- Fast Fiction
"Fast Fiction" was a market stall, magazine, mail order distributor and news sheet that played a key role in the history of
British small press comics . It existed in its various forms from1981 through to1990 under the stewardship ofPaul Gravett ,Phil Elliott andEd Pinsent .The name was taken from a "
Classics Illustrated " knock-off spotted in the "Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide ".History
Paul Gravett started the "Fast Fiction" stall at the bimonthlyWestminster Comics Mart inLondon ,England in1981 selling importedEurope an comics, orBande Dessinée . Having discovered that interesting new comics were being published in short runphotocopy form he contacted the creators and offered to sell their comics on his stall and through mail order. Initially this was done for free with a small percentage cut being introduced later. The "Fast Fiction" stall became the defacto social centre for small press publishers along with the adjoining pub, The Westminster Arms.Cartoonist
Phil Elliott and Ian Wieczorek took over "Fast Fiction" in late 1981 when Gravett started working for "Pssst! " magazine leading to him launching "Escape Magazine ". The bimonthly stall and mail order distro continued along with a regular information sheet listing titles available to order, and a new anthology featuring cartoonists they sold. This was also called "Fast Fiction" debuting in 1982 with a print run of 100 copies and lasting until 1991 with issues 29 and 30 reviewed in "Zum!" #1.Ed Pinsent , another cartoonist who had been involved in thecassette culture music trading scene, subsequently took over from Elliott and continued to run things until 1990.Following the closure of "Fast Fiction" their mailing list was passed on to
Luke Walsh andMike Kidson who used it to launch the small press comics review zineZum! .ee also
*
British small press comics
*Escape Magazine References
*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
*Huxley, David (2001) "Nasty Tales: Sex, Drugs, Rock'n'Roll and Violence in the British Underground" Headpress ISBN 1-900486-13-X
*cite web | |title=The past and present of the UK comic industry | work=Interview with Phil Elliott | url=http://www.comicreaders.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=532 | accessmonthday=August 14 | accessyear=2005
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