Broken Frontier

You probably know Jamie Smart best for his Bear—the psychotically entertaining 10 issue series of doe-eyed violence from Slave Labor Graphics.  Since the series wrapped, Jamie has been lying low, but in 2007, he wants everyone to check out his Fat Chunk.

“Fat Chunk is a collaboration of artists from every field, whether they're established comic artists or new talent, brought together to contribute their work to a comic, each issue of which will be based around a theme. When all the work is in, it'll be bundled together and printed on the cheap… and sold for the lowest price possible. This way the plan is to unleash high quality and varied art onto the unsuspecting  consumer for a mere fraction.”

“There's an enormous amount of goodwill and support in the self-published community,” elaborates Smart, “and I wanted to become more involved with it.  I asked people who I had worked with before or who were friends if they'd be interested in this thing, a theoretical comic slapping together artists from every field.”

Among the initial gathering of artists announced are the likes of cartoonists Benjamin Roman (The Cryptics, I Luv Halloween, Cthulhu Tales) and Blink Twice (Malcolm Magic), as well as artists from design and vinyl such as Hellobard and Yuck. 

“What I like about the artists we have, is that their range is so different. You can't say one is better than the other, because they all sit in different parts of the spectrum. We’ve got some awesome graphic artists, some hilarious comic artists, and everything in between.  Also, everyone who's in Fat Chunk is in [it] because I’m a fan of their work. So it's a real buzz for me too.”

If this eclectic collection of talent wasn’t enough to pique a person’s interest in the book, there’s an interesting hook for aspiring cartoonists and artists. “We need new blood!” pleads the purveyor of violence and poo jokes.  “If any artists fancy being involved, they should come along to www.myspace.com/fatchunkcomic, where they can plug their work or websites or whatever. If it looks interesting and relevant to what we're doing (the theme is 'Robot', other than that it's up to the artist), hopefully we can communicate and get more people in. The aim of this was always to work with artists from all areas, so it'd be great to hear from new people!”

Over the course of the first week of open submissions for Fat Chunk, Smart has been stunned by the reaction to the project. “[The reaction is] absolutely amazing. Everyone’s been so supportive of the idea, both the artists involved and even the artists I have to turn down (that's not right, surely? I’d be surly if I got turned down). Which is all incredibly humbling that there's so much goodwill aimed at this project, people really want it to work, and that's all the incentive I need to put everything I can into it. I’ve gotten to the point where I’m finding artists who I figure are either too cool for this or too busy, but thinking f*ck it, I’ll ask them anyway. And they're all saying yes! It’s such a buzz.”

With the talent for the debut of Fat Chunk solidifying, Smart hopes to have the book assembled in March and ready for it be turned loose in April. “We'll be hoiking it round every comic store we can find, as well as online through www.bohdate.com. Store wise, initially this'll just be in the UK. That said, the aim is to be selling internationally mere weeks after the UK launch.  The support of comic readers will be absolutely instrumental in all of this though, so if you want Fat Chunk in your local store either tell us about them or tell them about us. We live or die by word of mouth.”

For Smart, the success of Fat Chunk won’t be measured in dollars and cents (the plan is for any profits to be used to bankroll subsequent issues), but rather in the opportunity to create a unique experience for creators and comic fans alike. “The aim was always to be an underground means of demonstrating how many great artists there are in the world who aren't working on published comics…

“I'm so excited by the variety and quality that’s been submitted thus far, and I’m really looking forward to what new material might come along.  Essentially, this is just a group of great artists contributing their work to make a fun, varied and cheap little comic. But from that I think could grow something very cool indeed.”

In addition to the MySpace site, Fat Chunk is also part of the rapidly expanding Comicspace community.  Up-and-coming artists and cartoonists will also want to visit Smart’s Bohdate.com website for full details on how they can help spread the filth as part of the Fat Chunk experience.