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 magazines.

Bryan Talbot, Glenn Dakin, Shaky Kane, Paul Johnson, Stephen Baskerville, Ed Pinsent, John Watkiss, John Bolton, John Higgins, and Angus McKieMéalóid, Pádraig Ó
"Interview with Bryan Talbot,"
BryanTalbot.com (Started 6th May 2009. Finished 21st September 2009). were amongst the many cartoonists published within the pages of ''pssst!''. Early parts of Talbot's ''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'' were published in the comic.

Talbot feels that ''pssst!'' "...was the precursor of ''Escape'' and ''Deadline'' and the rest of the cascade of British adult comic mags that came out in the Eighties and Nineties." Critic Russell Willis, on the other hand, wrote of the publication, "It tended towards '' Heavy Metal'' tits, ass and girls-with-butterfly-wings style over any lasting substance."Willis, Russell
"From Under the Stairs,"
''Tumblr'' (2012).

Overview

Early in his career, British comics expert Paul Gravett worked for ''pssst!''; he described his experiences on his website:

Publication history

''Pssst!'' was produced by a division of Never Limited called Artpool Limited. The company was based in London, at 38 Mount Pleasant in Clerkenwell. ''Psssst'' was distributed by Seymour Press Ltd.Indicia. ''pssst!'' #4 (Artpool Limited, 1982). In late 1981, Paul Gravett left his role as manager of Fast Fiction — a stall at the bimonthly Westminster Comics Mart which sold bande dessinée — to work as promotions manager for ''pssst!''.

According to Talbot, each issue was about "fifty pages, printed on top quality glossy paper and with the highest production values."

Early parts of Talbot's ''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'' were published in ''pssst!'' (the first parts having been published in the British underground comic ''Near Myths'' in 1978–1980). Talbot "reworked the chapters that /nowiki>he'd/nowiki> already done for ''Near Myths'' but by around issue five or six /nowiki>he/nowiki> was drawing new ones."

Grant Morrison and Tony O'Donnell went to London for a meeting with ''pssst!'''s publishers, who said they wanted to publish Morrison's Gideon Stargrave stories as well as some of their other work.Ewing, Garen. Interview with Tony O'Donnell (July 1998). Originally intended for the British comics fanzine ''Vicious'', run by Pete Ashton and Jez Higgins
Archived at GarenEwing.co.uk
Morrison said, "I'd done a new Gideon Stargrave story... it's my favourite one I've ever done in my life and it's never been seen anywhere." ''Pssst!'', however, was canceled before it was published, leading Morrison to "feel that ewas some kind of albatross".Grant Morrison interview
''After-Image'' #6 (January 1988).

Talbot's ''Arkwright'' storyline, less than half complete, was interrupted again when ''pssst!'' was canceled in 1982; publisher Boissevain, however, collected the material and published it (under the publisher name "Prout") as a graphic novel. Talbot went on to complete the story thanks to Valkyrie Press.

As Gravett writes, "Put together by committee, ''pssst!'' was a camel of a magazine, which was forced to close after ten issues.

Legacy

In 1983, Gravett and Peter Stanbury formed ''Escape'' magazine, with a mandate similar to that of ''pssst!'', and which lasted until the end of the 1980s.

References

External links

* {{gcdb series, id=70815, title=pssst!

Comics anthologies
British small press comics
1982 establishments in the United Kingdom