Caption is the UK's longest running alternative/small press comics convention. Held annually in Oxford at a Union Debating Society Building close to the city centre, it attracts a wide range of creators and readers, including such disreputable characters as Antony Johnston - who gave us his impressions of the convention in some depth here.

Most importantly however, Caption is a place where you can buy stuff - a place where creators can peruse and support each other's works, and where consumers such as myself can sample a healthy cross section of small press titles. It's a place where you can get a genuine feel for what's going on at a grass roots level in the UK comics scene - and perhaps meet the people who are making it happen.

With this in mind, I descended on the stands on the Saturday of the con and spent indiscriminately. Hungry for innovation and novelty, I grabbed whatever caught my eye (and there was much that did) leaving with a stack of some two dozen titles, satisfied that I had enough to adequately appraise the small press zeitgeist.

Without further ado then, here is the best of what I bought.

First up is THE GIRLY COMIC (Factor Fiction Press, £1.50) - a new anthology title edited by Selina Lock. As you may have already guessed from the title, THE GIRLY COMIC is aimed at, well, girls. It's a collection of some thirteen strips ranging between one and five pages. It doesn't focus on any one particular genre, and it sports an impressive Bolland-esque colour cover by 2000AD artist Simon Fraser.

And the good news is, despite the suggestive branding, THE GIRLY COMIC #1 is an intelligent, entertaining and ultimately very assured debut issue that can be easily enjoyed by anyone, no matter what his or her genetic make-up. Most of the creators involved (which included small press old hands like the Goodman brothers and Terry Willey) chose to focus on female protagonists and stories that emphasise characterisation and emotional conflict, but there's nothing forced or cynical about this. Lock has clearly decided that what women want out of their comics is good stories, and left the criteria for submissions at that.

Like any anthology title, there are one or two misses, but overall the quality of the material is extremely high. Definitely one to watch. For more details and ordering information, visit the official site.

Harris O'Malley's BETWEEN THE CRACKS #1 (Studio Underhill, $2.50) is an SF/psychological horror story in the FRANKENSTEIN mould. A woman wakes up on a slab in a laboratory to the sound of gunfire; somewhere close by, someone dies. Terrified, she runs from the lab into the night only to find the world outside is just as violent and confusing as the one she's just escaped from.

O'Malley's art is very clear and professional in appearance; his figures occasionally look a little stiff and awkward, but on the whole, BETWEEN THE CRACKS is a very accomplished piece of work. He's clearly also not a bad writer, and while the premise of the story itself isn't the most original, he handles it well and comes up with some nice, crisp dialogue to boot. A preview of BETWEEN THE CRACKS #1 is available here, and ordering info can be found here.

Alistair Pulling and Bevis Musson's ODDCASES is available online at Opi8.com, but also exists as a limited edition mini-comic. ODDCASES follows the exploits of elderly paranormal investigators Clarissa and Jani (clearly modelled on the BBC's own TWO FAT LADIES) as they go about solving 'odd cases' of a supernatural nature. It's essentially a vehicle for Pulling to write humorous horror/fantasy shorts that incorporate elements of traditional folklore and classic supernatural fiction (and for Musson to draw lots of large gay blokes).

At Caption they were actually selling two mini comics together - so I got 'The Strange Case of the Haunted Drag Bar' (featuring an introduction by LUCIFER writer Mike Carey) and 'The Baby on the Hill' (which is shorter, but is padded out by one of Pulling's ODDCULT columns from Opi8) as part of the same package. Last time I checked the desk, they were all but sold out. I have no idea whether or not they intend to print up any more, but seeing as you can read it for free online, you've really got no excuse to miss this.

Anna and Karen Rubins' DARK (£3.00) is a weird one; it takes place in a world where times of day exist as physical rather than temporal locations. Most sensible inhabitants of this world commute between cities in order to live a rounded existence, but Greek exchange student Michael is a little different. Michael's been stuck in Night for a long time now, mainly because he doesn't realise that there is no 'day' there. He's from a world where the sun doesn't remain static, and so assumes the reason he never sees it is because he keeps missing it whilst he's asleep.

Fortunately, he has a friend called Helen who decides Michael's lifestyle isn't the healthiest, and so in #2 drags him out of Night into Sunrise (which is a National Park). DARK boasts some intriguing ideas, and explores in a somewhat whimsical fashion how human beings in the 21st Century increasingly define their own sense of time. It's also worth mentioning the extremely nice impressionistic artwork and impressive production values. DARK #2 is available from a number of London comic shops and more details (including ordering information and an online version of #1) can be found at the official site.

Finally, I make no apologies for recommending Jim McGee's BAD ATTITUDE BOY AND OTHER LOSERS #1 (Cheap and Nasty Comics, £1), a collection of McGee's strips from various different places (including anthology titles such as PULP KITCHEN and SQUARE-EYED STORIES - which aren't half bad either, come to mention it).

Bad Attitude Boy is a foul-mouthed misanthropic cartoon character who rampages across some fourteen pages of comic strip, setting his friends on fire and stabbing things indiscriminately. Good old-fashioned puerile fun - excellent. Jim McGee's web site can be found at Bugmonkey.com.

Nick Brownlow is an IT professional and writer.

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