Sean Azzopardi reflects on life in new title, “50”

By John Freeman on April 6, 2017 • ( 1 )

Comic creator and Broken Frontier contributor Sean Azzopardi has just released 50, the follow up to Tracks, which was released in 2005. Sean, whose credits also include another autobiographical comic, Rain on Glass, is probably best known for his psychological horror work with Douglas Noble and tangential super-hero action in Necessary Monsters with Daniel Merlin Goodbrey.

A founding member of the London Underground Comics collective, organiser of the Crouch End Cartoon Art Festival (CECAF), Sean is also working on The Voice of the Hall, a graphic novel on the history of Hornsey Town Hall for which he was awarded a British Arts Council grant last year. He continues to work as an illustrator, with credits that include work for Metro newspaper and Architectural Review.

The new book collects to gather a number of short stories that never reached completion, reformed into completely re-written package. The main section is about the death of Sean’s father.

“It’s been a long process,” Sean tells us of creating 50. “The original idea was to make a comic that celebrated me reaching 50, and to have a launch party to celebrate.

“That never happened and I have successfully drifted into April, so it’s a comic to celebrate turning 50 (it was actually in January). So I called it 50 and made it 50 pages long!”

• You can buy 50 from BigCartel, along with Sean’s other books

• In the latest of Broken Frontier ‘Small Press Inside Look‘ creator commentaries, Sean offers some insights into the creative process behind 50…

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.