Category: Best of British

By John Wagner, Alan Grant & Robin Smith (John Brown Publishing)
ISBN: 978-1-87087-021-4

Long overdue for reissue is this marvellous modern mystery comedy from two of Scotland’s finest – John Wagner was actually born in America but had the good sense to leave when while still a wee boy – and Alan Grant pulled the same trick from his natal base in Bristol. Besides as this is such a great book we’re naturally going to call it “another triumph for Great Britain” anyway!

A daring slice of bonnie whimsy, it follows the case of mental patient Francis Forbes Clunie, diagnosed with a severe personality disorder, who escapes from Glasgow’s Spinbinnie Hospital for the Insane on New Years Eve.

Loose on the soggy streets of the big city once again Clunie slips further into his delusion. He thinks he’s Sam Spade as played by Humphrey Bogart hunting down the Maltese Falcon. He’s got hold of a revolver and ammo. And to make matters worse there’s a gang of inept thieves on the loose trying to get rid of a stolen container-lorry full of turkeys (it’s just gone Christmas and they’re oven-ready not frozen!). The word on the street is that there’s a “Hot Bird” up for grabs if you know where to look…

This mock-heroic gem is an absolute delight of measured lunacy, skilfully written and all delivered in colloquial Glaswegian (there’s a handy glossary at the back). Robin Smith’s art is skilfully understated and the whole concoction is wonderfully akin to a Bill Forsyth film (especially That Sinking Feeling, with a touch of Local Hero).

Originally released as a four issue miniseries (individually entitled ‘Farewell, My Looney’, ‘The Treasure of the Ford Sierra’, ‘To Huv and Huvnae’ and ‘The Wrong Goodbye’) by Fatman Press in 1991, it won that year’s Penguin Award for Best New Comic, and the BBC produced a film adaptation starring Robbie Coltrane screened to coincide with the release of this collected volume.

In 1998 DC combined both this and a sequel in their pocket sized Paradox Mystery imprint (#4 ISBN-13: 978-0-6710-0923-6) but for the full, glorious monochrome effect I prefer this larger paged edition.

Whisht! They’re so good where’s the harm in owning both? I do!
© 1991 John Wagner, Alan Grant & Robin Smith. All Rights Reserved.

By Richard Woollcombe
ISBN: 978-1-905017-92-8

It’s not too often that I get a chance to do a mate a favour, stick to my journalistic principles and still have a jolly good time all at once, so I’m doubly delighted that this charming, entertaining diversion landed on my doormat the other day.

The West Country Year is a slim, landscape-format softcover art-book that depicts each month of the year with a gently dry, laconically bemusing missive and an exceedingly polished, enthralling narrative illustration that perfectly proves the old adage “every picture tells a story.”

Rendered in luscious oil-paints, these twelve plates echo recall the colloquial naivety and vibrancy of Beryl Cook, but filtered through the knowing, “seen-it-all” observational comedy worldliness of the legendary Carl Giles.

Richard Woollcombe was born in 1919, and was raised on the ancestral Market Garden in the glorious Tamar Valley of Devon. He has worked and witnessed life from said rural paradise his entire life, save for the minor interludes of war service in the RAF and a stint as an aircraft designer. He has always painted and combines a vivid palette with a trenchant eye for the visual bon mot. He’s also the father of one of my oldest mates in the British comics biz.

This is a lovely slice of an England we all hanker for, showing real people and places in their rosiest light, by a man who knows them all personally. This is the sort of book that evokes good times and fond memories, (like a tartan-tinned Shortbread selection) even of places and times you’ve never visited but always wished to. And the work is genuinely funny in the traditional English manner.

The originals are now on permanent display at the Derriford Hospital in Plymouth but you can always self-medicate with this tonic of graphic good cheer by ordering your own copy from eBay, or direct from thewestcountryyear@yahoo.com

Alternatively call 01579 556567 and ask for Alan. The price is £5.99 per copy, and postage is free in the UK. If you’re a homesick ex-pat or quizzically non-British just call for overseas rates.
© 2008 Richard Woollcombe. All Rights Reserved.

By various (DC Thomson & Co)
ISBN: 978-1-84535-347-6

Released as part of the seventieth Anniversary celebrations of the comics company that has more than any other shaped the psyche of generations of children, this wonderful hardback compilation rightly glories in the incredible wealth of quality that has paraded through the flimsy pages of the Beano and the Dandy.

The book takes as its broad theme the antics of characters who have waged an incessant war against boredom and repression amidst the chalk-clouded, grubby corridors of school, risking corporal punishment, exhausted writing hands and ritual humiliation to keep us all amused and rebellious at heart.

Within these pages you will find cracking examples of Old Ma Murphy (by Alan Morley), Korky the Cat, Hooky’s Magic Bowler Hat (by the wonderful Chick Gordon), the Pocket Grandpas (both the 1940’s prose feature and the 1970’s strip drawn by Ron Spencer), Big Eggo, Miss Primm (Alan Morley again), Tough Nellie Duff (the Strong Arm School Marm), and Billy Butter the Brainy Goat.

More substantial offerings honour Biffo the Bear (by both Dudley D. Watkins and Leo Baxendale) and Dennis the Menace, Our Teacher’s a Walrus and Lord Snooty (both by the incredibly prolificWatkins), Winker Watson and the unforgettable Dirty Dick (both illustrated by the unique Eric Roberts).

Greedy Pigg, Mr Mutt and Jammy the Sammy were all by the indefatigable A.G. Martin whilst Baxendale’s immortal Bash Street Kids (which began its term as ‘When the Bell Rings’), Desperate Dan (by Watkins), Whacko! and Robin Hood’s Schooldays (by Spencer again) are well represented too; but it’s the tantalising glimpses of such minor celebrities as Dopey Dinah, Bamboo Town, and Keyhole Kate that I’d like to see more of sometime.

There’s a raft of bonus features such as an article on long-lost prose stories like Jimmy the Double Dunce, and Through Fire and Flood with Bobby Trent, a complete 8 page full-colour Bananaman strip from 1985 that was given away in schools and dentists, by John K. Geering and the unpublished final episode (#837 if you’re counting) of the Jocks and the Geordies from the Dandy.

This strip was never completed and is presented as unlettered black line art, with the artist’s script printed below: a fascinating insight for anybody seeking a career in the industry. In fact this book is a treasure trove for the aspiring pro as many strips are reproduced from original camera-ready artwork – with printers’ instructions, editor’s notes and even un-erased pencil lines on show – highly educational for those looking for secrets and details of “the process”.

Notwithstanding all that, the true magic of this collection is the brilliant art and stories by a host of talents that have literally made Britons who they are today, and bravo to DC Thomson for letting them out for a half-day to run amok once again.

© 2008 DC Thomson & Co. Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

For the early part of the history of cartooning dogs ruled. For every Felix or Krazy Kat there were dozens of Dog Stars like Bonzo or Snoopy, Odie or Fred Bassett. That’s because dogs are man’s best friends.

Towards the end of the last century sly cynical cats like Heathcliff or Garfield prowled onto the scene and rather took over. And that’s because they’re Real, Unadulterated cats.

Dogs have owners, Cats have staff. They run the house and rule the world, and no amount of cosmeticisation can hide the ugly facts.

This hilarious book will strike a chilling chord with every cat owner, as fantasy author Pratchett explains the ethos behind “The Campaign for Real Cats” who seek to reveal the sordid truth behind the fuzzy little darlings.

Cats are greedy, lazy, vicious, voracious, and need all nine lives because they take every slight opportunity to spectacularly end the one they’re living – you’re reading a blog by a man who’s had to saw his own drawing board in half to extricate an extremely ungrateful tabby from the parallel bar wiring. And don’t get me started on window blinds either.

Brilliantly funny, this slim tome reveals the unvarnished truth about Felis Domesticus – and they’ll drink varnish too if you don’t watch ’em like hawks – written by a comedy mastermind and brilliantly illustrated by the cartoonist who exposed the wickedness of willies.

Still readily available, this is a thoroughly British kind of humour that will soundly affirm the fears of cat-haters – and cat-lovers – everywhere, whilst making them all laugh loud enough not to care.
Text © 1989, 1996 Terry & Lyn Pratchett. Illustrations © 1989, 1996 Gray Jolliffe. All Rights Reserved.

By various (Fleetway)
No ISBN

One the most missed of publishing traditions in this country is the educational comic. From the features in the legendary Eagle to the small explosion of factual and socially responsible boys and girls papers in the late 1950s to the heady go-getting heydays of the 1960s and 1970 Britain had a healthy sub-culture of comics that informed, instructed and revealed – and don’t even get me started on sports comics!

Amongst many others Speed & Power, World of Wonder, Tell Me Why, and the greatest of them all Look and Learn spent decades making things clear and brought the marvels of the world to our childish but avid attentions with wit, style and thanks to the quality of the illustrators involved, astonishing beauty.

Look and Learn launched on 20th January 1962, the brainchild of Fleetway Publications Director of Juvenile Publications Leonard Matthews, and executed by Editor David Stone (almost instantly replaced by John Sanders), Sub-Editor Freddie Lidstone and Art Director Jack Parker.

For twenty years and 1049 issues the comic delighted children by bringing the marvels of the universe to their doors, and was one of the county’s most popular children’s weeklies. Naturally there were many spin-off tomes such as The Look and Learn Book of 1001 Questions and Answers, Look and Learn Book of Wonders of Nature, Look and Learn Book of Pets and Look and Learn Young Scientist as well as the totally engrossing Christmas treat The Look and Learn Book.

Selected simply because it was nearest to my grasping hand, this volume released for Christmas 1973 (as with almost all UK Annuals they were forward-dated) is a prime example of a lost form. Within this132 heavy-stock paged hard-back are 40 fascinating features on all aspects of human endeavour and natural wonder from Strange Creatures of the East, Birds in Legend, Arctic Trawler, Caves of Adventure, Petticoat Pirates, Arabian Nights Railway, Head-Hunters of Borneo, Unknown but Well-known and dozens more articles cannily designed to beguile, enthrall and above all else, inspire young minds.

Illustrated with photographs, diagrams and paintings and drawings by some of the world’s greatest commercial artists including such luminaries as Ron Embleton, Helen Haywood, Ron Turner, Ken Evans, Angus McBride and many others, these books were an utter delight for hungry minds to devour whilst the turkey and Christmas pudding slowly digested…

With the internet and TV I suppose their like is unnecessary and irrelevant, but nostalgia aside the glorious pictures in these volumes alone make them worth the effort of acquisition, and I defy any child of any age to not be sucked into the magic of learning this lovely…

Whilst researching this book review (mostly sitting comfortably and flicking through gigantic piles of beloved, worn books and comics, submerged in the totally unique smell of old and hallowed paper – interspersed with the occasional dabble with the old search engine) I came across this delightful open site and commend it to your attention if you’re at all interested in the subject.
http://books.littleoak.com.au/index.html

© 1973 IPC Magazines, Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

By Douglas Enefer, A. Tyson, John W. Elliott & various (World Distributors, Ltd.)
No ISBN

Here’s a question for all you dedicated Marvelites out there: do you remember how Ant-Man helped troubled boxer Danny Fury go straight? Or when the slaver Abdul Rey captured the Fantastic Four? How about the time Spider-Man captured the arsonists who were torching department stores?

If your memory fails you here it might not be four-colour overload but rather the singular fact that you’re neither old nor British. Please allow me to explain…

When Stan Lee rejuvenated the American comic-book industry in the early 1960s, his biggest advantage wasn’t the small but superb talent pool available, but rather a canny sense of marketing and promotion. DC, Dell/Gold Key and Charlton all had limited overseas licenses (usually in dedicated black-and-white anthologies liked the much beloved Alan Class Comics such as Suspense) but Lee – or his business managers – went further, sanctioning Marvel’s revolutionary early efforts in regular British weeklies like Pow!, Wham!, Smash! and even the venerable Eagle. There were two wholly Marvel-ised papers, Fantastic! and Terrific!, which ran from 1967 to 1968. These slick format comics featured a number of key Marvel properties, and, appearing every seven days, soon exhausted the back catalogue of the company.

Another factor to consider was the traditions of the UK market. US comics had been primarily strip based since the 1930s, but British weeklies had long provided Boy’s and Girl’s “papers” that were prose-based. In fact DC Thompson had persevered with illustrated text periodicals until well into the 1960s. So the seasonal annuals provided a vital sales peak of the publishing year and a guaranteed promotional push (see Alan Clark’s superb The Children’s Annual – ISBN 10: 1-85283-212-9 for more information). Any comic worth its salt needed a glossy hardback on the shelves over the Christmas period…

In future years UK Marvel Annuals would provide full colour reprint strip extravaganzas, but in 1966 the material just wasn’t there. Thus this peculiar novelty: a comforting 96 sturdy pages of bold illustrations, games, puzzles and prose stories featuring Marvel’s mightiest in exceedingly British tales of skulduggery and derring-do.

As well as Ant-man in ‘Fightin’ Fury’, the FF in ‘The Chains of Abdul Rey’ and Spidey against ‘The Fire Raisers’, Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner faced a ‘Howl in the Night’ and Iron Man faced the Bloated Bandit (one of the all-out daftest villains of all time!) in ‘A Cushioned Clash’. Captain America fought with the British Eighth Army in the World War II thriller ‘Tomb of Terror’ and Iron Man travelled to Australia to defeat ‘The Ghost of Ned Kelly’, whilst Doctor Strange rescued two pot-holers who were imperilled by ‘the Guardians of the Tomb’, far beneath the streets of Manchester and Oldham!

Along with many explanatory features providing origin info for the superheroes and related science features on ants and such-like, there’s even more thrills when the Fantastic Four faced ‘The Bull of Minos’, The Mighty Thor crushed pirates in modern day Scotland in ‘North Sea Wolf’, Doctor Strange visited mystic India on a ‘Flight into Danger’ and the book gloriously concludes with a fraught trip to Canada for Bruce Banner and Rick Jones that could lead to ‘The End of the Hulk!’

Behind superb covers by R. W. Smethurst, the interior illustrations are by M.K. Powell, J. Leeder and P. Limbert, ranging from adequate to great, but the stories, communally attributed to Douglas Enefer, A. Tyson and John W. Elliott are quirkily engaging and oddly enjoyable. This is probably hard to find, and might horrify dyed-in-the-wool fans, but I’d like to think that there’s enough of us who can temper our mania with a little nostalgic perspective to enjoy an innocent dip in rare waters, and muse on what might have been if this experiment had caught on…

© 1967 Marvel Comics Group. All Rights Reserved.

Edited by Steve Holland (Prion)
ISBN: 978-1-85375-673-3

During the science fiction boom of the 1950s thrill hungry kids just couldn’t get enough of The Great Beyond. Fuelled by seemingly daily technical advances and the groundbreaking weekly adventures of Dan Dare in the Eagle they devoured everything Outer Spacial and the rest of Britain’s entertainment industries had to adapt or die.

Super Detective Library was a pocket-sized black-and-white digest magazine launched in 1953, and published fortnightly by Amalgamated Press as companions to Thriller Picture Library and Cowboy Picture Library. As the name suggests the complete picture stories starred a number of famous crime-busters including Sexton Blake, The Saint, Nick Barton, Bulldog Drummond and even Fu Manchu – although obviously the steely-eyed Nayland Smith was the titular star there – as well as newspaper strip heroes such as Rip Kirby, Buck Ryan and others.

In response to the demand for outer space drama editor Edward Holmes created Rick Random, who worked for the Interplanetary Bureau of Investigations and the Interplanetary Council. Set in 2040 after a cataclysmic global war, the adventures dealt with a society expanding into unknown space bringing civilisation with it: A realm of pure adventure on the borders of comfortable safety and security.

Originally scripted by Holmes and Conrad Frost with art from Bill Lacey and the brilliant Reg Bunn (whose masterpiece The Spider: King of Crooks ISBN 1-84576-000-X is still available from Titan Books) Rick Random reached a peak of excellence when the Canadian Bob Kesten and American Harry (Stainless Steel Rat) Harrison were teamed with the artist Ron Turner, whose sense of style and colossal imagination made it the only real rival to Dan Dare.

This too brief volume (the first of many, I hope) collects ten of the best in its 650+ pages. ‘Kidnappers from Mars’, ‘Emperor of the Moon’, ‘Planet of Terror’, ‘Space Pirates’, ‘Perilous Mission’, ‘Mystery of the Frozen World’, ‘Mystery of the Robot World’, ‘Killer in Space’, ‘Threat from Space’ and ‘Kidnapped Planet’ are reproduced here about half as large again as when they first appeared and on much better paper stock.

These are wonderfully clear, crisp, uncomplicated romps that will appeal as much to your granddad as your kids, but you’d best get everyone their own copies so they won’t steal yours!

© 2008 IPC Media. All Rights Reserved.