Paul Grist

A broken man lays strewn across a plastic bottle bank in a Tesco car park. A person with a comical resemblance to Captain America kicks down the door of a terraced house whilst a lonely figure wanders dramatically through the rain towards Sheffield City Hall.

Welcome to the dynamic and twisted world of comic creator Paul Grist!

Sitting comfortably between the off-the-wall independent press and the mainstream heroes, Paul Grist's work has been spreading across the globe faster than the Gotham Clench virus (nerd reference, sorry). As a writer and artist his own creations include 'Kane', a hard-boiled cop drama, 'Burglar Bill', a comical crim, and 'Jack Staff', a witty and brash take on the British superhero.

Tired of the ever-present pseudo-New York backdrop of most comics, I was delighted to see the action in Sheffield born Grist's work often taking place within a thinly veiled parody of his home town. 'Sheffield has been an inspiration to me', says Paul, 'but the city has evolved so dramatically in recent years that many of the landmarks I used are now gone, so perhaps it's more of a period piece these days'.

Paul took the brave move of self-publishing when things got tough a few years into his career. He told me, 'I'd always wanted to self-publish and, as I'd earned enough to release a first issue, I decided to do it and take it from there.' After this Paul was able to gain the finances he needed as each issue brought returns. Eventually, despite ever-rising printing costs and tough competition, he has built up a loyal base of support and a strong name for himself within the international comic world.

Grist's work is distinguishable for several reasons. His quirky and unmistakable graphical style lends itself perfectly to his British sense of humour. This takes unforgiving leaps between light hearted gags to pitch black flashbacks of family-eating shadow monsters. These days his work is published by alternative giants 'Image Comics', but none of the edge has been lost since he set-out alone.

His greatest impact is perhaps his abilities as a storyteller and the liberties he boldly takes with the traditional rules of comic-book storytelling. The usually subtle transitions between time-periods are dispensed with and replaced by subtle visual clues aimed to keep the readers on their toes. This unusual and interesting method of structuring stories was influenced by late 80s T.V. show 'Press Gang', written by Steven Moffat (whose rise in popularity has recently put him at the writing helm of the Dr Who series and future Tintin films).

Grist's work is as unpredictable as a studio Ghibli production, and you never really know which inter-dimensional nutter is waiting around the corner to give you a good pasting. I ask him how he conjures up his interlocking and strange tales. It seems that the artist / writer dual roles feed off each other throughout this process. 'I have lots of time to figure out the complexities of the stories whilst I draw' he tells me. Naturally, other creators have noticed his work and begun to ape his style. This could perhaps be considered a spandex-clad middle finger salute to his earlier negative critics.

Notably, alongside his personal work, Paul has also been briefly handed the reins to most of the big name comic figures over the years. Characters like Spiderman, Judge Dredd, the Flash and Superman adorn his portfolio. I tell Paul I intend to buy his latest collaboration, a graphic novel called 'Batman: Ego', but in a typically modest Grist fashion he tells me, 'It's a good book but don't buy it just because of me. It's mainly Darwyn Cooke whose work is great!' Although his first love lies with his own characters, Paul admits a certain fanboy glee in this aspect of his work and that he'd secretly like to work on a Dr Strange comic one day.

With 'Burglar Bill' reaching its finale and 'Jack Staff' battling on, not to mention future work on the Dr Who magazine, there's plenty going on for Grist at the moment. I asked him what he would describe as his most fulfilling moment thus far, he tells me, 'Putting out my own comic, as this has allowed me to have the control I wanted which has been incredibly satisfying.' He leaves me with some good advice for future comic creators; 'It's going to be hard but if you want it enough then carry on and don't give up'. So if you're looking to bridge that gap in your comic shelf between those copies of Tank Girl and Civil War, why not call upon Sheffield's greatest hero, Paul Grist!

Interview by Jim Connolly

Free online Jack Staff comic:

www.imagecomics.com/onlinecomics.php?start=20

Further info on Paul Grist's work:

www.weisshahn.de/kane