Title: Four Feet From A Rat - free with Time Out
Post by: Bad Andy on 18 March, 2008, 08:28:11 AM
Post by: Bad Andy on 18 March, 2008, 08:28:11 AM
Appears Chris Weston is involved.
Extract from the Guardian:
This week Mother launches its latest venture, and is saying it isn't a one-off stunt. On Wednesday, copies of Time Out, London's weekly listings magazine, will include a stand-alone comic or graphic novel called Four Feet from A Rat, published by Mother Comics.
Four Feet has four stories featuring killer zombie night-bus drivers, post-apocalypse aliens picking through the detritus of a long-dead human society, a gangster pigeon - Don Pigeone - and an anti-consumerist revolution where the vicious global hegemony of brands such as Starbucks and McDonald's inspire an underground movement.
Which raises the obvious question - what is an advertising agency doing launching a comic with a strong line in despair and No Logo imagery? "I don't think we're the Naomi Klein of adland," said Mother partner Andy Med. "But our clients recognise that we can't create stuff in a bubble. Coca-Cola sponsors the World Cup but they had no problem with the hooligan model."
The deal came about, Med explained, as the agency began offering barter deals to clients it liked but which could not afford its services. Penguin, for instance, paid in books and the Mother foyer boasts a complete set of the Penguin classics.
With Time Out, the agency asked to be paid in blank pages - something that was almost free for Time Out. Two years into their relationship, the deal had accrued sufficient space for the launch of Four Feet from A Rat, a quarterly title named after the London legend that at any one moment you are no more than four feet from a rat.
"We treated it like any creative project - had teams working on possible story lines, worked up one that could be serialised and then took them to our partner Mam Tor, who do graphic novels, and had them select the best ones to draw," Med said. "All ad people have a script or a novel or whatever burning inside them. This helped bring some of it out."
None of Mother's brands feature in the comic, and indeed there are no adverts, apart from spoof branding for Sucks Coffee and Tesda. "It's about us providing content - something we've always said we need to do," added Med. "How can we sit in front of a client asking them to do bold work if we're not prepared to take a risk?"
Either way, the resulting comic, according to the journalist and comics expert Will Hodgkinson, shows the combination of realism and symbols of the fantastic that marked the 1980s graphic novel revolution with titles such as Hellraiser and Sandman.
Extract from the Guardian:
This week Mother launches its latest venture, and is saying it isn't a one-off stunt. On Wednesday, copies of Time Out, London's weekly listings magazine, will include a stand-alone comic or graphic novel called Four Feet from A Rat, published by Mother Comics.
Four Feet has four stories featuring killer zombie night-bus drivers, post-apocalypse aliens picking through the detritus of a long-dead human society, a gangster pigeon - Don Pigeone - and an anti-consumerist revolution where the vicious global hegemony of brands such as Starbucks and McDonald's inspire an underground movement.
Which raises the obvious question - what is an advertising agency doing launching a comic with a strong line in despair and No Logo imagery? "I don't think we're the Naomi Klein of adland," said Mother partner Andy Med. "But our clients recognise that we can't create stuff in a bubble. Coca-Cola sponsors the World Cup but they had no problem with the hooligan model."
The deal came about, Med explained, as the agency began offering barter deals to clients it liked but which could not afford its services. Penguin, for instance, paid in books and the Mother foyer boasts a complete set of the Penguin classics.
With Time Out, the agency asked to be paid in blank pages - something that was almost free for Time Out. Two years into their relationship, the deal had accrued sufficient space for the launch of Four Feet from A Rat, a quarterly title named after the London legend that at any one moment you are no more than four feet from a rat.
"We treated it like any creative project - had teams working on possible story lines, worked up one that could be serialised and then took them to our partner Mam Tor, who do graphic novels, and had them select the best ones to draw," Med said. "All ad people have a script or a novel or whatever burning inside them. This helped bring some of it out."
None of Mother's brands feature in the comic, and indeed there are no adverts, apart from spoof branding for Sucks Coffee and Tesda. "It's about us providing content - something we've always said we need to do," added Med. "How can we sit in front of a client asking them to do bold work if we're not prepared to take a risk?"
Either way, the resulting comic, according to the journalist and comics expert Will Hodgkinson, shows the combination of realism and symbols of the fantastic that marked the 1980s graphic novel revolution with titles such as Hellraiser and Sandman.
Link: Westonblog
Title: Re: Four Feet From A Rat - free wi...
Post by: Mardroid on 18 March, 2008, 10:29:44 AM
Post by: Mardroid on 18 March, 2008, 10:29:44 AM
Looks very interesting, I like the artwork on the covers. If Timeout is a reasonable price I might pick this up.
Title: Re: Four Feet From A Rat - free wi...
Post by: JamesC on 23 March, 2008, 04:17:56 PM
Post by: JamesC on 23 March, 2008, 04:17:56 PM
Anyone check this out? I thought it was excellent. 4 well told little Future Shock/Terror tale type stories and some lovely artwork.
Title: Re: Four Feet From A Rat - free wi...
Post by: Marbles on 23 March, 2008, 08:07:24 PM
Post by: Marbles on 23 March, 2008, 08:07:24 PM
You can download a pdf of this for free on the link below -
Title: Re: Four Feet From A Rat - free wi...
Post by: SuperSurfer on 24 March, 2008, 01:20:53 AM
Post by: SuperSurfer on 24 March, 2008, 01:20:53 AM
I've downloaded the PDF which looks great. If this is still in the current issue of Time Out I'll definitely buy it.
Well done to ad agency Mother for working with Mam Tor on this. (I was involved in working with Mother a couple of years ago.)
I haven't read any Mam Tor comics. I never came across Event Horizon but from what I've seen on the web I reckon it looks real smart. Just noticed its available from their website so might have to splash out on back issues.
Well done to ad agency Mother for working with Mam Tor on this. (I was involved in working with Mother a couple of years ago.)
I haven't read any Mam Tor comics. I never came across Event Horizon but from what I've seen on the web I reckon it looks real smart. Just noticed its available from their website so might have to splash out on back issues.
Link: Mam Tor
Title: Re: Four Feet From A Rat - free wi...
Post by: paulvonscott on 24 March, 2008, 10:35:21 PM
Post by: paulvonscott on 24 March, 2008, 10:35:21 PM
Anyone desperate for the hard copy can check out my blog...
Overall, a positive thing for British comics!
Overall, a positive thing for British comics!
Link: Four feet has a rat...
Title: Re: Four Feet From A Rat - free wi...
Post by: Dave Kendall on 25 March, 2008, 01:02:42 AM
Post by: Dave Kendall on 25 March, 2008, 01:02:42 AM
Although I've had a lot of fun lurking, this is my first post to the Tooth board. A little bit pathetic considering I've been reading it since I was seven years old and I started with prog 7. Please accept my apologies, but better late than never. Hello to everybody. I've been lucky to meet a fair few of you guys but only know a few of you by your board names.
Paul thanks for the great write-up. This was a fun project to get involved with. A little bit of background. I've been friends with Liam for 3 or 4 years. He's been one of my best buddies in the comic industry and was responsible for giving me hope when I thought I could no longer keep banging my head against Editors doors. Mam Tor and Event horizon is quite a long story, but boils down to Liam trying to create a Metal Hurlant, European style anthology featuring established and up and coming talent. It's truly amazing what was achieved on a Non-existent budget and pure good-will. Everyone involved is extremely proud of it, and the friendships that evolved from this shared vision are the strongest I've ever had. Liam and Mam Tor is the reason I am a freelance illustrator now.
It was a bit of a shock when Liam excitedly rang me up telling me he had been contacted by Mother to do this project and asked me to be involved. Trouble was the turn around was only a week or two. We all managed to get the work out on time and we're all pleased with the results.
Liam and I are going to be in Bristol in May, hopefully with a few of these comics. So please come and say hello and pick up a hard copy if you haven't got one already.
Paul thanks for the great write-up. This was a fun project to get involved with. A little bit of background. I've been friends with Liam for 3 or 4 years. He's been one of my best buddies in the comic industry and was responsible for giving me hope when I thought I could no longer keep banging my head against Editors doors. Mam Tor and Event horizon is quite a long story, but boils down to Liam trying to create a Metal Hurlant, European style anthology featuring established and up and coming talent. It's truly amazing what was achieved on a Non-existent budget and pure good-will. Everyone involved is extremely proud of it, and the friendships that evolved from this shared vision are the strongest I've ever had. Liam and Mam Tor is the reason I am a freelance illustrator now.
It was a bit of a shock when Liam excitedly rang me up telling me he had been contacted by Mother to do this project and asked me to be involved. Trouble was the turn around was only a week or two. We all managed to get the work out on time and we're all pleased with the results.
Liam and I are going to be in Bristol in May, hopefully with a few of these comics. So please come and say hello and pick up a hard copy if you haven't got one already.
Title: Re: Four Feet From A Rat - free wi...
Post by: Pete Wells on 25 March, 2008, 07:25:25 AM
Post by: Pete Wells on 25 March, 2008, 07:25:25 AM
Welcome to the board Dave, it's great to see another creator on here!
Just read this and it's brilliant! I can't beleive all the work was done in a week or so, it's some of the best artwork I've seen!
I really enjoyed all of the stories. Dave's reminded me loads of an old Twilight Zone episode featuring a guy trapped in a phone box, anyone else remember this? It completely freaked me out as a kid.
I urge you all to download this, it's great!
Just read this and it's brilliant! I can't beleive all the work was done in a week or so, it's some of the best artwork I've seen!
I really enjoyed all of the stories. Dave's reminded me loads of an old Twilight Zone episode featuring a guy trapped in a phone box, anyone else remember this? It completely freaked me out as a kid.
I urge you all to download this, it's great!