45 Year Flashback: AFTER IMAGE No.1

It's been 45 years this month since my first self-published comic was launched. Back in 1978 I had started to contribute a few articles and spot illustrations to fanzines and decided to publish my own. The result was After Image, which I have to admit was very crudely drawn as you can see. This was in the days before desktop publishing of course, so I drew the logo by hand and the typography was added a letter at a time with Letraset rub-down letters. No room for error! At the time I didn't know anyone in comics apart from a few penfriends so I wrote and drew the entire issue myself. Published in November 1978 with a January 1979 cover date.

Back then I still hadn't decided which direction to pursue with my artwork; whether to try and aim towards adventure comics or humour titles. Clearly, I wasn't much cop at drawing the human figure or possessing the skills required to draw realistically, and I felt more comfortable drawing humour strips, so that's the path I soon embarked on. 

I'd been creating my own little comics since I was seven years old, but they had just been mini comics drawn in biro and never actually printed or distributed, so the only people who ever saw them were my immediate family. After Image was the first time I'd had multiple copies printed for a public audience. (Even then, I only had 100 or so printed.)

Reactions were fairly kind as I recall, but obviously my work wasn't anywhere near professional standard back then. It'd be another five years before I sold my first work to Marvel UK in 1983.

After Image only ran for three issues, over 12 months, adding a few more contributors such as Graham Bleathman and Martin Forrest as I went along. I created other fanzines and stripzines afterwards such as Metamorph / Fantasy Express and my Brickman mini-comics. These days, although mainstream comics work is my priority, I still enjoy publishing my own comics when I can, with Fanzine Funnies being the most recent.

Anyway, without further ado, here's a few sample bits from that first issue of After Image of 45 years ago. Read it while I cringe with embarrassment....

All artwork Copyright © 1978, 2023, Lew Stringer

There are some "jokes" in the Arthur Average strip I definitely wouldn't use now. (The '70s were another time, and I was only 19, - but should have known better.) If you want to read the entire issue, it's available as a free PDF as part of David Hathaway-Price's online archive of old fanzines here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz-VsUjOG2SiUXZBVmJOcGpLTVE/view

This article is a revised version of a blog post I did for the 'zines 40th anniversary.

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What was... MONOCOMIX? (1978)

What was Monocomix? The short answer is it was something of mine I'd totally forgotten about until I found this cover artwork yesterday. 

Monocomix was going to be the title of my first self-published comic way back in Autumn 1978. (Titled Monocomix because it was all black and white.) Yes, it was crudely drawn but I had a lot to learn (and still do). Apparently it was going to be a one-off according to the "First (and Last) Issue" cover blurb I put on it. For reasons that escape me now I had a rethink at the last minute and came up with a new cover, and a new title, publishing it as After Image in late 1978. The contents remained the same. Only the cover was changed. 

Perhaps I felt that the name After Image was more suited to its status as a fanzine, because from issue 2 it featured more articles so it was not longer "comix"? After 44 years I can't remember, and I can't go back and ask my 19 year old self so perhaps we'll never know. Pity, because I kind of prefer the title Monocomix now. Perhaps I'll use it on something new one day.

Anyway, if you'd like to see what After Image was all about you can check out this old blog post here:

https://lewstringercomics.blogspot.com/2018/11/after-image-1978.html

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AFTER IMAGE (1978)

It's been 40 years this month since my first self-published comic was launched. Back in 1978 I had started to contribute a few articles and spot illustrations to fanzines and decided to publish my own. The result was After Image, which I have to admit was very crudely drawn as you can see. 

Back then I still hadn't decided which direction to pursue with my artwork; whether to try and aim towards adventure comics or humour titles. Clearly, I wasn't much cop at drawing the human figure or possessing the skills required to draw realistically, and I felt more comfortable drawing humour strips, so that's the path I soon embarked on. 

I'd been creating my own little comics since I was seven years old, but they had just been mini comics drawn in biro and never actually printed or distributed, so the only people who ever saw them were my immediate family. After Image was the first time I'd had multiple copies printed for a public audience.

Reactions were fairly kind, as I recall, but obviously my work wasn't anywhere near professional standard back then. It'd be another five years before I sold my first work to Marvel UK in 1983. 

After Image only ran for three issues, over 12 months. I went on to create other fanzines and stripzines afterwards. These days, although I'm busy with mainstream comics work, I still enjoy putting together my own comics, with Combat Colin No.3 being the latest issue. 

Anyway, without further ado, here's a few sample bits from that first issue of After Image of 40 years ago. Read it while I cringe with embarrassment....

All artwork Copyright © 1978, 2018, Lew Stringer

There are some "jokes" in the Arthur Average strip I definitely wouldn't use now. (The '70s were another time, and I was only 19, - but should have known better.) If you want to read the entire issue, it's available as a free PDF as part of David Hathaway-Price's online archive of old fanzines here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz-VsUjOG2SiUXZBVmJOcGpLTVE/view

Early days...

 As most of you know, my first published work was in comics fanzines in the 1970s. (Quite a few of us had our start that way and it was a great way to get experience.) This photo is from late 1979 at the launch of the third issue of my fanzine, After Image. Well, I say "the launch". It was actually me taking a few copies to the local social club to show my mates. 

Yes, that's me in the lumberjack shirt. Well, it was 1979! I didn't have a weird afro by the way; it's a shadow from the flash. 

Cover art by Paul Ward.

If you'd like to see the fanzine for yourself, completely free, head over to this brilliant repository of long-forgotten fanzines:
https://davidprice5.wixsite.com/classicukcomicszines/after-image-metamorph-fantasy-expre

And check out many more 'zines that have been uploaded (with permission of course):
https://davidprice5.wixsite.com/classicukcomicszines

My first self-published comic (1978)

Here's the cover to After Image No.1, which was my first self-published comic waaay back in late 1978 (cover dated January 1979). I wasn't the first to self-publish a comic/ fanzine of course, not by a long chalk. UK comics fandom had started in the early to mid-1960s so I was a latecomer by 1978. 

Looking at it now, After Image was very raw, very crude in style, and certainly not professional standard, but it was a start. It helped get my work out there by selling the 'zine mail order (by advertising it in other fanzines) and to receive feedback. All good experience that gave me enough confidence to quit my dead-end job a year or so later and start looking for work in comics. (That took quite a while, but that's another story.) 

Quitting my old job was the best thing I ever did. The moral being; pursue your dreams! 

If you want to read the whole issue of After Image No.1 for free you'll find it archived on the excellent Classic U.K. Comics Zines website here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bz-VsUjOG2SiUXZBVmJOcGpLTVE/view