cover image first, then using that as the theme. 
 
Status: available in print -  buy now (bigcartel)




Super Spooky Scary Stories ...And That
Published in October 2018.
Tales of spookiness and mild terror! One of our more elaborate themes - an all-ages(ish) horror/spooky tone, with classic 'hosts' (in the style of Tales From The Crypt etc) introducing the stories and providing a framing story. Monsters, creepiness, existential dread abound

Status: available in print -  buy now (bigcartel)



You Need A Holiday ...And That
Published in June 2019.
In our continuing attempts to pick universal topics that are fundamental to the human condition, we published this collection of comics on the theme of needing a holiday. Quite a range of styles of story, but a change is as good as a rest, eh?
Status: available in print -  buy now (bigcartel)



 
 
Image of The Sea ...And That
The Sea ...And That
Published in May 2023.
Paper Jam is back with a brand-new anthology - The Sea ...And That! 36 pages (well, including covers)! Loads of different creators interpreting the topic of the sea in loads of different ways!

Status: available in print -  buy now (bigcartel)

 
 
So that's all pretty cool right? Fancy getting involved? Come to meetings and join the mailing list to find what our next project is, and take a look at our Anthology Submissions guide for our general guidance on submissions.