The British Are Coming!

"The British are coming! The British are coming!" Most American learn that in grade school in their earliest lessons about the American Revolution. We listen to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" and that cements the myth. Most likely Revere didn't say that, but what the heck, it's a good story. (At least from the Amercian perspective.) And good stories are what's up here at the Dojo this January, and they all are either created by Brits or are set in Britain in some way. I know several of my regular readers are British and I expect to be taken to task for getting some things wrong. Help a meager colonial out fellows when you can. This first month of 2023 the British are here. 

Below are some of the wonders I hope to cover during this frosty month. 

Miracleman is the recreation which was launched (like V for Vendetta) in the pages of Dez Skinn's Warrior magazine in the early 80'a. This is Moore's quite vivid and compelling reimagining of the characters Marvel Man and his extended family which was itself a British take on the classic Fawcett Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family developed when the latter ceased to be published but the British audience wanted more. These comics come with "Mature Content" labels for good reason. This features the artwork of great talents like Garry Leach and Alan Davis among others. 

British comics don't come much tougher than Judge Dredd, the breakout star of 2000AD. I'm reading Dredd's earliest yarns, and I hope to rewatch the two Dredd movies. They are very different as most already know.  One is really good, and one is really not. 

Another dark character is Night Raven. Created by Steve Parkhouse and David Lloyd, this enemy of organized crime serves quite well as a precursor of sorts to the later V for Vendetta. I not only have the collected comic vignettes, but here are copious text stories featuring this pulp-inspired enemy of evil. 

Marvel had a unit in Britian knocking out comics on a weekly basis, and in an attempt to add some specific new British content to the mix the word went down to create Captain Britain. I've always had a soft spot for the vintage, red-costumed Britian and the stories written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Herb Trimpe have a zest which is undeniable. 

The original British hero from Marvel was the Black Knight by Stan Lee and Joe Maneely. I adore these stories, gems of 50's storytelling from those halcyon Atlas days before the Marvel Age descended upon us all. The Black Knight is a part of the Marvel mythos and has even shown up in recent movies. I hope to see much more of him there. 

Supermarionation is a mouthful, but it describes the exceedingly strange but exceedingly entertaining work of Gerry Anderson and his team who take puppets and make heroes out of them. There's a delightful goofiness to these 60's and 70's efforts which give them charm which exceeds their narrative limitations. I hope to review all five of the core series in order and a few movies besides. 

And I want to close out the month of January with a look at Night Raven, a British pulp hero. Night Raven had some dandy comic adventures drawn by David Lloyd and later by John Bolton. But the majority of Night Raven adventures, grim and dark are actually pulp stories by the likes of Jamie Delano and even Alan Moore. 

All this and whatever else I can shove in is coming in January. Hang on to your MopTops amigos as it's British Invasion month at the Dojo! 

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