Pioneer’s Press is a publishing house, distro, farming concern and enterprise based entirely on some pretty good ethical starting points. They’re trying to live differently and make things pay in a way that is meaningful in what we can all agree is a pretty manic and difficult world.

They were established very recently in the shadow of some very difficult personal, political and organisational circumstances but came out fighting. I’d like to help them out. Would you?

They sell zines, comics, books; writing, art, thinking. Need to know about how to beat depression? Grow plants? Live ethically? Want to know what it’s like to live life as a punk? Want to read about the everyday lives of everyday people trying to make sense of everyday things? Want poetry? Want comics about everything? Music? http://pioneerspress.com/ is the place to look.

Full disclosure: they sell my comics, but I buy things from them, too.

gnade:

Dear friends,

If you’ve ever considered ordering from my friends and I’s publishing house/distro, Pioneers Press, now’s the time. We had a horrible April for book and zine sales and May is looking even worse. At this point we’re already unable to pay rent on the rescue animal sanctuary/farm this month and if sales keep on like this we’re going to have to shut the business down completely. Two more weeks like this and we’re done. Stuff is pretty dire.

So, if you want some great books, zines, records, patches, pins, shirts, stickers, posters, etc, here’s our website http://pioneerspress.com/ Anything helps. We’re fighting to make this happen and promising things keep coming up but these past two months have been astoundingly shitty for sales and without sales we can’t run Pioneers Press any longer. 

We’ve got huge plans in the works … we just need to get over this hump. Thanks for reading, pals.

-Adam Gnade

My new zine got reviewed by Richard Bruton over at the Forbidden Planet International blog. He writes:

“Moreton’s lines get fewer yet his ideas seem limitless. Perhaps the fewer lines are what does it; you look at a page, your eyes flow easily and smoothly over the image, guided skillfully and precisely by Moreton’s hand, and then your mind takes over, automatically filling in the gaps, all the space is there just to inspire the imagination, and it works so wonderfully, wonderfully well. There’s such skill in these pages, as there is with any artist who sacrifices detail for clarity.”

You can read the full review here

You can buy it here.

Here are a few things I think I’ve worked out from doing comics so far. They’re not rules or anything, but just stuff I’ve come to recognise as lessons for myself. Perhaps they’ll resonate with you, too.

1) Be OK with getting lost

I always had an idea of where I was going, an ambition or goals of sorts, but I never really ended up where I thought I would. I’ve realised it’s just stumbling, leaping, running, falling, stalling and moving, forwards and backwards. Sometimes working hard, sometimes not.  That’s OK

2) Be OK with what you do

Any creative pursuit can be hard.  I nearly gave up in 2009 and in 2011. Doing comics has both improved and interrupted my mental health. I’ve drawn them when employed and unemployed. They’ve posed problems in my everyday life. I think they can come with a price, but what, of value, doesn’t?

3) Take responsibility for your choice

Take ownership. I chose to make comics and the one thing I’ve learned lately is to take ownership of that choice.

4) Prepare to end up somewhere you didn’t anticipate

I’m not making the comics I thought I would be making 5 years ago, but I’m happy with where I am. I also doubt I’ll be making comics this way in another 5 years time.

So have ambition and self-belief, believe the thing you’re working will be the best thing you’ve ever done, but realise that by the time you’ve finished it, you probably won’t feel that way and you’ll probably be a different person.

5) Don’t be a dick

When it comes to other people, be humble, be nice, learn from other creators. Be supportive of others. Be giving. Be passionate and invested in what you are doing. Don’t be afraid to speak out about things that worry, but take ownership of your actions.

6) Value your audience

Value your audience. This doesn’t mean you should draw the comics you think your audience would want. That way mediocrity lies. No. Draw the comics YOU want to make, but respect your audience enough to realise they’ll probably come along with you for the ride, too.

7) You’re one amongst many

I’m one amongst many, many, many people all asking for other people’s attention. But remember: they’re not competition. Other creators aren’t the enemy – so don’t resent other people’s successes. You’re not owed an audience, so just do your work and work hard at it.

8) Make honest work

Be patient. Be kind. Be honest. Draw and write with heart, whatever you do, whatever genre you work in. Making comics is more than drawing, it’s communicating and making something that is a part of you that someone else might also connect to and then it’s communicating about things that you both share – experiences, feelings, humour, whatever. That’s pretty cool.

That’s it! Thanks to everyone who has been reading my comics over the years. I hope you’ll continue to do so. You’re the best!

Partly because it’s free comic book day, and partly in celebration of 5  years of SMOO Comics, my entire out-of-print catalogue is now available for free as a pdf download.

I think my comics have changed a great deal in the last five years - stylistically, aesthetically etc. Thematically, though, I think they haven’t changed that much - I think I’m still preoccupied with the same ideas, of small moments, of feelings as much as events, of how we find meaning in the quotidian, and memoir.

These are, however, most certainly early comics, so be kind!

You can download them below.

Smoo Comics #3 (November 2010)

Smoo #3: one long story, broken up into little bits about dealing with anxiety, monsters, mobile telephones and the washing up. B&W 36 A5 pages. Reviews here, here and here.

DOWLOAD SMOO #3 HERE

Smoo Comics #2 1/2 (2010)

Smoo #2 1/2: material new and old (but never before published) collected in one comic! Includes stories about visiting Sicily, a lonely night spent in a hotel room, as well as teenage thoughts on girls and a piece about feeling guilty. B&W 20 A5 pages. Review here.

DOWNLOAD SMOO #2 1/2 HERE (pdf)

Smoo Comics #2 (2008/2010)

Smoo #2: this issue contains more semi-autobiographical musings and in which I cut my long hair short and grew out my beard. Contains stories about: moving on from the past; walking, thinking, and coping; remembering childhood lessons. Also: the morning after the argument night before. B&W, 28 A5 pages. Reviews here and here.

DOWNLOAD SMOO #2 HERE (pdf)

Smoo Comics #1 (2008)

Smoo #1: my first ever minicomic and inaugural issue of Smoo. Contains semi-autobiographical musings on broken washing machines, being followed, nature, cities and the secret world that’s going on, just below our feet… B&W, 28 A5 pages.

DOWNLOAD SMOO #1 HERE (pdf)

The Sorry Entertainer (May 2011)

The Sorry Entertainer is a high-quality, black and white, tabloid sized newsprint comics anthology, featuring comic book artists from across the world. These contributions aren’t your usual superhero fare; they’re specially commissioned works of underground, alternative and small-press storytellers, spinning yarns of sad theatre performers, blackmailed entertainers, plane crashes, wrestling matches gone wrong, flatulent stand-ups, persecuted human statutes and of four eyed-wonders - plus a whole lot more besides. It is the first Things in Panels publication. More info here!

DOWNLOAD THE SORRY ENTERTAINER HERE (pdf)

Days (2008/2010)

Days: this mammoth comic collects my never-before-seen-in-public diary comics documenting, amongst other things, the tail end of a move, a week house- sitting in London, and not dressing up as Sarah Palin for Halloween. Also includes a review of the year in comics form. B&W, 56 A5 pages. Review here and here.

DOWNLOAD DAYS (pdf)

Lisbon (2008/2010)

Lisbon: a mini-comic documenting a weekend in Lisbon back in 2008. Based on photographs mostly taken by my better half, Becky, this contains ruminations on travelling, buildings, trams and tiles. B&W, cover on coloured card, 16 A5 pages. Review here.

DOWNLOAD LISBON HERE (pdf)

If you like what you read, do check out the shop or some online comics to see what I’ve been doing since these were published. Four issue subscriptions, starting anywhere from SMOO #4 onwards, are available.

In celebration of five  years since I published the first SMOO Comic, I’ve been doing a potted history of how things came to be. This is part 2.

Ch ch ch changes.

2011

• Start 2011 wanting to do something different with my comics. Start work on the Escapologist as an experiment in drawing differently.
• Parents prepare to move away from Marlow. Reflecting on teenage years becomes focus of SMOO #4
• Finish Escapologist #1
• Release Bear Pit #1
• Have stupid idea about doing a newsprint anthology and convince Nick it’s a great idea/strong-arm into being co-editor
• Attend London Small Press and Comic Expo. Have fun despite poor turn-out.
• Start work on SMOO #4
• crowd-fund and publish ‘The Sorry Entertainer’ newspaper anthology with Nick
• Appear on a panel at Bristol Expo, talking about comics and mental health. Meet Ian Williams and Katie Green who I’m happy to count as friends today. Start an important process of confronting, thinking about, drawing and dealing with mental health issues through comics. Destined to become an important part of my non-comics life. (BCE report part 1, part 2, part 3)
• Establish Better, Drawn, a place for people to share their experiences of long term mental and physical illness in the form of comics
• September, host our first Bristol Comic and Zine Fair organised by Bear Pit. Draw another comic for the Daily Cross-hatch.
• Scrap 40 pages of writing and illustration about Marlow for SMOO#4. Pick up a pencil and start scribbling instead.
• Another pivotal moment: #30DaysComics. Join Derik Badman’s retinue of people drawing a comic a day for 30 days. Discover Warren Craghead, Allan Haverholm, Derik’s work in more depth, become better acquainted with Oliver East’s work. Pick up a pencil and start to turn my back on pens for a while. Reinvent my process. Let go. Learn to love drawing.
• Go to Thought Bubble, release an early version of SMOO #4 and the Escapologist #2
• Come home and try and take some time to think about all the changes my practice is going through. Become committed to comics but frustrated and somehow disillusioned with the UK scene.
• Apply for TCAF 2012.
• Finish the year with a new approach to comics,  a doctorate in Geography, but a bit sour on UK comics shows.

My year in review from 2011 is here

Gaining steam

2012

• January: get accepted into TCAF
• set to work on SMOO #5. Draw 40 pages in three months. Pencils, inks. Short stories, long stories. Explore a very difficult year of my life. Put that year to rest and move on. Create the first comic of which I’m unreservedly proud. Learn about drawing, learn about pencils.
• Publish a full version of SMOO #4
• Start my first proper job after finishing the PhD in 2010.
• Leave first proper job after a month for another job that lasts for longer.
• Go to TCAF in May and launch SMOO #5. Another pivotal moment. Feel accepted by comics makers and readers. Feel like I’m finding a voice. Meet loads of people. Teach medical illustration students about Graphic Medicine with Ian, co-host a panel on comics and mental health at the convention. Meet John P, Box Brown, L. Nichols and other lovely people. (TCAF reports pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3)
• Box Brown asks me to do a Retrofit book once he knows what the next roster of artists will be.
• Move house, settle into new routines, new spaces, new work, new drawings
•  Do lots of anthology work – Moonshot, Bear Pit, Decadence, Not My Small Diary etc to help me explore my style. Not always great work from me, I don’t think, but important. My piece for Kus was something I was pleased with.
• Start drawing SMOO #6
• Second Bristol Comic and Zine Fair
• Start Frank Santoro’s comics course but drop out – it’s a thing of greatness, but I couldn’t commit the time and the energy and the focus it deserved.
• November. Start #30DaysComics, but can’t keep up
• Don’t go to Thought Bubble as I’m on holiday in New York. Launch  SMOO #6 at  Desert Island in Brooklyn. Feel like things are happening, in a quiet, modest way.
• Secure distro from a bunch of US distributors: Spit and a Half, Pioneers Press, Secret Acres
• Kick up a fuss in four parts about the British Comics Awards
• Finish the year more dedicated to comics than ever. Have a job where I feel I’m able to identify myself as both cartoonist and academic. Confident about my new voice in drawing, if unsure that I’m doing it right. Then again, what is doing it right?? Do it wrong and have fun!

My year in review from 2012 is here

Onwards and upwards

2013

• Commit to at least 4 more issues of SMOO by launching a subscription service.
• start the year drawing my Retrofit book, ‘Grand Getures’. 44 pages, drawn in thick pencil
• Mental health wobbles. Subconsciously seeps into Grand Gestures.
• Trying to maintain drawing/life balance.
• Go on holiday. Draw a zine about it, a successor to Lisbon all these years later. Try to get better. Working on being well.
• Get a table at SPX with Warren Craghead.
• Positive reviews for comics. Drawing developing. Working on SMOO #7. Determined to keep drawing and making comics.
• ???

So there we go: a potted history of my comics making ‘career’ so far. I’ll be reflecting later in the month on what, if anything, I’ve learned. For now, though, looking back it seems like an erratic history - breaks and pauses, and rushes, and exploring and dead-ends and moments of personal breakthrough. Like lots of people I learned how to make comics by doing: trial and error, photocopier jams, moments of pride, moments of utter self doubt, drawing well, drawing badly, and always, always, being surprised how far I’ve come every time I look back.

I think that working hard, and following your work where it takes you, is the only way to progress, I think. I learned about a year ago to make the comics I wanted to make - not the comics I thought I should be making. That meant inventing my own process, my own rules, my own methods. It doesn’t have to be a radical thing - just do what you want to do and be happy with that. You won’t be great at it (gosh knows I’m not), but what you will be is happy to be exploring that path on your own terms (which by-and-large I think I am).

I’ve got a very long way to go, but I’m enjoying the journey much more. 

Next time: what happens when comics  go out of print?

This May sees the fifth anniversary of SMOO Comics #1, which debuted in May 2008. To mark the occasion, I’ve got a few blog posts coming up reflecting on making zines and drawing boxes. The first two comprise a little potted history of making comics. So without further ado, here is the first part.

Prologue

2007

• visit Travelling Man on Park St, Bristol. First trip to a comic shop in a while.
• Another visit to Travelling Man. Pick up and flick through Kevin Huizenga’s Curses
• visit Travelling Man, look at Curses again
• Start drawing
• visit Travelling Man, nearly buy Curses
• buy Curses
• Buy Best American Comics 2007
• Travelling Man fountain of knowledge Tom Trewhella  recommends King Cat and Jeffrey Brown. Doomed to an existence of drawing comics about my life
• Go back to Travelling Man. Discover lots of people have been self-publishing for a long time. Feel inspired and intimidated
• Draw my first comic about wandering around town, thinking. Little do I know this will be my formula for the next 5 + years.

Comics begin!

2008

• Publish SMOO #1 in May with the help of Nick and Dom. Print about 20 copies on a photocopier somewhere. Probably at work.
• Visit the Bristol Comic and Small Press Expo. See a lot Dr Who things and people dressed up as comic book characters. Leave comics on tables, trade them with stallholders. Meet Rob Jackson for the first time.
• Start drawing SMOO #2
• Finish drawing SMOO #2 with the exception of one panel on one page
• Do nothing
•  Start drawing more comics that I think will be SMOO #3
• Fail to draw final panel of SMOO #2
• Continue to be crippled by self doubt
• Start drawing a comic about our trip to Lisbon earlier in the year
• In September, start drawing a daily diary. Manage most days until November
• Still fail to draw final panel of SMOO #2
• Fail to finish anything else

A fallow year

2009

• Not really sure what I did this year. I must have done something. Probably did some drawing I didn’t like.
• June: Finally finish that last panel of SMOO #2. It takes about 5 minutes.
• Nick starts making comics. Nick is an old friend and his doing comics helps inspire and push me to do more and publish my work. Try and return the favour. Pivotal moment.
• December: local vintage/art shop SHOP offer me an exhibition and chance to sell comics in the New Year. Decide it’s time to get back on the horse.

Spending valuable time in the photocopy room

2010

• January: publish SMOO #2 and reprint SMOO #1. Host 24hr draw-a-thon at SHOP. I don’t draw much, but it’s fun.
• Start finishing the comics that I had drawn and not published back in 2008
• Do a two-pager for Rob Jackson’s Gin Palace anthology that gets me noticed by Richard Bruton of Forbidden Planet International. He orders my comics and reviews them. Has been a supporter ever since, and a key figure in giving me the confidence to carry on
• Do a piece for the gone-but-not-forgotten Daily Crosshatch
• At some point finish and publish Lisbon zine
• May: attend Bristol Comic Expo for my first time as an exhibitor. Meet Irish contingent including Paddy Lynch and Phillip Barrett. Get them, and us, very drunk.
• Finish comics originally destined for SMOO #3 and instead publish them as SMOO #2 ½, an interim collection.
• Start work on what will become SMOO #3.
• Establish a zine library at SHOP
• Run a half marathon
• Finish my PhD
• Finish SMOO #3 (much hand-wringing and self-doubt)
• Attend Thought Bubble in Leeds with Nick for the first time. Launch SMOO #3. Meet Lando properly.
• Return to Bristol and establish Bear Pit Zine with Nick and Lando.
• Draw picture for my friend’s Christmas Single
• Finish 2010 feeling oddly dissatisfied with the work I’d produced, but excited, too, to be making things and getting work out there.

My year in review from 2010 is here

Next time – all change!