I think that it was at the Classical Comics table that I met Martyn Parkinson. In fact,I met quite a few people at the Classical Comics table! If I remember correctly the unrecognised star of British comics,Jon Haward,pointed Martyn in my direction.
Martyn had with him copies of a 16pp,full colour,glossy dummy issue of Mask. The hope is that,if he can get backing,the magazine would be the complete printed source for comic fans. The dummy covers “Secret Invasion”,comic-related movie features focussing on the likes of Iron Man,The Dark Knight,The Incredible Hulk and Hellboy II. Other articles explain Ms Marvel;her origins and more,a look at Classical Comics and more.
The package is high quality -paid for by Parkinson to show what can be done.
I think that I have written and said many,many times that what the UK is desperately lacking on the news stands or in speciality stores is a quality comic-based genre publication. The United States and European countries [and countries beyond] have their magazines but we have only Comics International which is far from interesting these days and centred on the big names and promoting those who feed it!
That is it.
I don’t think we have a good general magazine centred on the massive comics industry in the UK since the late 1980s/early 1990s.
Would such a magazine sell to the public outside of comics?
Yes. The X-Men and Fantastic Four films -and the others- have created huge interest and more mundane magazines featuring news on big events in comics or films have attracted readers. So,yeah,the “civilians” as one comic pro called the General Public over the weekend,should be attracted to something like Mask.
Comic fans I would think will be interested. Good news is hard to get when you think that the internet has so much junk in the way of rumour and even mischief-making from ’sources’. Something they can pick up with their comics or in the local newsagents ought to be successful.
In fact,I think the last quality magazine we had of this type was Fantasia under the editorship of Paul H. Birch. So,I was very excited to learn that he is assisting/advising Martyn with Mask.
More and more companies and fans are reverting to hard copies of material rather than just the internet.
If any publisher out there has an ounce of business sense then they should back this project. Mask looks good. Mask reads well. Mask is very much needed and if I had the money I’d certainly have jumped in to back it.
Let’s keep our collective fingers crossed.
