Steel yourselves for some jazzy, classic action adventure from the Treasury of British Comics. Sharper than Bond, cooler than The Saint – the indefatigable British spy John Steel is back, as Rebellion recalls another of its classic characters from the golden age of spy fiction back into action – for a 128-page comic book special out in November 2020.
The John Steel Files will collect two Steel stories featuring stunning art from legendary artist Luis Bermejo, who drew later episodes of Eagle‘s classic strip “Heros the Spartan” in the 1960s, and, in US comics, worked on titles such as Creepy and Vampirella.
While Book Palace have published limited edition black and white collections of John Steel, this Rebellion project offers two never-before-reprinted comics, coloured by breakout colourist Pippa Bowland (2000AD), with a brand new cover by V. V. Glass (The Last Witch).
Originally a secret service agent during World War Two, Steel first appeared in Super Detective Picture Library #157 in September 1959 and became a regular in the pages of the publisher Fleetway’s popular Thriller Picture Library from November 1960, a line of 64-page digest-sized black and white comic books that ran serialised stories, usually consisting of two comic panels per page.
Steel’s exploits helped make Thriller Picture Library one of the best-selling titles on the newsstand and it featured a variety of war, spy, and detective heroes such as ‘Battler Britton’, ‘Spy 13’, and ‘Dogfight Dixon’.
Bermejo took over the series in 1960 and may have influenced the decision in early 1961 to transplant Steel from World War Two into the Jazz Age. Gone were his spying exploits, in favour of life as a private detective.
Influenced by the contemporary sophistication of the early James Bond novels, Steel found himself in a world of jazz cafes and shady deals. This switch was reflected in the title of Steel’s stories too – this collection will feature the classics “Play it Cool” and “Bullets in the Sun“.
Luis Bermejo Royo’s diverse career spanned Spanish, British, and American comic book industries and his style is instantly recognisable on series such as Adventures of the FBI, Apache, Tarzan, John Steel, Johnny Future, Vampirella, Captain Thunder, and his adaptations of Lord of the Rings and books by Isaac Asimov and Raymond Chandler. He passed away on 12th December 2015.
As previously reported, 2000AD publishers Rebellion acquired the comic book archive of publishing giant IPC in 2016, creating the largest library of English-language comics in the world. The Treasury of British Comics is dedicated to bringing back into print the best from more than a century of comics and breathing new life into this internationally important repository of classic characters.
• The John Steel Files lands on 11 November, priced at £7.99, and will be available from comic book stores, the Treasury of British Comics webshop, and the 2000AD apps
• Treasury of British Comics titles available on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
• Read Norman Boyd’s review of the Book Palace John Steel releases
• Buy the Book Palace John Steel from AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
• Fleetway Picture Library Classics on Book Palace
• Lambiek: Luis Bermejo Profile | Luis Bermejo art for sale on Book Palace
• British Classic Comics: Who Owns What?
- About the Author
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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.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Collections, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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Is John Steel getting a movie? I love the Book Palace Fleetway Picture Library Classic book, and look forward to the follow up collection featuring his wartime adventures. And now we’re getting a hardback coloured collection…
I picked up the Battle Stations War Picture Library earlier in the year and immediately didn’t like the format, a 64 page hardback reprinting one of the digest war stories, which I thought was too slim.
Now Rebellion is bringing out a Thriller Picture Library collection this time featuring John Steel and in colour, no less. I like big collections, and personally I’d prefer the stories presented as they were originally printed in black and white where we can see the crisp clear details of the artwork. Adding colour would sometimes muddy the art and in some cases make the presentation worse which is what happened with the two Commando Ramsey’s Raiders collection.
I may give this new colour collection a miss, or at best reserve my opinion til it comes out and see what others say. But for now, and in my own opinion, the only people making the best collections of these classic digest stories are Book Palace with their Fleetway Picture Library Classics series.