Jamie Smart is one of the best comic creators you may not have heard of. He’s best known for work like Corporate Skull , a cheerfully sweary web comic about an office drone who has his face accidentally taken off in a frankly surreal photocopier accident and as I write this is having real trouble accepting that he gets to fight both vampires and zombies now.
However, Jamie’s also been behind the splendid Space Raoul , countless pieces for The Dandy , Fishhead Steve , The Arena Of Awesome and Doctor Who: Monster Invasion . His work’s brilliant, energetic, fast, detailed and extremely funny, whether in kid-friendly or NSFW mode. Jamie has a new idea and it’s a doozy.
He’s going to help save kids’ comics. And you’re going to help him.
The plan behind Moose Kid Comics is simple. Kids’ comics in this country are brilliant and… overlooked. The Dandy folded its print edition recently after 75 years whilst the utterly brilliant The Phoenix is doing well but still needs far more attention than it gets.
Moose Kid Comics is based around original characters rather than licensed ones and that’s so rare that there’s not even any competition to speak of. Any new arrival is a chance to raise the entire genre a little and that’s what Jamie wants to do: create an entirely new zero issue filled with original characters that would show exactly how energetic and creative and vibrant kids’ comics are. This zero issue will be made available as a free download and will be shown to investors as a demonstration for how any print title would be. In addition, once it’s done, KickStarter campaigns will be planned out to help bring any print issues to the market. But for now, that’s very much in the future. Right now, here’s what you need to know:
• Jamie’s looking for artists to create original characters for a zero issue of a new kids’ comic
• All rights to your character will remain with you.
• There’s no pay. Right now.
Jamie describes the sort of material he’s looking for as “the wild hysteria of Ren And Stimpy , mashed with the brilliantly charming Adventure Time .” So, if your work feels like it fits that category, all you need to do is email your website to moosekidcomics@gmail.com or check out www.moosekidcomics.com to see the plan in full detail.
Regardless, if you’re a comic creator and you work in this field, or think you can, give it a shot. Who knows, the next iconic kids’ comic character could be patiently waiting for the door in your head to open even now…
Alasdair Stuart
