True Brit edited by George Khoury (book review).
Trying to get hold of some of the early TwoMorrows books is rather like looking for gold. I’m not sure which is easier. Those who own the older books are often reluctant to sell them, so copies don’t come onto the market very often. I’ve acquired a few, but decided to review them in case you’re thinking of buying one and wondering whether it is worth waiting half a lifetime.
True Brit is some 22 years old now and focuses on the cream of British comic-book artists working up to that time, many of whom were recruited to work on American comic books during the 1980s. Those who didn’t work in the US often found success elsewhere, with the likes of John M. Burns working extensively in the European market.
For us British readers, comics were traditionally aimed at different age groups, so as you got older you moved up through the various grades. My early ones included Teddy Bear and Playhour, and later the likes of TV21.
By the time you reached your early teens, there wasn’t much left to move on to, so it wasn’t difficult to gravitate towards the American comic books being distributed in the UK, particularly as they mostly contained complete or continuing single-character stories.
These days, other than 2000 AD and Judge Dredd, and with the decline of outlets such as WHSmith, British comics seem to be stuck in something of a doldrum. Unless, of course, you like free gifts attached to the cover, which now seem to be one of the main ways of persuading the remaining newsagents to stock them as something more than a special event.
What is particularly interesting about the 21 artists covered here, some of whom are interviewed, is that only John M. Burns admits to having read one of Andrew Loomis’ books. If there is anyone conspicuously missing, then it is Gerry Embleton, who was certainly the equal of his brother Ron.
Interestingly, Kevin O’Neill’s interview is perhaps at its most fascinating when discussing the period before he became established as an artist, because he was on the inside watching 2000 AD evolve and seeing how it changed under different editors.
For the sake of completeness, the artists covered are 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, Bryan Talbot and Barry Windsor-Smith, who did not work in the UK for very long before moving into the American market.
For American readers, many of those names will be immediately familiar because of their work on your side of the pond. With a couple of exceptions, I suspect this book also explains why some of them appear less frequently in other TwoMorrows magazines and publications: they are already well represented here.
It’s a shame there wasn’t an accompanying volume devoted to British comic-book writers. There are certainly enough of them to fill one.
GF Willmetts
August 2026
(pub: TwoMorrows, 2004. 199-page illustrated softcover. Price: varies. ISBN: 978-1-89390-533-7. A digital copy is available for $13.99 (US).)
Check out website: TwoMorrows Publishing
