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New Liverpool-based indie Cog Life Comics to launch at Thought Bubble

By John Freeman on September 20, 2017

New indie comics publisher Cog Life Comics wages war against the mundane world, as they launch their first comic, Isolation, at this year’s Thought Bubble Sequential Art Festival on 23rd September 2017.

Founded in January, Cog Life Comics have been hard at work creating Isolation, a 20-plus page comic which brings together three unique stories, leading with “Man of Mystery“, an enjoyable silent story from Matt Crehan, drawn by Federico Avella.

Art from “Man of Mystery”, an enjoyable silent story from Matt Crehan, drawn by Federico Avella

If it’s humour you’re after, then “Abominable“, the exploits of a bunch of yeti hunters more than fits the bill, a story written and drawn by Mike West, ably assisted by Jon Scrivens.

“Deliveries“, the work of Jon Slater, is a bizarre tale of what just might be a deranged, fixated killer in the woods, thwarted by – well, I’m not going to spoil it for you. Check out the book at Thought Bubble.

Isolation will also be joined at Thought Bubble by 2015 Running Awards’ shortlisted graphic novel, The Art of Running, which writer Matt Crehan brought to Cog Life Comics as he joined original founding members Mike West, Jon Slater and Declan Montgomery.

Matthew Crehan

Matthew Crehan is a professional comic author, who relaunched classic British comic character Alf Tupper: The Tough of the Track in Athletics Weekly magazine back in 2014 and published his first creator-owned graphic novel, The Art of Running in 2015. He has also had a number of comic stories published by GrayHaven and Ninth Art Press.

Declan Montgomery

Declan Montgomery is an artist and all round creative from Rock Ferry. His skill-set producing fabrication specs’ and technical drawings in his day job form the basis of his official illustrative experience.

Cog-Life allows him to ‘Escape the Machine’ and pour his time into creative projects, narratives and endeavours beyond spec-sheets and CAD. Artistically he has a love for 2000AD‘s art-style and a love for all things Lovecraftian.

Jon Slater

A jack of all trades, master of none, Jon Slater gets stuck into every aspect of the creative process – writing, drawing, lettering, even last minute resizing and edits. He says he enjoys looking at and drawing animals and is influenced by the flights of fantasy from film and video games, along with the crushing realism of everyday life.

Mike West

Mike West is a writer and musician from Rock Ferry who loves music, the Universal Monsters, B Movies and Nicolas Cage. Mike is also an artist – if the project involves Bigfoot, Sasquatch or Yeti. A writer of comics, short stories and songs, he loves the supernatural and unusual, juxtaposed against the mundane and everyday.

“What engaged me most about Cog Life and Isolation is we’re trying to do something different ‘Escape the Machine’ of everyday life,” says Matt Crehan, “both in our books like Isolation, but also in who we are as a team. I mean, let’s face it, Mike is an Alt-country musician in the vein of a modern day ‘Johnny Cash’ and I’m a National level distance runner, so we’re not the A-typical bunch of comic book creators – and that shows in our books!”

• If you’re interested in learning more about Cog Life Comics you can check out their new website (www.coglifecomics.co.uk) or follow them on Facebook or Twitter to keep up to date on their latest releases and con appearances, and join them at this year’s Thought Bubble by getting your ticket 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.