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British Comics and Comics Characters - Characters

Information welcome!
Jump to this page for • Specific Comics Titles and Comics Continuity


British Comics Characters
Information welcome!
• For an overview of British Superheroes check out the International Hero site

Jump straight to entries for...

Jeff Hawke (Daily Express)Modesty Blaise (Evening Standard)The O-MenThe Perishers (Daily Mirror)Marvelman/MiraclemanThe PrisonerRoy of the RoversSpace PatrolThe Steel Claw (Valiant)Tank GirlThrud the BarbarianThe Trigan Empire (Look and Learn)V for VendettaWarheadsWhitechapel FreakOh Wicked Wanda

• Visit this page for British Comics Characters from ABC Warriors - James Bond

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not definitive and may be outdated.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 valuation expert.

Jeff Hawke
Popular newspaper strip character created by Sydney Jordan which ran in the Daily Express for a number of years and is fondly rembered for its intriguing storylines and terrific art.

JordanSpace
Published in English and Italian, a complete online guide to the strip and its characters

Jeff Hawke's Cosmos #1A Jeff Hawke fan club (web link: www.jeffhawkeclub.org.uk) was launched in early 2003: Yearly subscription rates are £15 for UK members, £23 for overseas members. There will be a discount of £2 for members joining before 1st June 2003. You receive three magazines, the first of which was published in March 2003, featuring reprints of the complete Rip van Haddow story and the serialised strip of the first strip, Space Rider. There's also a history of the British space programme and profiles of aircraft which were featured in the Jeff Hawke strip.
Production values on this fanzine are excellent, and the bonus cutaway of Jeff Hawke's XP5 plane from Space Rider by Andy Roper is a bonus. On the down side, the reproduction quality of the strips is a bit poor -- does original film still exist? I suspect not.
Promotional information says "...each issue of the magazine will feature serilased stips of the original strips, plus articles and comments by Sydney Jordan."
Future plans for the club include an annual event, providing an oppourtunity for enthusiasts to meet. Send your cheques made payable to Jeff Hawke club with a stamped addressed envelope to: Jeff Hawke Club, 6 The Close, Alwoodley, Leeds LS17 7RD.

There's an online index to the Jeff Hawke stories at:
http://www.helsinki.fi/~lakoma/comics/jeff_hawke_index.html

MarvelMan/Miracelman
Fan Site: www.superbrits.co.uk/marvelman


In the 1950s a continuing copyright dispute between DC Comics, publishers of Superman and Captain Marvel (pubished by Fawcett), led to the suspension of publication of Captain Marvel comics in the US and the creation of Marvelman by British publisher L Miller & Son Ltd, who had been reprinting Fawcett comic titles. The disappearance of Captain Marvel, one of the company's most popular titles was a blow to Len Miller, who turned to Mick Anglo, whose studio had been producing covers for the Miller versions of the Fawcett titles.
This terrific site outlines the origins of Marvelman, his later revival in
Warrior and, ironically, the subequent battle the character's publishers faced when Marvel Comics challenged the use of the name Marvelman...

Modesty Blaise
Official web site: www.cs.umu.se/~kenth/modesty.html

Adventure character created by Peter O'Donnell whose adventures ran in the Daily Express for many years. Several novels were also written and a strange film produced. O'Donnell wrote every single strip.

• The official site includes a guide to Modesty Blaise (including an interview with Peter O'Donnell)

• Peter O'Donnell on the origins of Modesty Blaise
Link: www.crimetime.co.uk/features/modestyblaise.php

• The Complete Modesty Blaise Dossier
Link: www3.sympatico.ca/jim.pattison/modesty

• The Sparkling Modesty of Ms. Blaise
Link: www.dlc.fi/~zoja1/modesty

• Modesty Blaise artist Enric Badia Romero has his own page, showcasing his work on both Modesty Blaise and Axa.
Link: www.badiaromero.com

Titan Books are releasing new reprints of the Modesty Blaise newspaper strip written by Peter O'Donnell. The quality of the books is excellent and includes introductory material by Peter himself for each strip as well as an overview of the charcter's development.

Modesty Blaise: The Gabriel Set UpThe Gabriel Set Up
This first Titan collection contains the first three comic strip stories -- "The Gabriel Set-Up", "La Machine", "The Long Lever" -- and "In The Beginning", a brief flash-back origin strip. The origin story, intended for use in papers which picked up the strip later in its run, was never seen in an English paper.
Buy it from Amazon.co.uk
Buy it from Amazon.com
Modesty Blaise: Mister SunMister Sun
Collects 'Mister Sun', 'The Mind of Mrs Drake' and 'Uncle Happy'
Buy it from Amazon.co.uk
Buy it from Amazon.com
Modesty Blaise: Top TraitorTop Traitor
Contains 'Top Traitor', 'The Vikings' and 'The Head Girls'
Buy it from Amazon.co.uk
Buy it from Amazon.com

Modesty Blaise: Black PearlThe Black Pearl
Contains "The Black Pearl", "The Magnified Man", "The Jericho Caper" and "The Killing Ground"
Buy it from Amazon.co.uk
Buy it from Amazon.com

Bad SukiBad Suki
Contains "Bad Suki", "The Galley Slaves" and "The Red Gryphon"
• Order it from Amazon.co.uk: Go
• Order it from Amazon.com: Go
Modesty: Blaise: Hell MakersHell Makers
Modesty and her constant partner-in-action Willie Garvin star in the final two intrigue-filled adventures to be solely illustrated by Jim Holdaway, "The Hell Makers" and "Take Over", and "The War-Lords of Phoenix", which was completed by his successor, Enric Badia Romero. Featuring an introduction by Max Allan Collins (Road to Perdition, CSI graphic novels), along with a gallery of rare artwork and an exclusive, in-depth interview with Peter O'Donnell.
• Order it from Amazon.co.uk: Go
• Order it from Amazon.com: Go

Modesty: Blaise: Green Eyed MonsterGreen Eyed Monster
In "Willie the Djinn", Modesty and Willie Garvin face political intrigue in the Middle East, while in "The Green Eyed Monster", Modesty must deal with a prissy love rival and ruthless kidnappers. And in "Death of a Jester", Modesty and Willie get caught up in a bizarre medieval jousting tournament! Featuring brand new story introductions by Modesty creator Peter O'Donnell revealing the creative process behind the tales
• Order it from Amazon.co.uk: Go
• Order it from Amazon.com: Go

Modesty: Blaise: Pupet MastersThe Puppet Master
Collects "The Stone Age Caper", "The Puppet Master" and "With Love From Rufus!"
Featuring brand new story introductions by creator Peter O'Donnell, a feature article on "The Stone Age Caper" and an introduction by author Jan Burke (Bloodlines).
• Order it from Amazon.co.uk: Go
• Order it from Amazon.com: Go


Modesty Blaise: Gallows BirdGallows Bird
Modesty Blaise investigates a murderous family in "The Bluebeard Affair"; her partner, Willie Garvin, joins her to help the FBI in New Orleans in "The Gallows Bird"; in "The Wicked Gnomes", a dangerous organisation kidnaps an old friend; and a crash-landing in the jungle spells trouble in "The Iron God", as diamond thieves threaten our heroes! Featuring brand new story introductions by Modesty creator Peter O'Donnell, plus a very rare interview with O'Donnell
• Order it from Amazon.co.uk: Go
• Order it from Amazon.com: Go


Modesty Blaise: Cry WolfCry Wolf
by Peter O'Donnell
Modesty has a close encounter in "Take Me To Your Leader"; both Modesty and her partner, Willie Garvin, must save a young girl from a deadly plot in "The Highland Witch"; and in "Cry Wolf", Sir Gerald Tarrant tries to hoodwink the daring duo with a false kidnapping... but all hell breaks loose when a real kidnapper strikes! Featuring brand new story introductions by Modesty creator, Peter O'Donnell, plus a rare interview with O'Donnell.

• Order it from Amazon.co.uk: Go
• Order it from Amazon.com: Go


Modesty Blaise: The Inca Trail• The Inca Trail
The dark underworld of espionage and crime is lit up by the fatal charms of the gorgeous Modesty Blaise - high priestess of pulp crime and goddess of cult thrillers! Modesty stumbles from a babysitting job into a mob war in "The Reluctant Chaperon"; shoots for the heart in "The Greenwood Maid"; betrayal puts both Modesty and Willie in the gladiatorial arena in "Those About to Die"; and in "The Inca Trail", the duo save two children...and stop a revolution! Featuring brand new story introductions by Modesty creator Peter O'Donnell, plus an exclusive O'Donnell interview
• Order it from Amazon.co.uk: Go
• Order it from Amazon.com: Go


The O-Men
Official: theomen.free-online.co.uk
Highly regarded British superhero group self-published by creator Martin Eden. has had rave reviews in Comics International
Martin Eden has been interviewed for the BBC's comics site.

The Perishers
Official web site: www.theauthenticperishers.co.uk
This wonderful web site is packed with information about the Daily Mirror strip, which first appeared in 1958 and centres on a group of children and shaggy English Sheep Dog Boot. Longtime writer of the strip, Maurice Dodd, died on New Year's Eve 2005, aged 83. He was still providing storylines for the strip through his retirement and up until his death. See tribute

Eyeballs in the SkyThe Daily Mirror stopped publishing the strip on 10 June 2006. There was no explanation, but apparently the backlog of scripts by long-time writer Maurice Dodd had run out. No more Eyeballs in the Sky... (thanks to Dave Langford)

Maurice Dodd was a lifelong supporter of CAFOD, the Catholic Agency For Overseas Development, and donations in his memory should be made to that charity. They can be sent to the charity direct, at CAFOD, Romero Close, London SW9 9TY, UK.

The Prisoner
While not enjoying as much comics exposure as Danger Man, Patrick McGoohan's cult tv series has had two memorable comics outings, as well as numerous spoofs from the likes of cartoonist Lew Stringer.
Dean Motter created a four issue series called The Prisoner: Shattered Visage for DC Comics in the 1980s, while Jack Kirby drew the first issue - or at least 17 pages of -- a never-published Marvel Comics The Prisoner book. Read more about that on the TwoMorrows site dedicated to Kirby.
Steve Englehart also contributed to another attmpt to produce a The Prisoner book: he talks about it at: www.steveenglehart.com/Comics/Prisoner%201.html
• Buy The Prisoner: Shattered Visage from Amazon.co.uk
• Buy The Prisoner: Shattered Visage from Amazon.com

Roy of the Rovers
Official site: www.royoftherovers.com
This official site, supported by Egmont Magazines, has been run by Mark Towers since November 1999. It's packed with info on one of Britain's best-loved football comic heroes, last published in Match of the Day magazine back in 2001. Fab site for any Melchester Rovers fan!

Space Patrol
The Space Patrol comic strip: http://homepages.tesco.net/~space.patrol/SpacePatrol/TVComic1.htm
Inspired by the eponymious 1960s puppet series, the Space Patrol comic stories which appeared in TV Comic, drawn by Bill Mevin, were written by series creator Roberta Leigh herself and were very true to the quirky feel of the series. This page is part of a much larger site dedicated to the Space Patrol show.

The Steel Claw
The Steel Claw: The Vanishing Man from Titan Books. Cover by Brian Bolland
The Steel Claw - Spanish
1965 Spanish Steel Claw comic, known in Spain as Zarpa de Acero

The Steel Claw
First Appearance: Valiant, 16 October 1962
Owned by: IPC Media
First written by SF writer Ken Bulmer, and drawn by the brilliant Jesus Blasco,
The Steel Claw ran for some 11 years (472 episodes), the story of Louis Crandell, a man who gained the power of invisibility (apart from his steel hand) in a lab accident. The character is another British creation with a strong following abroad.
Cartoonist and comics expert Lew Stringer noted in a post to the Comics International news group that the Steel Claw's character changed considerably over the years, something he noticed while researching Louis Crandell for his fanzine,
Metamorph, way back in 1981. Originally quite a bitter and twisted villain - like the Spider - perhaps
the popularity of the strip caused the editor to turn him from anti-hero to hero and begin working (most of the time at least) as a "lone wolf"-styled secret agent who, like James Bond, was occasionally seen at odds with his boss on a number of occasions.
The strip had a break during its run, returning as Return of The Claw with Crandell no longer a member of the secret service. In fact he had buried his metal claw and
retired to Essex but, faced with his responsibilities when alien-possessed kids invade, he digs up the claw to face the threat.
After this, Crandell decides to cash in on his power and sets himself up as a private investigator. A few issues later he's penniless and scrounging for food in bins. He later becomes a bounty hunter, is mistrusted by the public, and hunted by the police, causing him to leave the UK for South America.
"Whilst it's interesting that The Steel Claw had far more
character development than most of his peers in the fictional Fleetway "universe", his personality/ status changes seemed to be at the whim of the scriptwriters," feels Lew.

Titan Books have published one volume of Steel Claw stories:
• Buy The Steel Claw: The Vanishing Man from Amazon.com
• Buy The Steel Claw: The Vanishing Man from Amazon.co.uk

Tank Girl
In 1988 in their run-down Worthing bedsit, two comic artists Jamie Hewlett and Alan Martin consumed tremendous amouts of cheap beer in an attempt to come up with something radical. Finally, on a Thursday night, sometime about 3.00am they created woman. Sassy, aggressive, skinhead woman - and she promptly spat in their eye. Tank Girl was born and thankfully, she made it just in time for issue #1 of Deadline Magazine.

Fan: The Unofficial Tank Girl Site
The unofficial Tank Girl WWW site home of everyone's favourite punkster chick. Includes complete character biography, news and more.

Biographical: Worthing.co.uk: Tank Girl
The Worthing community web site celebrates two its most famous sons.

Freddie Crompton also drew the strip 'Tiny and Tot'. It originally started in magazine Chick's Own, and got its own magazine Tiny Tots in 1927.Tiny and Tot
Freddie Crompton drew the strip 'Tiny and Tot' which began in British magazine Chick's Own, one of comic artist John Ridgway's earliest reads. The strip got its own magazine, Tiny Tots in 1927.

Thrud the Barbarian
Official: www.thrudthebarbarian.com
Owned by: Carl Critchlow
This dim muscle-bound warrior first appeared in gaming mag White Dwarf but now creator Carl Critchlow has revived the character in foull colour indie-produced comics. They're brlliant!
Carl has been interviewed about his self publishing work for the BBC's comics site.

Trigan Empire
Owned by: IPC Media
The Trigan Empire was a strip that ran in the UK's Look and Learn, sold all over Europe where it has a huge following and later reprinted in Britain in the short-lived Vulcan. Drawn notably by Don Lawrence and, late, Oliver Frey, Ron Embleton, Gerry Wood and Philip Corke, it was wholly scripted by Mike Butterworth and told short sharp tales clever in design and effect.
For more information on
Look and Learn itself, visit www.lookandlearn.com

Fan: http://trigan.com/
There's not a lot of information here just yet other than a lisitng of all strips and info on characters, but it's a good start.

V for Vendetta
Read an interview with V for Vendetta artist David Lloyd on this site

• Film web site: http://vforvendetta.warnerbros.com


Warheads
Above: An early Warheads design by artist Gary Erskine

Warheads
• The Marvel UK Appendix Site - warheads
Link: www.marvunapp.com/Appendix2/warheadsmuk.htm

Wikipedia entry

Warheads was a tite I edited for Marvel UK that formed the core of its initial Marvel UK Universe US books launch in 1992 along with Hell's Angel (later, Dark Angel after legal threats from the Hells Angels), Digitek and Motormouth. Featuring mercenaries passing through a wormhole created through technomagic to who knows where and who knows when -- if that sounds strangely like a long-running TV series and 1994 film, Warheads was devised in 1991 by Paul Neary who freely admitted he'd been inspired by Frederick Pohl's rather brilliant novel Gateway -- the book ran for 14 issues and one mini series, with various short strips originated for the UK title Overkill, some of which were actually published, some (one, for example, drawn by Charlie Adlard) which didn't appear. The initial two books were drawn by Gary Erskine and early stories by Nick Vince. Geoff Senior, Simon Coleby and Stuart Jennett provided art on subsequent issues of the main titles, while Mark Harrison provided some Warheads-inspired covers for Overkill and Dave Taylor was among the artists whose Warheads strips were published in the news stand title.
It was a great title to work on (if marred by Marvel US demands for endless crossovers featuriing their characters), and working with Paul Neary as editor in chief and the book's creator was a hard but worthwhile le arning curve. I wrote three issues of the main book - one featuring Iron Man in the US edition, but his appearances edited out of the Overkill version of the story because at that point we were avoiding running superheroes in the title, so the story had to be written so it would read as if the Iron Man pages weren't there - you have a look at Warheads #3, read all the pages which don't feature an actual appearance by Iron Man and see if it works! (Market research subsequently discovered that UK comics readers expected a Marvel branded comic to feature superheroes, so that crazy idea was thankfully dropped).
Two mini series were commisioned.
Warheads: Black Dawn by Craig Houston, drawn by Charlie Adlard was published but Warheads: Loose Cannons by Dan Abnett, painted by Mark Harrison was a victim of the comic market implosion of 1994 in the US which also saw the end of Marvel UK and its swallowing by Panini. I was delighted to discover that despite this, Mark Harrison recovered his artwork from MUK and has subsequently published most of the four issue mini series online: you can read it at: www.2000ad.org/markus/loosecannons/

Whitechapel Freak
Official: www.blackboarpress.com
David Hitchcock's take on the Jack the Ripper mythos.

Oh, Wicked Wanda!
Link: www.subtextopedia.com/Wanda


ADULT SITE Oh, Wicked Wanda! (OWW) is an erotic illustrated comic that ran in the back pages of Penthouse magazine from 1973 through 1980. Each issue of the strip - painted by Ron Embleton - contained up to eight pages of full-color cheesecake art combined with carefully written sexual escapades and political satire.
Although the content of OWW was definitely a tribute to its own era, it remains interesting to readers today. This may be due in part to the serial comic's focus on two lovely women who were remarkably independent for the time the comic was written.