by Mx. Kris Vyas-Myall

We are now well into the autumn here in Britain. Leaves are turning brown; the nights are getting colder and the shops are getting supplies in for Guy Fawkes Day.

For those unfamiliar with the British tradition, we celebrate the foiling of a 17th century plot to blow up the king and parliament. The festival is not without controversy, where in some place effigies of the Pope are still burned. Debates are often had in my family, both from the rightness of the festival and those members who find the fireworks bring back terrible memories of the blitz.

As we are preparing to celebrate a 360-year-old event, the future is slowly coming into our everyday lives. A woman in New York has been charged with traffic offences through a computer program. Whilst in Britain an official recommendation has been made for use of more audiovisual equipment in higher education.

This can also be seen in our entertainment this Autumn. On TV we not just the return of Doctor Who but the exquisite new shows Out of the Unknown and Thunderbirds. In the cinemas we have two excellent scientific disaster films, The Crack in the World and The Bedford Incident. On the book front, I am looking forward to the upcoming releases of John Brunner’s The Squares of the City and Thomas M. Disch’s Genocides.

There is one pleasure I have not mentioned before. That of going down to my local corner shop and picking up the latest British comic books.

Comics do not get anywhere near the praise that science fiction in other media does. In an interview before his passing, C. S. Lewis said:

One thing that weighs against us heavily is the horrible shadow of comics.

However, I contend they are an important part of the field and Britain is producing some of the best right now.

Pre-War Origins

Whilst satirical cartoons have been around as long as printing presses have been setup in Britain and newspaper strips and text comic publications have been around since the 19th century, the story of comic books as we know them today came about over the last few decades.

Earlier this century, the most popular reading material for juvenile boys and girls were story papers. These were low cost productions featuring illustrated text stories, typically in the bent of Victorian adventures.

At the same time there were a few successful annuals published of characters who appeared in newspaper strips, such as Daily Express’ Rupert Bear.

Dundee based publisher D. C. Thompson combined these two ideas together and began producing what we would now see as the typical British humor comic book. With single- or double-page comedic stories, like watching a satirical sketch show. Whilst the story papers tended to be upper class adventure stories, these new comic books had a more anarchic and working class bent.

However, with the advent of World War 2 and the ensuing paper shortage many story papers and comics ceased publication. Those comics that did survive, such as The Dandy and The Beano, remain incredibly popular today. Also, some of the pre-war story papers continue to be published, such as Boy’s Own Paper.

Press Outrage and Religious Revival

Just as in America, the 50s represented a drastic change in the comics market due to a panic over their corrupting influence on children. Apparently arriving as ballast on ships, US comics began to arrive in Britain after the war. These included horror and crime comics which resulted in a heavy backlash against a whole range of imported comics.

Interestingly, this panic was one that seemed to be supported by all regions of society. Conservatives were appalled by their content, liberal intellectuals considered them trash not worth defending and communists saw them as American cultural imperialism. The media published lurid stories blaming comics for any act of delinquency and the teacher’s unions pushed the government to act.

There are two important results for us. Firstly, parliament passed the Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, outlawing picture stories that may corrupt a young person. Even though no one is yet to be prosecuted under this, it is still on the books and it (along with general import restrictions) has severely curtailed the number of imported comics to the UK.

Secondly, was the establishing of an alternative. Rev. Morris was an Anglican vicar running the Christian magazine, The Anvil. Seeing the American comic books coming in he was apparently impressed with the quality of the artwork but disgusted by the content. He had already been producing a small amount of comic strips with artist Frank Hampson, so together they launched Eagle.

This followed the anthology format of DC Thompson comics but with a few notable differences. Firstly, the strips tend to be weekly serializations with some stories continuing for almost an entire year, allowing for much more content and depth. Secondly, the content a mix of different genres. The comics of the first issue consisted of:

• Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future – Science Fiction
• The Adventures of P.C. 49 – Police drama
• Captain Pugwash – Humorous pirate stories
• Professor Brittain Explains – Science fact
• Seth and Shorty – Western
• Skippy the Kangaroo – Humorous big game hunter stories
• Heroes of the Clouds – History
• Discovering the Countryside – Science Fact
• Rob Conway – Contemporary Adventure
• The Adventurer – Historical Christian adventure

Finally, issues of Eagle also contain text stories, sometimes serializing memoirs of well-known figures such as Winston Churchill. This last point has helped them gain more acceptance than the longstanding humor comics.

This mold Eagle has established is the style of most comic books today. Probably the only major change recently is increased length, as many have expanded from 18 pages to 40, allowing for a wider range of content.

Not So Heroic

Unlike in America, superheroes are not common. The biggest, Marvelman (an imitation of Captain Marvel), ceased publication in 1963.

Probably the closest is Garth (Daily Mirror) a super-strong adventurer whose tales tend towards the cosmic:

His stories have a John Carter or Flash Gordon feel and will probably appeal to fans of pulpy adventures.

There is one other interesting newer addition in this category, The Spider (Lion). A kind reserve Batman, he is a supervillain who uses his technical skill and intelligence to commit daring crimes:

What I like about this comic is the balance it strikes between us being horrified by his actions and still rooting for him to carry out these deeds. Highly recommended.

Journey into Space

Right from the cover of the first issue of Eagle, space adventures have been central to British comics. Dan Dare continues to be the most popular of these stories in his war against The Mekon and other space threats.

Ashley Pollard covered some his adventures at the start of the decade but, recently, I have found they are relying more on splashy art and action scenes over plot. I think there are two newer series that deserve more attention.

The Daleks have become a pop culture phenomenon in Britain so it seems inevitable they would get their own comic. However, splitting them off from The Doctor (who gets his own adventures in TV Comic), has created a great opportunity to explore them in more depth.

In the TV Century 21 strip the Daleks we get to see are still ruthless and evil but instead of facing off against our noble time travelers they often face off against other despicable races and are more than happy to use genocide to fulfil their ends.

What we are left with is a fascinatingly nihilistic strip that suggests that in the daleks’ part of the universe there is no place for kindness. It is only about victory by any means.

The Rise and Fall of the Trigan Empire (Ranger) has only just started but already looks to be an incredibly ambitious space epic. After a spacecraft crashes on Earth, Professor Richard Haddon spends his life trying to translate their language and discovers the entire history of their civilization.

This only began last month but we have already seen the Vorgs and their leader Trigo trying to build a city but dealing with the threat of the aggressive Loka:

And seems to be setting up for a grand tale of civilizations that could be on par with Asimov's Foundation. I am eagerly awaiting future instalments.

Whilst space stories may be essential to British comics, spy stories, as with every other medium, are appearing more and more.

Spies in disguise

Probably the most beloved comics today are the newspaper strip adventures of James Bond and Modesty Blaise.

But two of the best British science fiction comic strips are also spy tales.

Vic Gunn (Lion) tells the story of an alternative Britain where Emperor Rudolph has taken over as dictator of Britain and agent Gunn leads the resistance. This year’s main event has been The Battle for Liverpool

Here a resistance cell has emerged in Liverpool. Gunn is determined to make it a free city, Rudolph is determined to crush the resistance by any means necessary.

What I most appreciate is how serialized it is. Rather than Gunn simply winning week to week, the story started with Rudolph’s plan to takeover and has been a continuing battle between the two, with Rudolph winning so far more often than Gunn.

On a different note we have Lady Penelope (TV Century 21). Before appearing in Thunderbirds, she had her own strip with her and Parker’s adventures to bring down villainous threats to the future world.

What I like most about this strip are the unusual characters of Penelope and Parker. Lady Penelope is as competent as anyone in The Avengers but is unapologetically feminine and charming. Parker, on the other hand, is very much a working-class hero, a burglar who speaks in a cockney dialect which is a distinct contrast to the upper crust figures that dominate spy literature.

High Adventure

Space and spy stories are not the only kind of adventure strips that may be of interest to SFF readers.

I love a touch of Sword and Sorcery, so Maroc The Mighty (Lion) appeals to me.

John Maroc is a 13th Century Crusader in possession of The Hand of Zar, a magic amulet that gives him superhuman strength. He tries to travel back to England, righting wrongs along the way.

Although the stories will have the irritating tendency to contrive reason why The Hand will not work, they are still fun adventure stories akin to ITC’s The Adventures of Sir Lancelot.

On a more science fictional note, we have The Human Guinea Pig (Eagle). Mike Lane acts as a tester for Prof. Lively’s inventions which will inevitably have terrible results. Such as a formula that reverses evolution:

The best part is the relationship between Lane and Lively. Despite the trials they go through they remain good colleagues and are always willing to work together for scientific solutions to the problems.

Fuzzy Little Satire

One final strip I want to spotlight is Flook (Daily Mail). This newspaper strip by two jazz musicians at may seem to have little to interest the SFF fan, being the adventures of a little boy and his furry friend Flook. However, the contents of it are a sharp satire on contemporary Britain and worth everyone's while.

A good recent example is Flook having to deal with racist attacks with the Klan even trying to kill him and needing to use magic to outsmart them.

There is an incredible skill on display balancing the darkness of the material with clever humor and a lightness of touch that make it something outstanding.

In Conclusion

These are only a sample of the great comics available in the British market right now. I did not get to touch on the interconnected Gerry Anderson universe, The Iron Man (not the Marvel character), The Toys of Doom or Space Cadet.

My best advice? Go to your local corner shop and pick-up a few comic books that look to have a more serious bent. Alternatively, look at the strips in one of tabloids. There is such a variety in each I am sure you will find something to enjoy.