For the first ever IndieInterviews article, we asked indie favourite Ben Dickson some questions about his work, and the UK indie scene. The great creator of Falling Sky and artist and writer for other indie works gives us his time here.

Erm... By writing stuff! It's and old cliche I know, but the only way into comics is by hard work and a lot of practice. I've written stories for as long as I can remember, but some time about 10 years ago I decided I wanted to write stories in comics form, as I was more interested in visual representation than in prose, and films were too restrictive (financially speaking) in terms of what you could write about.

So shortly after that I met veteran illustrator Mike Collins in an art studio in Cardiff, and asked if he would read a script I had written. He did, and scribbled all over it telling me what I had done wrong. I had written one of the most well-trodden, boring pieces of cliched crap imaginable (in fact it was quite close to the Alien vs Predator film), and Mike very graciously didn't tell me to piss off. Instead he told me exactly where I had gone wrong, how to format a script, what editors are looking for and so on. After that I revised my approach and started writing submissions to Tharg's Future Shocks, stuff for a Dredd Fanzine called Class of '79, and a story called Planet Realtime which a then-unknown Boo Cook illustrated. I've been writing shit scripts for ten years basically, somewhere along the way they got better!

I didn't know about the UK indie scene until I started going to conventions. Boo Cook and I took our first comic to Bristol in 1999, and we didn't really know anything about the indie scene back then, so it was really exciting to see how many people were actually producing their own comics. (It's even bigger now.) Pretty soon I started to get far more excited about the indie stuff than I was about the commercial stuff, because although it's as hit-and-miss as commercial stuff (if not more so), the material tends to be more diverse, daring and experimental.

Then I started submitting stories to some of the indie publishers like Shane Chebsey, and some of the newer upstarts like Barry Renshaw and Colin Dinnie. I found that I was really happy working with these guys because they do it because they love it, and their enthusiasm is infectious. Plus they liked my stuff, which helped! So I guess I found my way to the indie scene by accident at first, but realised it was a lot more fun than banging at Tharg's door every six months or so. Now I'm free to do pretty much whatever I want, and people seem happy to publish it. I wouldn't mind making money from it, but the freedom that the indie scene gives you is wonderful.

I read Eagle comic in the 80s, and 2000AD sporadically. I grew up in a small town, nowhere near a specialist comic shop, so I could only get newsstand titles as a kid, and books like Asterix and Tintin. But when I went to University in Cardiff I found the comics shop there, and discovered Sandman, Preacher and the like. But before then, pretty much everything I read was written by John Wagner, Alan Grant or Pat Mills.

I'd have to say Falling Sky, because it's my first graphic novel, and it's got by far the most praise of anything I've done. Plus I learned a hell of a lot doing it. But in terms of short stories, I'm most proud of Monophobia from Accent UK's Phobias collection, as it's a story that would be difficult to tell effectively in any medium other than comics.

There were several inspirations, not least suffering a nervous breakdown at the time of writing it. But my usual spiel is that it was inspired by how much I hated Armageddon and Deep Impact. I found them both immensely frustrating films, and felt that rather than trying to stop an asteroid it would be a far more interesting story if you approached it from the point of view that stopping an asteroid impact is impossible. Which right now, it is. Then the story becomes not "how do we stop it?", but "how do we survive it?" which to me was a far more interesting proposition. The whole government angle came about from just thinking the whole thing through using the logic that was applied to the cold war, coupled with todays form of capitalism in politics.

Scar comics are due to release a 16-page book called Marraquai, written by me and illustrated by James McKay. That's coming out soon, but I don't know exactly when. Currently I'm co-writing a graphic novel about the criminal underworld in Montenegro, but that won't see the light of day for quite a while as it's still being written. Meanwhile I'm also illustrating my submission to Accent UK's Robots anthology. I've got other stuff on the boiler too, but nothing I can really mention as of yet.

I've only illustrated two published works myself, Falling Sky and Spirit of the Apocalypse. The other stories I've done were illustrated by friends, mainly Boo Cook, James McKay and William Volley. Out of the two I've done I'd have to say Falling Sky is my favourite. Spirit I thought was an interesting experiment but ultimately didn't work out as well.

Well it depends what you're looking for. As a reader, I would say that the UK indie scene is much closer to the tastes of the general public than most commercial work being published. The traditional US comics industry as a whole is becoming steadily more introverted with its readership over the years, becoming overly obsessed with superhero continuity and so on. The UK indie scene is far more reflective of both an arts and an entertainment scene that the general public could actually access and enjoy. Storytelling is rich and diverse, as are the styles and formats. Ultimately it's much more interesting and rewarding , plus the fact that people do this for fun makes it all seem far more worthwhile and fun. As a rule the work is a lot more rough around the edges than mainstream material, but in many ways that's part of its charm.

Alternatively, if you're looking to "break in" to comics, you pretty much have to start off in small press now. Editors want to see what comics work you've already done, had published and had feedback about, because it proves that you have at least some of what it takes to be a comics artist. If you're a writer, it's IMPOSSIBLE to get in to writing comics without going through small press and indie comics for a good few years first.

n no particular order: Springheeled Jack by David Hitchcock - a beautifully illustrated take on a gothic victorian legend, drawing on influences such as Robert Louis Stephenson and John Wyndham.
The Rainbow Orchid by Garen Ewing - inevitably (but favourably) compared to Tintin, this piece of work is a very deliberately paced 1920s adventure romp that feels like a classic adventure from colonial times.
Strangehaven by Gary Spencer Millidge - the enchanting, creepy and ultimately highly addictive tale of a man who crashes his car, wakes up in a picturesque village and finds he can't leave...
The Freedom Collective by Barr, Regan and Sloano - I'm not sure if this one is still available, but it's a wonderful take on Stan Lee's classic superhero storytelling style, relocated to Soviet Russia.
The Last Sane Cowboy by Daniel Merlin Goodbrey - Lots of short, strange but oddly satisfying stories.

I'm usually at the conventions, so don't be afraid to come up and say hello!