Comics set in Britain?

[John Owens]

The other day, I was the comics shop, I realised most mainstream comics are set in America. Their stories and characters are mostly American based.

The only few mainstream comics set within Britain I can think of is Thunderbolt Jaxon and Spring Heeled Jack.

Are there any other mainstream comics set in Britain? Would you read something that is based in Britain?

Meanwhile, could a superhero comic book work in a setting like Britain? How about crime, too? It would be interesting given our British culture.

Think of the possibilities:
A caped crime fighter in Liverpool.
Zombies overrunning Edinburgh
Espionage set in London

Can you please suggest any comics set within Britain? You could also list small press comics too. I would be interested to know of them.

Hmm, I'm full of questions tonight.

(Edited to add more comics)

I forgot to mention two more recent comic books.

Albion (Moore/Reppion)
League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The (Alan Moore/Kevin O'Neil)

[Jeremy Briggs]

Actually the small press zombies are overrunning Glasgow, not Edinburgh -

http://www.sexgoremutants.co.uk/ldgv.html

Jeremy

[John Owens]

Thanks for the link.

I'll order a copy. I have seen the previews. With zombies walking the streets, Glasgow doesn't look that much different. ;)

[Steve Flanagan]

By "mainstream", do you mean "superhero"? Remember, superhero comics are now outsold by manga in the US, while no US superhero comic has sales in Britain approaching those of Doctor Who Adventures, The Simpsons, Viz or The Beano, so they aren't really the mainstream.

But if British-based superheroes are what you are after, you want Paul Grist's terrific Jack Staff, now published by Image.

Marvel's Excalibur was often set in Britain (and might still be), as was The Invaders, recently collected into paperback. Marvel have also published recent miniseries about Union Jack and former X-Man Wisdom, both UK-based. Panini have paperback collections of Captain Britain, but I think the classic Alan Moore/Alan Davis run is currently out of print.

Moore, of course, was also responsible for Marvelman (aka Miracleman), but that looks like remaining forever out of print because of legal disputes. Similarly, you probably won't be able to find Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell's Zenith except at considerable expense.

DC is less fruitful, but its Vertigo imprint has a lot of series set here. Morrison's The Invisibles can be read as a take on the superhero gene (alongside many many other readings), while Hellblazer might satisfy your taste for zombies in Edinburgh (as might Caballistics, Inc in 2000AD).

Lots of other superhero comics series will have had individual stories set in Britain.

And then there's Bananaman in The Dandy. Oh, and there was that time during the Batman craze of he 1960s that The Steel Claw wore tights spun from copper, but I think we'll draw a veil over that.

I wrote a two part introduction to currrent British Comics beginning here, which you might find useful, though there are others on this forum who are a lot better informed than I am.

There's a web-site about British superheroes at www.superbrits.co.uk - but it seems to be down this morning.

[John Owens]

By mainstream, I mean comics that you buy from your local comics shop. Not necessarily restricted to superheroes. I'm looking for a British equivalent of the following comics:

- Criminal (Ed Brubaker/Sean Philips)
- The Walking Dead (Robert Kirkman/Charlie Adlard)
- Batman (which I occasionally read)

So really, I'm looking for any sort of current comic based within the UK. Crime, horror or drama. With a few exceptions, I'm not that big on superheroes. I'm more into anti heroes stuff.

I'm just curious why most current comics' story arcs are American based. Not that I'm complaining. There are not many comics are set in Britain.

Is it down to marketing? Does the publisher have control over the setting, in order to help with comic book sales? If that makes sense. Say for example, you have an excellent script. Would you get more readers if you set it in America?

Steve, thanks for the links and recommendations. I'm going to take a look.

[Steve Flanagan]

John wrote, "I mean comics that you buy from your local comics shop...I'm just curious why most current comics' story arcs are American based."

Most comics sold in comics shops are published in America, for an American readership (apart from the manga, of course). Even though Sean Phillips and Charlie Adlard are British, they are producing for that market, just as British actors and directors in Hollywood mostly make films and TV programmes set in America.

Current British crime comics? There's John Wagner's Button Man, about assassins forced to hunt each other for the amusement of rich folks. The original series, drawn by Arthur Ransom, have been collected into albums, and there's a new series, drawn by Frazer Irving, currently running in 2000AD. Paul Grist occasionally produces new issues of his light-hearted Burglar Bill. And Titan has numerous reprint volumes of Peter O'Donnell's incomparable Modesty Blaise. If you like Phillips, you'd probably enjoy Jesus Blasco's art in Titan's one reprint volume to date of The Steel Claw.

If you liked Albion, Titan also has a new volume reprinting some of the stories it was based on, Albion Origins, and a volume called The King of Crooks, reprinting original stories of The Spider (who also turns up as a supporting character in Jack Staff).

Other comic-shop comics set in Britain? I was quite disappointed by Phonogram, but you may differ. Jamie McKelvie also has Suburban Glamour due out from one of the US publishers soon, and Vertigo has another music/magic comic set in Britain coming up called The Vinyl Underground.

I assume that the likes of Andi Watson's Glister, about a girl and her haunted teapot, or his Slow News Day, a rom com about an American journalist working on a small-town British local paper, aren't the sort of thing you're looking for.

If you liked The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, check out the trilogy by Ian Edginton and D'Israeli - an adaptation of The War of the Worlds, Scarlet Traces (set some years later) and The Great Game (which takes the war to Mars). You might also try to find a copy of Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell's Sebastian O.

Oh, and the latest storyline in Dark Horse Comics' Buffy the Vampire Slayer involves Faith being sent to kill an English aristo.

[John Owens]

Steve, wow! Many thanks for your detailed post. Much appreciated.

Yep, you're right. Glister wouldn't be my cup of tea. I did see in Lew Stringer's blog that Albion Origins is out. I'll be picking up a copy. I used to read Janus Stark many, many years ago. I vaguely remember how Janus escaped from a locked room (jail cell?) by crawling through the pipes. I did feel claustrophobic reading that.

I did read the first issue of Phonogram but I admit I couldn't get into it.

The War of the Worlds trilogy sounds interesting.

Thanks again for your help.

[Jeremy Briggs]

More info on Scarlet Traces here -
http://downthetubescomics.blogspot.com/2007/08/great-game_06.html

Jeremy

[azurechan]

Does Superman: True Brit count?
As for Superheroes in Britian, the whole Marvel civil war thing had me interested. So far all I've read is the Titan " Civil War" graphic novel. You have all this hoo-hah going on America, and I was sitting there thinking " What would Britain do is response?". It's basically an alternate current time, so I guess we'd still have the "special relationship" with America. How would that hold up when the US government has tons of superhumans on the payroll? whilst at the same time hunting down any of it's citizens who are different. Who do we have? Captain Britain? ( is he even alive right now I've only read a few oooold reprints.) What would he think?
The American Super hero is larger than life, and America is so big it's easier for them to hide and have a secret identity. A Superhero in Britain would surely have to be lower key.

[Steve Flanagan]

Azrechan wrote, "Captain Britain? ( is he even alive right now I've only read a few oooold reprints.) "

To judge by the covers in Marvel's solicitation adverts, he appears in Excalibur. He's also in Paul Cornell's Wisdom, alongside Captain Midlands, a punk fairy, infinite numbers of Jacks the Ripper and the Skrull Beatles.

[John Owens]

Superman: True Brit was written by John Cleese and Kim Johnson, with art by John Byrne and Mark Farmer.

I read that book. I didn't enjoy it. Didn't laugh at all.

"So far all I've read is the Titan " Civil War" graphic novel. You have all this hoo-hah going on America, and I was sitting there thinking " What would Britain do is response?"."

Britain's approach would be soft. Imagine tagging Superman or serving him with an ASBO. :)

I have seen Captain Britain on the shelves. I'll check that out too. It might interest you that Captain Britain has a reserved opinion about the Civil War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Britain#Civil_War.2FThe_Initia...

[azurechan]

Thanks for the link, I'm sure glad someone out there knows whats happening in Marvel land! Also there's a Captain France?!! hehe

[DAJB]

Weeell, I'm trying to keep self-promotion out of any threads here (except in my own blog which I think is fair enough!) but, since this is particularly relevant ...

My comic "Shades" is specifically about super heroes based in Britain. I specifically set out to make them the product of the UK environment and not simply US style heroes draped in a Union flag (like Captain Britain) or off-the-clock waiters from a Mediaeval-themed restaurant (like Shining Knight or Beefeater). So, biased as I undoubtedly am, I'd have to say the answer to "could a superhero comic book work in a setting like Britain ?" is yes. But there's a lot more to consider than a change of setting. The UK psyche is very different to that of the US and, to my mind, that should affect everything the characters are and do.

Okay, so "Shades" is hardly mainstream (at present it's only available to read online at http://www.brokenvoice.co.uk) but you did also mention small press and I'm planning to get Volume 1 into print next year, so ... there you go. Self-promotion over!