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Return of the British super heroes

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jock123
Moderator
#11 · Posted: 27 Jan 2005 18:57
The strips weren’t from the war, they are more modern; I think what the writer is saying is that the Powers-That-Be wanted to be sure that there was no real swearing in them, although Captain Hurricane was allowed to use made-up curses.

Unfortunately, back in the sixties and seventies, it didn’t occur to the P-T-B that the depiction of different races and cultures, and the use of crude stereotypes, could also cause offense. Almost every Japanese soldier was shown with buck-teeth and glasses, for example.

The Commando books, and all the others (War Picture Library or whatever) also fell into the same traps, although they were generally more accurately drawn, so the depiction of characters were less stereotyped, and more realistic.

As it became morer obvious that this wasn’t really acceptable any more, these characters, and this type of way of telling a story was gradually withdrawn. I believe that Starblazer, a sci-fi companion book, was an attempt to change direction away from the more problematic aspects of the earlier books - it still being acceptable to say “Die, alien mutant scum!”, without fear of repercussions from any Venusians!

I’m envious that you have a collection of Command books, as they and their stablemates were usually well drawn and economically written; Tybaltstone has a really interesting interview with Tony O’Donnell, who was involved with some Starblazer books here.
John Sewell
Member
#12 · Posted: 27 Jan 2005 23:57
Unfortunately, back in the sixties and seventies, it didn’t occur to the P-T-B that the depiction of different races and cultures, and the use of crude stereotypes, could also cause offense. Almost every Japanese soldier was shown with buck-teeth and glasses, for example.

They were normally portrayed as irredeemable sadists as well, and as TV Cream pointed out, usually died with an "Aiiiiiieee!" instead of the "Arrrgh!" favoured by the Germans (similarly, portrayed as either humourless blond skinheads or duelling scarred gestapo types). It's amazing that they got away with it - they certainly wouldn't now! I think it wasn't until Hellmann of Hammer Force in the notorious Action that we got a German hero, though the marvellous Charley's War did a lot to redress the balance (more often than not, the real villains of the piece were the officers in charge of the slaughter).

Interesting comparison between the two Captains there Jock - I think Haddock's most Hurricane-like moment would have to be in Crab where he takes on the massed Berber hordes in something similar to Hurricane's "blazing fury" - though he has the disadvantage of lacking Hurricane's extraordinary ability to tie tank gun barrels in knots and suchlike ;)

Captain Hurricane was one of the characters namechecked and illustrated in the SFX article too, though I think the writers would have a little trouble updating him out of his WWII context! Then again, if another famous Captain (America) can become a human icicle and be revived decades later, who knows?
jock123
Moderator
#13 · Posted: 8 Nov 2005 17:23
Sorry to dig up this old thread, but I was wondering about the fate of Albion in light of the recent V For Vendetta movie publicity debacle, which saw Alan Moore vow never to work for DC again…

Has the book died, or has another writer been assigned, I wonder?
John Sewell
Member
#14 · Posted: 8 Nov 2005 19:45
It's currently on issue 5 out of 6 - not sure if there'll be another series after this one.

I haven't managed to get hold of any copies yet, as comic shops are far and few between around here, so I'll wait for the trade paperback to hopefully come along and tidy things up. The covers (by Dave Gibbons) for the first four issues can be seen at:

http://www.4colorheroes.com/albion.html

Issue 5 has a nice purplish-tinged portrait of the Spider, still behind bars but looking a lot more like his old self than he did in the 2000AD story! I also noticed that it's not just the "serious" characters who are in it - Grimly Feendish seems to have made a comeback, and the Penny character on the cover of issue 2 is wearing the same beret and patterned sweater as Bad Penny, a late 60s Fleetway knock-off of Minnie the Minx!
mct16
Member
#15 · Posted: 11 Oct 2011 22:51
jock123:
Alan Moore vow never to work for DC again

An interview with Alan Moore, in today's Metro, a free newspaper available by London Transport.

Incredibly enough, his row with DC appears to have resulted in him not even having "a copy of Watchmen in the house." It must really have been bad.

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