Drawer III · The Namesake
Sean Azzopardi and Phatcomics
A cartoonist with more than twenty-five years of making comics and publishing them himself: graphic novels, mini comics, festivals, exhibitions. Long before this cabinet opened, phatcatz was the name on his door.
“Self publishing is very empowering.”
Sean Azzopardi, interviewed by Wicked Comics, Malta Comic Con, 2011
The name on the door
In June 2004 a small-press site listed its anthology contributors, and beside Sean’s name it gave an address: phatcatz.org.uk. By 2007 the same site sent readers to phatcatz.com. His work now lives at Phatcomics. This site keeps the old name, and a drawer for him.
From the shelf
All images © Sean Azzopardi / Phatcomics. Each links to Phatcomics.
A working life in comics
- 2001
Founds Phatcomics, his imprint for graphic novels and, since then, more than sixty mini comics.
- 2004
Draws an Anathema story, written by Gary Simpson, for The O Men anthology. His comics live at phatcatz.org.uk.
- 2011
Guest at Malta Comic Con, after TCAF in Toronto and Angoulême the same year. Brings Eight Tablet Dream, a diary sketchbook of London life.
- 2018
The Voice of the Hall, a graphic history of Hornsey Town Hall, from Soaring Penguin Press with Arts Council support.
- 2021
The Sea Shepherd, his graphic history of the ocean-defence group, reviewed at downthetubes.
- 2024
Organises SEQUENT’ULL, the first independent comic art festival in Hull.
- 2026
Rave 3000, new canvases and prints at The Brain Jar. Ashes for Breakfast, volume one of his autobiographical Life’s a Party, debuts at ARC in London.
Books worth finding
- EdA small-press comic about a gentle, struggling artist.
- Twelve Hour Shift146 pages on an artist grinding through menial jobs, drawing in whatever hours are left. Three years in the making.
- Dark MattersWith Douglas Noble.
- Necessary Monsters Vol. 3First Comics, from a script by Daniel Merlin Goodbrey.
- 24 PanelsImage Comics, on what survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire faced.
- Street Art and ProtestA visual history.
He was a founding member of London Underground Comics and the Crouch End Festival, organised CECAF, Crouch End’s first comics festival, and has run workshops that use comics for advocacy and storytelling with young people and marginalised groups.