Comix Reader’s Richard Cowdry
Second in our series of casual interviews with Comix and Small Pressers, DAP chats with
Richard Cowdry. Underground Comix veteran and awesome guy!
Morning Rich, hows it going?
It’s all fine. I’m just back from Copenhagen. I went to Christiania among other places.
Christiana! I went there a coupla years ago! But too hectic for me these days! What did you think of it? Did you take some comix? I imagine the sixties haight-ashbury was a bit like it in a less contrived way! I can see you with an armful of comix! Or was it a family trip? You’re a family man now right?! Gosh, it’s been such a long time hey! So much to catch up on! Lets save the personal stuff for the pub! Hows the comix reader going?
I found Christiana interesting. Some of it looked really together, like they’ve really fulfilled the dream of being independent – one street of self-built houses were amazing. And of course they designed the Christiana bike there. But some of it was a mess : falling apart communal buildings with bad psychedelic murals on the walls. Something post apocalyptic about it.
I didn’t take any comics. I was there with just my wife for a short break and we hardly took anything. Our two kids stayed home with their grandparents.
The Comix Reader ….. is going OK… I guess (?!). The new issue is (to me at least) the best issue yet, so that must be some kind of progress.
I’ve seen the cover, good job! Who you got in the line up this issue? Anyone you’re really excited by? Any new kids?!
Thanks (about the cover). The new kids this time are Alex Widdowson, Brenda Henderson, and David Peter Kerr. Then there is Lord Hurk, Sina Evil, Alex Potts, Ellen Lindner, Paul Ashley Brown, Peter Lally, Maartje Schalkx, Mike Medaglia, Craig Burston, Ralph Kidson, Martin Meeks, me, Saban Kazim, Kat Kon, Bernadette Bentley, Julia Homersham, Paul O’Connell and Dan Locke.
I wouldn’t say there is any one thing I’m most excited by – it’s all worth a look, and hopefully works well together. But I am excited by the sense I have that the comics improve with each issue as we get better at drawing them. So when the work came in for this issue, and I was seeing loads of great pages: that was great!
Another thing I really like with this issue is that we have more 2 page strips, plus other people doing more than one page. At the same time we have more people collaborating and sharing pages, so the one person per page thing is breaking up.
Oh that’s great! Really adds to the collective idea of it I think if people are working together like that. How are you curating it these days ? How did you get the new guys? David peter kerr is awesome! I met him last year when he did our pop up shop in Greenwich, he’s doing comix in Chile! So cool! Hows the comix scene in Germany? Any interesting projects there you’re working on?
How am I curating it? It’s kind of hard to explain. It’s mainly instinctual: just what feels right for the comic. It’s mainly the same group of artists who want to be involved each issue, then there are others who do it depending on how much time they have. The new guys all got in touch with me, so that was easy.
I don’t have much time to really investigate the German comics scene. But I had a table at ComicsInvasionBerlin and that’s a great comics fair for me. It happens in a big old industrial building that looks like it was once used to repair trains or something. They have a really mixed crowd – a bit alternative, lots of families, and almost no cosplay. And they love The Comix Reader!
Well, I look forward to seeing the new issue, when is it out and where can people get a copy and finally is there anything you’d like to mention?
In terms of when the new issue is out, it’s hard to give exact data as the print run is split amongst the artists, and they distribute the comics as they want. I know at least that it will be at Gosh! for the launch party next Friday, and the Alternative Press Fair after that. There is also the option of e-mailing any of the contributors and asking for a copy.
Other than that… selling the comic at fairs has been such a positive experience that it shows me the Comix Reader could actually be “successful” if we can get our act together and figure out the distribution angles a little better. This issue was also also part sponsored by Knockabout Comics, so a bit of thanks goes to Tony Bennett!
Thanks a lot Rich! See you soon. DAP x
