The Godfather of British Comics

I have been a big fan of Pat Mills since I first became aware of his name in the pages of early 2000AD. With one or two exceptions there has barely been a piece of his work that I have not liked and I have always enjoyed reading his thoughts and opinions whenever the chance arose. The latest chance appeared in the interview published in the new issue of Crikey #12 (The Godfdather of British Comics) alongside a feature by Mills in which he argues the case for D-Day Dawson being a more important figure in British comics history than is generally accepted. I have to concur with his thoughts; D-Day Dawson was one of my favourite strips in Battle Picture Weekly (alongside Lofty's One-Man Luftwaffe, Terror Behind the Bamboo Curtain and King of the Fortress, for those of you who remember them). One of the issues which Mills returns to in this feature is the subject of creative rights and I must admit I still find it amazing that even today the majority of comic characters and strips are owned not by their creators but by their publishers. It is one thing independent creators have over their professional counterpoints.


Think about it! What other media is there where the creator does not own the rights to his creation? Does J.K.Rowling write a huge-selling book only for the publisher to assume sole rights to the work so that she earns no more money other than her initial payment for the work? Do Arctic Monkeys produce an album only to own none of their own records nor earn subsequent royalties? When Stephen Poliakoff writes a new award-winning play for television, does the broadcaster become owners of his scripts? Why then, when it comes to our beloved comics, that creators are not afforded the same rights as creators of other media?

I don't really see what publishers fear. With a few exceptions you don't often see a loved TV drama switch from one channel to another because the writer has switched allgience. If a creator is happy with a regular publisher then I see no reason why he/she would not continue to stay with them. And its not as if publishers do much to license their characters in other media; in fact these days it is more often the other way around. I'm sure the comics industry would be more prolific if creators had more say in the way their strips were marketed, packaged, etc; Brian Talbot proves this over and over again with his distinctly individual output. I guess that is one area where those of us who publish our own work win over on our professional counterparts.

Either way, Crikey continues to evolve and improve, moving away from the nostalgia-fest of earlier issues to become the best (only?) magazine of its type on the market now Comics International seems to have disappeared. Well worth anyone's time and money and featuring amongst other things a nice interview with Frank McDaiarmid, artist on such strips as Mustapha Million, Frankie Stein and Cheeky Weekly. And on top of all that I discovered that my love of Pat Mills' strips went further back than I thought; amongst other things he wrote one of my childhood favourites, Bumpkin Billionaires for Whoopee.

Night Witches & Wallpapers

Way back when I used to follow the adventures of Johnny Red every week in the pages of Battle Picture Weekly. John Cooper did a great job during his years on the strip and as a kid I was always drawn to the gritty, dark stories. One element that has stuck in my head over the years were the all-women squadrons of fighter pilots in their biplanes, fighting like furies in the name of Mother Russia. Little did I know back then that such all-female squadrons did actually exist. Garth Ennis recently revisited this in his series, The Night Witches. This was the contemporary name given to these women.

While drawing away this Saturday gone, I was listening to a variety of reports from around the world in Radio 4's excellent From Our Own Correspondent. And in that very collection of stories was that of the Night Witches and the women survivors who still live to tell the tales today. They speak of the great terror, that of being burnt alive in your aircraft. An extra bullet was always carried in their pistols so that if they crashed behind enemy lines they could shoot each other, then themselves, before the Germans could get them. It is, to me anyway, a fascinating and horrific period of history and if you want to hear a bit more about it then the programme is currently available to hear again on the BBC's iPlayer and all the programmes are regularly available as podcasts. Look for Saturday 31st October's podcast here.

On another note, and not particularly comiccs-related, is the November 2009 desktop wallpaper now available from the Ordnance Survey web site. Shameless plug, I know, but it's one of my photos. If you want to brighten up your desktop this month, then do please pay a visit and download a copy here. Promise I'll return to comics next time around.

Night Witches update: There is a BBC slideshow and audio commentary available here and Radio 4 will be broadcasting a documentary on Monday 2nd November at 8pm. Both feature contributions from Garth Ennis and there are some pictures from the graphic novel and series on the slideshow.

The Art of Harvey Kurtzman

For the past two or three weeks I have been engrossed in a large, coffee-table sized volume called The Art of Harvey Kurtzman. Kurtzman was from the depression era (the 1929 depression, that is, not the current one) school of comic creators alongside Severin, Bill Eider, Will Eisner and the like. The book, as well as being a critique and a showcase of Kurtzman's prodigous output is also a hefty biography of the man, and of the development of the comics industry from sweat shop to freelancers.

Kutzman's life follows much the same template as other artists of that era, i.e, he came from a lowly background, made his way into art school, got packed off to the army during the Second World War and more by luck than judgement ended up in comic art. Although in Kurtzman's case the path was a bit more deliberate than that. Initially he found work with Stan Lee in the years before Marvel arrived on the scene but despite his best efforts, he never seemed to be a big hit with readers despite the best efforts of his girlfriend to rig the reader voting in his favour. But talent eventually won the day and after success with the EC line of war comics (Frontline Combat and Two-Fisted Tales), Kurtzman hit the big time with Mad.

The book goes to decent lengths to set the story within its historical context and covers in some detail the seminal events and titles such as those mentioned above. Harvey Kurtzman comes across as a very likeable, serious guy who clearly knew what he wanted to achieve. He had an usual talent for writing, drawing and editing and was widely respected in the industry despite never really making it rich on the back of his output (such a common story). Some of those who worked under him didn't always appreciate hsi tight control of the comics he edited; he would draw out page layouts with compositional instructions for artists to follow, Many of his peers felt frustrated by their lack of artistic freedom but understood the reasoning and were able to, like the readers, marvel at the collective results.

There is something about that era or poverty and hardship, and the resigned determination to just get on with things and keep trying that I find appealing to read about. I also find the whole story of the comic shops, groups of writers and artists working in a production line, often in cramped rooms, engaging. There was a kind of camaraderie and fellowship between all those involved; they were all in the same boat and exercised their considerable talents just to survive.

Kurtzman had a very unique art style, almost impressionistic. Often his figures and objects were pared down to the bare minimum of lines and shade, with not a straight line in sight. Upon a casual look they can appear quite simplistic and easy to copy but having tried it myself, I can say that the style is considerably more complex and difficult to pin down. It takes a great talent to understand all the rules of drawing and composition, and then to be able to break the lot of them while making it appear natural and effortless. This is a great book and there is a lot to appreciate and learn from its pages. Or you can just sit and gaze at the pictures for hours on end. I did.

Outcastes #1-5

Having written about the Ariel Press series, Harker, two or three times over recent blogs, suffice to say that issues 6 and 7 more than live up to the first half dozen issues. The story has all the hallmarks of the first arc coupled with a loving spoof of Agatha Christie murder mysteries and some really excellent illustrations of Whitby on the North Yorkshire coast. I have been to Whitby a number of times and can testify that these illustrations are spot on. It's a great series and well worth anybody's time and money.

Another independent series I have been following but haven't mentioned in my blogs thus far is Tony McGee's Outcastes from True Stories Comics. This series can be read individually but collectively make up an intriguing on going story with a slowly growing cast of characters. Describing the story is quite difficult as it is quite unlike anything else that I can think of. It has an almost dark, fairytale quality about it coupled with the kind of mystical, haunting stories found in old comics like Misty. Basically we have twins Summer and Winter who emerge from a cave and go on the run meeting other waifs and strays including Geo, the son of a rather odd magician and a girl called Armida who has strange powers. I'm not quite sure where it is all going but it is highly enjoyable. The time period is uncertain too as we have medieval villages, wandering gypsies, rather unusual steam ships and Mark IV tanks from the First World War.

The storytelling is very good and well served by Tony's bold art. The panels have no borders and this lends the pages a kind of motion, especially noticeable in the closing pages of issue 5 where fire breaks out on the deck of a steamship; the angled panels add a feeling of sea-sickness to the whole. The series is highly original and distinctive and at only £1.75 an issue is very good value for money. The strips are all in black and white although mentioned should be made of the distinctively, sepia-toned covers which greatly add to the surreal and fantasy tones of the series. Definitely a series to look out for.

Storm Update

I had thought about posting a blog about my memories of Warlord following its recent 35th birthday. Warlord was the first boys’ comic I was able to choose and buy for myself. I was about 8 years old and prior to that my mum and dad ordered whatever comics they thought were suitable for me. So it was that I initially grew up on Yogi Bear Weekly, Mickey Mouse Weekly and Look-In (during Martin Asbury’s Six Million Dollar Man years, surely a classic period for the comic?). Then Warlord came along and after that it was a regular diet of Battle Picture Weekly, Action, Bullet, 2000AD and StarLord. I bought many others too when I could afford them but Warloird was really the one that kicked it all off for me and gave me a love of comics I’ve never shaken. Anyway, I’ve decided not to wax lyricial too much on the subject and instead mention one or two things I’ve been reading lately.

First up is a fantastic coffee-table book called The Art of Harvey Kurtzman. He was one of the first American comic artists that I became aware of at a young age. I’d learnt about him in the pages of a book called Masters of Comic Book Art which I’d picked up at a bargain book store. Friends hated his quirky, impressionist style of art but I devoured it. Some of the strips he did for Frontline Combat look quite surreal, as far from the detail and horror of Joe Colqouhun’s Charley’s War art as you can get and yet it carried with it that same sense of bleak isolation and horror. Side-by-side, the two demonstrate the power of both art and comics to convey the same feelings while appearing on the surface to be entirely different.

The book is an interesting tale of Kurtzman’s life, of the obstacles he faced and the long, arduous climb up the comic book artist ladder. He was easily as innovative and forward-thinking as Will Eisner and yet does not have the same cache, I guess because ultimately he was not as much of a businessman and never able to capitalize on his talent the way that Eisner did. There is something about that period, of artists being on the cusp of something new and the idea of the comic shops, production lines where teams of artists worked in a single room sharing assignments as they came in. The book is a joy to read and great just to pore over and gaze at the lovely art on display.

Aside from that I recently read Harker #7 from Ariel Press (link on the right). Another strong issue as a new story arc begins. I love Whitby and easily recognized a number of the locations that feature throughout this strip. It was also nice to have Harker on his own for an issue. Initially I found his character a bit irritating but after this issue I’m beginning to think he works better without Critchley. Either way, this was a good example of how to build up a story, set a location and introduce a series of characters without seeming clunky or holding up the flow of ther story. All credit to Roger Gibson and Vince Danks and I eagerly await the following issues.

Other than that, I have been busy with preparatory sketches, scripting and the start of art duties on my next comic title, tentatively entitled Blackfriars. It’ll be a while yet before its ready for release so I’m not going to give too much away yet except that it is partly historical, mostly contemporary and was inspired by the art of Eric Bradbury in the recent Bear Alley Books’ Cursitor Doom volume. I’ve long thought that Eric Bradbury is one of the unsung heroes of British comic books, a man who produced so much work over the years that maybe we just got used to him being around; I always viewed Ron Smith similarly. The book has certainly made me start searching out more of his work; I seem to remember him drawing Doomlord for the new Eagle and one of my favourites, the unfinished The Dracula File for Scream. It is one of the joy of comics that so much work still exists that we can go back time and again to review and learn and enjoy what has gone before while anticipating what is yet to come.

A week of nostalgia

The past week or so has been a slightly nostalgic one for me, as well as a time for reappraisal of some of our older British comics. As reported previously, The Guardian and The Observer newspapers published a series of classic British comics over the past week and all-n-all, they did a very good and thorough job. Each comic was proportioned and printed on paper stock in keeping with the originals, so much so that you might be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the original and the reprint. The selection was varied although I’d like to have seen one or two boys comics in there (Victor, Hotspur, Bullet, for example). It was weighed fairly heavily towards the girls with Jackie (hardly a comic), Bunty and Tammy, the other titles being The Dandy, The Beano, Whizzer and Chips and Roy of the Rovers. Overall there were some half-decent stories there and some reasonable art (my favourite has to be Slaves of War Orphan Farm; parentless children, a world war and child slavery, that one had it all going on).

I also picked up a copy of the Misty special from Egmont as I remember sneaking a read of this off my younger sister from time to time. Not bad, the sort of complete stories that would have fitted into the pages of Scream quite well. I was especially taken with the artwork of Jesus Redondo, a past stalwart of 2000AD and other boys titles but with art that I’ve never seen better than here.

My final dip into nostalgia this week was the collected edition of 2000AD’s Flesh. There are some comic stories that I never tire of re-reading and this is one of them. Earl Reagan, Claw Carver, time travel, bad corporations and the best-looking dinosaurs ever to appear in comic-strip form. Old One Eye alone goes down as my top comic villain of all time; villain isn’t really the right word but I can’t think of anything better right now. Besides, I’ve always tended to think of the 120 year-old hag Tyrannosaur as one of the good guys. She was there first, it was man who invaded her world and ultimately it was the dinosaurs who won out. It is great, rip-roaring stuff and mention should also go to some of Belardinelli’s best work in Flesh book 2 even though a dinosaur called Big Hungry doesn’t sound quite so intimidating.

The two things I’ve enjoyed most about the past week’s reading have been how much I love black and white comics and wish they were more common today than they are, and second, how much I prefer British comics and storytelling to the American ones. I enjoy them all but the cover to the Flesh volume just shouts out the joy of British comics to me.

Nostalgia is not what it used to be!

From Saturday 12th September, The Guardian are giving away a free classic comic a day with every paper for a week. These include such titles as The Beano, The Dandy, Tammy, Whizzer and Chips and Roy of the Rovers. Whether these will be facsimile editions or, as I suspect, smaller glossy reprints I don’t know but either way, anything that keeps comics out there in the public domain sounds like good news to me.

My main problem with it though is that it pigeonholes comics still further into the nostalgia bracket. There’s nothing essentially wrong with that; I myself have enjoyed Bear Alley’s reprints of The Phantom Patrol and Cursitor Doom as well as Titan’s reprints of Charley’s War. Even so, the mass market does seem to be unfavourably weighted on the side of nostalgia as though comics were a something only found in the past.

Now you and I know that that is not the case but a quick look around any newsagent quickly supports that view. What comics there are tend to fall into the licensed, quick cash-in variety, full of glossy posters, puzzles and free gifts but little in the way of actual comic content. Many (non-comics) people I chat to about it maintain that the comics of our youth are old-hat, that the new generation only like electronic stuff and aren’t into the comics we enjoyed as youngsters. But how do they know that? Has any major publisher tried to launch a new anthology of humour, sport, adventure or whatever and tried to find out if an audience exists? Okay, The DFC tried but was curtailed by a slightly restrictive approach to sales. I passed a few old titles onto children in my family and they quietly sat for a good half hour or so and read them. Although a bit dated it was clear they quite enjoyed them, especially the more humourous ones. And apparently The Guardian have done the same thing with their giveaways, showing them to schoolchildren and assessing their reaction. Again the result was fairly positive.

The only reason, I maintain, that kids today are not interested in comics is because they have little or no access to them, there simply are not a decent variety of proper comics being published for them to enjoy.

The nostalgia market demonstrates one thing; that there is still interest out there in the non-comics fraternity world for comics. With a bit of self-belief, a good set of writers and artists and a commitment to push them hard through advertising and shop displays, I personally have no doubt that they could still be a success. I simply don’t buy the hollow argument that comics have had their day and that the industry is dead. The industry just needs regenerating. Hopefully The Guardian’s ploy will at least generate some interest and debate about the subject and plant the seeds of an idea into people’s heads.

The mass-market comics industry is not dead, it’s just sleeping. Isn’t it time to wake it up?