The Shiznit

The SHIZNIT was a free pocket sized comic that I produced and distributed in Ireland from 2005-2006.

It was a crazy experience.

(Jump to Issue one, issue two, issue three, issue four)

I had previously published MBLEH! but was frustrated with the fact that there were only 4 or 5 outlets for it in Dublin and that there was no indigenous comic industry in Ireland. I wanted to create something a little more colourful and acceptable, a comic that could sit on the table in a barber shop,in cafes etc and something that might turn the average dope on the streets into reading comics. By the time it ended I had created a monster, made full use of our wonderful right to free speech and got a glimpse into how easy it is to dabble in mass media.

It also killed my interest in pushing the medium of comics on the general public.

The idea was to sell ad space in order to pay for printing and distribution costs. This was 2005, the height of the Irish economic boom and people were spending money as evidenced by the many other free magazines around the city. But the Shiznit was different, not only was it the first glossy colour comic out there, it was physically tiny so it could sit on any shop counter discreetly and fill any available nooks and crannies. I was obsessed with the idea of a comic that you could fit in your pocket and then throw away or pass on to a friend. We all know how speculation has harmed the comic industry so I wanted a comic that was quality but worth nothing.

Because it was funded by paid ad revenue I knew I had to keep the content tame enough to begin with. So with this is mind and in order to set up a production system that would allow me to have professional, ready content in case I needed to rush more issues out I used syndicated material from the US. It was a good idea but it’s one of my biggest regrets. I should have just gone with the material I wanted to use and not try to second guess what people want.

The ultimate goal was to create a regular free comic that would publish Irish artists and writers and then once momentum picked up, to put a cover price on it and go national through newsagents. It never happened. I wasn’t exactly bombarded with high grade Irish material to publish but it was of course mostly the financial side and my waning enthusiasm in favour of other projects that killed it.

After issue 1 came out I got a flood of submissions, some of them really good but by far the best was from Brian Kenny. He’s just a funny and angry writer. Nearly every idea he pitched was gold. Even his emails and phone calls had me in stitches. Some of his single page comic ideas were so intricate that I knew 95% of the readers wouldn’t get the gags but it was quality. We were on the same level, disgruntled perverts with a love for punk and a hatred for the horrible New Ireland we lived in.

Brian was also a great salesman and he immediately and enthusiastically got out there to shake things up. Without him it would never gotten past issue 1. His enthusiasm carried me along. The Shiznit was his as much as it was mine. He put in so much hard work, ad sales, promotion, etc. He even put up money for issue 3 after we were ripped off by a printer.

As with all my output until 2010, everything was done on lunch breaks, evenings and weekends as I always had a full time job to juggle. I was used to squandering cash and working all weekend, every weekend to get the product out, that in retrospect I see it was a massive sudden commitment for Brian but with me receiving most of the praise. I’m sorry if you think I fucked you over man.

Production wise it was mostly drawn on paper and of course badly put together in Corel Draw and Corel Photopaint. It was hard going. Today as I was assembling the comics from the old files for inclusion here I was appalled at how I used to work. Of course the software existed then but I was ignorant to it all, what back then could take me 6 hours of work could easily be done under 30 minutes today. By issue four though I was working fully digitally thanks to meeting Frank Prendergast, one of the dear and valued friends I made through The Shiznit.

All in all it was a great experience. I met great people and I got a few months of being mobbed by giddy teenagers in the streets looking for the next issue. It also opened a lot of doors for me professionally. Below are the guts of the four issues. I omitted pages here and there for various reasons; legal, quality and just plain losing the files.

The SHIZNIT issue 1

There was a lot of syndicated material in the first issue not included here. The cover features Uncle Spunk Nugget, this issue featured this USN story but the reaction from a few shops and parents firmly told me that a comic about a boy and his jizz-ghost uncle was not the way forward. So it never became the vehicle for USN as I had envisaged. You can read all the Uncle Spunk Nugget tales here though.

I added a few production notes here and there in this version. Click to read full screen.

The SHIZNIT issue 2

This issue was fairly weak as a comic but as a relic of sheer slanderous venom it’s strong.

As detailed in the comic, I felt wronged by The Arts Council and their snobbish and apparently corrupt practices. I applied for a grant to part finance Mister Amperduke, made a strong proposal with all facts and figures needed but was refused. Like the bitter and angry young man I once was, I investigated just who they felt worthy of the awarded money and I discovered, after a lot of snooping that they gave the award money to an EMPLOYEE of the Arts Council who already had grants heaped upon him.

I got a lot of attention over this. I’ve since spoken to the artist in question and I admit what I did was a bit harsh but what was I going to do? At the time I felt he personally wronged me and even now I’m still going to relentlessly attack anybody who does but I’m glad I did it. I’m just glad it was an artist with a bit of edge and not some poncey soft target. He can take it.

The cover for this issue came from a great black and white illustration by Hurk that I flipped horizontally and coloured

The SHIZNIT issue 3

This issue was good. It featured the classic Bad Dublin Hash, written by Brian and our take on Count Curly Wee which we considered to be our best collaboration. Count Curly Wee is this awful ‘comic’ from the 1800′s or something that plagued most Irish kid’s childhoods, but not surprisingly the contemporary audience didn’t get a lot of the references as you might not now but trust me, it’s full of gold.

Cover done by BrenB, the legendary Irish illustrator who gave me my big break by first publishing me back in the day

The SHIZNIT issue 4

This is the strongest but final issue. It features the kind of stuff I should have started with in issue 1. The five page long HATE LIST really went down well but by far the surprise runaway hit was Any Bread? I drew the cover for this one. I went with the super cute style  after the abrasive second and third issues and it worked really well. People, especially girls wanted to pick it up.

The end of  The Shiznit

It only lasted four issues but with a massive circulation of 20,000 copies per issue it made it’s mark. I was always torn between The Shiznit, other comic projects and the relentless struggle to keep real life going. The final nail in the coffin was one evening when I was cleaning the kitchen listening to the radio, waiting for a segment about Irish comics that I had been interviewed for. The programme before was a sports show and it dedicated 30 minutes to talking about the new junior manager for the Galway Hurling team or maybe the manager for the junior team, I can’t remember, this was the national radio station RTE with an audience of millions, the next show started and Irish comics got about 30 minutes and it followed the usual path of stupid people phoning in asking if the old Eagle annual they have is worth anything.

I realised then that my efforts to try get people reading comics was pointless. The junior manager of the Galway Hurling team is more interesting to most people. How can you compete with that? I’m not dumping on people’s tastes but that just crystallised it all for me.

Certainly I have some regrets about the tone and content of some issues. And I definitely regret not using it to attack more personal enemies. But hey, it is what it is.

Case closed.

Posted in comic-menu, Comics by admin on Apr 6th | 2 Comments