The Last Fox Story was drawn in 1990, when I was living in London and working in the children’s section of Waterstone’s Bookshop on Charing Cross Rd. I drew it almost entirely in ballpoint pen on a small square creme-coloured memo pad, during my lunch breaks – often just doodling without knowing exactly where in the story it would go. All of this was part of my strategy for working round the “fear of comics” I was describing; in effect, I fooled myself into thinking I wasn’t drawing a comic - instead, it was more like a children’s picture book.

The first printing was as a 104-page A6 minicomic, printed on the photocopier at work. It was later (1994) reprinted (with a different layout) in Pickle #3. Here, I’ve scanned the original artwork in colour, to try and capture some of the texture of the thing.

I’m very fond of this story; it’s one of the most personal things I’ve ever done, and describes pretty accurately the first serious appearance of what has since been a major part of my relationship with comics. I’m exploring some of the same stuff today in The Magic Pen…

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