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Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn launches new “The Many Not the Few” graphic novel

By John Freeman on May 21, 2019

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn not only attended the launch of “The Many Not the Few” in Parliament on Monday 20th May 2019 – he bought four copies, too, and made a very nice speech saying how much he liked it.

Video courtesy Ryan-John Wilson.

This launch is, we think, the first time a comic book has been launched in Parliament and was also attended by Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell.

The Many Not the Few co-author Robert Brown with Jeremy Corbyn. Photo courtesy Myriad Editions

Written by Sean Michael Wilson with art by Robert Brown, The Many Not the Few is a new graphic novel about British history, introduced by Jeremy Corbyn. It’s published as part of the Workable Books imprint of New Internationalist, in partnership with the General Federation of Trade Unions.

The book offers a mix of serious research and family jokes as old union rep, Joe, and his granddaughter, Arushi, go into the complicated history, the ideological battles, the class conflict, a consideration of what unions are for, and what the future of unions may be.

Starting way back with the 14th-century Peasants’ Revolt, taking in the Levellers and the Luddites, the expansion of the unions in the 19th century, the height of their power in the 1970s, the great conflicts and decline of the ’80s, and considering the future positive role for unions.

Sean Michael Wilson has had many books published with a variety of US, UK, and Japanese publishers, such as Breaking the Ten, Portraits of Violence and The Book of Five Rings, and edited the critically acclaimed AX: alternative manga (Publishers Weekly’s “Best Books of 2010” in comics).

In 2016, his book Lafcadio Hearn’s “The Faceless Ghost” and Other Macabre Tales from Japan was nominated for the prestigious Eisner Award, and in 2017, his book Secrets of the Ninja won an International Manga Award from the Japanese Government.

Artist Robert Brown, from the Midlands, has been publishing his comics since 2004, when he released the first issue of his solo anthology series, Dream Logic, which ran for four issues, until 2007. He began publishing his current comic book series, Killjoy, in 2011.

He’s also contributed strip cartoons to anthology series such as Solipsistic Pop, Paper Tiger Comix and Sea Mouse, as well as illustrating pieces for Soaring Penguin’s Eisner-nominated anthology To End All Wars (written by Lex Wilson) and New Internationalist‘s Portraits of Violence, also written by Sean Michael Wilson, with Brad Evans).

• The Many Not the Few is in bookshops now – buy it here (Affiliate Link)

• There’s more about The Many Not the Few here on Sean Michael Wilson’s web site

• Robert Brown is online at: www.robertbrowncomi.cz | Twitter: @pygmyking | Instagram

• View and sign sean’s petition to “Fund the art form of comic books to the same level that opera is supported” – news item here on downthetubes

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Video courtesy Ryan-John Wilson, with thanks to Sean Michael Wilson

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as 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.