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features /  interview
editor content by: editor
cover of great british comics
history of comics
From Gillray to graphic novels.

Paul Gravett and Peter Stanbury are keen to stress that their handsome and substantial history book, Great British Comics, is much more than an exercise in nostalgia. “British comics today are thriving,” Gravett (organiser of the ICA's annual Comica festival) insists. “Not just on the newsstands but also via other channels, for example graphic novels, indie and small presses, in newspaper strips and magazines, new ‘Original English Language’ manga, via American companies, and of course online.” The key factor promoting the growth of contemporary interest in comic books is the graphic novel, which has been cultivating a unique cultural cachet ever since the appearance of Art Spiegelman’s extraordinary Maus in 1986.


Victorian Ally Sloper panel by W.G. Baxter and page from Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot (both detail).

The rise of “famous” comic book artists such as Spiegelman is analogous to the rise of the auteur in cinema. As Gravett notes, “[comic book] artists used to be anonymous. They were in the shadows, expendable and replaceable. People know Marjane Satrapi, Chris Ware, Art Spiegelman, Alan Moore. And they’ll follow a particular artist or writer’s work, and not necessarily just certain characters.”

“It’s like an evolutionary process,” agrees co-author Stanbury. “In the early days comics would just tell you a joke in 30 seconds. By the time you get to the ‘70s and the underground, you’re trying to create a political message; and what artists like Chris Ware are trying to do now is light years in advance of anything the early comics were trying to do. It’s a very sophisticated way of telling stories.”


The Lost Worlds Of Topsy Turvy from Great British Comics and image from Scary Go Round, copyright 2002-2006 John Allison (both detail).

Sophisticated it may be, but there are still many readers who see comics as part of the trappings of childhood. “That’s one of the great illusions,” says Stanbury, “that comics have always been for children. They haven’t.” Another real problem, he maintains, is to do with the way we read. “The classic thing to do, if you’re not used to reading graphic novels, is to read all the word balloons and try to get the gist of the story just by reading the bits of dialogue that pop into your field of vision while you’re scanning. Readers will completely ignore the pictures and then say they don’t like graphic novels; they don’t give them the satisfaction they get from a novel. But it’s a different way of reading.”

As well as communicating a bottomless enthusiasm for comic book culture in all its forms around the world, Gravett and Stanbury’s book offers a valuable account of the British scene, from Gillray and Cruikshank to today’s cult heroes (and possibly tomorrow’s mainstream stars), such as Ben Dickson and Bryan Talbot. There have been some ups and downs, but we’re nowhere near the writing (and panel art) being on the wall for comic books just yet.


Chris Power 09 November 06
Great British Comics by Paul Gravett and Peter Stanbury, out now published by Aurum Press.

 comments
Read members' comments related to this interview.
comics post 1
comment by rowan    Dec 3, 2007
Paul Gravett's going to be on The One Show tomorrow for thos comic fans out there - http://www.bbc.co.uk/theoneshow/...
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