Masters of British Comic Art

by David Roach (Editor)

This wildly entertaining and educational tome is a journey through the history of British comics - from the birth of the 20th century to the 80s invasion of American comics by the likes of Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons and Kevin O’Neil (to name but a few), right up to today’s up-and-coming British art stars and the talents of tomorrow.

Revealing the extraordinary history of the UK’s prolific comic book industry from the 19th Century to the 21st, this ground breaking volume celebrates the incredible artists who made a huge impact on British comics and would go on to revolutionize the industry on a global scale. Featuring a Who’s Who of talent, including Brian Bolland, Yvonne Hutton, Dave Gibbons, celebrated greats such as Don Lawrence and lost masters like Reg Bunn and Shirley Bellwood. Author and 2000 AD artist David Roach takes us on a journey through time detailing the surprising and fascinating evolution of the art from its humble beginnings to its current world-conquering status.

Including artwork from a vast number highly-acclaimed artists, carefully scanned from original artwork, Masters of British Comic Art is the definitive study and celebration of a beloved industry.

'The definitive educational title to bring readers through the journey of comic strips from the perspective of British history... a whole new world of information and staggeringly beautiful art.' - Comic Beat

'Gets its arms around the entire British comics tradition... not just the adventure comics, but also newspaper strips, comics for girls, nursery comics, plus the anarchy of the humor titles, and then pull all the threads into the present day.' - The Comics Journal

'A well-researched and ambitious book...Any fan of Britain’s comics will derive great pleasure and learn much from it.' - Down The Tubes

 

Genres: Nonfiction, Comics

336 pages, Hardcover

First published April 7, 2020

About the author

David Roach is an extremely prolific inker for Doctor Who Magazine comic strips. He continued to be arguably DWM's "house inker" into 2011, having been active with DWM since his first story, 2002's Oblivion. Though prolific with DWM, he hasn't worked on any other DWU publication, save for the story Sunscreen in Panini's 2007 Storybook.

He has never pencilled any story for Doctor Who, though he has a fairly extensive list of pencil jobs outside the DWU. Within the pages of DWM, he has perhaps partnered with penciller Mike Collins most often, but has also significantly paired with DWM's other long-term penciller, Martin Geraghty.

Reviews

[Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book because I loved the way David Roach shares his passion for illustrative art in magazines, fine art and comics on social media. I'd read his previous book done in a similar vein: "Masters of Spanish Comic Book Art". The first part is a history with loads of facts and personalities and the rest is made up of top quality reproductions - most from original art. This book is similar but he does break it up slightly by having a 21st century section later in the book with a similar introduction and art.

Now I know a thing or two about UK comics of the 1960s-1970s but would by no means think myself an expert - except in Frank Bellamy's work. The history section - beginning right at the start of 1825 - has a tone that speaks of knowledge and the love of making connections, for example at the start of Chapter Two Roach says "For the next forty years nothing happened". That's a bold statement but once one thinks about it he's right. I'd never made the connection! The range of artists and comic titles included will let hardly anyone down. The beauty of the book lies in the illustrations too. Every page in colour and with Roach's catholic tastes well presented.

The artwork is first class in many ways - the choice, the reproduction and seeing some for the first time, gorgeous. I expect a rise in interest to occur in some artists as a result of this book - surely Roach's aim achieved!

But all is not well. I may be getting old but the spelling of Tattler, the capitals (The Mirror, rather than 'the Mirror' in the middle of a sentence), phrases look to be translated (which I doubt) e.g. "dispersing [rather than "dispensing"] with borders entirely" and the many stray inverted commas, all annoy me. I desperately want to know (p.84) what notoriety Conrad Frost went onto - I didn't see it in the text later on. There are many typos but none more aggravating to a Bellamy fan than "Frazer of Africa". But these can be overlooked in such an exhaustive work (exhausting too when held in the hands - it's so heavy!)

Errors spotted - Sparky started in 1965 not 1967, I happened to buy one and the eponymous character was in issue#1; Hampson's work was called 'The Road of Courage' not 'to Courage', some Christians may be offended by the thought of Jesus needing to build up courage!

The biggest failing, I discovered very soon into the text - no index. That would be such a research aid to future comic historians. I could find that reference to Conrad Frost so much easier. Tom Kerr appears in the text but you don't know where to search. (If Google Books indexes this, we may find it but it's still simpler to have it in the book!) I wonder how many names are mentioned in this book? A little thing, but did you know this included a look at Underground, American and newspaper strips? Well that's a what a Contents Page is for - there is none.

Let me finish with telling you that I LOVE this book. All the moans above are trifling but highlight how the book could have been the definitive text on British Comic Art and might well be. It's up there in the top 3 and we should all thank David for his brilliant work.

[Alex E · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough and information rich book on the history of British Comic Art.

I think what I liked best about this book (besides the art gallery of course) is the passion that David Roach pours into the pages. Sometimes when you read something written by someone who has a deep love for that topic, you can feel the excitement and fervor that they had when writing the book. And this certainly has that at times. Roach takes us to the beginnings of comic type illustrations, back to the late 1800's, to really give us a thorough look through the history of illustration, and comic art. He highlights notable creators, references events occurring at the time, and breaks down the events that lead from one generation to the next. There's plenty of stuff to learn for anyone here, even if you are highly knowledgeable on the topic.

There was times that the text got a bit tedious to read, especially during certain sections/topics. I, for example, wasn't too interested in the chapter regarding newspaper comic strips, and ended up skipping over most of it. The book's greatest strength is ultimately its weakness as well because when reading about a topic that you are not really interested in, the inundation of information regarding that topic is tough to get through.

The art gallery is amazing however, and comprises the bulk of the book. Full pages of beautiful art work displayed in high quality makes this a treat for the eyes. And being that you have read about the history of the artists, when the art gallery begins (it's the final "chapter" of the book), you have a deeper understanding and familiarity of the artists themselves. Where before the art felt anonymous and impersonal, suddenly you feel a deeper connection and can see the evolution of certain artists.

Overall, this was a much bigger read than I anticipated, but I'm glad I read it. I feel that I learned a lot not only about British comic art, but art overall. David Roach manages to teach and at the same time, make it highly entertaining, and after all - that's all you can really hope for with these types of books. Highly recommended for fans of comic history.

[Olly Colluphid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generous 4.

The history bit is interesting but needs to be read alongside other histories -- his failure to acknowledge the satirical cartoon history of Britain but including the newspaper strips seems odd. However it is defensible.

The later chapters degenerate into a catalogue of artist, comic and character. However it covers a lot.

Does need an index though, and a better subeditor...

[Timo · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a brilliantly passionately written loveletter to British comics. So much researched and interestingly written. David Roach should gain more praise for this one, hats off everyone.
Not forgetting the really good production values. Clean, crisp and bright. All encyclopedias should be done like this.

[Lee Robertson · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suppose it does what it says on the tin. However did not offer much to the casual reader other than some great looking art