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Dec 23, 20204 min read

MEET ME IN THE PIT, ISSUES #1-4

Updated: Dec 29, 2020

Anthology

Editor: Chris Neill

Publisher: Blueprint Comics

Meet Me in the Pit, issue #1, cover, Blueprint Comics, Rebecca Enya Lourey

WHAT IS IT?

Created with the aim of showcasing some of the freshest indie comics talent that Australia has to offer, it brings them all together through the unifying force of music. It allows its creators to harness the raw emotions of the soundtracks of our lives.

Meet Me in the Pit reads as if Twisted Romance were focused on the power of song instead of love.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

(Minor Spoilers)

Music is a core method of human expression, capable of moving people in ways that no other medium can. Meet Me in the Pit is an anthology comic aimed at celebrating that power. Each issue of Meet Me in the Pit is filled with short comics from a number of creators from Australia.

While music is the core thread running through the heart of this anthology, no two submissions felt as if they were covering the same ground. In the four issues that have been released up to this point, the pages of Meet Me in the Pit have been host to everything from a fairy tale about a foolish king who banned music, to opaque artworks simply labelled ‘Tinnitus’, to a brief history of one of the core bands of the Newcastle hardcore scene.

It is this sense of excitement and possibility that is a core appeal of an anthology like Meet Me in the Pit. By keeping each submission no longer than a handful of pages, it gives the reader enough time to connect with the piece, without feeling like any one comic overstays its welcome. It’s a mystery bag of musical magic, and almost all of the options inside are tantalising.

WHAT WORKS?

  • The premise is both highly universal and unique for a comic to tackle. Portraying the way music touches people's lives in a visual medium is difficult, but the results are tangible and vibrant.

  • The sheer variety of content means that there are likely a number of stories that each reader can relate to in a given issue.

  • The length of submissions is short, which helps readers keep reading through comics that might not hit home for them, in order to not miss out on what they might read next.

  • Editor Chris Neill does a superb job of ordering the stories in each issue. Denser, more taxing stories are interspersed with lighter, more humorous ones, or stand-alone art pieces.

  • Creating a space for creators that might otherwise struggle to get pages out to the public is a vital way to grow the comics industry. Anything that benefits the careers of talented indie voices is a win for the Yeti.

  • The graphic design was simple and effective, and each cover gave a good sense of the spirit of the stories contained within.

  • Some of the personal stories told give fascinating (and occasionally heart-wrenching) glimpses into the lives of the creators.

  • Reading stories about music that you don’t know might inspire you to go out and see what the creators are talking about. Some of the comics even include Spotify links, or lists of recommended listening.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK?

  • The cost of having a slew of short stories is the risk that some of them won’t quite work for all of the audience. Every reader will have different opinions about which comics don’t work for them, but the likelihood is that they will have some that they don’t enjoy as much as others.

  • Content warnings: nudity, drug use, strong language.

  • Some comics listed their creative team responsible during the pages of their work, while others didn’t. All of the teams were listed upfront, but perhaps a small note somewhere during the comic would have made it easier for readers to instantly look up the person or people who made a comic that they loved.


Meet Me in the Pit, issue #3, interior page by Tayla Colley, Blueprint Comics

WHY SHOULD I READ IT?

Music is one of the great unifying forces of humanity, and this anthology taps into that power incredibly well. The rapid-fire nature of the comics gives readers of Meet Me in the Pit a satisfying feeling of taking in a wide range of stories in a very small number of pages. Not every story will connect with every reader, but the sheer number of high-quality comics means that most of them likely will.


If this is the talent present in comics Down Under, comics from Australia are soon to be music to everyone’s ears.


ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS:

Issue #1


Issue #2


Issue #3


Issue #4

HOW DO I BUY IT?

The image(s) used in this article are from a comic strip, webcomic or the cover or interior of a comic book. The copyright for this image(s) is likely owned by either the publisher of the comic, the writer(s) and/or artist(s) who produced the comic. It is believed that the use of this image(s) qualifies as fair use under the United States copyright law. The image is used in a limited fashion in an educational manner in order to illustrate the points of the author and not for the purpose of entertainment or substituting the original work. It is believed the use of this image has had no impact on the market value of the original work.

All characters and the distinctive likeness(es) thereof are trademarks of and copyright of their respective owners. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


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