If you told me when I started BugPowder that when I took a sabbatical from it The Comics Journal’s weblog would print the following, I’d have laughed you out of town. Looks like I won’t be giving up on all this any time soon.
Pete Ashton, who founded the British indy comics portal Bugpowder, has announced that he will be taking a sabbatical on a farm on the Isle of Wight for at least several months. Ashton is no longer the only person contributing to the website, and expects it to carry on in his absence. Here’s wishing him a safe journey, and that his eventual return finds him rested and ready to again pick up the yoke.
Thanks, Dirk!
What I wrote on BugPowder follows:
Hello all,
As those of you who either know me or follow my weblog will know, I’ve had a rather.. interesting few months which have culminated in me quitting my job, putting my stuff in storage and heading off to work on an organic farm on the Isle of Wight. Obviously this affects BugPowder somewhat which is why I’m writing this both for the mailing list and to be posted on the site.
As you may or may not be aware, BugPowder has been around for about 6 or so years in various forms and came out of other comics / zine projects I’ve been involved with since, god, 1989. Over the last couple of years I’ve been slowly moving the focus of BugPowder away from “my comics site” towards something more community based, to the stage now where I pretty much have nothing to do with it on a day to day basis. I’ve got ideas and plans for the site, but they merely expand on what’s there, and what’s there looks after itself most of the time.
As such, if I were to personally give up on BugPowder it would not suffer too much in the long term, if at all. And I should really add a big “thank you” to everyone who’s participated in this community project at whatever level. You’ve made it what it is, so well done.
I’m not giving up on BugPowder – however I will have bugger all to do with it for the next few months, and maybe for longer than that..
Jez Higgins has kindly agreed to look after the site from now on. While this isn’t a huge job, it’s still a job, so thanks Jez. Any questions about the site or the list should be directed at Jez and any decisions about what happens to BugPowder are with him. Jez and I have been friends in and out of comics for a long time now and he’s always been the Mr Big figure behind bugpowder.com. He also has joint custody of TRS2. So it makes sense for him to be running things from now on.
All the contact details on the site will be changed over the next few days to reflect this.
As for the future, I may well come back into the fold and work within the small press / art comix scene. I’ve been doing this kinda thing for nearly 15 years now – half my life – and I’m not about to give up on it. I see working on this farm as a chance to rejuvenate my body and mind and as a stepping stone to “something else”. Whether that is a continuation of the minimalist farming lifestyle, a return to salaried work, a move into computing, travelling abroad or something I haven’t even considered, I don’t know yet.
In some ways, and without sounding pious (and failing miserably) I like to see this as a sabbatical from the work that I do so that when I return I can do it better. Working on stuff for this community has been one of the most rewarding and important things in my life and while I accept I’ve done some good stuff, I know much more can be done by me if I have the time and, more importantly, the right frame of head-space.
My web site, while annoyingly down at the moment, is the best place to get in touch with me through over the next 6 months, but please be aware that I’m going to be pretty isolated from computers, phones, etc.
I plan to come to Caption this summer, but will not be going to Bristol for financial reasons.
That’s about all for now. Keep doing whatever good work it is you’re doing.
Pete