At ComicScene we’ve loved watching the development of the new Roy of the Rovers and it was a delight when the new Summer Special 2020 dropped through our letterbox. We don’t say this lightly. This has to be one of the best comic Summer Specials we have ever read.

Produced to tie in with Euro 2020 this title has had a major re-edit during the Covid-19 crisis and it is both timely and perhaps all the better for it as it seems fresh. modern and relevant.

Twenty (count them) new comic pages from Rob Williams and Elkys Nova takes us on a whistle stop tour around Europe with Roy Race, Lofty Peak, Vic Guthrie, Hot Shot Hamish, Johnny ‘Hard Man’ Dexter, Kevin ‘Mighty’ Mouse, Paco Diaz and a certain Penny Layne (Who? check this out history fans https://comicsflix.org/2017/10/02/penny-race-footballers-wife-before-victoria-beckham/ ). It’s a lot of fun and a wonderful stand alone story that helps us escape our current lockdown.

There’s also a ten page back up strip from Rob and the legendary Roy of the Rovers artist David Sque. A fusion of the old and new Roy of the Rovers art style is on show as is your favourite characters from yesterday year in ‘Old School’. Thanks to the ‘Veteran Super League’ we get to see Hot Shot, Mighty Mouse, Hard Man and Charlie ‘The Cat’ Carter back on the pitch and it’s a delight.

In traditional Summer Special tradition there is a text story from Tom Palmer and a Rocky Race story, reprint material from Ken Reid’s Football Funnies (you may have read our article on these in a recent ComicScene) and feature interviews with the creators and a look back over the career of Roy Race in an England shirt for all you comic history buffs.

The recent Rebellion Specials, of which this is one, have been getting better and better and Team Manager Keith Richardson has won the World Cup with this one. I expect it will fly out the door of newsagents as lockdown eases and hopefully won’t be the last Roy of the Rovers special we see. So good it wins the Golden Boot Award from ComicScene.

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