Of all the compilations of classic British comic reprints that have appeared over the last few years this book is easily my favourite, - and I don't even like football! What makes The Bumper Book of Roy of the Rovers a standout volume is the attention given to its production. Editor (and ex-Oink! contributor) David Leach has lavished care over the book so that it actually looks and feels like an early 1970s Fleetway annual. From the hardback glossy cover, with its retro spine design, to the interior pulp paper stock, the book looks like it's just fallen through a time portal from the Seventies.
The contents are a selection of Roy of the Rovers strips and features from old annuals dating from 1958 to 1971. Considering the theme is solidly football, there's still a great variety of material here: several Roy strips, illustrated features, the Bobby Charlton Story, "Footer Giants of Foreign Teams", and even Roy Race explaining the offside rule from 1960. (A disclaimer in the indicia points out "football rules are not those of the present day".)
For added period charm Leach has included various advertisements from the weekly comics of the day, including one of those anti-smoking strips by Tom Kerr and a Wall's Shoot ice cream competition to "Win a Year's Free Comics!". It's a sign of the times that none of the six comics displayed exist any more, nor does Wall's Shoot. Whilst these ads never actually appeared in the annuals, their addition to this book is a welcome part of its nostalgia.
Unlike previous Titan reprint books which bleached out any defections and "tanning" from the old comics (and subsequently lost some of the finer lines in the artwork too unfortunately) The Bumper Book of Roy of the Rovers preserves the "tanning" in order to keep as much of the linework as possible. Some pages have also been toned deliberately I believe, but with subtlety. This, to me, is a bonus as it adds to the retro aspect of the book and actually makes it look like it's decades old. This technique has been used on some other books (such as the recent Eagle Cutaways one) but not so effectively and natural looking as it is here. These strips were designed for pulp paper and to have used a slick higher grade stock with defections bleached out would have ruined the presentation and defeated the object of it being a nostalgic item.
At £12.99 The Bumper Book of Roy of the Rovers is about twice as expensive as this year's annuals, but because of its retro authenticity is worth every penny. (I'm sure you'll find it cheaper online anyway.) I should also mention that the colours of the strips have the same sort of vivid style as those of 1950s annuals, - a printing technique I thought was almost impossible to achieve in modern books. I hope it proves to be a winner for Titan Books and that similar items in this format will follow.
The Bumper Book of Roy of the Rovers. 120 pages. RRP £12.99 Published by Titan Books.
Over a year ago, in late summer 2007, I was contacted by Alan Digby, editor of The Beano, to enquire if I'd be interested in drawing a brand new strip for the weekly. Naturally I jumped at the chance, as long as I could fit it in with my other workload. I'd drawn a strip for the Beano only once before, - a fill-in on a Fred's Bed strip that eventually appeared in last year's Christmas issue. (Another fill-in, this time on Ivy the Terrible, would appear a few months later.) Several years ago I'd also contibuted several strips to the Fun-Size (digest) editions of Beano and Dandy, - and drew a few pages for a Beano Summer Special about 10 years ago, but that was my sum total of contributions for DC Thomson, which had always proven a tough nut to crack.
Alan explained that he'd been looking through my back catalogue (presumably my website and not a huge secret database DC Thomson keep on people) and he thought I'd be ideal to draw a superhero comedy strip they were preparing. The working title for the strip was The Ultras and basically it would feature a classroom of young kids learning to use their super-powers.
Alan's script arrived which set up the premise and he asked for character designs for the principal characters (above). At this early stage, the character who would become Waterboy was called Moon Boy (hence the crescent moon on his outfit in the early episodes) and the shape-changer was called Nature Boy (now Safari Sam).
Invisible Isobel was specified to be an ethnic character, which was a positive step in my opinion. Her design was the one I liked most. I based her hairstyle on that of Kym Marsh from Coronation Street, assuming it'd be a style the kids would consider "cool".
Stinkbomb was the class smelly kid, but he'd be using his powers for good. I gave him a skunk-like white stripe in his mop of hair. I suspect Stinkbomb may prove to be the most popular of the bunch.
With the character designs approved I penciled the first story (above). As with all new strips, I sent the pencils to the editor for approval first. No problems, so it was on with the inks (below) and colours. (I've only coloured the first two episodes. The rest will be coloured by Thomson's excellent in-house staff.)
A second script soon followed from Alan and I drew that up too. The modern method of DC Thomson comics is for new strips to be tested by a focus group. As I understand it, a dummy issue is presented to a selected class or group of children and they're asked their opinions on the new material. The findings on The Ultras were mainly positive, although a title change was suggested.
This initial process took quite a while, and Ultras didn't receive the final go-ahead until several months after I drew those first two episodes. Once the editor had the green light the strip was scheduled for the next "revamp" issue of The Beano, which wouldn't be until October 2008. Plenty of time to turn around the scripts that Alan was now sending to me on a regular basis.
The strip was still called Ultras in the scripts until a few months ago, and even mentioned as such in The History of The Beano as a forthcoming new series. Then the decision was made to change it to the more explanatory Super School (sub-tiled "Teaching Tomorrow's Heroes") and, with the new logo in place, the first episode was scheduled for The Beano No. 3454, dated October 18th 2008.
The first episode appeared this week in spectacular fashion due to The Beano changing format to a high gloss stock and sharper printing. The new paper defines the colours properly (the strip looks exactly as it did on my Mac) and overall is a brighter comic. The upgraded format has necessitated a price rise from 99p to £1.25 (yep, The Beano's broken the pound barrier) but a price rise was inevitable anyway, glossy printing or not. Hopefully the readers will still enjoy their brighter Beano and the stories within. (Cover for the current issue, below, by Nigel Parkinson.)
The first episode of Super School is introductory and the pace picks up in weeks to come. I can't divulge too much yet, but Beano tripe-hound Gnasher guest stars in a few weeks, and a brand new superhero joins the class as a regular character in the New Year. (One episode coming up in January features LOTS of new super-kids. It's going to be fun to draw but I reckon it'll use up a bottle of ink!)
I'm currently inking the strip for the Christmas issue. Sneak preview below! As you can see I've designed the logo for this one, complete with traditional snow on the lettering.
New strips that have longevity aren't that common in The Beano but hopefully Super School will prove popular with the readers. At present it's leading in the online Beano poll this week, but that could change at the click of a button. Whatever the outcome I'm having fun drawing it and I hope some of that enjoyment transfers over to the readers. As they said in the Sixties: Never Be Without A Beano!
My apologies for the scarcity of posts on this blog of late. I'm currently snowed under drawing strips for the Christmas comics. ("Snowed under" - geddit? Oh yeah, you did. Okay...)
I'm just finishing the inks to a double-length Christmas Team Toxic story for Toxic No.130 (see the slap-up feed above) and then it'll be straight onto drawing the festive Super School strip for the Christmas Beano.
Then it'll be on with a non-festive Brickman, plus Mini-Marvels, then.... what's that you ask? What's Super School? Find out in tomorrow's bright new-look Beano (No.3454, dated October 18th) where the first episode appears of a brand new series!
Another year another BICS (Birmingham International Comics Show). Amazing how time flies as this was the third annual event organised by the BICS crew. As with the previous year, the venue once again was the ultra-modern Think Tank at the Millennium Point just outside the city centre. Apparently numbers were up, with over 3,000 attendees. The atmosphere seemed very comfortable and laid back, which is a testament to the hard work of event organizers James Hodgkins, Shane Chebsey and Andy Baker.
2008 marked 40 years since Phil Clarke, Mike Higgs and Steve Moore organised the very first UK comics convention in Birmingham. Unfortunately there wasn't anything on the bill this year to celebrate that fact but that's only a minor gripe. (Phil and Mike were in attendance though, so there was a link to the original Con.) The weekend was efficiently run and carried a good variety of exhibitors and panel discussions to reflect the current comics scene.
I'm still catching up with work (and sleep) but here's a few photos from the weekend. As always, click on the photos to enlarge them, click on the lighlighted names to visit their websites...
1: Simon Woolford and Beano / Toxic / DFC artist/writer Laura Howell at the MC2 table.
2: Matt Yeo, editor of Toxic, showcasing the latest issue of new UK independent adventure anthology Bulletproof.
3: Tim Perkins (of the Wizards Keep website) sketching on the cover of the convention special issue of Bulletproof.
4: Gary Northfield at the book signing for his hilarious Derek the Sheep hardback collection.
5: The Kryptonite Factor teams embark on the entertaining comics quiz.
6: Roger Langridge with his excellent range of comics including Fred the Clown.
7: David Ballie and Sean Azzopardi at one of the small press tables.
8: Mike Collins, (artist of Classical Comics' A Christmas Carol) sketching Batman for a fan.
9: Dave Windett at The DFC table discussing his forthcoming strip Lazarus Lemming with a reader.
10: Part of The DFC panel: The Etherington Brothers, Emma Vieceli, and Andrew Wildman.
11: David Hitchcock with his latest publication Gothic, - a tabloid newsprint comic. (Yes, a "proper comic" like wot they used to be!)
12: Husband and wife writing team supreme John Reppion and Leah Moore at the Accent UK table.
13: A view of the convention bar during the day, practically empty, as all the fun happened on the evening pub crawl between Bennetts, The Briar Rose, and the all-night Subside rock bar.14: If only Tony Lee could overcome his shyness. Bevis Musson (creator of the highly amusing Dead Queen Detectives) basks in his glow.15: Hell, boy, it's Duncan Fegredo after a hard day's sketching. 16: The Exhibition Suite at the Think Tank on the Sunday afternoon.
17: Charlie Adlard and Phil Winslade (who were both part of the bostin' Giant Size Band Thing with vocalist Liam Sharp and Paul H. Birch on bass guitar at the launch party) sketching like demons on the Sunday. 18: The Exhibition Hall late on Sunday afternoon as the event began to wind down after a very busy weekend.
Above: Some of the items I picked up over the weekend. I'll be reviewing them (and the latest issues of the ever-improving Crikey!) on this blog soon.
A photo-report on the Birmingham Comic Show will appear on this blog soon but for now here's news from the event of a brand new British comic coming out later this week. Marvel Heroes launches on Thursday! Published by Panini, the full colour comic includes all new comic strip material. As I understand it the comic will feature two seven page stories per issue, plus features, in a format similar to Panini's Eagle Award winning Spectacular Spider-Man. The contents will highlight the Marvel heroes who have appeared in Marvel movies of recent years, such as Iron Man and The Hulk. A review of issue one will appear on this blog soon.
Panini have been using the title for the Marvel Heroes Annual for the past few years. The latest edition of which is on sale now. (Although unlike the new comic, the strip material in the annual are reprints from the Marvel Adventures line.)
Of all the compilations of classic British comic reprints that have appeared over the last few years this book is easily my favourite, - and I don't even like football! What makes The Bumper Book of Roy of the Rovers a standout volume is the attention given to its production. Editor (and ex-Oink! contributor) David Leach has lavished care over the book so that it actually looks and feels like an early 1970s Fleetway annual. From the hardback glossy cover, with its retro spine design, to the interior pulp paper stock, the book looks like it's just fallen through a time portal from the Seventies.
At £12.99 The Bumper Book of Roy of the Rovers is about twice as expensive as this year's annuals, but because of its retro authenticity is worth every penny. (I'm sure you'll find it cheaper online anyway.) I should also mention that the colours of the strips have the same sort of vivid style as those of 1950s annuals, - a printing technique I thought was almost impossible to achieve in modern books. I hope it proves to be a winner for Titan Books and that similar items in this format will follow.
