Like most of us who grew up on the classic Roy of the Rovers strips drawn by Yvonne Hutton, David Sque, Mike White etc I was a little apprehensive that the reboot (pun intended) wouldn't do it justice. However, this modern looking revival is as fast-paced and dynamic as anyone could hope for. The script by Rob Williams is gripping and engaging from the outset, and Ben Willsher's artwork has a fresh, powerful style that really packs a punch... or rather a kick.
I'm sure we'd all prefer to see the strip back as a weekly or monthly, but times have changed and these days it makes more sense to connect with the current generation in the form of graphic novels. There have been three books announced so far, with Roy of the Rovers: Kick Off being the first, and now available to pre-order from online stockists including the publisher's web shop here (where you can also read more preview pages):
https://royoftheroversofficial.com/shop/graphic-novels/RCA-R2001
Don't forget that there are also a series of illustrated prose books by Tom Palmer and Lisa Henke to accompany the graphic novels. The first, Scouted, is a prequel to the graphic novel, and available now:
https://royoftheroversofficial.com/shop/fiction/RCA-R6001
Artwork Copyright ©2018 Rebellion Publishing Limited.
This looks really good . Nice fluid artwork. I will be picking this up.
ReplyDeleteI'm also impressed...saw it in Waterstones... read a few pages in shop...very readable..
ReplyDeleteAlso weekly strips ran in MOTD mag which was,a quarter,of a page a week. Their first strip ended and the last so many weeks they've been previwing the new books. 3 pages of graphic novel a week for 5 weeks. I presume their strip should start again next issue?
ReplyDeleteGood to see a classic strip like Roy of the Rovers being rebooted, although to be honest it's not a style of artwork that I like but I'm sure others will love it.
ReplyDeleteI normally hate reboots but on this occasion I will have to say this is perfect. Grew up reading Roy of the rovers so was worried I wouldnt enjoy this but I loved it.. And most importantly my 2 young kids enjoyed it as well.
ReplyDeleteThat's good to hear, Darren. My copy won't arrive until Monday so I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the story.
ReplyDeleteUnknown, I've no idea, sorry. Unlike with their other publications, Rebellion haven't sent me PR for Roy so I just gathered what info I could from their website to help promote it.