Nobrow Press is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

publishing company based in

London London is the capital and 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 down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. Nobrow is known for its bi-annual eponymous anthology, for publishing the works of Blexbolex,

Luke Pearson Luke Pearson (born 12 October 1987) is a British illustrator, cartoonist, and comic book writer best known for the '' Hilda'' series of comics for Nobrow Press, and '' Hilda'', the Netflix series based on the comics. He has also storyboarded e ...

, Jon McNaught and

Jesse Moynihan Jesse Moynihan (born January 4, 1978) is an American artist, animator, composer and director. He is best known for being a writer and storyboard artist on the animated television series ''Adventure Time'' and as the creator of the graphic novel ' ...

, and for exposing the English-speaking world to works by European artists. The publisher is seen as a champion of

DIY culture "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...

. Nobrow's works are distributed in the U.S. by

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertels ...

History

The company was founded in October 2008 by Sam Arthur and Alex Spiro with the intention "to publish books that deserved to be printed." In January 2012 the company curated the two-week "This Is Not a Pop-Up" event at the

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the Roy ...

shop, where-by they hosted musicians, artists and a workshop for children as well as offering their products for sale. In September 2012 the company attended the

Small Press Expo The Small Press Expo (SPX) is an American alternative comics convention. A registered 501(c)(3) that was created in 1994, every year since its inception, SPX has put on a festival, known as The Expo, that provides a forum for artists, writers and ...

, with co-founder Arthur participating in the panel "British Comics: Does it Translate". In early 2012 it was announced that Nobrow was to work on the launch of a sister imprint, focused on children's publishing, with 12 titles to publish in 2013. In September 2013, Nobrow opened a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

office, headed by Creative Director Alex Spiro. As well as aiding US distribution efforts, the satellite would focus on newly formed relationships with TV and Film studios, who had taken an interest in some of their titles, such as Hilda. In June 2016, it was announced by Netflix that they would be producing, along with Silvergate Media, ''

Hilda Hilda is one of several female given names derived from the name ''Hild'', formed from Old Norse , meaning 'battle'. Hild, a Nordic-German Bellona, was a Valkyrie who conveyed fallen warriors to Valhalla. Warfare was often called Hild's Game. Th ...

'', an animated TV series for children based on

's graphic novel series of the same name.

Aesthetic

Nobrow utilizes an idiosyncratic

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...

approach which allows the publisher to achieve a striking palette of colours in its books. It also carefully oversees the

paper stock Paperboard is a thick paper-based material. While there is no rigid differentiation between paper and paperboard, paperboard is generally thicker (usually over 0.30 mm, 0.012 in, or 12 points) than paper and has certain superior attribute ...

used, in order to create books that evoke a sense of history. The company's publishing aesthetic has been described by Rob Clough in ''

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 re ...

'' as one that is "part

Drawn & Quarterly Drawn & Quarterly is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specializing in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic content, ...

and part ''

Blab! ''Blab!'' was an anthology edited by Monte Beauchamp that featured a mixture of alternative comics and illustrated features focused predominantly on illustration, graphic design, and Lowbrow (art movement), lowbrow art. The first two issues (198 ...

'', where design and color are often more important than line and narrative. This is not to say that narrative is irrelevant in these comics, only that the narrative direction is more on the abstruse side. The design, packaging, and attention to detail and color here are almost painfully exquisite."

References

External links

*
Nobrow Press
on Tumblr
Flying Eye Books
Comic book publishing companies of the United Kingdom Magazine publishing companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in the London Borough of Hackney 2008 establishments in England British companies established in 2008 Publishing companies established in 2008 Publishing companies based in London {{comics-company-stub