True Brit edited by George Khoury (book review)
Trying to ger some of the early TwoMorrows books is liking looking for gold. I don’t know which is easier. Those who own the older books are reluctant to sell so don’t come on the market very often. I’ve acquired a few but decided to review them just in case you’re thinking of buying and whether its worth waiting a lifetime.
‘True Brit’ is some 22 years old now with an emphasis on the cream of British comicbook artists at to that time, many of whom were recruited to work on American comicbooks in the 1980s. If they didn’t work there, then certainly the likes of John M. Burns worked in the European market.
For us British, our comics were stylised for different age groups, so as you got older, you moved up through the age grades. My early ones were ‘Teddy Bear’ and ‘Playhour’ and, later, the likes of ‘TV21’. By the early teens, there wasn’t much left so it wasn’t difficult to move towards the American comicbooks distributed in the UK which had mostly single stories. These days, other than 2000AD and ‘Judge Dredd’ and the loss of the likes of WH Smith’s, we have the doldrums here, unless you like free gifts, the means to encourage existing newsagents to stock them than just as a special event.
What is of particular interest is that many of the 21 artists here, that some are interviewed, only John M. Burns admits to reading one of Andy Loomis’ books. If there’s anyone missing then its Gerry Embleton, who is equal to his brother, Ron.
Interestingly, Kevin O’Neill’s interview is more interesting before his career as an artist because he was on the inside seeing ‘2000AD’ evolve and under which editors.
In the interest of who is actually covered here we have Leo Baxendale, Frank Bellamy, Brian Bolland, Mark Buckingham, John M. Burns, Alan Davis, Ron Embleton, Hunt Emerson, Dave Gibbons, Frank Hampson, Bryan Hitch, Syd Jordan, Don Lawrence, David Lloyd, Dave McKean, Mike Noble, Kevin O’Neill, Frank Quitely, Ken Reid, Brian Talbot and Barry Windsor-Smith, who didn’t work in the UK. For you American audience out there, you will recognise those who’ve worked on your side of the pond. I expect with a couple exceptions, this book probably explains their absence in TwoMorrows magazines output as they are all here.
It’s a shame that there wasn’t an accompanying volume looking at British comicbook writers. There’s certainly enough of them.
GF Willmetts
August 2026
(pub: TwoMorrows, 2004. 199 page illustrated softcover. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-1-89390-533-7. You can get a digital copy for $13.99 (US))
check out website: https://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=123_140&products_id=517&zenid=fs89rejsi1mpu03ncscbue2404
