Moose Kid Comics launches today, features Young Tank Girl and much more!

Moose Kid Comics #1  - Cover

An intrepid team of comic creators have just launched the amazing-looking Moose Kid Comics – a free, brand new digital comic that aims to be a showcase for talent and stories they feel will help make both British and international children’s comics great again.

Moose Kid Comics – available from www.moosekidcomics.com from today, 20th June 2014 – is a glorious 36-page, free to read, digital children’s comic featuring nearly 40 of the best comic creators working today, from well-established heroes to newer talents from the indie and web scenes.

Young Tank Girl is part of the Moose Kids Comics line-up, by Alan Martin and Warwick Johnson-Cadwell.

Young Tank Girl is part of the Moose Kids Comics line-up, by Alan Martin and Warwick Johnson-Cadwell.

The showcase, which the team hope will attract the attention of a partner publisher, includes Young Tank Girl, an all-ages incarnation of the world-famous comic character.

Each creator is contributing their own entirely original characters exclusively for the comic – and from what I’ve seen so far (thanks to an early sneak preview courtesy of Jamie Smart a couple of weeks ago) I really hope this takes off. It’s crammed with inventive, silly stuff that I think many will enjoy.

The title is the brainchild of top comic creator Jamie Smart, best known for his work on mainstream comics such as The Beano, Dandy and The Phoenix, who has long decried the parlous state of British comics. Together with the team he quickly gathered, he aims to restore some vitality to the genre made famous by weekly British comics like The Beano, Whizzer and Chips and Oink!, whilst combining it all with the modern sensibilities of Adventure Time and Moshi Monsters.

“We created Moose Kid Comics for several reasons,” Jamie explains. “Firstly, to entertain comic readers and win new audiences. Secondly, to show how fantastic a children’s comic can be when artists come together and create the content themselves.

“Finally, we also wanted to continue the discussion about how we make children’s comics great again.”

The creative team are well aware that in the UK, mainstream children’s comics have been struggling over the years, especially ones featuring original content.

The Phoenix and The Beano are the only commercially available weekly titles still producing entirely original characters, but they are competing against big-name licensed titles based on TV shows or merchandising,” Jamie explains. “We wanted to join in, and help change things. We wanted to remind both children and adults alike how fantastical and imaginative comics can be, to find new audiences, and to help raise children’s comics back into the public consciousness.”

In early 2013 Jamie put out a call for artists to join the Moose Kid Comics project. To his astonishment, over 400 artists responded.

“Alongside this, I had a small wish list of artists I wanted to approach,” he reveals, “artists I’d admired since childhood or who I thought had the perfect style for our comic. I wanted all the artists to join in with brand new characters: modern ones, ridiculous ones, ideas strong enough to compete against the big name licensed titles.”

“I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved and who is involved,” Jamie enthuses. ”We have exclusive comics from artists like Tom Paterson, Mike Pearce and David Leach, heroes to anyone who grew up reading comics in the UK. And there’s Gary Northfield, Laura Howell, Mark Stafford, Roger Langridge, to name but a few, mixed in amongst newer artists like Rachel Smith, Tom Plant and Will Kirkby.

“And, of course, we’re very excited to be showcasing a real exclusive – Young Tank Girl, by Alan Martin and Warwick Johnson-Cadwell themselves!

While Moose Kid Comics is an enormous project in itself, the creative team behind it are hoping that its success will lead to greater things.

Moose Kids Comics is a statement,” says Jamie. “It’s a declaration of what we can do. It’s concrete proof of the high quality entertainment we can create, and the heart and passion of all the talented artists who want to help change children’s comics for the better.

A full time comic artist for about 15 years, Jamie has seen how the state of humour comics in the UK has declined over time. He worked extensively for The Dandy, writing and drawing “Desperate Dan” for five years, before moving onto “Roger The Dodger” for The Beano. He also created “Space Raoul” for The Funday Times, “Fish-Head Steve” for The DFC, “Count Von Poo” for TOXIC, and is currently work on both “Bunny Vs Monkey” and “Looshkin” for The Phoenix.

Alongside this he’s released a number of children’s books (Find Chaffy 1 and 2, Where’s The Doctor), some more grown up books (Bear, Kochi Wanaba), and worked on a handful of different webcomics. He also spent some years working in show development with Cartoon Network.

Moose Kid Comics - Flora & Fauna

Flora & Fauna

“We’re hoping to open up the discussion about how we can keep doing this,” says Jamie of the all-new Moose Kid Comics. “We’re looking for publishers who can see the potential, and help us reignite children’s comics. We’d even love to find funding so we can print up a whole bundle of copies, and release it for free on a massive scale, through charities and schools, into hospitals and across the world, everywhere children (and adults) could do with a smile.“

While this special free edition of Moose Kid Comics is a single issue for now, a one-off, whatever happens, the enthusiastic creative team are keen to find a way to make future issues, and keep this conversation going.

“Children deserve high-quality, original entertainment,” says Jamie, “and we think we can create some rather wonderful new characters for them to believe in.”

The full list of comic creators involved in Moose Kid Comics issue 1 is as follows:

Aaron Alexovich, Rikke Asbjorn, Nigel Auchterlounie, Matt Baxter, Aaron Blecha, Jess Bradley, Warwick Johnson-Cadwell, Neill Cameron, Samantha Davies, Wilbur Dawbarn, James Downing, Chris Garbutt, Dan Gaynor, Rick Eades, Afonso Ferreira, Laura Howell, Will Kirkby, Roger Langridge, Lindsey Lea, David Leach, Joe List, Alan Martin, Sarah McIntyre, Gary Northfield, Tom Paterson, Mike Pearse, Tom Plant, Alan Ryan, Abby Ryder, Andreas Schuster, Viviane Schwarz, Jamie Smart, Rachael Smith, Mark Stafford, Hamish Steele, William Tallman, Steve Tillotson, Stephen Waller, Andrew Waugh and Vincent Woodcock

•  Moose Kid Comics is available now as a digital comic, worldwide, via www.moosekidcomics.com. Here are a few sample pages!

Moose Kid Comics #1 - Porc

The “Porc” strip in Moose Kid Comics #1, by Andreas Schuster

 

Scrambles - just one of the strips that features in Moose Kid Comics #1

Scrambles  by Chris Garbutt – just one of the strips that features in Moose Kid Comics #1

Moose Kid Comics #1 - Nantastic

Nantastic – from Moose Kid Comics #1

Moose Kid Comics #1  - Pet Crusaders

Pet Crusaders by Gary Northfield



Categories: British Comics, downthetubes Comics News, Featured News

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

1 reply

Trackbacks

  1. Moose Kids, the free humour e-comic for kids (of all ages) is back! | downthetubes.net

Discover more from downthetubes.net

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading