Escape (magazine)
Escape | |
---|---|
Titan Books (issues 10–19) | |
Format | Ongoing series |
Publication date | 1983 – 1989 |
No. of issues | 19 |
Creative team | |
Created by | Paul Gravett and Peter Stanbury |
Artist(s) | Eddie Campbell Glenn Dakin Phil Elliott |
Editor(s) | Paul Gravett Peter Stanbury |
Escape magazine was a British
Origins
Escape has its origins in the explosion of
At the same time awareness was growing of international developments in the medium.
Gravett brought his knowledge and enthusiasm while his partner Peter Stanbury,
The importance of BD
Short for bande dessinée, BD became the ideological anchor for Escape. Gravett wanted to apply the values of and respect attributed to French comics to his new breed of British artists. Visually this was reflected in the work of Phil Elliott and Rian Hughes, but it also infused the whole attitude of the magazine, that some comics at least deserved to be taken seriously. By identifying with the relatively exotic and beautifully produced volumes from Europe, Escape distanced itself from the action-adventure style of 2000AD and the American superheroes of Marvel and DC and established itself not only as something new but also important.
Pssst!
In 1981, having passed the Fast Fiction stall and distribution to Phil Elliott and before starting Escape, Gravett was employed as promotions manager for Pssst!, an attempt to publish a British equivalent of the lavish French bande dessinée magazines. While disillusioned with the direction, or lack of, Pssst! was taking, his job brought him into contact with many more new and innovative cartoonists around the UK. To some of these, such as Glenn Dakin in Manchester, he introduced the concept of self-publishing small press comics and sending them out to like-minded souls, thus widening the net for Fast Fiction. Pssst! was forced to close after 10 issues, leaving Gravett with a good idea of how not to run a magazine and a pool of talent.
The A5 years
The first seven issues of Escape were published between 1983 and 1985 as
While the contents of each issue followed a pattern of running homegrown talent alongside features on comics from around the world (with an emphasis on European BD and American "art comics") the roster of artists changed regularly with new creators being brought in every issue. Despite, or more likely, because of the wildly different styles and approaches embraced by the magazine Escape had a solid identity and loyal, if disparate, readership. As the landscape of the comics industry changed through the 1980s Escape was there to report it and try to influence where people should be looking.
The Titan years
In 1986 Escape changed to the larger industry standard American magazine format (8.25"x11") enabling them to reprint work by the international creators they'd previously only written about. Jacques Tardi and Gary Panter appear in issue eight and George Herriman's Krazy Kat became a regular feature. The logo also changed to a bold new design with extra prongs for the E and A and the magazine took on a more professional feel. Of the twelve issues published in this format eight had covers by non-British illustrators as Escape moved away from its small press origins and fully embraced a more international, Art-based ideology.
A year later, and after protracted negotiations, Escape became the first periodical to be published by
Partial return
In a late 2009 interview Gravett described his plans for 2010 which involve launching Escape Books followed, eventually, by a return of the magazine:
Peter Stanbury and I are reviving Escape as an independent publishing house early next year. We're envisaging presenting both some of the former Escape artists from the original incarnation, and new artists who have emerged since or are emerging now. A number of projects are hatching including the first in a line of Comica reference books about comics and a range of graphic novels and graphic short story compendiums, and related events and exhibitions. Further ahead, the magazine itself will be relaunched.[3]
To this date, althoughEscape magazine has not yet returned to publication, Escape Books has released two hardcover graphic novels, 'The Great Unwashed' by Warren and Gary Pleece in 2012 and 'There's No Time Like The Present' by Paul B. Rainey in 2015.
Escape Publishing
Alongside the magazine itself, Escape Publishing served as an imprint for self-contained graphic novels. These included the following:
- Alec by Eddie Campbell (1984)
- Alec: Love and Beerglasses by Eddie Campbell (1985)
- Alec: Doggie in the Window by Eddie Campbell (1986)
- Doc Chaos 1 by Phil Elliott, Lawrence Gray and Dave Thorpe (1985)
- London's Dark by Titan Books)
- The Night Of The Busted Nose by Phil Laskey (1986)
- Titan Books)
Two exhibition booklets were also produced under the Escape banner:
- Comic Iconoclasm for the "Swiped! Comics in Art" exhibition at the ICA in London. This was also printed in Escape issue eleven (1987).
- The Black Island for the "Britain in Bande Dessinées" exhibition at the French Institute in London.
Legacy
The influence of Escape on subsequent publications and movements is not in doubt, but somewhat hard to pin down.
Publications such as
There are notable influences too on
While, with the exception of
For the British small press scene Escape, along with Fast Fiction, had been an important focal point both artistically and socially. This continued into the 1990s with the magazine holding a pivotal place in the history of the scene.
International distribution brought Escape artists American exposure, most notably to the cartoonists informally known as the
It should, however, be remembered that Escape was part of a wider and at the time quite vibrant environment in British comics and that artists did move freely from publication to publication. While the magazine did carve out an important niche and break new ground, the work of
The Comics Journal wrote of Escape that it "...remains one of the most sorely missed comics of all time, not simply because of its tremendous track record of translating European comics but simply because it was always good in so many ways."[6]
The Escape artists
The core group of artists featured in Escape came mainly from the British small press and underground comix scenes of the late 1970s and early '80s.
- John Bagnall
- Eddie Campbell
- Glenn Dakin
- Phil Elliott
- Hunt Emerson
- Paul Grist
- Myra Hancock
- Rian Hughes
- Shaky Kane
- Bob Lynch
- Woodrow Phoenix (aka Trevs Phoenix)
- Ed Pinsent
- Warren and Gary Pleece
- Chris Reynolds
- Savage Pencil
- Carol Swain
See also
References
Notes
- ^ Ellis, Warren. "Biography". PaulGravett.com.
...Paul, with his longtime partner Peter Stanbury, was running the small press anthology Fast Fiction, the Fast Fiction stand at the bimonthly Westminster Comics Marts where the small press books were sold, and launching Escape - an excellent European-style professional comics magazine whose book-publishing arm led directly to the careers of James Robinson, Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman.
- ^ a b Plowright, Frank. Opening Shots: And As Ye Reap, So Shall Ye Sow," The Comics Journal #122 (June 1988), p. 11.
- Dazed Digital. Retrieved 8 January 2010.
- ^ Hart, Tom (2001) "The Scribbled Philosophy of Glenn Dakin" The Comics Journal 238 71-87.
- ^ Seth (2005) "Chris Reynolds: An Appreciation" The Comics Journal 265.
- ^ Beaty, Bart (February 1999). "Positive Signs: Ten Worthy Translation Projects". Euro-Comics for Beginners. The Comics Journal. No. 210. p. 127.
6: Escape
Sources consulted
- Campbell, Eddie (2001) Alec: How To Be An Artist. Eddie Campbell Comics. ISBN 0-9577896-3-7.
- Gravett, Paul (2003) "The Great Escape" The Comics Journal Special Edition 3 46-61
- Gravett, Paul and Stanbury, Peter (eds) Escape Magazine 1 - 19
- The Comics Interpreter #1 Vol. 2 Print review of Glenn Dakin's "Abe: Wrong For All The Right Reasons"
- "Missing The Deadline". Missing The Deadline by Andy Roberts (Winter 1995). Archived from the original on 11 March 2005. Retrieved 1 May 2005.
External links
- Escape at the Grand Comics Database
- Long interview with Dylan Horrocks - reprinted from The Comics Journal issue 244. His time with the Escape "gang" is about a third of the way down.
- Kingly Books Archived 26 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine - Publishers of recent works by Escape artists Ed Pinsent, John Bagnall and Chris Reynolds