Comic Heroes Magazine Revives Classic Comic Book Characters


Sometimes, characters fall through the cracks and are forgotten. It takes something special to bring them back to life in all new stories. Fortunately for some heroes, a group of classic British comic book characters have been brought back to life with their first stories in decades being published in the magazine Comic Heroes. The Glasgow League of Writers (GLoW) has teamed up with revered publisher DC Thomson to create new versions of some of their most beloved characters to appeal to modern comic book readers. For most on the roster of updated characters it will be the first time they’ve been in print in decades when the series debuts on the 14th of March in Comic Heroes’ digital magazine Comic Review.


“‘Project Lazarus’, as we’ve named the project in recognition of the resurrection of many characters thought of as dead, came from an idle daydream on a train when I had an idea for a story for the old DC Thomson character The Smasher," said GLoW’s founder Gordon Robertson. "DC Thomson has such a varied and rich universe with characters like General Jumbo, Johnny Jett, The Supercats, my beloved Smasher and many more. They’re quintessentially British characters that were unique and didn’t deserve to remain forgotten and so I suggested to other GLoW members that we write stories for these characters to see if we could ‘reboot’ them."

With their scripts being given the green light by DC Thomson the members of GLoW were able to team up with some of the best up-and-coming artists from the UK to bring the new versions of the characters to life on the page. The finished versions of the comic book strips caught the attention of Future Publishing’s Comic Heroes magazine and they will be publishing one strip a week in their digital magazine off-shoot Comic Review starting with Invisible on Friday 14th March.

“We have some amazing teams working on the project and I honestly believe that we not only do the originals justice but that we make them modern and relevant as well," said Robertson. "That the characters work so well in a modern setting is a testament to the work of the original creators and the strength of their creations.”

The full list of strips that will be published:

The Smasher by Robertson (writer) and Cuttlefish (artist)
General Jumbo by Gordon Mclean (writer) and Andrew Docherty (artist)
Invisible by Gary Chudleigh (writer) and Graeme Kennedy (artist)
Johnny Jett by Luke Halsall (writer) and John Grieve (artist)
Supercats by J T Mirana (writer) and Fanny Bystedt (artist)
Scarlet Star by Sam Read (writer) and Leonie O’Moore (artist)

Full press release below.
A New Future for Old Heroes: Classic Comic Book Characters 
Returning to the Page in Comic Heroes Magazine
  
A group of classic British comic book characters have been brought back to life with their first stories in decades being published in the magazine Comic Heroes.

The Glasgow League of Writers (GLoW) has teamed up with revered publisher DC Thomson to create new versions of some of their most beloved characters to appeal to modern comic book readers. For most on the roster of updated characters it will be the first time they’ve been in print in decades when the series debuts on the 14th of March in Comic Heroes’ digital magazine Comic Review.

GLoW’s founder Gordon Robertson was the one who first approached DC Thomson with the idea of reinventing some of their characters. He said, “‘Project Lazarus’, as we’ve named the project in recognition of the resurrection of many characters thought of as dead, came from an idle daydream on a train when I had an idea for a story for the old DC Thomson character The Smasher.

“DC Thomson has such a varied and rich universe with characters like General Jumbo, Johnny Jett, The Supercats, my beloved Smasher and many more. They’re quintessentially British characters that were unique and didn’t deserve to remain forgotten and so I suggested to other GLoW members that we write stories for these characters to see if we could ‘reboot’ them.

“We did, and the quality of the stories that we told led us to take a chance and speak to DC Thomson. Luckily they agreed with us and gave us permission to bring the characters back to life.”

With their scripts being given the green light by DC Thomson the members of GLoW were able to team up with some of the best up-and-coming artists from the UK to bring the new versions of the characters to life on the page.

Gordon Robertson: “We have some amazing teams working on the project and I honestly believe that we not only do the originals justice but that we make them modern and relevant as well. That the characters work so well in a modern setting is a testament to the work of the original creators and the strength of their creations.”

The finished versions of the comic book strips caught the attention of Future Publishing’s Comic Heroes magazine and they will be publishing one strip a week in their digital magazine off-shoot Comic Review starting with Invisible on Friday 14th March.

Gordon Roberston: “For the future, we hope that this is only the beginning and that our creations go on to long and fruitful lives in the pages of comics around the world.”

Full list of strips that will be published:

The Smasher by Gordon Robertson (writer) and Cuttlefish (artist)
General Jumbo by Gordon Mclean (writer) and Andrew Docherty (artist)
Invisible by Gary Chudleigh (writer) and Graeme Kennedy (artist)
Johnny Jett by Luke Halsall (writer) and John Grieve (artist)
Supercats by J T Mirana (writer) and Fanny Bystedt (artist)
Scarlet Star by Sam Read (writer) and Leonie O’Moore (artist)

Additional quotes:

Gordon Mclean, writer of General Jumbo: “These characters were simply far too good to be left lying in the past as part of comics history. With a little tinkering they fit the modern era beautifully and there’s still so many things you could do with them and brand new stories to tell. Many of them are beloved childhood favourites and their acknowledged influence on such big name industry stars as Grant Morrison just goes to show how important they are to the British comic book industry.”

JT Mirana, writer of Supercats: “I'm excited to be writing characters I love, with a history in British comics, and with so much potential to grow.”


Gary Chudleigh, writer of Invisible: “I'm thrilled to be part of this project. We get to bring unknown characters to the modern world and shed some light on the rich history of British comics.”

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