Indy Magazine # 14
(US Comics Magazine) late 1995

Turning the page
Store review by Richard Johnston

Page 45 in Nottingham, England, is a comic book shop like no other. That much is apparent as you walk up to it, an unobtrusive logo, a low scale shop front featuring a collage of characters from books like Naughty Bits, Stinz, Sleaze Castle and Strangehaven. Walking through the door, you are confronted with bookshelves displaying Concrete, Maus, Sandman, Calvin and Hobbes. Then you see that copy of Hilly Rose you haven't got, all the issues of Thieves and Kings, Stray Bullets and From Hell, a fantastic array of Crumb, a shelf devoted to Cerebus, and far from the entrance, in the wee corners of the shop you find the superhero and science fiction selection.

A wonderful comic shop made more wonderful today, the 8th October 1995, Page 45's Independents Day. Different from the traditional Independence Day, when Britons celebrate that we finally got rid of the sponging colony over the sea, Page 45 has invited independent and small press creators from both sides of the Atlantic to sign, sketch and continue promotion of their books. And Indy was there, in the guise of myself, Richard Johnston, comic book journalist.

Present were Roberta Gregory, creator of Fantagraphics' Naughty Bits, Donna Barr of Stinz and Desert Peach fame, Jeremy Dennis, workaholic mind behind 3 in a bed and Minute Streaks, Terry Wiley and Dave McKinnon co-creators of the award-winning More Tales From Sleaze Castle, and the new star of the British small press scene, Gary Spencer Millidge, creator of Strangehaven.

Gary, surrounded by his two copies of Strangehaven began. "Page 45 have been really great, really supportive, for someone who's only had two issues out, they've been really helpful, and they've probably sold more than any other shop in the UK". Gary describes Strangehaven: "It's based around a soap opera type format. People have compared it to Twin Peaks, but you could easily compare it to the Darling Buds of May with horror elements. It's a right mixture. It's gone down much better than I expected with more people that I expected and much sooner that I expected".

©1995 Rich Johnston/Indy Magazine

If you've read any notable pieces concerning Strangehaven that may have escaped our attention and does not appear here, we'd like to hear about them! E-mail us at webmonkey@millidge.com

All text and images (c) copyright Gary Spencer Millidge/Abiogenesis Press All rights reserved.