“It May Never Happen”, the surrealist cartoons of Kevin Woodcock, collected

By John Freeman on January 25, 2023

It May Never Happen, the latest book from Dark & Golden Books, collects the Kevin Woodcock cartoons that ran under that banner in the independent Co titles Brain Damage and The Damage Comic in 1989 and 1990.

Long out of print and massively under-appreciated, the surreal cartoons of Kevin Woodcock are an unnerving trip to a place that is just not quite right. In these glimpses of unease and weird cruelty, the funny bone is always exposed and the widest grin belongs to a skull.

Newly scanned from original issues of Brain Damage and The Damage, this collection contains all 31 creepy cartoons in the “It May Never Happen” series and is the first in a series bringing this astounding cartoonist back to availability.

After attending Holmfield Avenue Junior School in Leicester and the Dixie Grammar School in Market Bosworth, Kevin Woodcock, regarded as a reclusive soul, studied at the Leicester College of Art from 1961 to 1964. He contributed cartoons to such publications as Private Eye, Daily Sketch, The Spectator, Knave, Fiesta, Brain Damage, Punch and The Oldie.

Influenced by the work of Rowland Emett, André François and Ronald Searle, his drawings – usually single-frame, but sometimes in two or more panels, rarely had captions and were always signed with his full name in capitals and written over two lines.

Some of his work has been collected in the past, most notably by Kevin himself, in Private Eye Kevin Woodcock (1978), City Rules OK (1983) and You Are Here: the Best of Kevin Woodcock (1987). This little book serves as a great introduction to one of the most distinctive voices in British cartooning, some very clever visual sleight of hand just part of the attraction of Kevin’s work.

Dark & Golden Books are dedicated to charting a less travelled course through the history of British comics, finding and celebrating mislaid and forgotten classics for the audience of today in new high-quality editions. This is their their book, copies of Shuk and Doode by Simon Harrison still available, Mek Memoirs by Kevin O’Neill sold out.

• Check out the Dark & Golden Books catalogue here on BigCartel

• Kevin Woodcock (2nd September 1942 – 2nd July 2007) – Obituary

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.