Cartoonist and bookshop owner David Ziggy Greene is running a crowdfunding campaign to publish Vintage, a definitive collection of his short, silly comics.
He’s also hoping you’ll support his Bumblebee Conservation Trust Drawing Project, too – more on that below!
Well known and acclaimed for his work for Private Eye magazine (in particular, creating illustration reportage between 2011 and 2020), Time Out London, Charlie Hebdo and many more, David has worked in publishing and book selling for 20 years.
Private Eye editor Ian Hislop has described his cartoons as “cleverly observed and executed”, while Guardian cartoonist David Squires has called him “incisive” and “one of the most important cartoonists working today”.
Collecting 90 plus pages of short comics that have appeared scattered all over the place, Vintage will combine David’s two smaller short story books, published from 2009 and 2012, and include 20 new pages of work created especially for this book.
Vintage collects older stories about Ping Pong, Vikings, Zen, belly button fluff, Mexican goat gods and more.
“The older comics have been printed in magazines, zines, books and newspapers around the world,” David, who also runs The Jam Bookshop, explains, “and have been out of print for many years, but I’ve decided to collect all the best stuff into one definitive collection.
“I’ve always adored the zine aesthetic and I want to use it with this book. It’s full of crazy energy with totally wild stories ranging from one to 14 pages in length.”
The project is now fully funded but you can still preorder a copy here on Crowdfunder.
David is working on the new comics and a bookplate over the next few months, between freelance and other book work, and his aim is to have the book printed by mid October 2025.
• Check out the Vintage by David Ziggy Greene project here on crowdfunder.co.uk
Postage is included but some people throw an extra £1 or £ 2 to help cover it. Especially if overseas, as postage costs are now, unfortunately, more than the cost of a book to some parts of the world!
Drawing 1000 bees for Bumblebee Conservation Trust
David Ziggy Greene is raising money for Bumblebee Conservation Trust
David is also running a JustGiving page to help to save the adorable, fuzzy-bottomed bumblebees, in aid of the work of the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.
David will be drawing 1000 bumblebees in a bumblemarathon, scribbling at least 1000 bees in a space of about three hours and, hopefully, making £1 per bee in donations. If more money is raised, then more bees will be drawn to try to match the amount.
“Bumblebees are in crisis,” David notes. “They pollinate many crops that provide us with food to eat and the colourful flowers in our landscape.
“Without their ‘free-bee’ service, many wildflowers and the animals and ecosystems which depend on them could decline dramatically or even disappear altogether.”
There are a total of 24 bumblebee species found in the UK.Unfortunately, two UK species have become nationally extinct over the past century, while other species have declined dramatically.
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust was founded in 2006 to address serious concerns about the future of wild bumblebees, and are leading the fight to secure their future. Guided by the latest science they carry out research, influence environmental policy and conserve and create bumblebee friendly habitats. They inspire people and organisations to take action for our precious bumblebees, working together to help them thrive.
• Drawing 1000 bees for Bumblebee Conservation Trust
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as 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.
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