Slab-O-Concrete

Slab-O-Concrete Productions
Comic book distributor,
Comic book publisher
Industry Comics
Founded 1994
Founder Peter Pavement, Dave Hanna, Emma Copsey, and Chris Tappenden
Defunct 2001
Headquarters Brighton and Hove, United Kingdom

Slab-O-Concrete Productions was a British mail order distributor and publisher, founded by Peter Pavement, Dave Hanna, Emma Copsey, and Chris Tappenden; operating mostly in Brighton and Hove during the 1990s. Initially selling British small press comics and zines (including Pavement's own comics), Slab-O-Concrete also imported publications from the United States, Australia, and Europe.

Slab-o-Concrete was originally based in Sheffield; it moved to Hove in 1995. After intensely ramping up its publishing line in the late nineties (including moving into CDs and prose books), Slab-O-Concrete was laid low in 2001 as policy changes in the book industry caused cash-flow issues.

History

In general, Slab-O-Concrete avoided distributing traditional comic books, instead making connections with underground publishers, zinesters, independent record labels, and other subcultural scenes.

By 1994 Slab-O-Concrete had developed into a publisher, repackaging small press comics and zines for the bookshop market and originating new works. Notable creators published by Slab-O-Concrete included Jessica Abel, Ian Carney, Craig Conlan, Alan Moore, Woodrow Phoenix, and Aleksandar Zograf.

In 1998, Slab-O-Concrete published four titles in partnership with Amnesty International. The comics were designed as 16-page minicomics with card stock covers, designed to be sealed and used as postcards. Ilya's A Bowl of Rice was about the forcible relocation and killing of Shan rice farmers in Burma. Enrique Rodríguez's Freedom from Discrimination was a story about maltreatment of and violence against street children in Brazil, and undocumented, unaccompanied immigrant children in the United States. Dan Jones' Just Deserts told the story of a female Filipino migrant worker's false conviction and punishment in Saudi Arabia. Peter Arkle's Love told the story of Mariana Cetiner, a Romanian woman arrested and imprisoned for allegedly attempting to seduce another woman. In 1999, Slab-O-Concrete published another 16-page mailable minicomic called Donna's Day, by Donna Mathes and Peter Bagge.

One of their final publications, in 1999, was The Worm: the Longest Comic Strip in the World, by Alan Moore and a "galaxy of greats," which was published in association with the Cartoon Art Trust and the Swedish Council for Cultural Affairs. "In one single working day, over 125 British cartoonists gathered together in one place to create 'the longest comic [wordless] strip in the world.'"[1] The Worm featured introductions and explanatory text in English, Swedish, and French.

Titles published

Music

Comics

Prose

Notes

  1. ↑ The Worm (Slab-O-Concrete Productions, 1999).

References

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