In a year when so many comics commentary outlets in the UK disappeared or went on apparent hiatus there is at least one chink of light shining at the end of a very dark tunnel. Barry Renshaw’s fondly remembered REDEYE Magazine has returned with a print and digital magazine release in the form of the REDEYE 2024 Annual, and it’s absolutely bursting with indie comics goodness at a an almost ridiculously cheap price point! I caught up with Barry to ask about his plans for the magazine, the state of the comics coverage landscape in 2023, and what we can expect next from his Engine Comics imprint…
ANDY OLIVER: To begin with, can you give us some background on the previous publishing history of REDEYE, and the return of Engine Comics after over a decade and a half?
BARRY RENSHAW: REDEYE Magazine was a short-lived, low print run, self-published news, reviews and features magazine which ran from 2003 to 2006 in print (1 to 6), which then had a one off digital version (issue 2.1) in 2009. It came out of a desire in my early twenties to see something treat small press and self-published comics with the same respect and critical eye as Comics International did with Marvel and DC. I always thought that the same amount of work goes into self-publishing, arguably more, so why shouldn’t that be respected? And for those trying new forms of storytelling, exploring new techniques and new genres, shouldn’t that be celebrated?
I was as interested in the people creating the comics as much as the comics themselves. I found commonalities of course in that generation of small press creator, many of whom like me grew up on British anthology comics like 2000 AD, Battle and Eagle, but their reasons and paths to publishing were all different. So alongside household names like Alan Grant, Jock and David Lloyd being interviewed, you had Mardou, Martin Eden, Malcy Duff and Jeremy Dennis, among many others. We also had retrospective articles on artists like Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, and titles like Eagle and Action, alongside more future looking articles on freeware characters on the internet and the, at the time, emerging medium of comics on mobile devices.
I really wanted to include perspectives from all sides of the industry so there were opinion pieces from editors and comic shop managers, as well as guest columns by Pat Mills and Chris Weston. There were full page previews of upcoming small press titles, and in a definite nod to the old Comics international, one issue had an insert Smallzone Catalogue to order small press titles the distributor carried. I was very lucky to have a team of passionate contributors who also had the knowledge to write so well. Finding reviewers was always difficult, but again I was lucky to have a small group who did put the work in. It grew every issue and went from staples to square bound, and the final print issue, number 6, was a flipbook which previewed Aleksandar Zograf’s Regards From Serbia, a Top Shelf title.
Ultimately I wasn’t able to afford the increasing costs of printing and posting and the very late nights with no financial gain, and that was the end. Later I had started to do some production design work on Comics International so used my newly developed inDesign skills in 2009 to do a PDF version of REDEYE, but with the birth of the offspring and financial difficulties, I wasn’t able to continue with it. Although I did bits and pieces over the next few years most of my time was spent doing minimum wage jobs to get by and being a stay at home dad, so my ability and interest in comics waned quite a bit. When Ace was old enough, I started taking them to Thought Bubble. When they turned 7, I got a table, and they started selling their own homemade comic books. I think bar one year, we’ve had a table ever since, with Ace (now 15) having a new title every year and becoming more confident in themselves.
For me, conventions were good to catch up with old friends from the Bristol days, and do some free sketching, but year by year I saw the diversity of creators growing so much, and my bag of small press comics getting heavier, that my interest perked up again. Between 2020 and 2021, after finishing a run illustrating Star Wars sketch cards for Topps, I started illustrating Cutaway Comics’ launch title, Lytton, scripted by Doctor Who legend Eric Saward, so seeing that in print really helped my own confidence to go back to the many unfinished projects I had piled up and to actually try to finish some of them. I’ve always remembered the advice, that rather than making something you think will sell or appeal to an audience, instead make something you want to read yourself that no one else is doing, and i think most people in small press and self-publishing are doing just that. It’s the same thing I would say to anyone who asked for my advice at the table, so it was well past time I took heed of it myself.
AO: Why did you feel now was the right time to bring REDEYE back to comics readers’ attention?
RENSHAW: The REDEYE 2024 Annual was an experiment really, to see if there was still a desire to see something like REDEYE in print again. There have been a few news and reviews magazines since I wrapped up the original run, but most have been nostalgia-based or too focused on mainstream comics. Again purely for selfish reasons, I wanted to read a magazine, in print, like REDEYE and no one else seemed to be doing it.
AO: Print comics commentary in magazine form is a rare commodity these days. Why print rather than a new digital incarnation of REDEYE online, and what do you feel a physical format offers that an online one doesn’t?
RENSHAW: REDEYE is available in print and PDF form, but it is designed and meant to be enjoyed primarily in print. I miss magazines that are substantial, that aren’t full of press releases and promo photos, or have an advert every second page. I want people to take their time with it, come back and discover something they overlooked previously, to feel like they got their money’s worth. I’m of the generation that knows what it was like to not be online 24/7, to have to hunt down something obscure, or to discover something completely by accident I’ve never heard of before.
Magazines like that were treasure maps to comics you would never otherwise hear about. I also like the physical object – the difference between a gatefold LP and a downloaded album. I have comics in my collection which are almost sculptural in their design and printing: the act of opening it up is a part of the storytelling itself, and all of that ingenuity and art would be lost on a screen. So much to the consternation of my shelving units, I will always choose print.
Another aspect of that is historical – contrary to popular belief not everything is available online, and print magazines tell the story of comics history – what was published when, what the creators thought about it before it was released, who changed roles when, what was planned but never materialised – in recent years I’ve found magazines like CI, Speakeasy, Comic World, The Comics Journal, Wizard etc., to be important historical documents, primary sources of comics history.
AO: Let’s talk about the ethos of the magazine. What kind of work are you looking to discuss in its pages? How broad do you see Redeye’s remit as being?
RENSHAW: The remit is as the same now as it was originally – to treat small press, independent and self-published work with the same critical eye you would expect to be taken with any other mainstream comic. It’s not about comparing print quality or art styles – it’s about discussing the merits of the work within its own reference, and ideally having a conversation with the creators to inform the context of the work. I want to cover as diverse a range of subject matter and of creators as I can, and I think it’s an ever expanding landscape which is really important to acknowledge. There won’t be any superheroes anyway (unless they’re by Martin Eden).
There was always a focus on British comics in the original run of REDEYE, the New Wave as it was referred to in the early 2000s, and especially placing that generation of comics within the context of the British anthology, but I think the vast majority of creators now, post-2000, haven’t been raised in that tradition, and that has led to a much broader church. Now I’m just looking for interesting work, challenging work, something I’ve not seen before. If anyone reads REDEYE and picks up a comic by one of the creators featured for the first time because of it, then I’ll be a happy man. But it’s also about the wider impact comics can have in the culture – for example the use of comics as graphic medicine, such as what Comics Youth are doing in Liverpool.
AO: There’s a strong focus on newer and emerging artists in the REDEYE 2024 Annual, including BF faves Beck Kubrick and Gustaffo Vargas. Is championing emerging talent also one of your core aims?
RENSHAW: Absolutely. As mentioned before, we had interviews with the likes of Frazer Irving, Paul Cornell and Terry Moore, but many of the other names would not necessarily be known to readers of their work. It was not only about elevating the new names to the same level of attention as those industry veterans, but showing they are worthy of the same respect as well, even if you may not necessarily be interested in that genre or art style. So, in pulling together an issue, I’m faced with a long list of people I’d like to interview, to read about, and I’m continually adding to it as I come across more and more interesting work.
The creators mentioned on BF have been an invaluable resource for that. And I’m also faced with the realisation there will be people I’ll never get to speak to, but I can enjoy their work all the same. However, one thing I have noticed with many indie creators today is the lack of basic contact information on their various platforms – it was incredibly frustrating finding so many Twitter or Instagram accounts without an email.
AO: REDEYE has a distinctive aesthetic appeal in terms of its layout so I wanted to ask about the design decisions you made with the magazine in order to capture readers’ involvement and attention?
RENSHAW: The magazine is of course divided into sections – the news and reviews are pretty straightforward in terms of design, but when it comes to interviews and articles then I always try to incorporate some of the style established in the artwork itself, using the same colours or similar fonts, in-universe almost. That way they are all unique and custom to the subject. I want ideally the text to wrap around the artwork itself as much as possible so it’s not all in rigid columns. Using colour and being far more adept in InDesign and Photoshop than I was 15 years ago really helps.
AO: Comics commentary in the UK seems to be contracting again at the moment with a number of long-running platforms folding or going on hiatus. How do you feel comics coverage has changed or evolved, for good or worse, since REDEYE was last a part of the scene?
RENSHAW: Other than a few sites like BF, Down The Tubes etc., I’ve not really seen any real UK comics commentary – I’d be happy to check out recommendations. I think it is becoming more difficult to get a handle on the industry though as it is so fragmented, far more than it was 10-20 years ago. There are so many social platforms to follow, and the platforms are purposely not designed to encourage thoughtful debate or discussion. That’s why magazines are to me so important to allow longform conversations, exploring tangents coherently rather than just copy and paste quotes from press releases. Though, sometimes, press releases are all that people are willing to give out, but you can try at least.
AO: What other projects can we look forward to from Engine Comics in 2024, including possible new REDEYE?
RENSHAW: I’ve just added a new printing of Norris Burrough’s Voodoo Macbeth to the Engine Comics shop, which is one of the few one-shot titles I published back in the old days. It’s a fascinating story and one I think should reach a new audience. I may publish another one-shot if the right project presents itself next year. Ace is continuing the Run series, which is a surreal spy thriller, and they may have another title out at Thought Bubble 24. For myself I’m focusing on completing a 5-issue fully painted series called Aphelion: The Rise of Calvus, which will be published throughout 2024. It’s an eldritch horror set during the Roman occupation of Britain, written by Troy Martin, and it scratches a particular artistic itch for me.
I have a lot of potential projects piled up which are set in different time periods; I do like the research aspect of those types of stories, so to get the chance to work on and publish something that twists and plays with historical horror is a lot of fun. Troy will be a writer to watch too. After that I’m focusing on writing and painting Little Star which will be a graphic novel set in a near future post-Scottish independence and post-NHS Britain. I’m aiming to get that out by November 2024. I have a full-time day job and I’m a dad, so my free time is limited. I’m very conscious I have a limited lifespan, so choosing the right projects to spend time on is vital. I do feel the urge to produce another anthology though, one overtly political and protesting this shitshow of a government, in the vein of AARGH. Another issue of REDEYE may happen – it very much depends on the response from readers – I’d like to see another one, anyway.
Visit the Engine Comics website here
Interview by Andy Oliver
