Albion | |
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![]() Cover to Albion issue #1, by Dave Gibbons. | |
Publication information | |
Publisher | WildStorm (DC Comics) |
Format | Limited series |
Publication date | August 2005 – November 2006 |
No. of issues | 6 |
Creative team | |
Created by | Alan Moore (plot) |
Written by | Leah Moore & John Reppion |
Artist(s) | Dave Gibbons (covers) |
Penciller(s) | Shane Oakley |
Inker(s) | George Freeman (with Richard Friend, Sandra Hope and Peter Guzman) |
Letterer(s) | Todd Klein |
Colorist(s) | Wildstorm FX |
Editor(s) | Scott Dunbier, Kristy Quinn |
Collected editions | |
Albion (US) | ISBN 1-4012-0994-7 |
Albion (UK) | ISBN 1845763513 |
Albion is a six-issue comic book limited series plotted by Alan Moore, written by his daughter Leah Moore and her husband John Reppion, with covers by Dave Gibbons and art by Shane Oakley and George Freeman. The series aimed to revive classic IPC-owned British comics characters ), all of whom appeared in comics published by Odhams Press and Amalgamated Press/Fleetway Publications/IPC Media during the 1960s and early 1970s, such as Smash! , Valiant , and Lion . [1]
As a result of a deal forged by vice-president Bob Wayne of DC Comics and publishing director Andrew Sumner of IPC Media. [2] Sumner described himself as a life-long fan of the characters. [3] It was published through DC Comics' WildStorm imprint. In an interview with The Independent , Sumner noted that "These are characters who have been talked about by UK comic fans for the last 30 years since they ceased publication. They were a fundamental part of every British male's childhood in the Sixties". [4] In an interview with Newsarama, Leah Moore noted that producing the series was made easier by Sumner being in contact with Wayne when the series was first pitched by Alan Moore and Shane Oakley. Her father had already plotted the issues when she and John Reppion began writing the stories, and subsequently proofed the dialogue. [5] Alan Moore had hoped to write the series entirely but was busy with his work for America's Best Comics. [6] Leah Moore also noted that the website International Hero was a source of research for the series. [7]
Debuting with a cover date of August 2005, the first two issues were released monthly, with the third issue delayed two months – Moore & Reppion cited scheduling as impacting the art production [8] ), while Oakley suggested ongoing copyright issues were a factor. [9] Initially solicited release between October 2005 and January 2006, issues 4–6 were subsequently resolicited, and finally released throughout 2006, with cover dates between June and November. The TPB collection followed swiftly after No. 6 was released in both the US and UK, from WildStorm and Titan Books respectively. [10] Sumner felt the delays impacted the series' sales. [11]
The British superhero scene becomes embarrassing to the government. As a result, they hire criminal turned crimefighter the Spider to hunt and capture them. He achieves almost total success and the various superhumans are imprisoned in a castle in Scotland, requisitioned from the comatose Cursitor Doom by the Ministry of Defence. Their existence is covered up and the comics based on them are passed off as fictional works.
Decades later Danny is an unemployed orphan; his parents were killed in a bus crash. He has no memory of his life before the accident and has found solace in comics. Danny buys old back issues from a Liverpool antiques store ran by the dour Charles Love, and is confused when he finds an issue of Valiant featuring Janus Stark which he didn't think existed. Later on television, he sees a news item on criminal Grymleigh Gartside Fiendstien. Recognising him as Grimly Feendish from the pages of Smash! , he calls out the name outside court as he is taken to prison and is grabbed by Penny.
Penny takes him to a lock-up where she has been gathering information on the cover-up, including suppressed interviews with creators about meeting the real heroes and footage showing that Margaret Thatcher survived an IRA bombing due to wearing the Eye of Zoltec. Penny claims to be the daughter of the imprisoned Eric Dolmann and is in possession of some of her father's robots. Danny is initially sceptical until she takes him to the basement of a pub in Manchester, where Robot Archie is on display. Danny takes her to the antique shop, where Penny instantly recognises the proprietor as the time-travelling Victorian thief Charlie Peace. He is initially hostile until they make a deal – if Peace helps them rescue Eric and the other heroes, he will be able to loot the exotic technology held at the castle. Penny repairs Archie and the group sets off, travelling to Scotland on the Buoyant Queen thanks to Peace's connections.
The prison is overseen by Ian Eagleton, previously the archenemy of Feendish. Due to growing American concern over the dangers nature of the prisoners CIA Agent Zip Nolan has arrived to inspect the castle. Eagleton takes Nolan on a tour of the facility, and Nolan is shocked by the low level of security, including the degree of freedom given to supercomputer The Brain and dogsbody Faceache. Nolan meets several other inmates including Rubberman (kept at low temperatures to inhibit his powers after an escape attempt), Captain Hurricane (a psychotic, sedated World War II supersoldier who functions as the last resort to combat escapees) and the Spider. The latter largely engages in mind games, infuriating Nolan.
Arriving at the castle, Peace uses a Sapper to drill into the vault under the prison containing the technology captured along with the superhumans along with Danny and Penny. To provide a distraction a heavily modified Robot Archie storms the front gates. The trio begin releasing the prisoners but Penny finds out from Louis Crandell and Tim Kelly that her father died of a heart attack some years beforehand. Danny meanwhile is accosted by Cursitor Doom, long comatose until the break-in. He explains that he is actually his son, Danny Doom, and passes on his memory and the revelation that the castle is actually the Dooms' ancestral seat Castle Baalskein. Archie is finally destroyed by prison security but the prisoners – apart from the Spider – are now free and armed. Eagleton is attacked by Feendish, while Captain Hurricane is unleashed to restore order. However he is stomped by the reactivated Mytek, which then smashes down a wall and allows the prisoners out into the world. Nolan attempts to secure the Spider, only to find he was piloting Mytek, his place being taken by Faceache in return for the chance to reunite with his beloved Martha. Mytek goes out to sea with the Spider at the controls while the rest of the freed heroes escape on the Queen, wondering what their next move will be.
In an epilogue the Steel Claw infiltrates 10 Downing Street and confronts Tony and Cherie Blair to take back the Eye of Zoltec for his friend.
Using a similar narrative device to that which Alan Moore employed in Supreme and Tom Strong , [1] flashbacks are related in the style of comics of yesteryear. For example, a flashback to Penny's childhood is drawn in a style similar to Leo Baxendale's work, while a two-page pastiche of The Incredible Adventures of Janus Stark resembles the artwork of Francisco Solano López. Reppion felt this was an effective narrative tool. [12] The series also features appearances by numerous Amalgamated Press/Fleetway/IPC characters, as well as other British pop culture sources, and also features cameos by some real-life creators such as Rod McKie and Steve Moore.
A tie-in collection entitled Albion Origins was released by Titan Books in November 2007 in hardback, with a cover by Brian Bolland. This volume was designed to showcase the characters featured in Albion as they originally appeared in various IPC, Fleetway and other British comics. It featured reprints of several Cursitor Doom, Kelly's Eye, The Incredible Adventures of Janus Stark and The House of Dolmann stories, as well as newly written articles exploring the history of these characters' comics. [13]
Thunderbolt Jaxon was a five issue 2006 mini-series written by Dave Gibbons and drawn by John Higgins, with covers by Gibbons. The series was billed as being "from the world of Albion" due to the source of the material.
Albion was nominated for "Favourite New Comicbook" in the 2006 Eagle Awards. [14] Discussing the reception to the series with John Freeman, Reppion acknowledged it had drawn polarised reactions, noting "...Albion has a kind of Marmite type effect on people; you either love it or you hate it.". [15]
Miles Fielder, writing in The Scotsman , said of Albion:
Albion's pages are peppered with references, some obvious, others oblique, to what's already an obscure milieu. Those with some knowledge of the AP/IPC comics' characters will delight in spotting them; newcomers will marvel at the surprisingly fertile creativity of the period (especially given America's domination of the comics marketplace with superhero titles such as The Amazing Spider-Man and Uncanny X-Men ). Albion, however, is not purely a nostalgia trip. What Moore does here is nothing less noble than reviving these characters for our modern times.... [Moore] is arguably at his creative peak and busiest period, ... whatever the case, the co-writers are well served by artists with an eye for detail, Shane Oakley and George Freeman. [16]
A trade paperback collection of the six-issue miniseries was released in the US on 13 December 2006 by WildStorm ( ISBN 1-4012-0994-7). Titan Books published the UK edition a month later, on 26 January ( ISBN 1-84576-351-3).
Title | ISBN | Release date | Issues |
---|---|---|---|
Albion | 1401209947 | 13 December 2006 | Albion #1-6 |
Joseph Leo Baxendale was an English cartoonist and publisher. Baxendale wrote and drew several titles. Among his best-known creations are the Beano strips Little Plum, Minnie the Minx, The Bash Street Kids, and The Three Bears.
The Steel Claw was one of the most popular comic book heroes of British weekly adventure comics of the 1960s and 1970s. The character was revived in 2005 for Albion, a six-issue mini-series published by the Wildstorm imprint of DC Comics.
Tom Paterson is a Scottish comic artist who drew characters for Fleetway in 1973–1990, and D.C Thomson from 1986 to 2012. As of 2013, he currently draws strips for Viz. He lives in Leith, with three children, and is a Hearts supporter.
John Mark Reppion is an English comics writer. He is married to Leah Moore, the daughter of Alan Moore, and he has worked with both on the comic Albion.
Lion was a weekly British comics periodical published by Amalgamated Press from 23 February 1952 to 18 May 1974. A boys' adventure comic, Lion was originally designed to compete with Eagle, the popular weekly comic published by Hulton Press that had introduced Dan Dare. It debuted numerous memorable characters, including Captain Condor, Robot Archie, Paddy Payne and the Spider. Lion lasted for 1,156 issues before being merged with stablemate Valiant.
Valiant was a weekly British comics periodical published by Fleetway Publications and later IPC Magazines from 4 October 1962 to 16 October 1976. A boys' adventure comic, it debuted numerous memorable characters, including Captain Hurricane, The Steel Claw and Mytek the Mighty. Valiant lasted for 712 issues before being merged with stablemate Battle Picture Weekly.
Smash! was a weekly British comic book, published initially by Odhams Press and subsequently by IPC Magazines, from 5 February 1966 to 3 April 1971. After 257 issues it merged into Valiant.
Shane Oakley is a British illustrator and comic book artist from Stoke-on-Trent, England.
"The House of Dolmann" is a British comic strip published by Fleetway Publications and later IPC Magazines in the boys' comic anthology title Valiant between 29 October 1966 to 11 April 1970, with a brief revival from 7 September to 26 October 1974. Written by Tom Tully and primarily illustrated by Eric Bradbury, the strip centred on the exploits of genius inventor Eric Dolmann and his army of crime-fighting robot 'puppets'.
Andrew Sumner is a British journalist, editor, TV presenter and publisher.
Eric Bradbury was a British comic artist who primarily worked for Amalgamated Press/IPC from the late 1940s to the 1990s.
Janus Stark, or The Incredible Adventures of Janus Stark, is a British comic strip series, originally written by Tom Tully and drawn by Francisco Solano López. It is about an escapologist in Victorian London who appears to be simply an unusual act on the music hall stage, but who privately uses his extraordinary abilities to battle against injustice. The strip debuted on 15 March 1969 in Smash! and ran in that title until 1971, when it moved to Valiant, running for another four years until 1975.
Roderick McKie was a British cartoonist. He began drawing gag cartoons for Britain's national press whilst still at school.
Mike Higgs is a British comic book artist, writer, designer, and editor. He is the creator of the oddball humor strip The Cloak, the daily comic strip Moonbird, and the children's character Dopey Dinosaur.
"Mytek the Mighty" is a British comic adventure strip, appearing in titles published by Fleetway Publications. The story revolves around Mytek, a large and powerful robotic ape. The strip first appeared in the boys' anthology title Valiant on 26 September 1964. The story was written by Tom Tully and initially drawn by Eric Bradbury, with Bill Lacey later taking over.
Cursitor Doom is a fictional British comic book character who debuted in a self-titled comic strip in the 15 March 1969 issue of the anthology Smash!, published by IPC Magazines. Created by Ken Mennell, Cursitor Doom is a powerful mystic who protects Earth from supernatural threats.
"The Astounding Adventures of Charlie Peace" is a British comic strip published in the weekly anthology Buster from 27 June 1964 to 15 June 1971, published by Fleetway Publications and later IPC Magazines. It was previewed by a single instalment in Valiant on 20 June 1964. The strip featured fictionalised adventures of the real-life Victorian era criminal Charles Peace.
"The Astounding Jason Hyde" is a British comic story published in the weekly anthology Valiant from 15 May 1965 to 11 May 1968, published by Fleetway Publications. Uniquely for a story in Valiant, it consisted of illustrated prose episodes rather than comic strips. It tells the adventures of Jason Hyde, a scientist left with x-ray eyes and telepathy after exposure to radiation who subsequently embarks on a crimefighting career.
Danny Doom is a British comic character who has appeared in eponymous strips published by IPC Magazines and Rebellion Developments. The character, a boy sorcerer, appeared in boys' weekly anthology comic Valiant between 25 May 1974 and 22 March 1975. The character is a 13th century boy sorcerer accidentally sent forward to the present day.
"Death Squad" is a British comic war story published in the weekly anthology Battle from 12 July 1980 to 4 June 1981 by IPC Magazines. Set during World War II, the story follows a Wehrmacht penal military unit spared death sentences in return for service on the Eastern front. It was written by Alan Hebden and drawn by Eric Bradbury.
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