Comics Britannia again on Monday night, looking at the so-called Golden Age – 1955 through to the mid 70s. So the focus was on publications like Eagle and Warlord, and more interestingly, girls comics like Girl and Tammy. The sections on girls’ comics was a particular eye-opener, and deftly handled. I never realised that the great Pat Mills began his career on titles like Bunty, and the dark tone of some of the stories fascinated me. Orphan War Camp Slaves? Wasn’t that an Italian horror movie?
I felt though that the programme skipped over the surface a little more than in episode one. Admittedly, in three episodes you can’t really do more than give an overview, but here I felt much more of an editorial hand in guiding the focus, particularly when it came to the subject of boys comics. Coming to the show as a newbie, I think you’d be under the impression that they dealt strictly with sport and war, and that just isn’t the case.
Lion, for example, had a strong thread of fantasy and SF running through it, with strips like The Steel Claw, Robot Archie and (my personal favourite) supervillain The Spider really starting to develop the amoral vibe that would reach it’s culmination in the 70s comics like Action, and ultimately 2000AD. To skip over the stories and characters that meant the most to me as a kid was a bit of a disappointment, frankly. And I’d have liked to see a bit more on Joe Colquhoun’s contribution’s to Charley’s War. And nothing of Don Lawrence’s finest hour, The Trigan Empire! And really, no mention of TV21?
And and but but. I’m complaining, but mostly because the series is so good that I want to see more of the titles I love. I’m getting a real buzz out of the show, and I’m really looking forward to the final programme. Cue Alan Moore…
EXCUSES AND HALF TRUTHS 