Shelf Heroes joins Stack with its personal, illustrated celebration of cinema
We love magazines that surprise us, and Shelf Heroes’ simple submission guidelines attract a wealth of creative contributors. Each issue focuses on movies starting with a letter of the alphabet; the brief asks illustrators and writers to watch a film beginning with that letter, then ‘go create something’.
Now in its ‘G’ (or seventh) issue, editor Ben Smith has used his discerning eye to present volumes after volumes of wildly imaginative, high quality artwork, paired alongside personal and affecting writing — it says something that whenever I read an issue, my films-to-watch list doubles in size. It’s a publication that truly champions individual creativity, and we’re really happy to have them join our lineup of magazines.
If you’re a Stack subscriber, you can look out for Shelf Heroes in your letterbox sometime in the near future, and if you’ve been thinking about joining, now’s a great time to subscribe because we have an amazing range of magazines for the coming months.
And just for the occasion, we got Ben to pick out six illustrations from past issues that represent what Shelf Heroes is all about…
Annie Hall by Kate Copeland
This was one of the very first illustrations I received for the debut issue, and I think it captures something of the spirit of Shelf Heroes. A tiny little reference to a fairly minor scene, that meant something to Kate.
Cabaret by Marina Esmeraldo
Think this is still my favourite cover. I love it because it reinterprets the kind of portraits you usually get of fictional characters and fills it with the life and vibrancy of Liza Minnelli’s performance. Also, Liza has got a print of this in her house/mansion.
Dune by Edward Tuckwell
I love this one so much I have it framed in my kitchen! This is another example of an interesting personal interpretation of a film – David Lynch’s terrrrrrible Dune doesn’t necessarily contain a scene or architecture like this, but Ed has taken a broad inspiration from the world to magic up this rendition of Arrakis.
ET from Memory
This was a really fun little feature in issue E. I got anyone and everyone to wrack their brains, pick up a pencil and try and remember what one of the most iconic characters in movie history looked like. Harder than it sounds!
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Thomas Hedger
Look at it! The experience of watching the film condensed into a widescreen acid trip Escher masterpiece.
An Ain’t Rights zine by Sarah Peploe
With every copy of issue G I slipped a little photocopied fanzine created for the fictional punk band The Ain’t Rights from Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room. I love seeing a bit of the movie world bleeding out into real life.
—
Get the next Shelf Heroes straight to your door — Sign up to Stack from £7/month
