The Paper #2
271 x 412 mm, 206 pages
Wales
Annual, since 2023
Editors/designers: Erin Mathias, Oliver Gabe and Owen Davies
The Terror Issue
At last, issue two of The Paper, one of our favourite debuts of 2023, is here! And it’s another vast serving of chaos, wonder and nerve. More pages mean the new issue has a spine, but otherwise it’s service as usual, starting with a cover overloaded with headlines and text.
Moving on from their initial obsession with Wales, this is the Terror issue, and despite that fearsome title the mag retains its upbeat tone of absurdity. One writer looks back at the many times she’s shat her pants; a prosthetic special effects artist shares images of a day’s fake wounds; a desire to interview Wales’s most prominent but dead terrorist is resolved by reproducing the pages from Delayed Gratification’s 2012 interview with the man. This team are having FUN! And so will you.
‘We reject the idea that this magazine is ‘weird’ in any way—the stories in there are some of the most normal you can find: chip shops, train journeys, doctors’ appointments etc. The weirdos are in other magazines talking about how difficult it was to import their new handmade Sardinian rug. Our magazine is extremely normal and that’s what's so weird about it.’
On the Journal
At work with Erin, Oliver and Owen: ‘Our mission has always been to save Wales, so ideally we’ll achieve that soon, thus sparing us the effort of putting together a second issue.’
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