Marvel UK back in the spotlight

A year ago, the weekly partwork Marvel Fact Files did an issue focusing on Marvel UK (see here) and now an upcoming issue will be a follow up with even more essential info. 

As editor John Tomlinson says, "inevitably there was more to say. This sequel issue profiles some of the stuff we couldn't cram in first time, including the award-winning Panini UK stories and never-before-seen characters and titles from the unpublished 'lost worlds' of 1993". 

Marvel Fact Files No.149, goes on sale 21st January, published by Eaglemoss at £3.50. It not only features a stack of all-new articles on the history of the comics written by ex-Marvel staff and freelancers but also boasts a brand new cover by Alan Davis (above) and a gatefold on Captain Britain, exclusive to this issue, written and drawn by Alan.

Here's a list of the contents:

Spider-Man: Untold Tales

Classic Panini UK Spider-Man stories.

Writer: Ferg Handley

Mys-Tech Wars 

The epic Marvel UK event limited series

Writer: John Freeman

The Road to Marvel UK

How it all began, from 1950s reprints to award-winning originated strips

Writer: Lew Stringer

Nocturne

Short-lived but cool successor to Night Raven, a UK-originated title published in the US.

Writer: Stuart Vandal

Mastermind

Gatefold feature about the sentients super-computer, doubling as a handy history of Captain Britain. Written and illustrated by Alan Davis.

Timesmasher

Long gone but fondly remembered time travel tale by Paul Neary and Mick Austin

Writer: Stuart Vandal

The Cherubim

Walkabout warpies; the mutant children of the Jaspers Warp from Captain Britain's universe.

Writer: Mike Collins

Creator: Paul Neary

Biog of the other Marvel UK mastermind

Writer: Glenn Dakin

Spider-Man: Tower of Power

UK-originated Spidey stories from the eponymous Eaglemoss title

Writer: Glenn Dakin

Dai Thomas

From hero-hater to Knight of Pendragon

Writer: Stuart Vandal

Avengers: Rampaging Heroes

Award-winning Panini UK Avengers, X-Men and Captain Britain stories

Writer: Ferg Handley

Lost Worlds of Marvel UK

Never before seen titles and characters from the cancelled 1993 Marvel UK explosion

Writer: Stuart Vandal

MI:13

Paranormal investigation agency peopled with classic UK-originated characters

Writer: Simon Furman

As with the nature of partworks, newsagents only usually stock the first several issues before making it order-only, but you may be lucky enough to find it. (The current issue is in my WH Smith.) Failing that, some comics shops stock it regularly, and subscriptions and back issues should be available from the publisher's online shop:

https://shop.eaglemoss.com/marvel-factfiles?gclid=CPO98bankMoCFde6GwodNxoMbQ

The Daredevils: the posters

When I wrote my overview of the 1983 comic The Daredevils last week I promised I'd be showing you the posters that appeared in the issues. Without further ado, here are all 10 posters that appeared as centre-page pull-outs in every issue (except No.3, which carried an advert). These were brand new pieces of art commissioned by editor Bernie Jaye from some of the UK's finest talents. I don't think most of them have ever been reprinted. Marvel may have even forgotten about them. 

Issue No.1, January 1983: Daredevil by Garry Leach. 

Issue No.2, February 1983: Spider-Man by Paul Neary.

Issue No.4, April 1983: Black Panther by Mick Austin.

Issue No.5, May 1983: The Special Executive by Alan Davis.

Issue No.6, June 1983: Mephisto by John Higgins.

Issue No.7, July 1983. Art by Alan Davis. A promotional poster that readers were encouraged to ask their newsagents to place in their shop. If the shop agreed, and gave the reader a note confirming it, Marvel would send the reader a replacement poster signed by Alan Moore and Alan Davis. Did any of you out there get involved in this promotion? 

Issue No.8, August 1983: Elektra by Dave Weir. 

Issue No.9, September 1983: Brotherhood of Evil Mutants by... not sure. Could it be the work of Jerry Paris? Let me know if you can identify the style.

Issue No.10, October 1983: The Fury by Alan Davis. 

Issue No.11, November 1983: Merlin and Roma by Alan Davis.

The DAREDEVILS (1983)

By the early 1980s Marvel UK had progressed considerably since the company's early days of reprint weeklies edited from New York and packaged by a London office. Now based in Kentish Town Road, Marvel UK had expanded its staff and its commitment to producing home-grown material. In January 1983 they launched The Daredevils, a 52 page monthly with a mixture of reprint and brand new material.

It's often thought that The Daredevils was intended to rival Dez Skinn's Warrior, which was likely to be the case. (Dez, an ex-Marvel UK editor, had set up Warrior the previous year.) I remember Alan Moore remarking that he and Alan Davis were in the strange position of competing with themselves, as they were doing Marvelman for Warrior at the very same time they were producing new Captain Britain stories for The Daredevils.

The Daredevils No.1 kicked off with a new cover by Paul Neary, and, inside, a new 8 page Captain Britain episode (which would increase to 12 pages in later issues). 

The comic's editor was Bernie Jaye, although Alan had a large influence in suggesting feature ideas which Bernie was happy to accommodate. For example, for the first issue Alan also wrote a six page article on Frank Miller's Daredevil (being a perfect accompaniment to the reprints of Miller's Daredevil strip in the comic), and a regular Fanzine Reviews column. 

I get a little annoyed when I hear some fans today claiming that Alan Moore hates fandom. In fact it's complete bol... well, to put it politely, nothing could be further from the truth, as proven in the pages of The Daredevils. Alan had his roots in comics fandom and was always encouraging new creators. With his Fanzine Reviews pages he went out of his way to promote fanzines he'd often paid for himself. This was a big deal for those of us starting out back then. No other British comic was promoting 'zines in this way, but here was Alan Moore giving us free publicity in a comic sold on the High Street. 

Another regular feature in The Daredevils was Frank Plowright's News Feature, looking at upcoming American comics. It even promoted those published by Marvel's rivals.

Humour was provided in the form of the Earth 33 1/3rd mini-strip by the ever-brilliant Tim Quinn and Dicky Howett.

There was also an Early Artwork feature, with each issue showing the very early work of top creators such as Dave Gibbons, Garry Leach, and David Lloyd...

The first few issues of The Daredevils also featured serialized Spider-Man reprints by Stan Lee and John Romita, although these were dropped after issue 4 to make room for more British material. The comic was rapidly developing into something unique and unmissable; a publication that not only featured comic strips but embraced them with well written articles and features. 

Every issue (except No.3) featured a full colour centrefold poster with new artwork by UK talent. I'll be showing these in more detail in a few days time. 

Issue 6 saw the start of a series of Night Raven text stories written by Alan Moore, with art by David Lloyd on the first chapter and Alan Davis in following issues.

The Daredevils No.7 (July 1983) has a personal significance for me because it's where my first professional comics work appeared. Again, this was due to encouragement from Alan Moore who introduced me to Bernie Jaye at a Westminster Comic Mart. Alan bigged me up, Bernie asked me to submit some ideas to her, I sent off a bunch of What If cartoons and they started appearing from issue 7. I'll always be grateful to Alan and Bernie for giving me my first break. Here's that very first one...

Issue 8 saw the publication of a great Daredevil spoof by Alan Moore, Mike Collins, and Mark Farmer. Grit brazenly parodied the Frank Miller Daredevil strips that were appearing in the same comic. This was Mike Collins' first professional work, again thanks to Alan Moore's input. Here it is...

Sadly, despite The Daredevils being one of the most unique and entertaining comics in the UK, it wasn't to last. With sales lower than hoped, Marvel UK pulled the plug with issue 11, merging it with The Mighty World of Marvel the following month. Disappointed, Bernie Jaye and Alan Moore quit, although some new material did continue for a while in MWOM. Other writers took over Captain Britain, Night Raven, and the comics/fanzine reviews. 

The Daredevils lasted just under a year, but what a year! If you've never seen it, the issues are worth collecting. Marvel UK went on to produce more new material of course (and I went on to do Captain Wally, Robo-Capers, Combat Colin, and more for the company) but they never did another publication with such a great mixture of strips and comics features. 

All bids welcome

I'm selling a few items on eBay again this week. Something that may interest fans of Alan Moore is a copy of Fantasy Express No.5, a fanzine I published in 1983. This issue features one of the first (if not the first) interviews published with Alan, and runs to 12 pages. Plus Alan Davis drew an exclusive cover for the issue. The 'zine itself has 36 pages in total and is unread and in excellent condition.

I'm also selling a few pages of my original artwork from Viz and Oink! For more info see my eBay page here:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/graphite47/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

All bids are very much appreciated. The auction ends on Sunday 1st March. Good luck!

Birmingham Comic Art Show 1986 Booklet

Across the weekend of May 31st and June 1st 1986, the third Birmingham Comic Art Show took place, organized by Phil Clarke and the staff of the city's long-established comic shop, Nostalgia and Comics.

The venue for the event was the National Motorcycle Museum near the N.E.C., so quite a journey from outside the city centre but I seem to recall a good time was had by all. A small A5 booklet was produced for the show and I'm showing a few pages from it here. Above is the splendid cover, drawn and designed by Mike Higgs.

Inside, the intro by Phil and his team, accompanied by an illustration by James Hodgkins (who would later go on to organize comic events in Birmingham himself, as well as being a top comics artist of course). 

On page four, a Brickman strip I'd forgotten about! Brickman Saves The Day is set in Nostalgia and Comics, with caricatures of the staff, and I'm afraid is very in-jokey!

There were a good range of events across the weekend, with various guests including Chris Claremont, Alan Moore, Tony Isabella, Denis Gifford, Dave Gibbons and many more. Here's the timetable...

As was traditional back then, guest artists were invited to produce an illustration for the booklet. Here are several pages that were published...

Mark Farmer...

John Bolton...

Kevin O'Neill...

Alan Davis...

Brian Bolland...

John Ridgway...

Dave Gibbons...

After all these years I've forgotten most of what happened that weekend. I remember a bunch of us piling into a taxi to get there from Birmingham to the venue. I remember Tony Isabella being hilarious in his talk, and Alan Moore, Kev O'Neill and co. being good company as always. Denis Gifford's slideshow presentation was an interesting tour through the history of Penny Dreadfuls. I can't remember anything about the panel I was on with my old pal Mike Collins! This is when Oink! had just been launched so I must have been promoting that, but the memories have faded into the mists of time unfortunately. 

However, don't you forget that there's a new convention this year in Birmingham on April 18th! The Birmingham Comics Festival has now added more guests to the list and you can find out all the details here:

http://www.thecomicfestival.com/