May 2008 Archives

A number of comic book creators from the West Midlands were down in London last week. The reason for their absence from drawing board and computer alike was to celebrate the launch of The DFC - the first new British weekly comic to debut in over 25 years!

The majority of comics published in the UK during the last two and a half decades have come out on a monthly basis, and, more often than not, they've only featured licensed characters from television or been based on toys and games. The DFC promises to feature all-new characters and not just by creators from the world of comics, but from people involved in the book and movie industry as well.

The DFC stands for David Fickling Comic, the name of the man behind it all. Naturally enough, he's also the chap responsible for the Oxford based David Fickling Books; itself an offshoot of Random House, and one of the largest book companies in the world.

So, when Neil Elkes suggested writing a regular column for the new and improved Birmingham Mail site, I jumped at the chance. Partly because I think that the Birmingham Mail is a great local publication, having even worked for them here and there in the past, and partly because the comics scene in the Midlands has never been stronger with creators and comics collectives as far as the eye can see; but mainly because I am of course an opinionated blowhard who's in love with his own voice.

For those of you who have never heard of me before, hello. My name's Tony Lee and I am a freelance writer. In employment talk, that's shorthand for 'person who spends a lot of the year worrying that he has no money to spend, and the rest of it rolling around in vats of the stuff, worrying about how he's going to make it last.' I'm a writer / journalist with over twenty years experience and for the last five years I've been working in comics.

I am a fan. I started reading my older brother's Tintin books as a kid. Then picked up the Beano and Dandy annuals, Doctor Who and Star Wars spin offs and of course Marvel's finest - Spider-man and Fantastic Four.
I lapped up a six year subscriptiuon to Roy of the Rovers and can still name the best XI Melchester Rovers fielded.
By the mid 80s I hit my teens at about the same time comics grew up. I found my more anarchic tendencies fuelled by Judge Dredd and his fellow warriors at 2000AD, Frank Miller's Dark Knight and of course the Watchmen.
Life then took over - the Wolverine posters were replaced with the latest bands from the NME and the disposable income switched from comics and computer games to concerts, baggy jeans and alcohol. I later became a journalist and arrived at the Birmingham Mail. The comics and annuals ended up at the boot sale.
Thanks to Bryan Singer and Sam Raimi bringing X-men and Spider-man to the big screen, as well as this whole nostalgic trip in which us 30 somethings indulge ourselves, my love of comics has been rekindled. I discovered the likes of Mark Millar, Garth Ennis, Warren Ellis - and discovered they come from the UK.

At the same time a few comic related items started floating past our newsdesk at the Birmingham Mail;
The Digbeth arts group Hiatus were developing award winning comic artists.
The Midlands Comic Collective released its Anthology of local work to great acclaim
A group of industrious writers, artists and fans launched Birmingham's very own comics convention - which drew thousands to Millennium Point last October
Nostalgia and Comics was 30 years old - making a two page spread in the Mail last year.
And that Birmingham has a thriving community of writers and artists who are at the forefront of the industry - among them John McCrea, Hunt Emerson, Laura Howell, Ian Edginton, Tony Lee, Phil Winslade, Mark Farmer, Paul H Birch.

So here is a little corner of Birminghammail.net set aside to celebrate this wonderful art form and not just from this reporter's limited perspective. We have enlisted the support and boundless enthusiasm of Paul H Birch, an authority on comics and Brum, and Tony Lee, a fan, writer and man who shuns cufflinks.

Click Here for our take on the Birmingham International Comics Show: