The Nothing-Men comic series is a unique experimental British comic by writer/artist Mark Garvey.

 

Nothing-Men is made up of 12 individual issues, each being approximately 32 pages in length and the series is aimed at "adult" readers.

 

Nothing-Men is a Surrealist super-hero satire that takes place in the small sleepy Hertfordshire town of Potters Bar.

 

The comic follows many of the town's absurd residents whose boring, mundane and unexciting lives are suddenly turned upside-down with the arrival of a mysterious nocturnal vigilante: “The Hertfordshire Hero”.

 

Nothing-Men is a scathingly frank and amusing portrait of a media-driven, fame-obsessed and money-motivated society primarily made up of middle-class white male idiots.

 

The narrative's complex web of characters interweave and overlap in strange and dark situations and many tongue-in-cheek (but loving) nods and winks to the super hero and comic book genres are made throughout.

 

Nothing-Men utilises a wide range of unconventional materials that you wouldn't usually find in a comic. These include acrylic, oil, gouache, water colour, poster, enamel, emulsion, glass and spray paints; pens; pencils; fine-liners; graphic markers; biros; inks; an array of different paper, card and cardboard; photographs; chalks; charcoals; conte and wax crayons; oil pastels; coloured pencils; washes; masking, gaffer and electrical tape; tissue-paper; crepe-paper; newspaper; wallpaper; sandpaper; maps; tea and coffee staining; bubble-wrap; tin-foil; cling-film; beading; acetate; stencils; tipex; bleach and photographed mannequins.

 

The comic also incorporates all kinds of found/everyday objects including clothes, keys, masks, playing cards, wood, shaving-foam, alcohol, fencing, packaging, paint palettes, signage, fruit, note-books, drawing-pins, circuitry, wires, money, pills, plasters, bandages, safety-pins, string, rope, chains, flowers, plants and dead insects.

 

Throughout Nothing-Men, a range of different artistic techniques and approaches are employed, these include: drawing, painting, collage, photography, photomontage, assemblage, printing, relief, textiles, computer manipulation, digital imaging, spin art, chiaroscuro, grattage, declomania, beading, Rayographs, frottage and fumage.

 

All words and pictures in Nothing-Men are by Mark Garvey.