It’s a long story. Actually, it’s not that long. Late in 2008 myself and Dave Lapsley, a mate from work decided to start an on-line magazine because we wanted a creative project to do together. Dave’s not a fanboy like me, but he does have an eye for good art and is a whiz with Adobe software.
We called the mag Extra Sequential and created our first issue mostly during our one hour lunch breaks from work. After 3 issues in 7 months, we helped an international comics publisher with the new mag they were launching. It was fun and a great opportunity. It did happen but in a different way than we expected.
Nevertheless we were happy we got those 3 issues out there and achieved Rising Star status on Issuu and over 17 000 subscribers on Scribd. We did look into self publishing, but working in a company facing downsizing meant it wasn’t a wise move.
We then received interest from another publisher and well, “circumstances beyond our control,” and all that, so 2 strikes was enough for us.
A lot has happened in the 18 months since we started the mag. Dave and no longer have the benefit of working at the same place, and we live 2 hours apart, so there won’t be any more issues of Extra Sequential. This is the last one, and it comes with a note: it ain’t perfect. Think of it as a Raw Edition. A collection of articles and interviews that were destined for print, some of these pages are unfinished, but not many. To be honest, our motivation to see this issue to its final version is pretty much non-existent, after a year of false starts into print. However, it’d be a shame to at least not put it online, so here it is.
Dave and I hope you enjoy it. Yes, some of the interviews are dated, but it’s certainly a nice way to say goodbye. We believe there’s still a place for an accessible, arty mag that reveals to the curious, and the dedicated reader, how awesome comics can be.
I still write for Broken Frontier and am a co-host of a new, weekly Extra Sequential podcast so I’m not, and probably never will be, out of the talking about comics “profession” though and I do recall fondly the hours and hours of creating Extra Sequential.
You can read our final issue below or here. Thanks for reading!
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