American Titans vs British Minnows?

Corporal Clott · Post by **Corporal Clott** » 24 Sep 2006, 17:01

Having won the Wooden Spoon award on several occasions, I couldn?t let this stray thought pass by without passing it on. Why have British comics never created superheroes in the mould of Superman & Co? Is it because British superheroes are just too reserved? Instead of hogging the limelight like Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent, they beaver away in the shadows. Unlike their American counterparts, they prefer to keep their secret identities a secret. Let?s face it, if Bruce and Clark had been working for the CIA their cover would have been blown a long time ago. And no self respecting British superhero would be seen dead flying around in his y-fronts. At best he?d have been awarded an ASBO, at worst his name would be on the sex register. On the other hand, who?s going to buy a comic where the superhero goes around wearing pinstripe trousers and a bowler hat? And, instead of travelling around in a rocket powered car, he prefers the bus.

Lew Stringer · Post by **Lew Stringer** » 24 Sep 2006, 17:12

Corporal Clott wrote:Why have British comics never created superheroes in the mould of Superman & Co? .

Superheroes seem to be particular to America. Must be something in the attitude of that country. I can only go by the feelings of my fellow classmates when I used to read Fantastic and Terrific back in the sixties: "Superheroes are stupid and too far fetched" and "Why don't Marvel do a football comic?"

Britain and Europe seem to like their heroes a bit more grounded in reality and less godlike, even if some of them do have metal hands or giant robot apes.

Even today, with Panini having several Marvel comics on the stands they can't match the sales figures of The Beano or Toxic.

Lew

Corporal Clott · Post by **Corporal Clott** » 24 Sep 2006, 17:40

I agree. There is definitely something in the American psyche that sets them apart from us less uninhibited types. I mean, just look at the Governor of California and tell me he doesn?t resemble The Hulk!

PS: Further proof of this can be gained by checking out our latest comics fan from the Land of the Brave. One Mr Nelsonn who appears to have an unhealthy fascination for female anatomy and says his Interests are "Speed." Which means he's probably an amphetamine addict.

Steve Bright · Post by **Steve Bright** » 24 Sep 2006, 18:41

Corporal Clott wrote:Why have British comics never created superheroes in the mould of Superman & Co? Is it because British superheroes are just too reserved?

[img:567:734]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0WAADA3Yc ... h-text.gif[/img]

Corporal Clott · Post by **Corporal Clott** » 24 Sep 2006, 19:44

Sorry, Steve. Nice try. But Bananaman doesn't count because he didn't have much a-peel.

Steve Bright · Post by **Steve Bright** » 24 Sep 2006, 20:20

Corporal Clott wrote:Sorry, Steve. Nice try. But Bananaman doesn't count because he didn't have much a-peel.

Egad! That does it - choose your weapon, sir....

[img:567:558]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0SAADAwIW ... eapons.jpg[/img]

presterjohn · Post by **presterjohn** » 24 Sep 2006, 20:38

On the other hand, who?s going to buy a comic where the superhero goes around wearing pinstripe trousers and a bowler hat?

Me, I did back in the 80's. Dont' you remember Big Ben the man with no time for crime?

http://www.internationalhero.co.uk/b/bigben.htm

Sadly he was not around for long!

Corporal Clott · Post by **Corporal Clott** » 24 Sep 2006, 20:55

Alas, this particular item is in great danger of degenerating into a veritable quagmire of immature humour. We need to show our visitors that we can discuss serious matters in an adult way. I do not recall Big Ben ? I do, however, remember the inimitable Mr Ben who was clearly taking some illegal substances. As for Steve Bright who asked me to choose my weapon, the flintlock pistol you showed is a rather fine specimen. It uses the rather unusual Penkowski Self- Perpetuating Coiled Spring mechanism favoured by Hungarian Highwaymen in the 17th Century. At auction it's worth about 50 pence, so I?d insure for a pound.

Cap Haggis · Post by **Cap Haggis** » 26 Sep 2006, 13:57

Fantastic cartoon of Bananaman Steve - Now I have to admit to loving Superheroe comics, but only US ones - I just can't get excited by the idea of Batman swinging through Glasgow via Auchtermuchtie and Coatbridge on the trail of under age Buckfast drinkers (plus Batman wouldn't last an hour in the East End of Glasgow away from the posh shops, flats and people of Glasgow) - Now a UK superhero character drawn in that style with humour writing would, for me, go down a storm - you should sent it to a US publisher - Gawds I've gone all fanboy now lol (blush)

colcool007 · Post by **colcool007** » 26 Sep 2006, 14:27

Closest version to the typical US superhero that I can think of is Zenith from 2000AD. The only other superheroes were King Cobra and X-Bow but both were set in the USA. Next comes Red Star Robinson and the Black Sapper. Both were set in the Britain that we knew.

Lew Stringer · Post by **Lew Stringer** » 26 Sep 2006, 14:56

colcool007 wrote:Closest version to the typical US superhero that I can think of is Zenith from 2000AD. The only other superheroes were King Cobra and X-Bow but both were set in the USA. Next comes Red Star Robinson and the Black Sapper. Both were set in the Britain that we knew.

Inspired by the Batman craze, The Steel Claw donned a mask and superhero costume for a short time in the sixties. Unfortunately it also coincided with the scripts being quite poor at that time.

One UK superhero was Johnny Future who appeared in Fantastic in 1967/68. There have been many others (Tri-Man, Phantom Viking, Rubberman, etc) but by and large superheroes don't fare very well with UK readers. Our tastes are more like European readers in that respect.

Lew

Cap Haggis · Post by **Cap Haggis** » 26 Sep 2006, 16:46

Was there not a bit of a UK Super hero boom in hte 40s/50s with characters like the Bat etc or were they all American?

Toonpooch · Post by **Toonpooch** » 26 Sep 2006, 17:11

Er... what about Captain Britain? I always thought he worked very well, in his UK setting, especially in those fab Moore/Davis strips of the 80s. I used to lap 'em up in Marvel's "The Daredevils" monthly.

And then we had "Knights of Pendragon", another superlative effort. Uniquely British, I thought. I loved the blend of superhero antics with celtic history, and eccentricity, taking its cue from "The Avengers" (tv, not the comic, of course!).

Anyway, that's my tuppence...

Lew Stringer · Post by **Lew Stringer** » 26 Sep 2006, 17:21

Toonpooch wrote:Er... what about Captain Britain? I always thought he worked very well, in his UK setting, especially in those fab Moore/Davis strips of the 80s. I used to lap 'em up in Marvel's "The Daredevils" monthly.

And then we had "Knights of Pendragon", another superlative effort. Uniquely British, I thought. I loved the blend of superhero antics with celtic history, and eccentricity, taking its cue from "The Avengers" (tv, not the comic, of course!).

Anyway, that's my tuppence...

Very true, but neither fared very well sales-wise. The original Captain Britain series lasted 39 issues or threabouts and the second under his own title ran for about 15 issues I think. Knights of Pendragon and all of those Marvel UK comics of that period flopped after a year or so.

They had / have a cult following but the UK comics-buying public at large prefer humour and action to superhero comics, as do our European and Scandinavian cousins. Our top selling comics are Viz, The Beano, and The Simpsons.

Lew

chrissmillie · Post by **chrissmillie** » 26 Sep 2006, 18:54

I think a lot of it is down to the anthology nature of Brit comics. Most strips had 1-3 pages. Not really enough time to build up a complicated story with supporting characters or recurring villians. The more popular Brit superheroes, the Leopard from Lime Street and Billy the Cat, were excellent but simple stories. Published as they were written, they would not have stood up to a full issue (although I'm sure Tom Tully would have risen to the challenge had it been offered).

Chris

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