Another Hibernia Comic Archive literally bursting out of its seams and it’s a corker!

This 92 page tome takes a look at an amazing amount of commissioned comic material that didn’t see the light of day or appeared elsewhere but not for the comic it was originally intended for. Some of it I was already familiar with and some was all news to me, including Fantastic Adventures by David Lloyd following his stint on Warrior.

The story of Derek Lord quest to launch a new Eagle made me quite sad as the material looked quite strong for its time and most never made it to print.

Glory Glory, which ComicScene covered in great detail in our own magazine, covers the excesses and mistakes made in U.K. comics during the 80’s (in fact there are a few stories of woe throughout) but at least some of the material reappeared in Roy of the Rovers Monthly (including some artists whose work appeared in my own zine Atomic and reprinted in the 2019 ComicScene Annual!)

A really insightful interview with Robert Nixon from 1981 was a joy to read and manga influenced comics, including a rarely seen Judge Dredd, was very interesting with creators way ahead of popular culture falling at the first hurdle.

Most of the stories about Revolver, Xpresso, Crisis and Zarjaz I am aware of as I absorbed all aspects of comic culture at the time (and of course we recently reprinted the 2000AD AKA Tapes from the 80’s with stories of Zarjaz when it was still a sore point and not a distant memory). I was slightly shocked about the sales of Deadline, considering how revered it was by the comic and media at the time. The moral of the story being don’t believe the hype I guess! I thoroughly enjoyed the article and enjoyed artwork I’d never seen. Hibernia publications have a tendency to pull these nuggets out of the air which shows the time and dedication put into the magazines by David MacDonald.

The secret behind Vanyo and Gerry Finlay Day being a man of few words (but we get the point) rounds off our journey into Fantastic Adventures. It’s a great trip and one I’d advise you to take.

You can get it from here. If you like comic history don’t forget our own History of Comics 1930-2030 Partwork. You can pledge on Kickstarter here