Ace artist Phil Elliott’s Kickstarter to print a 140-page The Suttons book is already fully funded. But there’s still time to back this project, which will feature over 270 semi-autobiographical comic strips about growing up in Maidstone with his family.

The Suttons first appeared in The Maidstone Borough News (which later became The Maidstone Star) in August 1985 and ran every week until March 1991.

“In this work, Phil Elliott has created, by instalments, a simply-drawn yet touchingly personal portrait of a young family and the community surrounding them,” notes acclaimed comic creator Alan Moore. “Some sequences are fantasy, some are more like beautifully-observed snapshots of suburban life and behaviour, but all of them are suffused with a real human warmth that no amount of slickly delivered gags could ever compensate for.”

“A friend recently said that The Suttons is ‘an antidote to these bleak times, with It’s uncynical, warm and humorous take on life’s … and I’ll go with that,” says Phil.

Aiming to publish the collection later this year now fully funded, people have the option of pledging for The Suttons book on its own (card-backed or hard-backed)… or for a copy with an original sketch of a character from the strip on Page One, personally thanking you for your pledge.

“There’s also the opportunity to request an extra A4 sketch by me…of anything you’d like!” Phil tells us. “It doesn’t need to be Suttons-related.

“I’ve drawn all sorts of strange things, so people shouldn’t be afraid to request anything they fancy!”

Phil has been involved with four successful Kickstarter campaigns including three collections of his and Eddie Campbell’s Sounds strips and Malty Heave with Robert Wells.

Active in the comic book industry since the mid-1970’s, Phil launched and co-edited the Fast Fiction fanzine in the ‘80s, where he introduced his bequiffed character, Gimbley.

He was a regular contributor to the influential Escape magazine and his other work includes Illegal Alien and Bluebeard written by James Robinson; Lucifer with Eddie Campbell; writing Absent Friends for Paul Grist; Tupelo with Matt DeGennaro; The Real Ghostbusters for Marvel UK; and illustrating Glenn Dakin’s Greenhouse Warriors, Mr Night and The Rockpool Files. He’s also a contributor to The77 anthology.

• The Suttons by Phil Elliott will be a perfect-bound book 245mm wide x 210mm tall (that will be two strips per page, totally over 270 strips) with colour covers and 140 black and white pages inside – and you can back the project on Kickstarter here

• Phil Elliott is online at www.elliott-design.com

• Read Morgan Spiceman’s interview with Phil about his work for The77 and creating comics in general here

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.

Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Collections, British Comics - Newspaper Strips, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News

Tags: Alan Moore, Crowdfunding Spotlight, downthetubes News, Humour Comics, Kickstarter, Phil Elliott, The Maidstone Borough News, The Maidstone Star, The Suttons