''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 ...

(featuring work by rising stars such as

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is an English comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ...

SMS Short Message Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile phones exchange short text messages, t ...

, Glenn Dakin, Phil Elliott, and

Rian Hughes Rian Hughes is a People of the United Kingdom, British graphic designer, illustrator, type designer, comics artist and novelist. Overviews Hughes has written and drawn comics for ''2000 AD (comics), 2000 AD'', Vertigo CMYK and ''Batman Black ...

). 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), Escape'' magazine, and for many years wrote a monthly article on comics appear ...

, Phil Elliott and Ed Pinsent. The name "Fast Fiction" 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 t ...

''.

History

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

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, in 1981, selling imported

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

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 British 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 Phil Elliott and Ian Wieczorek took over Fast Fiction in late 1981 when Gravett started working for '' Pssst!'', magazine Gravett, Paul
"Escape Magazine: The Great Escape Twenty Years On,"
PaulGravett.com. Retrieved Nov. 28, 2022. (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). Ed Pinsent, 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'', its 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!''.

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* * * * British comics British small press comics Defunct British comics Distribution companies of the United Kingdom {{UK-comics-stub

History

See also

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