Team Girl Comic Celebrates The Release Of Issue 10

By Jeremy Briggs on June 23, 2014

Glasgow’s Team Girl collective are celebrating hitting double figures with the release of the bumper sized Team Girl Comic issue 10 this week which features special guest contributors Donya Todd, Hannah Berry, Kate Charlesworth, Lucy Sweet and Trina Robbins. Issue 10 is a 56 page A5 sized publication with a cover by Claire CJ Stewart and features 22 brand new stories from TGC regulars Amanda ‘Hateball’ Stewart, Gill Hatcher, Claire Yvette, Coleen Campbell, Coralie Bouguerra, Heather Middleton, Iona Mowat, Jay Gray, Jef Sinclair, Maki Yamazaki, MJ Wallace and Penny Sharp, plus newcomers Ari Silvera, Avril Smart, Carolyn Alexander, Eilidh Nicolson, Jules Valera and Shona Heaney.

Gill Hatcher and Coleen Campbell at Glasgow Comic Con 2011

Inspired by a mash-up of retro girl comics, DIY punk and 1990s tween magazines, Team Girl Comic was founded by Gill Hatcher in 2009. downthetubes first featured them in our creator review of the inaugural Glasgow Comic Con in June 2011 where they had been running comics workshops and by which time they were on their third issue.

Gill Hatcher, Coleen Campbell and Claire Yvette at Hi-Ex 2012 in Inverness

As TGC editor, Gill talked to us afterwards about the group and their anthology title saying, “We want the group to be inclusive and constantly evolving, so we welcome women and girls from any background, age or experience. This means we’ve got artists from their teens to their forties, professional artists to engineers, experienced cartoonists to people trying out comics for the first time. The main point to Team Girl Comic is that it’s supposed to be DIY and fun, but if we can promote the ‘cause’ of women and girls in comics at the same time that’s great.”

Kat Sicard, Claire Yvette and Coleen Campbell at Thought Bubble 2012

In May 2012 with four issues under their collective belt they decided to use Kickstarter to get them onto a firmer financial footing. The Kickstarter page stated, “In the past, we have funded Team Girl Comic entirely by ourselves, with no external support. It’s great to be independent, but it also limits our print runs. Our overarching reason for asking you to offer us a little bit extra this time round is to help Team Girl Comic take a step toward becoming more sustainable in the long-term.” This proved to be a big success for them – their $1000 target was reached within a week and the campaign eventually topped $1700 allowing them not just to print TGC5 but also reprint their sold-out back issues.

Gill Hatcher and Claire Yvette at Dundee Comics Expo 2014

Over the years they have become regulars at Scottish comics events from Glasgow to Inverness and were selected to take part in the Stripped Mini Comic Fair in August 2013 as part of that year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival. They have also taken their stall further afield to the Lakes and Thought Bubble, selling comics and prints by their individual contributors as well as TGC merchandise and of course Team Girl Comic itself.

To celebrate the release of issue 10 there will be a launch party at St Andrew Bridge Club, 2 Woodside Crescent, Charing Cross, Glasgow on Thursday 26 June 2014 beginning at 7:30pm. Team Girl and friends will be performing their comics live so expect a night of performance art, as well as music, drink’n’draw and comics chat.

There are more details of Team Girl Comic as well as purchasing details for the current and back issues on the TGC website.

There are more details of the TGC10 launch party of the Team Girl Comic 10 Facebook event page and Twitter feed.

Jeremy Briggs

News, reviews, interviews and features for print and on-line: Spaceship Away (since October 2005), Bear Alley (since February 2007), downthetubes (since June 2007), and Eagle Times (since October 2008). Plus DC Thomson’s The Art Of Ian Kennedy, Titan’s Dan Dare and Johnny Red reprints, Ilex’s War Comics: A Graphic History and 500 Essential Graphic Novels, and Print Media’s The Iron Moon and Strip magazine.