Paul Gravett Explained

Occupation:Journalist and author
Nationality:British
Subject:Comics, Manga
Awards:UK Comic Art Award for Best Auxiliary Contributor (1990)
Years Active:1981–present
Partner:Peter Stanbury

Paul Gravett is a London-based journalist, curator, writer, and broadcaster who has worked in comics publishing since 1981.

He is the founder of Escape magazine, and for many years wrote a monthly article on comics appearing in the UK magazine Comics International, together with a monthly column for ArtReview. He has written for various periodicals including The Guardian, The Comics Journal, Comic Art, Comics International, Time Out, Blueprint, Neo, The Bookseller, The Daily Telegraph, and Dazed & Confused.

Biography

Gravett's career began in 1981, as he and his "longtime partner" Peter Stanbury[1] managed the Fast Fiction table at bi-monthly Comic Marts held in Westminster Hall. Gravett invited artists to send him their homemade comics, which he would sell from the Fast Fiction table with all proceeds going to the creator. His role in the British indie comics scene is depicted in Eddie Campbell's Alec comics, in which Gravett is called "The Man at the Crossroads."[2]

Later in 1981, Gravett was employed as promotions manager for Pssst!, an attempt to publish a British equivalent of the lavish French bande dessinée magazines.

In 1983, Gravett and Stanbury launched Escape magazine in an attempt to showcase the cream of the alternative cartoonists of the day. Under the Escape Publishing imprint, they co-published Violent Cases by Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean, three volumes of Eddie Campbell's Alec between 1984 and 1986 and London's Dark in 1988 by James Robinson and Paul Johnson. Titan Publishing Group took over the publication of Escape in 1987, with Gravett also coming on board as an editor at Titan Books. Escape lasted for 19 issues before closing its doors in 1989 (when Gravett also left Titan). The Comics Journal is quoted as saying of Escape, "This ... anthology remains one of the most sorely missed comics of all time not simply because of its tremendous track record of translating European comics but simply because it was always good in so many ways."[3]

From 1992 to 2001, Gravett was the director of the UK charity the Cartoon Art Trust,[4] dedicated to preserving and promoting the best of British cartoon art and caricature, and to establish a museum of cartoon art with gallery, archives, and reference library.

In 2003, Gravett founded Comica, the London International Comics Festival, which he helped run until its demise in 2014.[5] [6] [7] Gravett coordinated a number of events surrounding Comica, like Comica Comiket and the Graphic Short Story Prize contest, run in conjunction with The Observer.[8]

Gravett has written a number of books on comics. He also co-edited Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption, a political anthology comic produced in 2009.[9] Gravett and Stanbury's Great British Comics: Celebrating a Century of Ripping Yarns and Wizard Wheezes was nominated for a 2007 Eagle Award for Favourite Comics-related Book.[10]

Bibliography

Gravett is the author, co-author, or editor of several non-fiction books on the topic of comics and sequential art, including:

References

Sources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Biography. Warren. Ellis. Warren Ellis. PaulGravett.com. ...Paul, with his longtime partner Peter Stanbury, was running the small press anthology Fast Fiction, the Fast Fiction stand at the bimonthly Westminster Comics Marts where the small press books were sold, and launching Escape - an excellent European-style professional comics magazine whose book-publishing arm led directly to the careers of James Robinson, Dave McKean and Neil Gaiman..
  2. Web site: Peter Cannon, Eddie Campbell and Paul Gravett – The Men At The Crossroads. April 21, 2019. Rich. Johnston. Rich Johnston. Bleeding Cool. The Man At The Crossroads. That was a title bestowed upon Paul Gravett by Eddie Campbell. Because what I managed to do for a couple of hours, Paul Gravett spent his Eighties and Nineties doing all the time. Publisher, curator, event organiser, retailer, Paul Gravett brought – and still brings – people together in comics more than anyone I know..
  3. News: Bart. Beaty. The Comics Journal. 210. February 1999. Positive Signs: Ten Worthy Translation Projects. 6: Escape. 127. Euro-Comics for Beginners.
  4. http://www.bailsprojects.com/%28S%28cgta3r453deqw155d1o3mgyg%29%29/bio.aspx?Name=GRAVETT%2c+PAUL Gravett entry
  5. Web site: Gary Spencer Millidge. Millidge . Gary Spencer . THE RETURN OF THE LONDON CON: One: ComICA! 2003 . Millidge.com . June 22, 2004.
  6. Web site: Badham . Matt . Comica Festival 2009: London Is Bubbling Over With Comics!. Forbidden Planet International Blog . October 30, 2009. PaulGravett.com. July 25, 2022.
  7. Web site: Oliver . Andy . 'Comics Are Truly International and Transnational' – A Guide to Comica Festival 2014 from Paul Gravett, the Man at the Crossroads . Broken Frontier . October 14, 2014.
  8. Web site: GRAPHIC SHORT STORY PRIZE. https://web.archive.org/web/20110811010905/http://www.comicafestival.com/index.php/prize. Aug 11, 2011. Comica: London International Comics Festival. 2011.
  9. Web site: Mark . Brown . Pow! Comic-strip heroes fight against corruption . . 3 November 2009 . 3 November 2009 .
  10. Eagle Awards Website Open for Nominations . Comic Book Resources . Feb 5, 2007.
  11. News: Tardis of delights: Paul Gravett and Peter Stanbury's Great British Comics is an entertaining celebration of the medium. Michel. Faber. The Guardian. 25 November 2006.
  12. Web site: Great British Comics: An Introduction. Joe Gordon . Forbidden Planet International. July 2006. PaulGravett.com.

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