Blank Slate Books (BSB) is a publishing company based in the UK. It publishes primarily comic books,

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

s and

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

collections, with an emphasis on new work by British artists and translated work by European artists. The books it publishes are noted for their "indie-friendly" content, and are frequently by small press artists whose initial work is self-published. The name of the company is a pun on "drawing" or "writing" on a

blackboard A blackboard (also known as a chalkboard) is a reusable writing surface on which text or drawings are made with sticks of calcium sulphate or calcium carbonate, known, when used for this purpose, as chalk. Blackboards were originally made of ...

. BSB is currently one of the few dedicated original comics and graphic novel publishers in the UK.

History

Blank Slate Books (BSB) was founded in 2008 by Kenny Penman and a partner. Penman was inspired by

Fantagraphics Books Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint. History Founding Fantagraphics was found ...

of Seattle, WA. to publish books in the United Kingdom that would do for artists in Britain what Fantagraphics was doing in the USA, championing the independent. alternative creators who were not working in Superhero or other ‘mainstream’ commercial comics genres. Penman is co-director of Forbidden Planet International so has plenty of experience with the comics industry. He saw the mission of BSB as "supporting home-grown talent" and providing an essential outlet for work that might not be seen elsewhere.name=" He was primarily motivated to begin the company after encountering the work of Oliver East who has no real precedents in UK comics. The publication of ''Trains Are Mint'' by East was BSB's first release in 2008 and was critically acclaimed with an Ignatz nomination following soon after publication. Other notable releases were ''Psychiatric Tales'' by

Darryl Cunningham Darryl Cunningham (born 1960) is a British author and cartoonist who has written the books ''Science Tales'' (also known, in the US, as ''How to Fake a Moon Landing''), ''Psychiatric Tales'', ''The Age of Selfishness'' and ''Billionaires: The Liv ...

, another non-genre work which was featured on Radio 4, in many newspaper articles and eventually republished in the USA. The "collective graphic novel" ''Nelson'', edited by Rob Davis and

Woodrow Phoenix Woodrow Phoenix is a British comics artist, writer, editorial illustrator, graphic designer, font designer and author of children's books. Phoenix is best known for ''Rumble Strip'', published in 2008, a non-fiction look at the difficult social ...

, was an experiment that became ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' newspaper's Graphic Novel of The Month, November 2011. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' newspaper awarded it Best Graphic Novel of 2011, it was nominated for an

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

and was voted Book of The Year in the

British Comic Awards The British Comic Awards (BCA) were a set of British awards for achievement in comic books. Winners were selected by a judging committee; the awards were given out on an annual basis from 2012 to 2016 for comics made by United Kingdom creators publ ...

2012. Penman's other mission was to introduce titles from European countries to the UK that otherwise might not be seen. He has focused primarily upon German titles by creators such as Mawil, Line Hoven, and Ule Osterle who are stars in Germany but little known in the UK. BSB currently publishes six to eight books a year. In 2012

, himself an acclaimed author of graphic novels, became art director of the company and now supervises BSB's design and production.

Titles

Graphic Novels

*''Psychiatric Tales'' by

*''Spleenal '' by Nigel Auchterlounie *''Weak As I Am '' by Nigel Auchterlounie *''Berlin And That'' by Oliver East *''Trains Are ... Mint'' by Oliver East *''Proper Go Well High'' by Oliver East *’’Swear Down'' by Oliver East *''Girl and the Gorilla, The'' by Madéleine Flores *''Peepholes'' by Laurie J. Proud *''Death & The Girls'' by Donya Todd *''Playing Out'' by Jim Medway *''Take Away'' by Lizz Lunney *''Dinopopolous'' by Nick Edwards *''My Skateboard Life '' by Ed Syder *''Survivalist, The'' by Box Brown *''Suitcase, The'' by Dan Berry *''Orson Welles: Special Agent! '' by

Gordon Rennie Gordon Rennie is a Scottish comics writer, responsible for ''White Trash: Moronic Inferno'', as well as several comic strips for '' 2000 AD'' and novels for ''Warhammer Fantasy''. In May 2008, he announced he was leaving comics to concentrate f ...

*''Kochi Wanaba'' by

Jamie Smart Jamie Smart (born 21 July 1978) is a British comic artist and author best known for his 10-issue comic series '' Bear''. The Phoenix He is known for his children's cartoon series '' Bunny VS. Monkey'', running in The Phoenix, created original ...

*''A Long Day Of Mr. James-Teacher'' by James Harvey

Collections and Anthologies

*''Nelson'' by Rob Davis and

*''Hugo Tate'' by

Nick Abadzis Nick Abadzis ( el, Νικ Αμπατζής; born 1965)
Lambiek's ''Comiclopedia''. Retrieved Jan. 28, 2020. i ...

*''Alby Figgs'' by

Warren Pleece Warren Pleece is a British comics artist. He is best known for his work at the DC Comics imprint Vertigo and the 2012–16 Irish novel series '' Zom-B''. Biography Warren, with his brother Gary Pleece, wrote and drew three issues of a self-pub ...

*''Uncle Bob Adventures'' by

*''Accidental Salad, The'' by Joe Decie *''Listening Agent, The'' by Joe Decie

Translations

*''Departures '' by Pierre Maurel *''Luchadoras'' by Peggy Adam *''Coney Island Baby'' by Nine Antico *''Sleepyheads'' by Randall C. *''Hector Umbra'' by Uli Oesterle *''Love Looks Away'' by Line Hoven *''Sparky O’Hare'' by Mawil *''The Band'' by Mawil *''We Can Still Be Friends '' by Mawil *''Home & Away '' by Mawil

Other Books

*''Felt Mistress: Creature Couture '' by

References

{{Reflist

External links

BSB homepage

Blog of publisher Kenny Penman
"A collaboration between 54 British comic artists has produced a surprisingly cohesive and heartfelt novel"
by Rachel Cooke, The Observer (18 November 2011)

"Graphic novel of the month"

My favourite medical graphic novels by Cian O'Luanaigh (19 July 2010)
"The talking penguin's guide to climate change"
by Killian Fox, The Observer (22 April 2012) Comics based on fiction Comic book publishing companies of the United Kingdom British graphic novels Privately held companies of the United Kingdom