Blank Slate Books (BSB) was founded in 2008 by Kenny Penman and partner James Hamilton. Penman was inspired by
Fantagraphics Books of
Seattle, WA, to publish books in the United Kingdom that would do for artists in Britain what Fantagraphics was doing in the US, championing independent, alternative creators who were not working in superhero or other ‘mainstream’ commercial comics genres. Penman was co-director of
Forbidden Planet International, and had plenty of experience with the comics industry. He saw the mission of BSB as "supporting home-grown talent" and providing an essential outlet for work that might not be seen elsewhere. He was primarily motivated to begin the company after encountering the work of
Oliver East, who had no real precedents in UK comics. The publication of
Trains Are Mint by East was BSB's first release in 2008 Other notable releases were
Psychiatric Tales by
Darryl Cunningham, another non-genre work which was featured on
Radio 4, in many newspaper articles, and eventually republished in the USA. The "collective graphic novel"
Nelson, edited by
Rob Davis and
Woodrow Phoenix, was an experiment that became
The Observer newspaper's Graphic Novel of The Month, November 2011.
The Times newspaper awarded it Best Graphic Novel of 2011, it was nominated for an
Eisner Award, and was voted Book of The Year in the
British Comic Awards 2012. Penman's other mission was to introduce titles from European countries to the UK that otherwise might not be seen. He focused primarily upon German titles by creators such as Mawil, Line Hoven, and Ule Osterle, who starred in Germany but little known in the UK. BSB published six to eight books a year. In 2012
Woodrow Phoenix, himself an acclaimed author of graphic novels, became art director of the company, supervising BSB's design and production. Blank Slate Books ceased publishing around 2016. ==Titles==