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HAVE THE DAYS OF BRITISH COMICS GONE?

I know I go on about it but the day I get some reactions I’ll know I’m making people think about it.

I’ve no idea on how good sales are for Classical Comics nor for Cinebook but I would hope that they are good. If not then why not?

Have we become a nation that can only accept American super hero comics or something heavily promoted by Marvel or DC?

Look at any edition of Diamond’s PREVIEWS magazine and see what should be available in most retailers. But retailers need to keep their bank managers happy and Marvel and DC is what sells through heavy promotion and offers.

Everyone got over-excited [on UK comic groups] when IPC sold off ‘its’ line of adventure characters to DC/Wildstorm. The amount of over reaction was incredible:it would mark the return of the great characters such as the Steel Claw,Robot Archie et al. The “success” [before even published!] might mean regular return to

UK shops of comics with these characters in. I could go on. What we actually saw was a mess -the writers obviously had no real love or feeling towards the characters let alone knew anything about them. When Reppion & Moore were at the UK Comic Expo in May,2005,both stated quite openly that they had no idea about who the characters were and had visited web sites and even re-written after receiving old comics from artist Shane Oakley. This was in a room with about 150 witnesses!

I wanted to make sure I recalled all the facts so visited the still existing old Comic Bits site [yeah,surprised even me that it was still there after over 3 years!]. Frank Barrell wrote:

“27th July,2005

Originally scheduled for May,then June,release,the Titan representative at the UK Convention [

Bristol,May 2005] was very quiet after it was mentioned there was a “slight delay”. Titan have so far not been prepared to state why the June,then July deadlines have not been kept. My information from UK sources is that Titan will not be making any comment as there is wrangling over payment to reprint THE SPIDER. This despite headlines in COMICS INTERNATIONAL such as “Titan Gets Access To IPC’s Archives” {CI,August 2005,pp 24-25}.

It seems Terry Hooper was not the only one to have been messed around by IPC [Hooper’s “Looking Glass” comic was cancelled at the last moment due to IPC claiming,despite paperwork in his possession and copies supplied to them,that no permission had been given].

A September date is being mooted but…”

I then found this item:

“15th November 2005

ALBION - Wildstorm Studio’s “Re-imagining” of old IPC characters. It seems that since this item was originally posted the reaction to ALBION has been,shall we say,not very good. Described as “the most over-hyped,disappointing” series this year,and that’s the cleanest version I can put onsite!

The series seems to wander and jump around with the only saving grace being the art of Oakley and Freeman.

Well,were we disappointed? Many were,it seems. Muthu Comics forum [India] ,where characters such as THE SPIDER,STEEL CLAW,ROBOT ARCHIE et al still get reprinted and have a massive following [almost fanatical at times] ,had more than a few disgruntled readers. One even suggesting that those with the money to purchase comics from outside India boycott the series.

Many fans are also wondering why all the hype about “Alan Moore’s new series”? After all,he gave a plot line only to his daughter,Leah and John Reppion. To be honest the plotline is similar to many scripted

Moore comics of the past -as well as those of others. Of course,

Moore has retired from comics [again]. At the UK comic convention in Bristol,May 2005,there seemed to be at least five people all claiming to have thought about using the characters in a unique way. I think it ought to be pointed out that there are only two writers of the series! Ms Moore and Mr Reppion seemed to be,shall we say,very unknowledgeable about the old IPC characters -fair enough since they were created and last saw print before either were born. So,who is really the guiding light behind the series?

Loki,master of the wonderful internationalheroes web site,was given a mention as being a good source of info. However,one name kept popping up…..

SHANE OAKLEY!

Both writers noted how Oakley was very well “up” on the characters and how he sent them bundles of old comics and notes that they used. Some of us know that Alan Moore and Shane had been working on a project idea involving old characters long before

ALBION. Take a look at the amount of detail in ALBION #2,page 4. This shows the work of someone who loves old British comics,TV childrens series and much more. There are also more than two D.C.Thomson character cameos there! At one point,a good few years ago now,both I,and Paul H.Birch,stated that Shane could be a big name in comics one day -this proves it!

The script? Mediocre. A pity but there it is -though issue 3 onward might throw up some delights!

However,Shane’s pecil work combined with the superb inking of former CAPTAIN CANUCK artist,George Freeman makes you want to open the comic book again and again to soak it all in.

JUST WHAT IS GOING ON?

What is going on,indeed! Distribution of the title seems to be in very limited numbers. Had it not been for a rather grubby copy left under the comic shop counter I would have missed

ALBION #1! When I asked what the problem was I was told “we only received a few -about 15″. I asked about re-orders but was told it was very unlikely any more copies would be available. The same story came from the other Bristol comic stores and within a week I was hearing a similar problem existed around the UK. Issue #2 appeared and I saw them taken from the box -15 copies. These were gone within the day,even though some were damaged. reports came through of other copies being damaged -one shop had to return its copies due to damage.

The internet is currently buzzing with people asking why so few copies? Why are so many damaged comics being sent out?

Answers range from “Wildstorm obviously over-estimated response”,which does not hold much water.

The main opinion seems to be that Wildstorm/DC are creating problems for Moore because he has left the company after one of his famous disagreements -discussions with the company had to be through a go-between.

Would a company do this and lose money?

I mailed and even tried phoning Wildstorm to try to find out what was going on…they won’t respond!

“WHO THE HELL ARE THESE CHARACTERS??!!”

I haven’t just been contacted by American comic readers but also readers from the UK to whom many of the characters featured are new. Many Americans say they won’t buy the series because they have no idea who or what is who/what!

So…”

Ahh, my memory was still clear.

Albion was just a flop ending in a very damp squib. It just seemed nonsensical with no real plot to speak of. It was,honestly,awful. The only saving grace was the artwork.It is quite true and safe to say that there was never any big success or follow up using IPC characters -even though the Battler Britton mini series was excellent. The characters mean nothing to 99.9% of US comic readers and after Albion this never changed. You cannot Americanise or try to treat these novel British comic characters in a way that would make them acceptible to Americans. The reason these characters live on in fond memory is because they were unique British and European artists creating that look and feel.

Look at how Nige Dobbyn & Kev Sutherland treated Billy The Cat and General Jumbo for D.C. Thomson;pure fun.

Having now seen Virgin Comics’ Dan Dare I think we need to get back to what made these characters who they were.

Where are all the people who created classics -some still reprinted in Europe but,oh forbid,in the UK!? John Cooper keeps his hand in as does Barry Mitchell. Massimo Belardinelli and more than a few others were quite literally crapped on by the companies that they made lots of money for.

Some of those artists who worked long and hard to produce 10 or 11 pages of work for several weekly strips are still out there “keeping their hands in” on the odd job.

But if you ask most people claiming to be/or want to be comic artists if they can produce 10,6 or even 5 pages of stripwork per week they baulk -”impossible” they say. Even to try to complete a 22pp strip for a monthly comic is considered impossible by most of the “new generation” of artists -most I’ve spoken to [say 90%] cannot even ink their own pencils!!

Between 1986-1997 I put many projects together for businessmen interested in getting into comic publishing. Why did none of these appear?

For one thing,in the days when we had real comic fanzines and magazines,there seemed to be a total opposition to reviving comics in the UK. What was more,as has been related by myself and others in the past,I was personally attacked and accused of everything from “amateurism” to “copyright theft”!

Even with all the facts,no prospective publisher is going to continue if he feels no one will support new comics.

I even had “flamers” [these are anonymous cowards who don’t have the guts to put their real names to what they say and write -thus proving themselves liars] demanding that I show signed contracts to prove I’d purchased rights and in some cases even the named creators of characters were denied!!

And when I uploaded copyright documents? Totally ignored or they were ‘fakes’. Even my long term correspondence with company bosses never happened it seems!! One fellow,who was an assistant to an artist back in the old days,said he didn’t remember me. Well,duh! I was visiting and talking to management NOT employees who had no say in the company!

British comics started dying the day the fanboy got into companies. It seems [if you read up on it] well enough documented. [check out my British Comics article on this site].

So,if you put all of this together is it possible to still produce comics in the UK?

Well,yes.

You see,you ignore the flamers on the internet –they are only important in their closed off,sad little worlds.

You put together a good team of writers and artists –artists who have proven they can keep deadlines- and you go about publicising but,most important,you totally ignore Diamond Distributors and Previews Catalogue;they have no bearing or input into British comics.

There is a market out there for British comics and,yes,you still have to include super heroes because that is what comic buyers want,but as a monthly title you add other genres. You need to provide a good,round read for your readers.

The market you must concentrate on is the UK one. Once established you can then re-assess the wider audience beyond the

UK if you must. Other countries where the comic industry failed/was failing or seemed dead have revived their industry and some of these do not even have as large a population as the

UK.

We’ve seen the ups and downs of the ALBION saga,the decline in ability amongst wannabe comic artists and,more recently,the awful Virgin Comics Dan Dare series [take a look at Spaceships Away which is so superior in every way to Virgin’s version] but this is all negative because there has been no guiding force trying to organise and guide a British comic[s] comeback. It’s rather like being England Football manager,you have to put up with the “new Great British disease” of Negativism. England win 10 matches and lose 1 then they are managed by an incompetent –forget the 10 victories!

 

British comics can be viable and should succeed. All that is needed is the financial backer willing to step back.

Hopefully,Cinebook and Classical Comics will be successful enough to prove the point. We can only hope.