Review by David Ferguson
The Book: Limit Break Comics will be releasing downthetubes contributor and roving reporter James Bacon’s first non-fiction book, Irish Conflict in Comics in the 20th Century, Rebellion, Nazi Spies and The Troubles, at Dublin Comic Con this weekend, on Saturday 9th August. Featuring commentary and contextualisation of over 150 comic stories and over 300 individual comic books, as downthetubes previously reported, this is an invaluable reference work for those interested in Ireland, Irish history, and comics.
The Review: James Bacon is well known across comic book fandom in Ireland for his collecting. It is not an unusual site to see him flicking through back issues at a convention. To someone unfamiliar with him, you may just see a comic book fan trying to add to his collection. However, I have learned that there is more to it than that for James. It is about preservation of knowledge. You’ll see it in his various writings most notably in the various issues of the fanzine he co-founded, Journey Planet, where he has written about a multitude of topics from his many interests. Flann O’Brien, trains and, of course, comic books.
Which brings us to the subject of his book, Irish Conflict in Comics in the 20th Century, Rebellion, Nazi Spies and The Troubles. James has an interest in all things Irish that appear in comic books but with this book he has narrowed his focus to Irish conflict in comics. Although, narrowing his focus may seem an odd way to look at it, when you look at a book that has four pages devoted to a detailed Table of Contents and 270 pages overall.
Starting in the early days of the American comic book in the 1940s and ending in the 21st Century, the work takes in everything from local Irish comics to giants like Marvel Comics. As someone has done some comic book research myself, this must have been a huge undertaking, that involved at lot of time delving through piles of comics.
Now, I am not going to be able to cover every aspect of the book as there is too much detail but I am going to cover some of the items that stood out to me. The detailed research is obvious from Chapter One, when we see a description of Marvel Comic’s Namor’s brief excursion to Dublin in Sub-Mariner Comics issue 3 (1941). As James notes “The Irish connection is short – just one angle in Sub-Mariner’s quest” but it fits the book’s subject so it is included. As a student of history, it is intriguing to see how the comics reflect outside views on various aspects of Ireland’s own history. Starting with Ireland’s controversial neutrality during World War Two, dubbed “The Emergency.” All covered in the first chapter.
Of course a major topic in the history of Irish conflict is The Troubles and this, appropriately, gets a lot of pages devoted to it: whole chapters, including Captain Britain In Trouble and Spidey in the Troubles. Each chapter includes interviews with creators talking about dealing with such a controversial subject. James helpfully notes the comic book issues involved and, in some cases, includes art from the issues. Chapter ends provide the reader with some further reading, if they somehow need even more detail.
Being a 1980s child, the chapter on that period is of particular interest. We will set aside my love for the fairly obscure Irish Marvel character Shamrock (who still merits an inclusion in this chapter) and look at my favourite Marvel character, Daredevil. The chapter covers a number of issues, including Daredevil issue 205, 216 and 21, all written by the legendary Denny O’Neill. This is the grim and gritty era of the Man Without Fear, taking place after Frank Miller revolutionised the series in the early 1980s. The issues include the tough photographer Glorianna O’Brien who is involved with the IRA. We see The Troubles from the point of character who sees the IRA not as terrorists but as “… good people fightin’ to free their home form oppression… any way they can.”
One more area of interest to me is the work of Irish comic book creators and comics created in Ireland. I know this is the case for James too. (I have seen his support for local creators over the years). You can see that from the book’s cover, created by local artists John McGuinness and Triona Tree Farrell and designed by Paul Carroll, and the fact the book is published through Irish publisher Limit Break Comics. There is a chapter devoted to Irish Comic Voices in the 1990s and James has attempted to include every relevant local book, with the majority of that sitting in area dedicated to the 21stCentury.
In summary, it is a superb book that can be devoured whole or continually referenced over time. It includes far more than I was able to go into and there is a lot for the comic book fan and / or history fan to enjoy, but is so well done that a novice can dive in and get a lot out of it.
Irish Conflict in Comics in the 20th Century is an important book for a number of reasons. It brings to light a chunk of comic book history that, thus far, has gone largely overlooked. It catalogues a large number of Irish books that, due to the nature of independent comics, may have been forgotten to history.
Finally, it will hopefully inspire further research on this topic and perhaps other comic book topics. I know for a fact that James Bacon sees this as an unfinished and evolving book that will be edited and updated should more information come to hand. No better man.
David Ferguson
David is a writer of stuff on comics and pop culture for GCN.ie. He is also a contributor and editor (Hugo nominated) for Journey Planet | Follow David on BlueSky
• Full details about Irish Conflict in Comics in the 20th Century, Rebellion, Nazi Spies and The Troubles are here on the Limit Breaks website
• Buy Irish Conflict in Comics from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link) | Amazon.com
• Limit Break Comics is online at limitbreakcomics.com
Head downthetubes for…
• “Discovering Irish Comic Book History at the National Library of Ireland” takes place tomorrow at the National Library in Dublin, Friday, 8th August 2025. Admission to the event is free, but advance booking is requested. Booking details are here
Join comic professionals for a special event, as they discuss how items from the Library’s collections reveal the history of comic books in Ireland.
Dr. Sinéad McCoole, Keeper of Exhibitions, Learning and Programming, welcomes Derek Landy, Maeve Clancy, writer Maura McHugh, and artist Declan Shalvey, in conversation with comic collector, researcher, and much appreciated downthetubes feature writer, James Bacon. Our news story on this event is here
• Dublin Comic Con | Saturday 9th August – Sunday 10th August 2025 The Convention Centre Dublin (theccd.ie), Spencer Dock, Dublin1 | Web: dublincomiccon.com
• The Leprechaun, and the Irish War on Comics – article by James Bacon
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Categories: Comics, Comics Studies, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Reviews
In Pictures and Review: Comics in focus at The National Library of Ireland