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GREAT BRITISH COMICS

A Review By: David Robertson

David Robertson is a self-publishing cartoonist who reads, makes and writes about comics. The following review appeared on the Fred Egg Comics blog in October 2009.

Gravett is a comics publisher, historian and general enthusiast. His writing covers a lot of bases regarding comics, as he writes on nostalgia, comedy, super-heroes, self-published works and anything else he deems good. This book is a treat. It’s jam-packed full of images from comics down the decades.

A few of my personal highlights:

This is really neat. Near the beginning of the book, there is a set of comics writers and artists’ bios presented in the style of old cigarette cards. A nice touch.

As I’ve never stopped reading comics and kept most of the ones I had as a kid, I rarely find any that I had forgotten about. This Adam Ant page though was like a bolt from the blue when I saw it reproduced herein. It’s lovely art, but uncredited (it was published by D.C. Thomson after all). It actually reminds me of Walt Simonson, which sees highly unlikely, to say the least. Does anyone know who drew this?

Look at this page! Three of my absolute favourites of the 70s/80s: Marvelman by Alan Moore and Garry Leach, Night Raven by Jamie Delano and David Lloyd and Captain Britain by Alan Moore and Alan Davis. That is value for money. The 1969 Billy the Cat stuff by Sandy Calder looks fun too.

Gravett is a tireless campaigner for comics. Check out his website. It is an invaluable resource in keeping on top of what’s going on in the world of comics.

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My Books




Comics Unmasked by Paul Gravett and John Harris Dunning from The British Library

Comics Art by Paul Gravett from Tate Publishing



1001 Comics  You Must Read Before You Die edited by Paul Gravett





All contents © Paul Gravett, except where noted.
All artwork © the respective copyright holders.