Smut The Alternative Comic
 

I picked up a handful of mural commissions and sign wrote a couple of vehicles, but I couldn’t find enough work to earn a living. Following the, unexpected yet expected, passing of my Dad in 1987 and the irregularity of work, I was struggling to make a living as a mural artist and decided to go back on the tools as a 24 hour tyre fitter-driver. Less stress and more perks for acquiring things.

Life was steadily happening along, then the mate who talked me into joining the army back in 1976, became a civilian again in 1988 and moved back to Derby. He was a published cartoonist and I could draw or paint pretty much anything, so we decided to combined our talents to try and earn a few extra quid outside of our day jobs. We drew and submitted cartoons to various newspapers and magazines and my first cartoon was published in a scootering magazine that same year. We became aware of Viz, an adult comic, and its sudden popularity, so submitted a couple of our cartoons, which were rejected, but we weren’t dejected. Instead, we thought we’d have a go at our own adult comic, as much for fun as to make money.

 

At the beginning of 1989 we put our pencils and pens to paper creating characters and cartoon strips and within a couple of months, the first issue of ‘Smut - The Alternative Comic’ was printed. Three hundred copies rolled off the presses at Qualcast (a back hand deal) and we began circulating them to newsagents around Derby and Nottingham.