Jody: Tony, what was your first introduction to comics, and what hooked you?
Tony: I've always read comics. Literally. My Nan (my maternal grandmother) taught me to read before I even started school using the Beano, Topper, things like that, so I was conditioned to read them from an early age. By the mid 70s, I'd expanded my range to things like Battle and British Marvel comics. Then I discovered American imports, and that was it–hooked for life. I was a collector by the age of eight!

J: Did you ever write/draw any comics yourself?
T: Yes, always. I'm not much of an artist, but I've always drawn comics for my own amusement. At primary school, my mate Stephen Collins and I used to create comics about characters based on ourselves: Prof Collins and his assistant Dum Dum. I was Dum Dum. That's because Stephen was the writer, so the Prof was the brains. (Thanks, Steve.) A few years back, I self published a (very) small circulation comic called Cosmos Inc, a sci-fi comedy. I managed to put out four issues before realising I was much better off writing about comics than creating them!

(Right): Federation Ensign Tony Ingram aged 11 sat at the con of the starship– er, Orpington (1981)

J: Who are your comic creator 'heroes'? Anyone you particularly wish to meet, or have already met?
T: Too many to mention, though sadly many of them are no longer with us. I think Jack Kirby was the greatest storyteller the medium has ever produced–his art was great, his plots were great, and there was dynamism in every panel. Only his dialogue let him down, but thankfully Stan Lee took care of that. I also love a lot of the old British artists like Don Lawrence, Ron Embleton, and Frank Bellamy, who got such realism into their work–and on a weekly basis! The average American superhero artist of today would be a nervous wreck if asked to do that. Then there's Dave Gibbons, Alan Davis, Mike Western, the brilliant Ken Reid, Brian Bolland, Garry Leach, plus a lot of the American Marvel artists from the 70s: I think Frank Robbins and Herb Trimpe are criminally undervalued. And of course there's Romero, who created Axa, one of my all-time favourite characters. In terms of writers, there's Stan Lee of course, Doug Moench, Neil Gaiman, and in Britain Pat Mills, John Wagner, Alan Grant, Steve Moore and a lot of others. But if there was one creator I'd like to meet before I die it'd be Alan Moore. I think he is the most significant writer to enter the field in the last fifty years. His early work–Skizz, Halo Jones, Swamp Thing, Marvelman and Captain Britain, to name just a handful of series–redefined comics, showed what they could be. I mean, he wrote the Watchmen graphic novel–and he's British. We do comics really well for a nation that holds them in such low esteem.

(Right): 'Doctor Whoa', Comics Retrospective Winter Special 2006. Tony finds this deeply embarrassing

J: How do you think British comics compare to American ones? Why do you think so few British comic artists have received the recognition they deserve?
T: I think it's because in Britain, comics are seen as kids' stuff, and that is seen as somehow making them less worthy of consideration. In Europe and elsewhere, they've always had more of an all-ages appeal. In the US, the comics have grown up with their readership because they've had to–few kids read comics like they once did, so the publishers now tailor their stuff to the market that does read them. And of course, the work done in the 80s by people like Alan Moore and Frank Miller showed that comics weren't just for kids anymore. But in Britain, to most people the word 'comic' equates to vague memories of Desperate Dan. They're juvenile, they're silly, and they're not 'real' literature, so the people who work on them must be a bit silly, too. Which is a shame, as comics are the perfect medium for telling any kind of story. They have all the advantages of a book, but you can see what the creator was picturing without needing to visualise it and all the advantages of a film but you can watch it at your own pace. And Britain has produced some of the greatest talents the medium has ever seen. And yet ironically, outside our own little clique, most people have never heard of half of them!

J: Tell us a little about your background in writing, publishing, etc.
T: I started writing about comics in the early 90s, when I was a regular contributor to an apazine called Rainbow Bridge (that's also where Cosmos Inc first appeared, in serialised form). After that bit the dust, I self-published first Cosmos Inc, and then my own fanzine, Comics Retrospective, more or less monthly from 2003-2007, when my old electric typewriter finally died. I didn't even own a computer until 2008! I've contributed to a few other magazines in the meantime, and then along came Crikey!

(Right): Scenes from Cosmos Inc...

J: For those of us who aren't as smart as we thought we were– what's an apazine?
T: An Amateur Press Association magazine/fanzine. Essentially, a fanzine which is composed not by one or two people but by a membership base who agree to contribute at least a few pages every issue or every other issue. They're pretty much extinct now, as are most fanzines for that matter.

J: Given that you'd seen the rise and fall of the fanzine, what did you think when you first saw Crikey!?
T: I was pretty much blown away by it. Just really pleased that, here in the internet age, somebody had had the nerve to launch a real paper-and-ink magazine about British comics, of all subjects! I think it was a brave move. It could so easily have failed after one issue, but it had potential right from the start.

J: You have an online comic business as well, and I've heard rumblings about you 'moonlighting'. Can you tell us about either?
T: Yes, I'm a sole trader registered as Albion British Comics. It tells you a lot about my business acumen that I finally took the plunge and became self-employed selling a luxury item like old British comics just as the economy collapsed! My website has been effectively dead for awhile because I can't afford to get the bugs ironed out, but I'm persevering. I recently brought in a huge collection which I'm still taking inventory of, and hope to produce a proper catalogue soon. Things are ticking over quietly, but I have high hopes. The 'moonlighting' you refer to would be Broken Frontier, one of the best comics websites out there. I was roped into that by their 'Lowdown' editor, Andy Oliver, an old friend from my Rainbow Bridge days. I write an occasional column called Retroflect, on comics history, and also the (more or less) weekly Marvel news roundup Mighty Week of Marvel. Interested parties should immediately go to www.brokenfrontier.com where they will find a lot of talented people putting in a lot of work for the pure love of it.

(Right): Tony aged 12 shows off his panache regarding stereos, fashion and blinds... (inset) Tony's hero - Alan Moore reads Crikey!

J: How did you meet Glenn, and how did you begin working for Crikey!?
T: I knew Glenn's name, of course (he's been around the industry a while, and I even have one of his books in my bookcase!) but never knew Glenn himself until I joined Crikey! As for how that happened: I wrote to the magazine saying how much I'd enjoyed the first two issues, and was invited to contribute something to it. So I did, and I've been here ever since. Oddly, although I've been working with Glenn for nearly two years and speak to him at least once every day, since I'm in Suffolk and he's up north we didn't actually meet until earlier this year at a comics convention in London–which is also where I had my first face-to-face meeting with Andy Oliver, who's been a friend for about 15 years!
Such are the wonders of today's instantaneous communication. Some of my closest friends are people I hardly ever see, because we're all in different parts of the country! Weird.

J: What was your first Crikey! piece?
T: I started writing Nutty Notions with #4, then wrote about a third of #5 because they were a bit short of articles for that issue and, well, that was it. I'm now credited as 'co-editor', which basically means 'doer of all the things Glenn doesn't have time to do because he has more important things to do'. I think I got given the title in lieu of any actual wages–so at this rate, I'll officially be called 'Lord High Overlord of Crikey!' by 2012! And living under a bridge.

J: And saying 'my precioussss' a lot?
T: The comicssss! We wantsss them, we do!

(Right): The optimistically titled 'Best of CR' Special and (below) more scenes from Cosmos Inc.

J: What is a typical day in the life of Crikey! production like for you?
T: There's no such thing–every day brings something new. It's a laborious process, but that's because we're determined to get it right. Everything gets checked and re-checked. I'll check something, whether it's a piece I've written or something Glenn's sent me, and then send it back to him. He'll then spend hours putting that text into a beautifully designed layout and send it back to me for checking, and I'll tear it apart and send it back to him with a list of amendments. He'll amend, send it back to me for checking, and then he'll re-check what I've checked. And we still make mistakes! But we're getting better. I think the fact that sales are steady, and that some very talented people in the industry are saying nice things about us–and even contributing to the mag!–shows that.

J: Do you two discuss layout, what goes in which issue, what the covers will be, marketing possibilities, etc? Or are you more writing- and editing-oriented?
T: I used to simply write what I liked, send it in, and see what happened, but now I'm a bit more involved in the whole process of working out what'll go in and when. Crikey! is Glenn's baby, but I'm more involved than I used to be. Layout, though–that's pretty much entirely down to Glenn. He's a designer at heart and a good one at that. I think it shows, too!

J: When it comes to you and Glenn... Who can drink whom under the table? Who would win at Scrabble? Who would win in a fight? Oh, I forgot the most important question: who owns more comics?
T: Ah, I could take Glenn any day (he says, safe in the knowledge that Glenn is currently about 200 miles away)! Scrabble? Who knows? But I think I probably own more comics than him. I think I probably own more comics than most people, which irritates my family no end. But what's wrong with having to walk past boxes of comics in the hallway and climb over them to reach the wardrobe?

J: Plus, you can stack them up to build furniture! Where would you like to see Crikey! headed? Are there any things you'd like to see included in it, either that haven't been so far, or that should be included regularly?
T: The mix is being altered and hopefully improved all the time. We've been doing a lot on the oft-neglected field of newspaper strips lately, which I like and would like to see more of. And more interviews, of course–it's always interesting to read about this stuff from the people who actually created the comics. As for regular features, we have Nutty Notions and My Comicy Saturday, and I think that's enough. Even those can get bumped if something else comes along that just has to run in that issue. As for where I'd like it to head: onwards and upwards! That's Glenn's favourite phrase, and it's beginning to rub off on even my cynical, pessimistic soul.

J: It sounds very Buzz Lightyear: "To infinity… and beyond!"
T: I'm a cynical sod, but Crikey! has somehow managed to engage my enthusiasm. I count myself lucky to be part of it!

J: Thanks for the interview, Tony. And best of luck with Albion Comics... seeing as so many comic fans are now at the age where they're teaching their kids to read, maybe they'll buy comics for their kids and enjoy reliving the memories that way! After all, that was how you learned to read! Who said comics aren't educational?!