Page 45 Review by Stephen
The erudite entertainer has done it again. Paul Gravett, author of GRAPHIC NOVELS: STORIES TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE, the finest book ever written about comics, has been bolstered by Peter Stanbury to bring to you another definitive work of sterling historical research and fun. For example:
"Comic swapping was a recognised street activity like marbles and French cricket... it doubled the enjoyment you got out of your comic."
Yes, swapping became vital during the bleakest years of the Second World War when those titles that managed to keep going were published in limited quantities due to paper rationing, and DANDY and BEANO were forced to alternate as fortnightlies. There was even a shortage of red ink.
Also, aside from a few exceptions most artists and writers worked anonymously. The publishers' excuse for this was that credits would confuse their little readers and stop them believing the characters were "real". But keeping creators' names secret also prevented rival publishers from poaching them. Artist Kevin O'Neill's first office junior job in comics in the late 1960s was to white-out artists' signatures, often cunningly disguised in the rocks or shrubbery. To divide and rule, editors also kept writers and artists apart; many had never met until the first British Convention (Comics 101) was set up by historian Denis Gilford in 1975.
Each chapter of this book shows how these creators have responded to and influenced the previous century's turbulent decades and still do so today. Far from being "dead in the water" or "down the tubes", British comics are still being made today, albeit in more diverse forms and formats:
"How can the newsstand become an outlet for a vibrant variety of comics again, when it is dominated by one wholesaler-retailer that can dictate terms, reject a title or charge for merely testing it and rent out prime space only to the biggest payers? A richer future may lie away from the cut-throat newsstands."
I'll say.
Lots here for the student of comics, be they in search of enlightenment or an actual degree. After the fascinating introduction, rich in social context, Mssrs. Gravett and Stanbury embark on a treasure hunt of lost gold and current currency, then showcase it with all the clarity and style Gravett displayed in GRAPHIC NOVELS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE, with pages reprinted whole. Separated into genres or markets, it's a far more engaging affair than last year's less colourful effort by someone else and just to be clear, Paul isn't bound by the rule of where something's published. As Paul and I discussed during his initial sweep for material, it'd be stupid to ignore the likes of Andi Watson, the most British of British comicbook creators because he's published in America owing purely to the logistics involved (i.e. the population of America dwarfs that of Britain so it sustains a healthier publishing base; it therefore makes more financial sense to print/publish there and ship the smaller fraction over here, rather than print/publisher here and incur the costs of shipping the majority of a print run there).
I tried to get MILKKITTEN in here, but in truth this isn't the proper venue for the more recent, experimental stuff that hardly anyone's ever heard of. It does, however, include Simone Lia, who was always going to be a British Great, and comes in as a strong, engaging retrospective with a fine sense of perspective, and a great deal of eye candy.
