''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 British small press comics, once known as stripzines, are comic books self-published by amateur cartoonists and comic book creators, usually in short print runs, in the UK. They're comparable to similar movements internationally, such as American ...

. It existed in its various forms from 1981 through to 1990 under the stewardship of

Paul Gravett Paul Gravett is a London-based journalist, curator, writer, and broadcaster who has worked in comics publishing since 1981. He is the founder of ''Escape Magazine'', and for many years wrote a monthly article on comics appearing in the UK magaz ...

Phil Elliott Phil Elliott (born 1960) is a British comic book creator who was published in ''Escape Magazine''. He was part of the British small press comics scene in the 1980s. Career After contributing spot illustrations to comic fanzines such as '' Bemusi ...

and

Ed Pinsent Ed Pinsent (born 1960, Liverpool, England) is a British cartoonist, artist, and writer. Biography Ed Pinsent is the son of the classical scholar John Pinsent and was brought up in the city of Liverpool. Pinsent has written and drawn his own sm ...

. The name was taken from a ''

Classics Illustrated ''Classics Illustrated'' is an American comic book/magazine series featuring adaptations of literary classics such as ''Les Misérables'', '' Moby-Dick'', ''Hamlet'', and '' The Iliad''. Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication ...

'' knock-off spotted in the ''

Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide ''The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide'' (or ''Official Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide'') is an annually published comic book price guide widely considered the primary authority on the subject of American comic book grading and pricing in the ...

''.

History

started the ''Fast Fiction'' stall at the bimonthly Westminster Comics Mart in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, in 1981, selling imported

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an comics, or

bande dessinée (singular ; literally 'drawn strips'), abbreviated BDs and also referred to as Franco-Belgian comics (), are comics that are usually originally in French and created for readership in France and Belgium. These countries have a long tradition ...

. Having discovered that interesting new comics were being published in short-run

photocopy A photocopier (also called copier or copy machine, and formerly Xerox machine, the generic trademark) is a machine that makes copies of documents and other visual images onto paper or plastic film quickly and cheaply. Most modern photocopiers ...

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 de facto social centre for small press publishers along with the adjoining pub, The Westminster Arms. Cartoonist

and Ian Wieczorek took over ''Fast Fiction'' in late 1981 when Gravett started working for ''

Pssst! ''Pssst!'' (styled as ''pssst!'') was a short-lived British comics magazine published by Never–Artpool in 1982. ''Pssst!'', which lasted ten monthly issues, was an attempt to publish a British equivalent of the lavish French bande dessinée ma ...

'', magazine leading to him launching ''

Escape Magazine ''Escape'' magazine was a British comic strip magazine founded and edited by Paul Gravett and Peter Stanbury. Nineteen issues were published between 1983 and 1989. Eddie Campbell, Phil Elliott and Glenn Dakin were amongst the many cartoonists ...

''. The bimonthly stall and mail-order distributor 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.

, another cartoonist who had been involved in the cassette 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 (later known as Luke Temple Walsh) and Mike Kidson who used it to launch the small press comics review zine '' Zum!''.

References

*Campbell, Eddie (2001) ''Alec: How To Be An Artist''. Eddie Campbell Comics. . *Gravett, Paul (2003) "The Great Escape" ''

The Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing r ...

Special Edition'' 3 46-61 *Huxley, David (2001) ''Nasty Tales: Sex, Drugs, Rock'n'Roll and Violence in the British Underground'' Headpress * British comics Defunct British comics British small press comics Distribution companies of the United Kingdom {{UK-comics-stub

History

See also

References