Fast Fiction was a market stall, magazine, mail order distributor and news sheet that played a key role in the history of British small press comics

British small press comics

British small press comics, once known as stripzines, are comic books self-published by amateur cartoonists and comic book creators, usually in short print runs, in the UK. A "small press comic" is essentially a zine composed predominantly of comic strips. The term emerged in the early 1980s to...

. It existed in its various forms from 1981 through to 1990 under the stewardship of Paul Gravett

Paul Gravett

Paul Gravett is a London-based journalist, curator, writer and broadcaster who has worked in comics publishing and promotion for over 20 years....

, Phil Elliott

Phil Elliott

Phil Elliott is a British comic book creator who was published in Escape Magazine. He was part of the British small press comics scene in the 1980s.-Career:...

 and Ed Pinsent

Ed Pinsent

Ed Pinsent is a British cartoonist, artist and writer born 1960 in Liverpool.-Biography:Pinsent has written and drawn his own small press comics since 1982, including characters such as Primitif, Henrietta and Windy Wilberforce...

.

The name was taken from a Classics Illustrated

Classics Illustrated

Classics Illustrated is a comic book series featuring adaptations of literary classics such as Moby Dick, Hamlet, and The Iliad. Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication in 1941 and finished its first run in 1971, producing 169 issues. Following the series' demise, various companies...

knock-off spotted in the Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide

Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide

The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide is an annually published comic book price guide widely considered the primary authority on the subject of American comic book grading and pricing in the hobby/industry....

.

History

Paul Gravett

Paul Gravett

Paul Gravett is a London-based journalist, curator, writer and broadcaster who has worked in comics publishing and promotion for over 20 years....

 started the Fast Fiction stall at the bimonthly Westminster Comics Mart in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in 1981 selling imported Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an comics, or Bande Dessinée. Having discovered that interesting new comics were being published in short run photocopy form he contacted the creators and offered to sell their comics on his stall and through mail order. Initially this was done for free with a small percentage cut being introduced later. The Fast Fiction stall became the defacto social centre for small press publishers along with the adjoining pub, The Westminster Arms.

Cartoonist Phil Elliott

Phil Elliott

Phil Elliott is a British comic book creator who was published in Escape Magazine. He was part of the British small press comics scene in the 1980s.-Career:...

 and Ian Wieczorek took over Fast Fiction in late 1981 when Gravett started working for Pssst! magazine leading to him launching Escape Magazine

Escape Magazine

Escape magazine was a landmark British comic strip magazine founded and edited by Paul Gravett and Peter Stanbury. Nineteen issues were published between 1983 to 1989...

. The bimonthly stall and mail order distro continued along with a regular information sheet listing titles available to order, and a new anthology featuring cartoonists they sold. This was also called Fast Fiction debuting in 1982 with a print run of 100 copies and lasting until 1991 with issues 29 and 30 reviewed in Zum! #1. Ed Pinsent

Ed Pinsent

Ed Pinsent is a British cartoonist, artist and writer born 1960 in Liverpool.-Biography:Pinsent has written and drawn his own small press comics since 1982, including characters such as Primitif, Henrietta and Windy Wilberforce...

, another cartoonist who had been involved in the cassette culture

Cassette culture

Cassette culture, or the cassette underground , refers to the practices surrounding amateur production and distribution of recorded music that emerged in the late 1970s via home-made audio cassettes...

 music trading scene, subsequently took over from Elliott and continued to run things until 1990.

Following the closure of Fast Fiction their mailing list was passed on to Luke Walsh

Luke Walsh

Luke Walsh is an indigenous Australian professional rugby league player for the Penrith Panthers in the National Rugby League competition. His position of choice is at halfback....

 and Mike Kidson who used it to launch the small press comics review zine Zum!.