Review by Luke Williams
The Book: The Spider, The Steel Claw, Grimly Feendish, Captain Hurricane. Born in the pages of Lion, Valiant, Smash! and Wham!, these are some of the most beloved characters in the history of British comics. But what if they were all real people?
Danny, a keen comics enthusiast, and his new friend, Penny, go in search of the long-missing heroes and villains from the classic comics of the past. But where have they been all these years? And what happens if they find them?
From the mind of the legendary Alan Moore (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) with scripts by Leah Moore and John Reppion (Megadeth: Death By Design), and art by Shane Oakley (The Fall of the House of Usher).
“Oakley’s art and Freeman’s colours – as you will see from
these pages – are to die for,” says author Adrian Tchaikovsky in his introduction to the new collection. “And it must have been a challenge, to bring this bizarre, half-lost world into the light. To tell a story with so many characters, to digress into so many different styles. To take the originals – the work of so many past artists produced to all those different comics conventions – and realise them in a way that they could all share a room. A genuine, understated tour de force of character redesign.”
The collection also includes a Brief History of Albion by Steve Holland, delving into the history of the characters featured, and a “House of Dollmann” strip by Tom Tully and Carlos Cruz.
The Review: Albion is a bit of a curio from 20 (!) years ago. Prior to Rebellion hoovering up all the old IPC / Amalgamated / Odhams properties, there were a series of attempted revivals of the material by other publishers. In the mid 1990s, Fleetway under Robert Maxwell infamously had a go with the Action special, and Titan Comics had a go more recently, with Hookjaw and Johnny Red. But between those, possibly the most unlikely company to try and kickstart a new line with these old British comic characters was US publisher DC / Wildstorm, working in partnership with IPC, who then owned the characters featured.
DC / Wildstorm had a punt with three series. Battler Britton (a collection of which is due to be released shortly), Thunderbolt Jaxon (ditto) and this, Albion. Heralded as being written by Alan Moore, whereas in fact it’s plotted by Moore and scripted by his daughter Leah Moore and her regular co-writer John Reppion, drawn by Shane Oakley, inked by George Freeman, assisted by Peter Guzman on Issue 6. Covers were provided by Dave Gibbons.
We’re introduced to comic fan Danny who discovers that the old British comic heroes of the 1950s, 60s and 70s were real, but that they had “disappeared”. Meeting Penny, who has a connection to one of the missing heroes, they uncover a government conspiracy to withhold the truth about the heroes from the world at large.
Using one of their own to capture them, the government have imprisoned them in a facility run by the Ian Eagleton, formerly known as Eagle Eye. However, the US government have taken an interest and have dispatched former traffic cop, Agent “Zip” Nolan to inspect the facility. All the while Danny and Penny are joining the dots and tracking down the location of the secret facility.
The interpretation of the heroes is very 1980s / deconstructionist. This is a very gritty, moody and dark interpretation of the characters, exemplified by Shane Oakley’s jagged linework, relying heavily on blacks and shadow. It’s suitably disorientating, claustrophobic and unsettling. Oakley also successfully adapts his art style to mimic the work of artists that had previously worked on the some of the characters as the story required.
Alan Moore’s involvement with this project is strange. Moore was quite critical of the dark interpretation of American superheroes in the wake of Watchmen, but that’s exactly what has been done here. The bright heroes of the 1950s, 60s and 70s have been given a darker twist. It could be that Alan Moore’s involvement was a broad plot outline and specific characterisation was left to editorial / Leah Moore & John Reppion. Either way, it seems a little odd, particularly as around this period Moore was well into the excellent America’s Best Comics line, which brought some of the fun back into comics and was perhaps a reaction to that grim and gritty era.
Arguably, the characters themselves are quite obscure – at least to those who weren’t immersed in British comics in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. There are assumptions that the reader has an inkling as to who these characters are, but if that isn’t the case it is difficult to establish context for those who are not. Not every reader has the benefit of access to stacks of Fleetway annuals where the first contact with these characters may have been made. It also begs the question, who was Wildstorm targeting with this story? There is not enough background for British readers who are new to the characters, and US readers attracted by the presence of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons covers were likely to be completely lost.
The story is also too dense, and the plot crawls. Nothing really happens for five issues, then it all kicks off in Episode Five. Much of the page space is given over to brief appearances of obscure and largely forgotten strip characters, without actually introducing them and nods and references to strips. A comic sweet shop full of easter eggs, but which will be missed by many.
The characters are too idiosyncratic and quirky for US success and it’s a difficult book to read, unless you are more familiar with the source material. Even then, those who are familiar with the characters will find they have been changed too much to get that hit of nostalgia.
Clearly, this was meant to be a primer for a full-scale relaunch of these characters by Wildstorm and IPC, and I assume this should have led to spin off series. But, alas, this was not to be. Instead, we have a dense and slow moving, dark “revitalisation” of old British comic characters that tried to do too much, in too small a space, at too slow a pace.
Luke Williams
• Albion is on sale from 29th July 2027, available from all good bookshops and Local Comic Shops | ISBN: 978-1837867837 | AmazonUK Affiliate Link | UKBookshop.org Affiliate Link | Treasury of British Comics Webshop Exclusive Hardback | Treasury of British Comics Standard Hardback
Head downthetubes for…
The Creators
• The Official Facebook page for Alan Moore
• Alan Moore | Storytelling | BBC Maestro
Learn the craft of storytelling with literary maestro, Alan Moore. Discover how to build story, character, setting and plot in this online writing course.
• Leah Moore and John Reppion’s Site
• Shane Oakley is online at shaneoakley.blogspot.com
“Albion was a dream come true for me,” Shane said back in 2019. “I’d grown up with these characters and loved/love them to bits. And never in a zillion years did I think I’d end up drawing The Spider, Grimly Feendish, Robot Archie, etc in a big time revival – with Alan Moore!
“Fair enuff…It didn’t fully work: it was confusing to many younger readers who hadn’t had that history, worse still in the USA, and it needed a lighter touch and smaller scope. But I think we told a solid yarn, with style, wit, imagination and satisfying twists n turns.”
• Lambiek Profile: George Freeman
The Albion Interviews on downthetubes
• John Freeman’s 2005 interview with IPC’s Andrew Sumner about the Albion project, first published on Comic World News
The 2007 Albion interviews on downthetubes
Titan Books released their edition of the collected Albion in 2007. The trade offered the complete story – with some sprucing up of some of the art in places and a wonderful collection of original stories featuring some of the characters in the new adventure, culled from various annuals and other sources. John Freeman interviewed some of the key players in the story’s creation…
• Interview with Leah Moore and John Reppion
• Interview with Andrew Sumner
Albion Guides and Annotations
• Albion: Looking back at Wildstorm’s “British Invasion” by Luke Williams
Back in 2019, as Rebellion rolled out more classic comic collections and geared up for the second Vigilant special from Simon Furman and Simon Coleby, Luke Williams looked back at earlier revivals of some British comic characters…
• Comics Should be Good offers a quick Albion primer called “An Unnecessary Guide to Albion” and the AFB Blog has a brief but excellent guide to the major characters in the story here – but if it’s a full checklist, notes, links and more you’re after then your best port of call in the brilliant “In the Fifty Pee” web site, now archived on Wayback Machine, which includes issue by issue Albion Annotations by Pádraig Ó Méalóid, Damian Gordon and the Bash Street Contributors: Issue One | Issue Two | Issue Three | Issue Four | Issue Five | Issue Six| Annotations for the Collection
• International Hero
A terrific guide to British comic characters
- About the Author
- Latest Posts
Brought up on a diet of Commando, British Boys Annuals and Asterix, Lucas Williams’s day job limits his reading time. Luckily for everyone else this also restricts his writing time.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Current British Publishers, Comics, Features, Reviews
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