BLAISE AND BOND

Old Forum Fella · Post by **Old Forum Fella** » 27 Feb 2006, 01:02

Those of you who regret the lack of UK adventure strips, do you buy the Modesty Blaise and James Bond collections that Titan Books have been publishing regularly for the past couple of years?

These are excellent softback books, published quarterly (four of each a year) and feature some of the finest comic strips ever produced in this country.

The reason I ask is that I feel newspaper strip collections are often overlooked when some discuss comics.

Originally posted by Lew Stringer on the old forum on 20/1/2006

Old Forum Fella · Post by **Old Forum Fella** » 27 Feb 2006, 01:02

These were great strips back in the 60's, Lew, and I still think they're great! Modesty Blaise may well be my own favourite, and these reprints repay anybody's outlay.

Originally posted by Anonymous on the old forum on 20/1/2006

Old Forum Fella · Post by **Old Forum Fella** » 27 Feb 2006, 01:03

Yes, the newspaper adventure strip is sadly a lost art now in the UK, pretty much. These are comics aimed at adults long before the rise of the graphic novel.

They're also excellent social documents of the times they were drawn in, by being accurate illustated reference for the environment of the Sixties/Seventies.

I keep hearing that "comic readers are more sophisticated these days" but when you look back at those old strips they don't "decompress" the storytelling like some modern "graphic novels" do. The sequential art in Blaise and Bond is tightly paced; the creators know they're doing comics, not storyboarding a movie like some creators today think.

Originally posted by Lew Stringer on the old forum on 21/1/2006

Old Forum Fella · Post by **Old Forum Fella** » 27 Feb 2006, 01:03

Totaly agree Lew I'm a big fan of Newspaper strips (UK and USA) altho' in all honesty Bond & Blaise were never favs of mine (unlike Sydney Jordan/Lance McLean etc) but UK produced such classics humour and adventure shame they never get the respect they do overseas (Ie Italy USA etc)

Originally posted by Paul Mcscotty on the old forum on 22/1/2006

Old Forum Fella · Post by **Old Forum Fella** » 27 Feb 2006, 01:03

Yeah, Modesty Blaise books have been published in Norway for years so it's good to see a series of them finally appear in their country of origin.

Personally, I'd like to see a series of pre-Bellamy Garth books (I was never a fan of Bellamy's version), and a collection of The Flutters (a Daily Mirror strip hardly anyone seems to remember) but it'll never happen.

Originally posted by Lew Stringer on the old forum on 22/1/2006

Old Forum Fella · Post by **Old Forum Fella** » 27 Feb 2006, 01:04

Going into rant mode here. The Daily Mirror used to have an excellent range of strips ( ah yes, I remember the Flutters, Lew) and a good gag cartoon column. Now, most of the valuable available space is taken up with the totally ( to my mind) inconsequential Scorer.
Moan grumble, I can remember when this was all fields...etc. etc.

Originally posted by Brendan McGuire on the old forum on 22/1/2006

Old Forum Fella · Post by **Old Forum Fella** » 27 Feb 2006, 01:05

Sadly, newspapers don't see strips as being as important as they once were. Compare the current situation to the Daily Mirror of the WW2 years, when strips took up an eighth of the paper! (Okay, it was one page out of only the 8 that the Mirror had then but it was still quite a commitment).

Originally posted by Lew Stringer on the old forum on 22/1/2006

Old Forum Fella · Post by **Old Forum Fella** » 27 Feb 2006, 01:06

Hello Lew, you may be interested to know there is a limited members club reprinting the old British newspaper strips. If you'd like details please reply to me directly. These strips run from 1937-1976, currently about 75 titles; membership tends to be mainly people connected with the comic industry. best wishes, Dave deathbycelery@hotmail.com

Originally posted by Dave on the old forum on 20/1/2006