THE JIGSAW REVIEW

Gweni Press presents THE JIGSAW REVIEW: JOURNAL OF UNDERGROUND AND ALTERNATIVE COMICS: Volume 1

In 3 editions:

Standard Edition: Amazon – A4, 228 pages, black and white interior, colour cover.

Alternative Cover Edition: Lulu – A4, 228 pages. Black and White interior/Coated Stock/Full Colour cover.

Collectors Edition: Mixam – A4, 228 pages. Black and White interior/Heavy Coated Stock/Full Colour Cover/Full Colour Interior Cover

Anthology of new and classic small press comics some not seen for over thirty years.

Available now from: Amazon/Lulu/Mixam at the link below:

malearl.com/shop

‘JIGSAW has been a passion project for some time now.

Initially attempted a couple of years ago, the overwhelming response was one of demanded page rates, rather than a cooperative attempt at pulling together an anthology that would serve as a showcase for, and in some cases a historical document of small press comics, and as such it fell apart before it had even fully taken shape.

A lot of water under the bridge and, finding myself freshly retired and with time to pursue my own creative endeavours, Jigsaw was still buzzing in my ear, demanding to be heard… so what do you do?

This time around I personally approached creators who I personally admired and who I knew were still active in the comics field, and I’ve been overwhelmed by the reaction from people who were truly on the cutting edge of small press comics in the 90s.

John Bagnall, Ed Pinsent, Bob Lynch and Denny Derbyshire were all frequently seen in the pages of Paul Gravett’s ESCAPE magazine, Chris Webster self published MALUS, one of the finest pieces of comic work seen in any sphere in my humble opinion, Dave Metcalfe published his respected anthology SLICES and with a sprinkling of fresh talent like Simon Russell and Morgan Gleave, The Jigsaw Review has turned out a bit special.

In some cases, working only with the original A5 photocopied zines, it was necessary for me to scan and ‘remaster some of the strips. So even if you still have the original gems in your collections’The Jigsaw Review’ will offer you a totally different appreciation of these lost classics.

It is an honour to be curating what will now undoubtedly be a series of volumes from some of the finest, yet under appreciated voices in the small press sphere.

All contributors were keen on showing decent amounts of their work, and in virtually all cases Volume 1 contains between 20 and 30+ pages from everyone.

Included are Bob’s ‘Sadness in Space’ from 1988 in it’s 24 page entirety and Chris’s ‘Gardenhouse’ one shot from 1989 which runs to 32 pages complete with original covers. Denny, Ed, and John also provide over 30 pages each of their ‘Tales from Zervanalia’, ‘The Staring Eye’ and ‘Knitting with Coalsmoke’, respectively.

Add into the mix my own debut small press comic ‘Solus’ and wonderful new work from Simon and Morgan and you end up with a 228 page A4 black and white slab of a book that I would defy anyone to be not impressed by!”