Paper Jam: some stuff we did, 2018

2018! A bit of a stupid year in many ways but Paper Jam did some good stuff.

We released two anthologies! Weird Romance ...And That and Super Spooky Scary Stories ...And That. Full of quality!

  

Sadly, long time Paperjammer and general small press comics legend Terry Wiley died this year. Weird Romance was the last of our anthologies to benefit from a contribution from him.

Terry enriched the group and our comics over the years, and if you'd like to read some of our older anthologies, featuring work from Terry and many many other Paperjammers past and present, we've made several of our out-of-print anthologies available to read free on t'internet. Now including our all-time bestseller, Newcastle ...And That.

In other 2018 news...

Paul invented a Lego robot that draws randomised comics page panel layouts (became an instant favourite with young 'uns at events it was exhibited at).


Connected to that, we won an award! Us! An award! It was a prestigious 'Maker of Merit' ribbon at the Maker Faire:

Mike ran an arts residency in the Grainger Market for most of the latter half of the year, organising all kinds of exciting projects - including a 12-hour comic challenge that several of us took part in.

We attended many varied events in 2018, including: the Baltic Small Press Artists Market, Maker Faire, Glenrothes Comic Con, Bensham Grove's Midsummer Magic and Night Market, the Make & Mend Market (on Small Press Day), the Great Exhibition of the North Family Expo, Tynemouth Market Book Fair, Kommunity Night Market, our own Halloween party comic launch, Grainger Market Night Market, and the Verbal Remedy Festival of the Zine.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to chat, do some drawing, buy some of our dumb comics; you're fabulous.


2018 was also the first full year that Paper Jam has been based at Bar Loco. It has proved to be just the home we were looking for when we moved from Travelling Man.

Illustration by Steven

If you're interested in getting involved, meeting artists, contributing to anthologies (artistic finesse non-essential) then come and say hi: every second Thursday of each month, Bar Loco, top floor, from 6.30. First meeting: 10th January!

Super Spooky Scary Stories ...And That

It's the spookiest time of the year and Paper Jam is back with its spookiest ever comic (well at least since we did Halloween ...And That waaaay back as our second anthology).

Super Spooky Scary Stories ...And That is our seventeenth anthology and it's a cavalcade of spookiness, monsters and mild terrifyingness (nothing too horrific - it's suitable for kids).

Plus, in classic EC comics style, we have hosts for this one - the mysterious fortune teller Ms Fortune, along with her cat and crystal ball, introduces these spine-tingling tales of terror and silliness.

Featuring work from: Amelia Brokenbrow, K. Ben Clarke, Brittany Coxon, Mike Duckett, Dan Fitzgerald, Steven Flanagan, Pauline Holland, Masked Emerald, Gemma Moody, Oscillating Brow, Hannah Potter, Sara Qaed, Paul Thompson, and James Wilkinson.

AND we're having a launch party! Eeee, it's been ages since we've had a proper launch party, but the opportunity to have Halloween party launch seemed too fun to pass up.

Featuring:

First chance to get your mitts on the new comic (should you wish)! - a mere three quid.

Collaborative drawing games! - expect: 'exquisite corpse' monster drawing, cut 'n' paste comic reconfiguration, jam comics. Artistic skill not required, get stuck in, make some monstrosities on paper!

The Creature From The Funk Lagoon's Discotheque of Doooom! - The Creature, Count Funkula and The Texas Funk Soul Massacre will be DJing an eclectic soundtrack of suitably spooky-themed choons all evening, from rotten rock 'n' roll to horrifying hip hop and beyond.

Sweets! Probably.

Bar Loco, Saturday 27th October, 7pm-11pm, FREE.

(Costumes: if you like)

Terry Wiley

Terry Wiley passed away last week. He was a regular Paperjammer, an immensely talented artist, and a lovely chap. The collective won't be the same without him.

Terry had more comics-making experience than the rest of the collective (combined, tbh), having been a veteran self-publisher for many years, producing such excellent, substantial works as Sleaze Castle and Petra Etcetera before we lured him in.

Despite that, he was always modest and happy to be one of the group, consistently adding quality work to the anthologies and enthusiasm for comics to the meetings. Indeed, he immortalised several Paperjammers as supporting characters in his superb graphic novel VerityFair.

That's just how Terry was - ridiculously good at comics but playfully funny and community-minded.

Terry casually sketching folk at the first Canny Comic Con

Terry enjoying a drop of blue evil

Terry had the strength of ten tigers (and the drawing ability of a wizard)

Terry contributed to every anthology we made after he'd join the collective - from Art ...And That through to Weird Romance ...And That earlier this year. It was always great stuff. Here's a couple of absolute belters (from Newcastle Stories ...And That and History ...And That respectively).

 

 

Amongst many moving tributes that have been made to this splendid human and his excellent comics, here's one of the most comprehensive, from Jay Eales and Selina Lock.

 

If you haven't come across Terry's work before (where have you been??) we heartily recommend Sleaze Castle, VerityFair, and anything else you can get your hands on.

An Archive Issuu

It's a fact that eventually comics go out of print, bought and treasured by a select few, inhabiting shelves, getting read every now and then. But what if I told you that you could read Paper Jam Comics Collective anthologies from the past? What strange magic is this? Behold: click on a comic cover to read the full thing.

If you're a user of Issuu then you can follow us! We plan to release all our old anthologies as they go out of print.