24 Panels Interview
After reviewing the wonderful 24 Panels comic anthology a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to find out more about how it came to be. An opportunity arose to put some questions to the editorial team, Rhona Martin, Steve Thompson and Kieron Gillen. If you haven’t yet picked up a copy of 24 Panels then perhaps this will persuade you. Hopefully you’ll find their responses as interesting as I did.
Where did the idea for the anthology come from?
R: Steve and I (along with Paul Jenkins) were co-producers of the 24 Stories anthology (published June 2018) which was edited by our good pal, director/actor Kathy Burke.
Paul and I thought we could somehow collaborate on a writing project, it snowballed into 24 Stories which then led on to Steve’s idea of a parallel comic anthology project.
S: Being a comic book fan all my life, after completing our prose anthology for Grenfell, I thought we could raise even more with a comic anthology. I had a whole list of creators I wanted to approach to be our figurehead and Kieron was first on the list. Amazingly my first choice accepted and he has been the most important part, along with Rhona, ever since!
Did you pitch it to Image or did they approach you?
R: Steve and I discussed approaching a few publishers but Kieron knows Image well so it made sense that we approach them; their response was so positive and accommodating, we’ve really enjoyed working with them.
K: Image are a publisher I’ve worked with for years, and have a unique financial deal which means it’ll maximise the amount of money that we’d manage to gather. They said yes, and also waived any of their normal fees, meaning we could raise even more cash. Image are great.
S: We looked at a few publishers and discussed who we could talk to but Kieron’s relationship with Image made them an obvious choice. During production I can honestly say I’ve not worked with more friendly and accommodating publishers.
How did your personal involvement come about?
R: As we said previously, Steve and I had worked on 24 Stories; Steve wanted to do a comic version and I said I’d help! Also, I have lived with the effects of longterm PTSD.
K: Steve approached me to ask to act as an editor role, primarily act as a liaison to comics talent and help curate the book. It seemed like a good and necessary idea, so, after some consideration, I jumped on board.
S: As a continuation of 24 Stories, and as originator of 24 Panels, I guess I couldn’t help but be involved! But more importantly, wanting to help those who live with PTSD and, in turn, the friends and family around them, was all the incentive I needed.
Is there a particular personal resonance that made you want to be a part of 24 Panels?
K: Nothing more than “It’s London. I’m here. I just wanted to do something”.
S: Being a Londoner and feeling that I wanted to help people “local” to me is certainly part of it. Knowing those affected by PTSD as well and seeing how it affects them is also a big motivator.
There is obviously a split between the bigger established names and the open submissions, how was that decision made?
R: The 50/50 split between established and as yet unknown talent was part of the original premise of the 24 Stories project; it’s a great way to get noticed and great opportunity for new talent to sit side by side with well known names.
K: It also just speaks to the nature of the book and its purpose. It’s about community, so the book’s contributions shows that from all levels. We’ve got people in their first published comics next to people like Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie. It’s all comics.
Did you approach the contributors you wanted or did they come to you once word got out about the anthology?
K: A bit of both. We certainly had some people reach out when news of the project broke, and others I reached out to see if they were up for doing a story. Getting a selection of creators which captured the nature of the comic scene was important too. We wanted to have all sorts of creators in there, from the mainstream to all the different sorts of undergrounds, as well as creators from many backgrounds.
S: From the open submissions I was amazed at the quality of work we received. In that sense we got exactly the contributors we wanted. We wanted quality comics from new voices and we got it! And that speaks to the amazing breadth of talent out there who don’t even make it to the mainstream because they haven’t been discovered yet or they’re happy making comics their own way.
PTSD has such a stigma attached to it and is a very difficult subject to broach.
R: I would be very cautious about using the term “stigma” when referring to PTSD or any mental ill health condition as it only serves to compound negative associations there are.
PTSD is a systemic condition that originates from profound shock. There’s still a real lack of public knowledge and understanding of this highly complex condition; some traumas are more obvious than others but regardless of the origins if an event/events are left unprocessed it can impact it all areas of a persons life including multiple mental and physical health challenges.
(FN – My apologies for the poor choice of wording.)
Was it hard getting involved in the project knowing there could be backlash if you didn’t handle it correctly?
K: I think this is a small concern compared to the more important work of raising useful money. Perfect is the opposite of good. In a real way, we liaised with different groups at different stages of the process. Equally, all our creatives were briefed about the nature of the book. It’s a book about PTSD and trauma. Clearly having material which was triggering would be entirely inappropriate. Everyone involved got it.
S: I thought it was worth doing this book and therefore worth whatever backlash there might have been. In the end there wasn’t any kind of negativity. I think we ran the social media account well and kept everyone informed of our intentions without misleading in any way. That really helped.
Were there any submissions that didn’t quite make the cut that you wish had?
R: It was always going to be a 50/50 split between established names and an open call for work from teams of aspiring creators; we received many submissions, it was difficult and we spent a long time deliberating and conferring over which pieces fitted our themes. We’re happy with our final choices.
S: You always want to include everyone, its human nature to want to make everyone happy. But the book couldn’t be too unwieldy or expensive so we had to lose some great comics. But that’s OK, because those creators all have great futures ahead of them anyway.
Is there any chance of perhaps another anthology if 24 Panels is popular?
R: You never know. Steve and I have done two anthologies now so, we’re aware of the process…
K: Never say never. What I hope more for is other people to see that it can be done, and to do it themselves. It doesn’t matter who does books like these. It matters that books like these are being done.
S: I echo what Kieron says. It matters that books like this exist to help and spread awareness. Whether we do another or someone else does, it’s an invaluable way to get people thinking and talking about an issue.
One of the biggest themes running through the anthology is that of coming together despite differences. Was that a conscious message you chose to convey?
R: Yes, we had previously chosen the themes of “Community” “Positivity” “Unity” “Hope” for 24 Stories and these themes exist in each story as well as reflecting our approach to creating the books.
S: It was our intention from the start that every story have this message. It’s very deliberate and woven in the DNA of what we’ve done.
I mentioned a few of my favourite stories in my review. Are there any that particularly stand out to you? (I understand if you don’t answer this one if you don’t want to be seen as picking favourites.)
R: The stories are so varied; something there for everyone. For me it would be like choosing a favourite child! I genuinely love them all and seeing each story come together and grow until each of them was ready to go to the publishers to be printed was a mix of awe and a warm feeling of pride for everyone involved.
K: It’s really as Rhona says. It’s a holistic thing, and we don’t really break it down like that. Which isn’t to say there wasn’t joy and amazement every time a new story arrived. It’s a good thing, editing comics, sometimes.
S: I too can’t pick favourites. Every story has a strength, that’s why it’s in there, but there are some that surprise with their effective use of the medium or the courage of their storytelling. I have told all the creators at some point why I love their piece!
Is there anything else you’d like our readers to know about the project that they may not be aware of?
S: 24 Panels is a labour of love. We poured a lot of energy into it and I think people need to know that it’s no easy task to coral all these elements into a single book. I guess I want readers to know that we tried our best at all times to make something they would want to read and reread and enjoy.
R: Creating 24 Panels was created out of love and dedication to create something lovely; we hope that shines through.
I want to thank Rhona, Steve and Kieron for taking the time to answer my questions. I hope that our readers find something in here that sparks their interest and they go out and pick up a copy of 24 Panels. Do you want to know more about 24 Panels? Would you like to hear from some of those who contributed work to the comic? Let us know and we will see what we can do!
