#About
In 2023, journalist/writer Rory Milne contacted me to ask if I was aware that it was 50 years since my first comic strip (of sorts) appeared in print, and suggested we do an interview. I agreed, and we had a 90 minute phone chat, which barely got us started. So we went on to have 5 more long chats, Rory transcribed them, and by this time we decided we were possibly looking at a book. I began designing and laying out the book - at that time tentatively titled “50 Years Underground”. Well, I was doing this work in my downtime, so 50 years have now become 50-plus years.
Our phone calls covered a lot of ground, from my earliest attempts at comix, through many years and many pages, and seemed to involve a lot of laughing. I'm including as much illustration as I can, using comix and illustrations that have not been widely seen, and the book is now pushing 220+ pages.
#Preview
#Bio
Hunt Emerson is one of Britain's favourite comics artists, whose distinctive drawing style and approach to visual humour are widely recognised and enjoyed. He has been writing and drawing his iconoclastic comics since the 1970s, and has worked extensively as an illustrator and designer since then, too. He has worked for many major book and magazine publishers, and has published around 30 comic books and albums, mostly with Knockabout Comics of London - the latest being his hilarious reworking of Dante's Inferno. Hunt has worked in advertising, and in the music industry, creating distinctive graphics and logos for The Beat, Ranking Roger, Bemis, The Jazz Butcher, Big Jay McNeely and several others.
Hunt also teaches in schools and colleges and for several years was a lead facilitator in International Comic Art Talent promotion for Hi8us, a sister company to Maverick Television. He works with charitable organisations, libraries and community organisations producing comics spotlighting issues such as children's rights, drug abuse, homelessness, safe sex and the importance of bedtime stories to the very young. In 2009/10 Hunt was recruited by publisher Well Told Story in Nairobi, Kenya, as a consultant to help establish SHUJAAZ, a free comic for Kenyan youth which now has distribution of a million per month and has received Kenya's first Emmy Award.
Hunt has had many exhibitions, both solo and in groups, and received several comics industry awards, the most notable being his inclusion as one of 75 "Masters of European Comic Art" by the prestigious Centre Nationale de la Bande Dessineé in Angoulême, France.
#Timeline
The book is finished, and it should be going to the printer within one month of the end of the campaign. Expected delivery time to our fulfillment center is roughly three months from approve-to-print date, so we're aiming for an October '26 fulfillment.
Zoop will keep supporters updated throughout this printing and fulfillment process.