British Comics and Comics Characters - Characters
Information welcome!
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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-Men • The
Perishers (Daily Mirror) • Marvelman/Miracleman • The
Prisoner • Roy
of the Rovers • Space Patrol • The
Steel Claw (Valiant) • Tank Girl • Thrud
the Barbarian • The Trigan Empire (Look and
Learn) • V for Vendetta • Warheads • Whitechapel
Freak • Oh 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and may be outdated.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
A
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.
 • The
Gabriel Set UpThis 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 |
 • Mister
SunCollects 'Mister Sun', 'The Mind of Mrs Drake' and 'Uncle Happy' • Buy it from Amazon.co.uk • Buy it from Amazon.com |
 • Top
TraitorContains 'Top Traitor', 'The Vikings' and 'The Head Girls' • Buy it from Amazon.co.uk • Buy it from Amazon.com |
|
 • Bad
Suki Contains "Bad Suki", "The Galley Slaves" and "The Red Gryphon" • Order it from Amazon.co.uk: Go • Order it from Amazon.com: Go |
 • Hell
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 |
|
|
 • Gallows
BirdModesty 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 |
|
 • The
Inca TrailThe 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
The 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 Vanishing
Man from Titan Books. Cover by Brian Bolland |
 |
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.
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
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.