Born in 2003 out of the depths of the imaginations of former NSCAD students, the critically acclaimed Lucky Comics keeps on truckin’. Fronted by Chris Lockerbie, Peter Diamond and Jesse Jacobs, with contributions from Owen Diamond, Eggnog, Dan Gallant and Rob Jabbaz, the collective has released a mighty triumvirate of issues over the past two years. Not bad for a group of slacker art school kids.
“I remember clearly when Chris first mentioned the notion of Lucky to me, dropping the idea as we smoked one of several spliffs outside the metal shop one brisk afternoon,” recalls Diamond. “He said he had Jesse on board, and implied that I, too, was on board. Chris funded the first pressing with the spoils of a small out-of-court settlement. The rest of the editions have been paid for with a combination of proceeds from previous issues and hard-earned cash.”
“Our goal is to make good comics and have people read them,” he continues. “And by doing so, become the richest, most powerful and least pleasant people in the world. Once the money comes in, we fully intend to turn on our friends and supporters, shunning them in favour of more popular people.”
With comics contributed by a variety of artists, Diamond says that there is seldom any intentional common ground within each particular issue. Instead, the comics are reflections, whether perceived or imagined, of the artists’ individual lives.
“Our work more or less comes out as pretty self-deprecating, sometimes self-referential or just depressing,” he says. “We’re all neurotic, self-obsessed basket cases, and I think that comes through in the book. There’s no set theme and there’s essentially no artistic coordination whatsoever. We do as many pages as we feel like, and that determines how long the book will be. We don’t edit each other, we just toss it together. The most coordinated the book gets is in the layout; determining which story goes where in the book.”
While their timetable to date has been sporadic at best, they managed to print 200 copies of each issue, with the bulk of the magazines circulated around Halifax and Moncton. Still, there’s one major dilemma facing the collective.
“Proper distribution is our biggest problem,” says Diamond. “We’d love to have it but we’re not sure how to get it. When any of us go out of town, we’ll bring books with us to drop off at stores and sell to people we meet. The first two issues were distributed to great effect in the hallways of NSCAD through word of mouth and the always-effective ‘peer pressure.’”
Following a successful launch party for issue number three in February, featuring performances by Burdocks, Search for Alexander and Diamond’s own band, The Audients, a buzz is starting to surround Lucky Comics. With coverage throughout the local media and in Toronto’s Broken Pencil and Eye Weekly, things are starting to look up for the collective.
Lucky Comics #4 will be released on December 15.
