Phil Hall (born April 1962) is a

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writer, editor, and publisher. He was a long-time editor and columnist for the

British comics A British comic is a periodical published in the United Kingdom that contains comic strips. It is generally referred to as a comic or a comic magazine, and historically as a comic paper. As of 2014, the three longest-running comics of all time w ...

magazine ''

Comics International ''Comics International'' was a British news and reviews magazine about comic books. Founded in 1990, it was published monthly by Quality Communications until 2006, and then by Cosmic Publications Ltd. until 2010. Over time, ''Comics International ...

'', as well as the creator and editor of the comics magazine '' Borderline'', He ran his own publisher, Borderline Press, from 2013 to 2015. In addition, he has worked for

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

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, and a number of small independent publishers in both the UK and US. From its inception in 1990, Hall was the copy, news, and features editor at ''Comics International'' and created a number of iconic comics magazine columns, such as "Movers & Shakers", "Hotshots", and "Networks," for the magazine. He left ''CI'' in the spring of 2001 and in August 2001 launched the online journal '' Borderline''. ''Borderline'' was a cross between ''

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 r ...

'' and the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' with a heavy mix of mainstream American/British and international comic books. The magazine spotlighted comic books and creators from countries such as

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, Poland, and the Philippines, alongside American and British comic book icons; ''Borderline'' was, in part, responsible for a number of previously unknown cartoonists obtaining professional contracts. In the spring of 2002, ''Borderline'' became part of the

Cool Beans World ''Cool Beans World'' was a subscription website which published animated or partially animated webcomics. It was conceived by Cool Beans Productions, a design, animation and production company based in Sheffield, England. Contributors included, am ...

network of websites. Despite winning the "Best Specialist Magazine or Website" award at the 2002

National Comics Awards The National Comics Awards was a series of awards for comic book titles and creators given out on an annual basis from 1997 to 2003 (with the exception of the year 2000) for comics published in the United Kingdom the previous year. The votes wer ...

,Sutherland, Kev F. "NATIONAL COMICS AWARDS 2002: THE 5TH NATIONAL COMICS AWARDS RESULTS," 2000ADonline.org
Archived at the Wayback Machine
Retrieved Nov. 30, 2020. however, ''Borderline'' ceased publishing in 2003. Hall left comics in 2003 to pursue a career in

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, but later returned to write a column for the comics website ''Comics Village''. His book: ''My Monthly Curse — A Personal Comic Book History,'' mostly focusing on his time at ''Comics International'' and ''Borderline'' (culled from entries in his

blog A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...

, ''A Life in Comics''), was published in digital form in August 2011. In July 2013, Hall launched Borderline Press Ltd., a registered company dealing with the publishing of new European comics talent. The press had distribution issues, however, which were alleviated when Hall reached a deal with Fanfare in 2015.Johnston, Rich
"Borderline Pressed,"
''Bleeding Cool'' (May 5, 2015). But continued scheduling issues forced Borderline Press to go on hiatus in May 2015. Borderline Press was sold to Fanfare in August 2016. Hall currently lives in Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. He moved there in July 2017

Borderline Press titles (selected)

* ''566 Frames'' by Dennis Wojda (Nov. 2013, ) — autobiographical graphic novel * ''Zombre'' (Nov. 2013, ) — anthology featuring a number of UK, US, and European comics creators * ''Hunger House'' by J. M. Edenborg and Loka Kanarp (2014, ) * ''Zombies Can't Swim'' by Kim Herbst (2014, ) * ''Verity Fair'' by Terry Wiley (2014, ) * ''City of Crocodiles'' by Knut Larsson (Apr. 2014, ) * ''Spoko'' by Tomas Prokupek, et al. (Aug. 2014, ) — anthology * ''Seth & Ghost'' by Jamie Lewis (Mar. 2015, )

External links

Hall's "A Life in Comics" blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Phil 1962 births Living people British writers British magazine editors