British Comics Characters 1 of 3
Information welcome!
• For an overview of British Superheroes
check out the International
Hero site
Comic Characters on this page:
• ABC Warriors (2000AD) • The
Aquaberry Crew • The Avengers (from TV) • Billy's
Boots • Billy Bunter • Carrie
(from Playboy) • Dan Dare (Eagle) • Nikolai
Dante (2000AD) • Carol Day • Death's
Head (Marvel UK) • Devil Child • Doctor
Who • Adam Eterno • Garth
(Daily Mirror) • Janus Stark (Smash)
• Visit this
page for sites devoted to specific British Comics Titles
• Visit this page for British
Comic Characters from James Bond and Jeff Hawke to Modesty Blaise
• Visit this page for British
Comic Characters from the O-Men Wicked Wanda
Buying
Comics Advice
Please note: any "buying advice" posted
below relating to individual comicsis intended as a rough guide only,
posted in repsonse to queries from fans interested in buying comics
via ebay or elsewhere: it is not definitive
and may be outdated.
• E-Bay has several guides to buying comics online: search.reviews.ebay.com/buying-comics-online
Dedicated
Comics Auction Sites
26 Pigs Auction Room: www.26pigs.com/auctionroom
Comic Book Postal Auctions: www.compalcomics.com
Auctions of British and US comics, artwork, and comic
book ephemera. This site includes Market
Reports with information on recent sales
Vault Auctions: www.vaultauctions.com
London-based comics auction site selling both US and
UK comics
• Please do not ask me for info on grading comics, I am not a vaulation expert.
ABC Warriors
Spread the Word Fan Site:
www.dreamnation.fsnet.co.uk/abc.html
A website dedicated to those
mek-nificent fighting machines from the pages of the galaxy's
greatest comic: THE A.B.C. WARRIORS. Character profiles,
creator bios and a gallery of artwork from the various
series over the years, plus run downs on Nemesis
The Warlock and Ro-Busters.
So, please come on in and feel free to browse around...
The Aquaberry Crew
Fan: www.geocities.com/aquaberrycrew
Created by Martin Hand this fantastic
strip ran in 1990s edition of the BAPA newsletter. Says Martin: "While
most of the pages made me wince (who wouldn't be embarrassed
by something they'd hacked out 15 years ago?), I found
Ross [Cowin]'s commentary very enjoyable (though mostly disagreeing with his assessment
of the "value" ofthe scrawls) and it brought
back many happy memories."
The Avengers
Not to be confused with Marvel's Avengers,
the cult television show also spawned many comic strips, including
a run in TV Comic.
• The Avengers Comics Strips
Link: wingedavenger.theavengers.tv
Terrific site about The Avengers comics.
Works best in Explorer on a PC and Opera on a Mac (OSX)
Billy's Boots
There were two strips called Billy's
Boots, the second
and more famous now owned by Egmont and most recently reprinted in the
Striker comic,
to the delight of many readers.
The first Billy's Boots
was a humour strip written and drawn by Frank Purcell, who worked for a
number of boy's comics and newspapers. Sadly, Purcell died in 1971 after
a long battle with cancer. "I distinctly remember the boy who found the
magic boots," recalls nephew Stan Purcell in an email posted on the Comics
International Yahoo group in November 2006. "The studs were dials for 'shooting',
'dribbling' 'passing' etc etc. I know the series was very successful and
was no doubt continued after he became too ill to continue with it."
Billy's Boots resurfaced
as a totally different strip in Scorcher comic
in 1970. Artists included Mike Western and John Gillatt. This strip ranfor
about four years (becoming Scorcher
and Score along
the way) before merging into Tiger in
1974, taking the strip with it. The strip also
featured in the 1980s
Eagle and Roy
of the Rovers.
The Broons
The Broons is a comic strip published in Beano publisher
DC Thomson's The
Sunday Post newspaper featuring features the
Broon (Brown in Standard English) family, who live in a tenement flat at 10 Glebe
Street, in the fictional Scottish town of Auchentogle or Auchenshoogle, an amalgam
of Dundee and Glasgow. Originally created and drawn by Dudley D. Watkins,
the strip made its first appearance in the issue dated 8 March 1936.
• That's Braw Fan Site
• Buy a Facsimile Edition of the First Ever
Broons Annual (Facsimile Annual)
• Order from Amazon.co.uk: Click
Here
• Order from Amazon.com: Click
Here
Billy Bunter
Fan: www15.brinkster.com/hiamie/greyfriars
A fascinating insight into the schoolboy character
first created by "Frank Richards", a pen name for Charles Harold St John
Hamilton in 1898 but first published in 1908 in The
Magnet.
After the Magnet ceased
publication during the Second World War due to paper shortages, Frank continued
to write Billy Bunter stories, and these were published in paperback, initially
by Charles Skilton, then Cassells. There were also comic stories published
in Knockout and Lion,
to which IPC Media hold the copyright, and a TV series, which ran for 10
years.
 • Captain
Britain V.1: Birth of a LegendComprises a collection of Captain Britain V.1, No. 1-23", "Super Spider-Man No. 231", "MTU No. 65-66" • Order it from Amazon.co.uk: Go • Order it from Amazon.com: Go |
 • Captain
Britain Volume 2: Hero Rebornby Gary et al. Friedrich (Author) Collecting more of the original Captain Britain adventures from the weekly comic |
Captain Britain
How many Captain Britains are there? This web site (www.psysdomain.com/alliesa-f/captainbritaincorps.html)
lists the entire Captain Britain Corps, although it does include Captain
Babylon, a character I came up with as a spoof but whose profiel was
raised by the involvement of Marvel UK stalwart Richard Starkings, who
kindly lettered both his adventures in my 1980s fanzine.
Carrie
Fan: www.carriestrip.org.uk
The Carrie strip was published in Mayfair and was originally drawn by Don Lawrence. The saucy strip is lovingly recalled on this site, with imagery, artists guide and more.
Dan Dare
DAN DARE BOOKS • Titan Books are publishing an ongoing series of Dan Dare strip collections. These include: • Voyage to Venus Part
1 Voyage to Venus Part 2 The Red Moon
Mystery Marooned on Mercury Operation Saturn
Part 1 Operation Saturn
Part 2 Prisoners
of Space
Rogue Planet |
• Click here for a downthetubes feature on Dan Dare
•
See
also Eagle links,
above: and Frank
Hampson entry in my Comics Artist section
Famous Dan Dare fans (outside the world of comics fandom, that is) include: Stephen Baxter (author), Colin Baker (actor), Dr Alan Bond (Astrophysicist), Richard Branson (entrepeneur), Michael Crawford (actor) Peter Davison (actor), Stephen Hawking (physicist), Terry Jones (animator and director), Brian May (guitarist), Michael Palin (Actor), Professor Colin Pillinger (Beagle 2), Phillip Pullman (author), Sir Tim Rice, Jonathon Ross (DJ, chat show host and general comics fan) Gavin Scott, (creator of Sci Fi Channel's The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne and the movie Small Soldiers and adapter of The Mists of Avalon and The Borrowers)
Official: www.dandare.co.uk
The Dan Dare Corporation Limited owns the global media rights to The Eagle comic and the comic strip "Dan Dare". The company also owns the rights to several other comic strips published in The Eagle, e.g. "Ghost Squad", "Computer Warrior", "Doomlord", "Manix", "Storm Force" and "Ultimate Warrior".
The merchandising of Dan Dare
products are handled by Copyright Promotions,
39 Tottenham Court Road, London W1 England.
Fan: The
Dan Dare Story
Detailed history of the character
with a huge amount of information - over 100 pages. The
site also features information on Eagle comic.
Webmaster: Nicholas Hill
Fan: Dan
Dare Net
This website is intended to
provide an introduction to Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future
in what the author hopes is an enjoyable and informative
manner. The site includes a complete history of the character,
images, plus a comprehensive list of related web links.
There's also a range of fully interactive "fun stuff" (games, puzzles
and toys, some with a Dan Dare theme, some without.
Fan: www.dan-dare.org
Having run out of server space over at www.dan-dare.net,
this 'sister' site is a "brief introduction to Dan Dare" site, with the .net site being the full-monty "interactive Dan Dare" site.
There are some major image scans that aren't on the web anywhere
else, plus some more fun and games along the lines of those at the
.net site.
Fan: Dan
Dare: Interplanet Space Fleet
Includes information on the
character's merchandise, a listing of all adventures and
more.
Webmaster: Brian Humphreys
Fan: www.dan-dare.org.uk
The owner of this site, a tribute to
the work of Frank Hampson, is posting illustrations from various
sources so there is much new-to-the-web material to see.
Fan: Darebar
A single page overview of the
history of Dan Dare, the Eagle, and the creator
of the character.
Fan: The
Spanish Dan Dare
The Spanish Dan Dare, Diego Valor, appears to have enjoyed
much greater popularity on the radio than as a comic strip.
The success of the radio show was consequently projected
to other media including comics. And, of course, the radio
version came first.
Fan: Superbrits
Link: www.superbrits.co.uk/dandare
Dan Dare Info
The Eagle Comic was reprinted around
the world, in many formats and many languages, yet information
concerning this phenomenon has never been assembled in one place
before. This site offers a look at these reprints by country and
try to define the print runs and years of publication, and any
other oddities that turn up, such as the "Great US Stamp Mystery".
• Dan Dare Cap Badges
Termight
Replicas has released a full-sized Dan Dare cap badge
in coloured hard enamel.
The Dan Dare cap badge measures 4.5cm in diameter and costs £9.95. The concept art is by Chris Weston, based on Frank Hampson’s original design.
• Available by cheque or PayPal post-free worldwide from the Termight Replicas website: www.termight.co.uk/dtt.php
Dan Dare: The Animated
Show
Episodes: 26 x 22 mins (first 6 with effects by NetterDigital,
20 by Foundation
Imaging. FI are creditted for all episodes - they
'tidied up' the first 6). All the stories are two-parters,
so there are 13 stories in total. The series was bought
by Channel 5 in the UK and also screens in South America
on Fox.It is scheduled to be released on Region 2 DVD
from June 2003 through Columbia-Tristar. In March 2003
einsiders.com
claimed Columbia TriStar and Dan Dare Corp. are developing
a feature based on this animated TV series.
The first two episodes introduces the characters (via
a brief version of the first Venus story) and deals with
the creation of Space Fleet and how Dan became a colonel.
•
Read the Series Bible: Go
This is not intended as promotional
material, but a guide to the characters and universe involved
in the TV series. Fan Andrew Paul, who created the page says "This
file, being the origin of the series, is somewhat outdated now as some
things were changed during the two years of production. However, this
is still a great insight into how the project started."
Effects artist Rowsby
has the most interesting page I've found on the net so
far about the production of the show. Peter Profetto's
Dan Dare page on his Digital
Treats site has by far the most stunning spacecraft
visuals from the show.
Digital artist Chris
Manbe has posted some clips from the new show on his
web site. He was part of the Foundation Imaging team that
worked on the series, having taken the show on board from
the defunct Netter Digital. 3D graphic Larry Schultz similarly
posted some images on his Splinegod
site (direct link here).
Dan
Ritchie is another Dan Dare animator:he created various
Lightwave renders for the show, as did Richard
Khoo. Jose
A. Perez. worked on the show as a modeller and texture
painter. (Perez has also worked on Star Trek: The Motion
Picture - The Director's Cut and Enterprise).
Roger
Borelli was the Supervisng Character Artist on the
show who went on to work for Digital Domain where heworked
on several commercials. He's now working for Disney TV
Animation modeling Characters, props, and sets.
Bob
Forward was the highly-regarded producer on the show
and mentions it on his site. He's a writer, producer and
story editor whose credits also include Beast Wars
and SkyJammers. He's cucrently working as a freelance
writer on shows shuch as X-Men:
Evolution and the new Stargate
SG-1.
FX equipment providers Kaydara offer information on the
production of the show on their web site here.
1981 Dan Dare TV Show
This show never got off the ground
but there are some interesting reference sites: click
here for a dtb feature adapted from the fanzine Eagle
Flies Again on
the proposed show
• Mike
Cosford has put two of
his background designs for the show online. He's worked
extensively in design and layout for commercials for the
last 15 years, creating backgrounds, colour visuals, and
storyboards.
• Model maker Martin
J. Bower has put some of
his model designs on his fascinating web site. Bowers
was a regular contributor of model photographs to various
comics in the past; he's one of the most highly prolific
model makers and designers to the film, TV, advertising
and publishing industry. From 1969 to the present day,
he has so far produced almost 800 professional works.
Dan Dare fan David Britton tells me the
models featured were made by Martin Bower
in the early 1980's for Alan Vince, a
long-time fan and friend of Frank Hampson. "I
acquired them from Alan, eight years ago and they have
been shown in a "Spacefleet Headquarters" display
cabinet at the Eagle Exhibtions. The
next time and probably the last, will
be at the Muesum of Science and Industry
Manchester from the end of September
2003 to mid January 2004. The Dan Dare
exhibtion will be partner to the Mission
to Mars exhibtion and we will incorporate
the British Space programme 1955 to 1971."
• Wakefield Carter has compiled a fascinating guide to this aborted series
which includes contributions from Brian
Bolland and others on this site: www.2000ad.nu/spacefleet/atv/
The
Dan Dare Theme Park
Plans to build a Dan Dare
theme park in the UK came to naught, but this page features
an image of the design - the site also carries info on
some UK-based visual effects design for film and TV.
Dan Dare Artwork
London's Science
Museum displays several original Dan Dare boards on
display in an area entitled `Defiant Modernism 1930-1968'.
The boards, from 1951 and 1953, are part of those purchased
by the Museum at the 1993 Christie's auction house sale.
Entry to the Museum is free.
Original strips online
Many Dan Dare strips have been re-published over the years.
Everything up to Eagle Vol 13/9 was reprinted in the Hawk
series (vols 1-11) and vol 12 (the best of the rest) reprints
four of the remaining 15 stories between 13/10 and 19/3.
For refeence see: www.2000ad.nu/spacefleet/dandare.html
Two of the 11 that have not can be found here:
Operation Earthsaver: http://members.aol.com/nicholashl/oes.htm
Operation Fireball: http://members.aol.com/nicholashl/fireball/fireball.htm
Ministry of Space
Created by Warren Ellis and Chris Moore, there are plenty of Dan Dare references in this SF tale set in a univese where
Britain wins the space race. You can buy the collection from Amazon.co.uk by clicking here.
The script for the first issue is available from Warren Ellis's official web site and makes a few
Dan Dare references for the styling: http://www.warrenellis.com/wfile/ministryofspace01.rtf
(Rich Text Format document)
Nikolai
Dante (from 2000AD)
Semi-official: www.simonfraser.net/simonfraser
A guide to the character by his creator, Simon Fraser.
Carol Day
Official: www.carol-day.com
This web site is an absolute gem, working in conjunction with the original
creators to clearly detail the strip and offer many examples of the art.
It's clear, easy to navigate and to top it all off the stories are terrific
works of newspaper strip genius.
Running in the Daily
Mail for
over 10 years from 1956 to 1967, Carol Day, a
series centring on the eponymous fashion model, was syndicated in around
70 papers around the world, this high-spot of the newspaper comic strip
has never been collected, and it never appeared in the US. According to
Patrick Wright, artist David Wright's's son, "even
though the Hearst Newspaper did attempt to head-hunt my father in the
early 1950s, it was felt Carol Day was too sophisticated for the American
market!"
"Carol Day was in many ways Britain's
response to other well-drawn American soap opera comic strips like The
Heart of Juliet Jones, On Stage and
Apartment 3-G," argues an
anonymous fan on comicstripfan. "Carol herself was a fashion model, with a wealthy uncle,
who was endlessly searching for love and never quite finding the perfect
man. Within this framework, Wright, with scripts from Peter Meriton,
was able to explore all manner of subjects and locales, from high society
to the darkest slums, and even the supranatural.
• The cult British mechanoid anti-hero Death's Head
returns in a collection of his greatest adventures that take him
into the far future and into the past as he locks blasters with
a host of enemies both villainous and noble, including the Fantastic
Four and the corrupt Iron Man of 2020.
This is a collection of one of Death's Head stories
featuring a later version of Death's Head, which first appeared
in Amazing Fantasy No.16-20. |
Death's
Head
Death's Head
I edited Death's Head II for
much of its near two-year run for Marvel UK in the early
1990s.
Death's Head I and II are Marvel UK's single most
successful characters, and Paul Neary's inspired reinterpretation
of the character, whose tales were scripted by Dan Abnett
and drawn by Liam Sharp, Simon Coleby and others, were
Marvel UK's best-selling US comics: it sold over 200,000 copies at the peak of its poularity.
• This page features a detailed guiide to the charcater which will shortly be published in a Marvel Comic character collection
• This
fan site includes a complete chronology of the character,
plus links to sites about Marvel UK's Transformers and Action Force titles.
Devil-Child
Official: Go
Launched in early 2004, Moonface
Press kindly sent me a copy of their collection of six dark tales, Devilchild
Volume II: Freakshow, plus their first Devilchild book.
The lead strip in both albums centres on a reluctant Anti-Christ figure. His father Satan seems to be losing his grip on power in Hell and in the second volume, some strange genetic misfit appears to have killed God. Andrew Winter writes all the strips, with art from a variety of artists, including Natalie Sandells (artist on the Devilchild strip, whose work reminds me of early Steve Rude), Sean Azzopardi and Keith Burns. The war in Hell draws some wry analogies to the War on Terror being waged by Bush and Blair, and definitely puts Princess Diana in a new light as Satan's personal assistant!
This is a quality package of stories, with the five accompanying short
stories providing some terrific storytelling. "Underground Girl", drawn by Azzopardi is probably my favourite,
as an arrogant record executive recives a Twilight Zone-style punishment for making
promosies he has no intention of keeping. "Steven Scully's Skeleton Army",
drawn by Duncan Nimmo, is a comedy gem of a tale, in which said Steven
raises the dead to destroy civillisation, but the dead don't seem very
keen on the idea!
The script for Volume III: Heaven's Prisoners is complete and being illustrated now, to be released at the Bristol Festival in 2005. It will feature a significantly longer Devilchild lead story than the one in Volume II
For just £6.99, Devilchild Volume II: Freakshow is well worth giving a try. Available from Amazon.co.uk.
Doctor Who
First Appearance: 1964
Currently published in: Battles in Time, Doctor
Who Adventures, Doctor Who Magazine
Reccommended Links:
Stripping Down
Link:www.strippingdown.co.uk
Not advice on wallpaper removal or something more x-rated, this is a great strip
by strip guide to Marvel/Panini's Doctor Who strips
Gallifrey One
Link: www.gallifreyone.com
Simply the best unofficial Doctor Who site on the web
The Official Doctor
Who Site
Link:
www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho
The official site, which includes an interview with
the man who created Doctor Who Weekly, Dez Skinn
Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer
Link: www.dalek-killer.net
A small tribute site to Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer.
For masochists, here's more info on the infamous Dalek Killer record
by the Slaves of Kane on this site: www.millenniumeffect.co.uk
Strips inspired by the BBC time-travelling character have
been published in a wider variety of titles down the years, including TV
Comic, Countdown,
Doctor Who Weekly (now Doctor
Who Magazine)
and others. In fact, the character has enjoyed a continuous existence
despite the cancelation of the show by the BBC back in 1989 (boo!) right
up to the modern revival (hurrah!). The ratings success of the new show,
duplicating that of the original at its height, has prompted a slew of
tie ins, including the BBC's own comic based on the show, Doctor
Who Adventures.
| CURRENT COLLECTIONS |
 Doctor Who: The Iron Legion Pat Mills, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons Panini Publishing Ltd ISBN: 1-904159-37-0 Collects the first ever Marvel Doctor Who strips Buy it from Amazon.co.uk: Go Buy it from Amazon.com: Go |
 Doctor
Who: Dragon's ClawPat Mills, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons Panini Publishing Ltd ISBN: 1-904159-81-8 Contains the remaining Fourth Doctor strips Buy it from Amazon.co.uk: Go Buy it from Amazon.com: Go |
 Doctor Who: Tides of TimeMick Austin, Dave Gibbons Panini Publishing Ltd ISBN: 1-904159-92-3 The complete comic strip run of Peter Davison’s Fifth Doctor Buy it from Amazon.co.uk: Go Buy it from Amazon.com: Go Read a review on this site: Go |
 Doctor
Who: EndgameAlan Barnes, Scott Gray, Martin Geraghty Panini Publishing Ltd ISBN: 1-905239-09-2 Featuring the Eighth Doctor, as played by Paul McGann Buy it from Amazon.co.uk: Go Not listed on amazon.com as of July 2006 |
 Doctor
Who: The Glorious Dead Scott Gray, Martin Geraghty, Roger Langridge Panini Publishing Ltd ISBN: 1-905239-44-0 The remaining black and white Eighth Doctor strips Buy it from Amazon.co.uk: Go Not listed on amazon.com as of July 2006 |
 Doctor Who: Oblivion Scott Gray, Martin Geraghty Panini Publishing Ltd ISBN: 1-90523-945-9 TO BE PUBLISHED: September 2006 The third of four volumes reprinting the complete comic strip adventures of the Eighth Doctor (Paul McGann), the wandering Time Lord and his companion Izzy find themselves pitted against the callous Destrii and her cunning Uncle Jodafra, plus there's a return for the deadly Daleks and a terrible ordeal for Izzy! Pre-order it from Amazon.co.uk: Go Pre-order it from Amazon.com: Go |
•  Doctor
Who: Voyager: 1 (Paperback)by Steve Parkhouse; Alan McKenzie The first of two volumes featuring the Sixth Doctor's complete comic strip run from the pages of Doctor Who Magazine. Featuring the epic stories: The Shape-Shifter, Voyager (simply one of the best Doctor Who comic strips ever written), Polly the Glot, Once Upon a Time Lord, War Game, Funhouse, Kane's Story, Abels' Story and Frobisher's Story. • Order it from Amazon.co.uk: Go • Order it from Amazon.com: Go |
• Doctor Who": The Flood: v.
4
|
Adam Eterno
First UK Appearance: Thunder #1
Subsequent Appearances: Lion, Valiant.
In Wildstorm's recent title Albion,
in #1, character Danny is holding an issue of Valiant which
features Adam Eterno in an adventure entitled "Island of Doom".
Foreign Reprints: Includes
France
Origin: Adam was
the assistant to an elderly sixteenth century alchemist who blended the Elixir
of Life. Adam impatiently drank it before it had finished brewing properly,
becoming immortal and invulnerable. His master cursed him to live forever
unless struck a fatal blow with a weapon made of solid gold and he became
doomed to wander through time, fighting evil wherever he found it.
Creators: Originally
drawn by Tom Kerr,
there remains some dispute as to who created Adam Eterno. It is believed Tom
Tully scripted the early strips and may have created
the character. Colin Page took over from Kerr for
most of the initial run in Thunder, then Argentinian
artist Francisco
Solano Lopez' "Lopez Studio" drew
Eterno from Thunder #17
onwards. (He also drew Kelly's Eye).
Responding to appeals for more information on Adam in February
2007, Dez Skinn, former editor
of Comics International and
Warrior and who worked
at IPC Fleetway, offers this opinion on the 'origin' of such characters at
the company:
"Created" is such a nebulous concept in comics, it would appear. Editors can have varying amounts of input, some happy just to shuffle paperwork and leave on time, others burning the midnight oil to improve the end product.
But Fleetway was definitely old school. While it had its share of paper shufflers, even they couldn't keep their hands off (and quite rightly too IMHO. They got the editor title for their ability to... edit!). I think the distinction is really that many, especially in the US, are production editors. You only have to look at their ages to realise they're not the most experienced contributor, and with strongly opinionated older freelancers "working for them" are often in unenviable positions... Some creatives don't take criticism, even though it's meant to be constructive, and if a freelancer is alienated and threatens walking away, whose side will the publisher take?
But Fleetway? Miss the deadline by a day and you'd lose that week's money, because a reprint would be slapped in, or an inventory ghosted strip. Even Leo Baxendale and Ken Reid had such a threat hanging over them. So, given the editor's power in this context, obviously they had a huge amount of input in creating new strips. Often the actual writer wouldn't even be decided before the strip was pretty well shaped up. Steel Claw is a good example, with assistant managing editor Sid Bicknell (who also edited Valiant) being very hands on, and deservedly getting co-creator credit in the more definitive listings.
'Course, I ran across the same "problem" with the high profile V for Vendetta. Was I a co-creator or just doing an editor's job of assigning and sitting back?
With Adam Eterno, I've no first hand knowledge, but I can't imagine for a second that Thunder editor Geoff Kemp, his assistant editor Chris Lowder or managing editor Jack LeGrand would not be very very involved in the creation of a character for a brand new title. When you consider that they were looking at TV advertising and wanting sales in excess of 250,000 a week firm, their jobs were on the line if they got it wrong. Freelance writers could simply move on, losing only a small piece of their income. Tom Tully was Jack's favourite, so he'd have been brought in fairly early, but very much to only flesh out their thoughts. Least that's my educated guess."
Links:
• Adam
Eterno Forever Fan Page
• Adam
Eterno - International Hero entry
• Sample
Strip pages on ComicsUK
• Yahoo
Adam Eterno Group
Garth
Adventure character created by Stephen
Dowling whose stories across time and space ran once in the Daily
Mirror,
which, although still featuring a full page of strips, no longer publishes
them -- more's the pity. Contributors down the years included Frank
Bellamy while Peter O'Donnell of Modesty
Blaise fame contributed some stories.
Just four Garth books have appeared over the years; a flip book
(with Romeo Jones on the reverse) in horizontal format in the late 1950s
or early '60s; The Daily Mirror Book of Garth (1975;
softback annual with Frank Bellamy art which had topless girls censored/bikini
tops added, and 1976; horizontal format, Frank Bellamy art uncensored,
nipples aplenty) and a Titan Books collection in the late 1980s.
John Dakin also reprinted
some great Steve Dowling/John
Allard/Frank Bellamy complete strip collections
in the 1970s.
• International Hero "Garth" Entry
Link: www.internationalhero.co.uk/g/garth.htm
• Complete Garth Story List
Link: www.tegneserier.org/indexer/mb_eng.html
Compiled by Geoffrey Wren and Ann Holmes
• The
All Devon Comic Collectors Club
E-mail: dave.westaway@homecall.co.uk
An
offshoot of the old South West CCC, this is mainly centred
on the Exeter area and continues the relentless search for prime
quality images for the (complete) British story booklets that is their raison d'etre.The
desire of elder members to see old newspaper strips again, linked with
the poor quality of the yellowing photocopies that were doing the rounds,
provided the impetus for the club to decide to track down and reprint
'lost' Garth strips. A search for other British titles naturally followed;
Romeo Brown, Paul
Temple etc. and is very much
ongoing.
Co-oridnator Dave Westaway has been searching
for Matt Marriott strips for some time. Artist Tony Weare produced what
is generally considered the most authentic Western stories in black/white
for over 22 years from 1955-1977. Never reprinted in the UK, the club
eventually managed to track down the recipient of much of his artwork
through his estate and have purchased 15 of his original scrapbooks,
each with one story in sequence, from the third story onwards.
Although
these are newspaper clippings rather than printers proofs the results
are still quite acceptable and the ADCC
gradually will be putting these out over the next three years. In addition
several other stories have been bought in taken directly from original
artwork. The first two stories in the series were reprinted in 1960 in
the Knockout and these are available from the Archive Adventure series
(ask us for details if required).
As a small club and having restraints
from Mirror Group as to how many copies per title can be made available
to members they tend to struggle with their cash flow a bit so have
relaxed membership to allow 'remote' members in.
The group has put out 10 booklets a year to full members of which at
least six are Garth. Here's a complete list of all their publications
to date.
The club has gained access
to artist Jim Holdaway's Romeo
Brown printers proofs - a club member tells
me the original artwork was all destroyed by a demonic managing director
who didn't find them funny.
The ADCCC asks that if anyone ever comes across any collectors
with decent quality old British strips to swap or sell please let them
know - there's a lot out there that they just cannot track down at
all.
Daily Strips: Collectors Club Editions
No. 1 Garth: Bride of Jenghiz Khan (Bellamy)
No. 2 Romeo Brown: Arabian Knight (Holdaway)
No. 9 Garth: The First Story. (Dowling/Allard)
No. 10 Garth: Children of the Dawn/The Island Laboratory. (Dowling/Allard)
No. 11 Dick Turpin: The Ride To York (Eyles)
No. 12 Garth: The Saga of Garth (Dowling/Allard)
No. 13 Garth:The Angels of Hell's Gap (Bellamy)
No. 14 Romeo Brown: Lord of the Fiery Dragon (Holdaway)
No. 15 Paul Temple: The Aphrodite Affair
No. 16 Garth: The Awakening of Garth (Dowling/Hailstone)
No. 17 Garth: Freak Out to Fear (Bellamy)
No. 18 Romeo Brown: The Fightin' Females (Holdaway)
No. 19 Garth: The Beautiful People (Bellamy)
No. 20 Tug Transom: The Lady In The Tower (Sindall)
No. 21 (Paul Temple: Gun Runners**) WITHDRAWN
No. 22 Billy the Bee: Billy and the Beast (Smith)
No. 23 Garth: The Wreckers (Bellamy)
No. 24 (Paul Temple: Operation Shrike**) WITHDRAWN
No. 25 (Garth: Voyage into Time**) WITHDRAWN
No. 26 John Wayne: Red River
No. 27 Romeo Brown: The Trouble With Tania (Holdaway)
No. 28 Garth: The Bubble Man (Bellamy)
No. 29 Garth: The Fantastic Doctor Quyn (Dowling/Allard)
No. 30 Jane: P. C. Jane (Mike Hubbard)
No. 31 Garth: The Big Joker (Dowling/Allard)
No. 32 Romeo Brown: The Gipsy's Curse (Holdaway)
No. 33 Tug Transom: The Lost Tomb of Topicaca (Sindall)
No. 34 Matt Marriott: Overland (Weare)
No. 35 Garth: The Troll (Dowling/Allard)
No. 36 Garth: The Crystals of Camelot (Dowling/Allard)
No. 37 Garth: Lord of the Computers (Dowling/Allard)
No. 38 Garth: The Wakening (Dowling/Allard)
No. 39 Monty Carstairs Casebook (Bellamy)
No. 40 Garth: The Invaders (Dowling/Allard)
No. 41 Susie of the Sunday Dispatch (Pett)
No. 42 Garth: Selim The Slaver (Dowling/Allard)
No. 43 Garth and the Glove Game (Dowling/Allard)
No. 44 Paul Temple and the Runaway Knight
No. 45 Buck Ryan: The Case Of The Broken Thistle (Monk)
No. 46 Garth: Space-Time Rivals (Dowling/Allard)
No. 47 Garth: Flight Into The Future (Dowling/Allard)
No. 48 Romeo Brown: Gigi and the Head-Shrinkers (Holdaway)
No. 49 Garth: The Phantom Pharaoh (Dowling/Allard)
No. 50 Ruggles: A Ruggles For All Seasons (Dowling)
No. 51 Romeo Brown: The Missing Ming Vase (Holdaway)
No. 52 Garth: Wings Of The Night (Dowling/Allard)
No. 53 Garth: Invasion From Space (Dowling/Allard)
No. 54 Romeo Brown: The Frolics of Fifi (Holdaway)
No. 55 Garth: The 7 Ages of Garth (Part 1) (Dowling/Allard)
No. 56 Garth: The 7 Ages of Garth (Part 2) (Dowling/Allard)
No. 57 Garth: The 7 Ages of Garth (Part 3) (Dowling/Allard)
No. 58 Paul Temple: Death Sitting Down
No. 59 Romeo Brown: The Empress's Garters (Holdaway)
No. 60 Garth: Outlaws (Asbury)
No. 61 Garth: The Brain (Dowling/Allard)
No. 62 Garth: The Web of Dionara (Dowling/Allard)
No. 63 Garth: The Glenoig Miracle (Dowling/Allard)
No. 64 Garth: Exiles (Allard)
No. 65 Garth: The Teenager (Dowling/Allard)
No. 66 Garth Meets Hitler in: The Rebels (Dowling/Allard)
No. 67 Romeo Brown: The Secret of Black Barbary (Holdaway)
No. 68 Paul Temple: The Affair Of The Tired Tiger (Mazure)
No. 69 Tug Transom: The Sun's Anvil (Sindall)
No. 70 Jane: Georgie Tries Again (Mike Hubbard)
No. 71 Romeo Brown: Romeo The Ruthless (Holdaway)
No. 72 Garth: The 13th Man (Dowling/Allard)
No. 73 Romeo Brown: The Girl and the Ghoul (Holdaway)
No. 74 Archie and Jughead (Montana)
No. 75 Garth: The Wonder Women (Allard/Dowling)
No. 76 Garth: Man Hunt (Allard/Dowling)
No. 77 Romeo Brown: The Con-Man (Holdaway)
No. 78 Matt Marriott: Showdown In Dodge City (Weare)
No. 79 Garth: The Hand Of Attila (Allard/Dowling)
No. 80 J. G. Reeder Terror Keep - Edgar Wallace (Monk)
No. 81 Moomin and Family Life (Tove Jansson)
No. 82 Garth: Blood Sport (Asbury)
No. 83 Romeo Brown: Romeo Goes West (Holdaway)
No. 84 Paul Temple: The Cabloni Affair
No. 85 Moomin and the Brigands (Tove Jansson)
No. 86 Garth: Vengeance of Venn (Asbury)
No. 87 Romeo Brown: King of the Beatniks (Holdaway)
No. 88 Garth: Warriors Of Krull (Dowling)
No. 89 Romeo Brown: The Snow Maiden (Holdaway)
No. 90 Garth in Hollywood (Allard/Dowling)
No. 91 Paul Temple: The Au Pair Affair
No. 92 Moomin On The Riviera (Tove Jansson)
No. 93 Paul Temple: The Barracombe Boxes No. 94 Romeo Brown: The Missing
Miss Peach (Holdaway)
No. 95 Paul Temple: Meets The Erasers
No. 96 Romeo Brown: The Richest Girl In The World (Holdaway)
No. 97 Romeo Brown: Romeo On The Run (Holdaway)
No. 98 Tug Transom: The Yokohama Frame (Sindall)
No. 99 Matt Marriott: Belle Bensons Daughter (Weare)
No.100 Garth: The Last Goddess (Dowling/Allard)
No.101 Romeo Brown: The Baffling Ballerina (Holdaway)
No.102 Romeo Brown: The Nobblers (Holdaway)
No.110 Garth: The Great Beast (Asbury)
No.111 Garth: Nightmare In Paris (Asbury)
No.112 Garth: La Belle Sauvage (Asbury)
No.113 Garth: Hammer Of Thorwald (Asbury)
No.114 Matt Marriott: Pandora in Marshall of Fireweed (Weare)
No.130 Seekers: Hoop Of Fire (Burns)
No.131 Romeo Brown: The Admirals Grand-Daughter (Holdaway)
No. 132 Tug Transom: Home is the Sailor... (Sindall)
No. 136 Seekers: Murder In The Boneyard (Burns)
No.137 Romeo Brown: Fingles Follies (Holdaway)
CLUB SPECIALS
Captain Flame - rare Eric Parker 1952 Pirate strip. (Parker)
The New Adventures of Don Juan 1948 - Errol Flynn film (Norman Pett)
The Pathfinder - Story of Leonard Cheshire; Years 1917-1960 (Manwaring)
Mighty Joe Young 1949 (Robert Macgillivray)
Monty Carstairs and The Mystery Of The Black Pearls 1953 (Bellamy)
Billy Brave: The Secret On The Moors (Weare)
DAILY STRIPS: The A5 Series
No.121 Garth: Tigress
No.124 Garth: Z File
Garth - The Index 1943-2005
**= Withdrawn until better quality originals can be traced.
Latest Additions 2008
No. 93 Paul Temple: The Barracombe Boxes
No. 95 Paul Temple: Meets The Erasers
No. 87 Romeo Brown: King of the Beatniks (Holdaway)
No. 99 Matt Marriott: Belle Bensons Daughter (Weare)
No.101 Romeo Brown: The Baffling Ballerina (Holdaway)
Billy Brave: The Secret On The Moors (Weare)
No.113 Garth: Hammer Of Thorwald (Asbury)
No. 136 Seekers: Murder In The Boneyard (Burns)
No.131 Romeo Brown: The Admirals Grand-Daughter (Holdaway)
No.114 Matt Marriott: Pandora in Marshall of Fireweed (Weare)
No.137 Romeo Brown: Fingles Follies (Holdaway)
No. 132 Tug Transom: Home is the Sailor... (Sindall)
No.102 Romeo Brown: The Nobblers (Holdaway)
Issues 6 and 7 are by Peter O'Donnell of Modesty Blaise fame;
all the Frank Bellamy non-Titan titles are on their back issue
list. You can get more details by sending an SAE to:
ADCCC, 96 Ashleigh Road, Exmouth, Devon, EX8 2JZ
Booklets are anything between 20-40 pages usually carrying one complete
story and their aim with Garth was to reprint all stories from 1943 up
to about 1975/76.
Janus Stark
First appearing in IPC Media's Smash,
Janus Stark is a Victorian master escapologist with bones like rubber,
able to contort in unbelievable ways and get through the smallest spaces
or out of the tightest bindings.
Strangely, Janus Stark -- created by Jack Legrand, written
by Tom Tully, with art by Argentinian artist Solano
Lopez -- is one of
several British characters to develop quite a following abroad, evidenced
by this detailed French site: janustark.free.fr.
Several strips were originated solely for the French "pocket" editions,
with authors Angus Allan and Marcus Scott Goodall (interviewed
on the same site) even writing the death of the character, an event
not portrayed in Smash because
the title had ceased to exist by then. They also created various descendants
of the character.
The French Janus Stark comic ran
for some 135 issues from 1973 to 1990.
• This French
web site on pocket library titles in
that country has some information on the Janus Stark edition, which also
featured reprints of characters such as Adam Eterno: www.pimpf.org/mjm/janus.htm
Related Links
• Visit this page for sites devoted
to specific British Comics Titles
• Visit this page for British
Comics Characters from ABC Warriors to Janus Stark
• Visit this page for British
Comic Characters from the O-Men Wicked Wanda
