Review by Frank Plowright
Back in the days when a few dozen comics were published every week in the UK a highlight was the Christmas Annual, a hardcover book featuring new stories of each comic’s favourite characters. Seeing as Rebellion’s Treasury of British Comics line draws from those same comics, why not have an annual? Genius.
Better still, this isn’t just a sampler directing readers to titles already published, it’s a proper festive treat for featuring a handful of new stories starring old characters alongside material by bankable creators unseen for decades. For art fans it’s an even better deal as strips drawn by Brian Lewis and Enric Badia Romero reproduce the original art. This truly is a package living up to the description of ‘treasury’.
The sample spread features the comedy genius of Leo Baxendale and Lewis, an astounding artist who’s not as well known as he ought to be. Also to be found are Brian Bolland, Joe Colquhoun, Dave Gibbons, Cam Kennedy, Garry Leach, Tom Paterson and Mike Western, along with lesser known but astounding Spanish artists Juan Arancio and Carlos Guirado. In the case of Bolland and Gibbons it’s work from early in their careers, and they’re not quite the finished article, but Leach is already accomplished in work completed just before he began Marvelman.
It’s not just quality from the older names either. DaNi’s illustrations for Alex Worley’s ‘Black Beth’ strip equal anything else here, while Staz Johnson’s ‘Gustav of the Bearmacht’ is daft and hilarious. It’s only fitting that Mike Collins and David Roach combine for Simon Furman’s teaming of the Spider and the Leopard From Lime Street. Furman is the only writer contributing two strips, his 1984 ‘Beware the Werewolf’ featuring more great werewolf art from Steve Dillon.
Content flits from one genre to another, comedy following a monster rampage, gothic romance preceding horror and war leading us back to humour. Among the many delights to look out for is Kennedy’s ‘Charley’s War’ strip. The writer isn’t credited, but it bears many touches common to Pat Mills on the regular series, not least the lack of sentimentality and an officer miles behind the trenches contemptuously criticising the dirty boots of visiting enlisted men. Mills is definitely represented along with Colquhoun for what could be an EC era horror story. Classic British characters include Grimly Fiendish, Hookjaw, Robot Archie and Frankie Stein.
This is priced a fair bit higher than the old annuals were, but unlike them quality drips from every page. Amazon UK only want to sell you the digital edition, but the hardcover or the exclusive variant are available directly from the 2000AD webshop.
