Albion

It's a fun read if you know your classic British comic characters, as I do having grien up with them. If you don't I would imagine it's confusing.

This is a close as We have seen in a long time to Moore back on form.

Modern version of 1960's comic-book heroes. I much prefer the original plots, and the original artwork.

cover artwork fooled me, interior atwork such a shame. writing was great, concept was great, but the artwork let me down to the point i found it very hard to read.

genius and boys own astounding stories

Been meaning to review this for some time. "Albion" was something I, and I suspect quite a few other people, had long been waiting for. It did leave me with mixed feelings. I agree that the artwork leaves a lot to be desired, and the plot didn't enthuse me much either - Penny and Danny seemed to pull things off far too easily,without much sense of danger and adversity. However, it was worth it just to see all your old friends again. It's true that the genre is most likely to appeal to those of a certain age who read the comics when they were kids, and Valiant etcetera were perhaps never quite in the top rank along with Eagle, Beano and the like. But if its reworking for the contemporary age, on slightly more realistic lines (it's a bit disorientating when the characters swear!) does it a favour and makes it a bit more acceptable. I liked the whole concept; potentially it could revive the franchise for a whole new generation of readers, if handled properly in future. The fact there hasn't yet been a sequel - you will gather that I think there should be - suggests the opportunity so far hasn't been taken. A shame because although flawed "Albion" nonetheless serves as a foundation on which something good could be built, the faults evident in the original being rectified, if there was the will. Only other comment: there were one or two characters I would have liked to see again but didn't (I expect we were all wondering which of the old favourites would appear next). The spirit behind the piece seems to be 60s nostalgia, with which there's nothing wrong in itself, but it shouldn't be forgotten that Valiant and Lion carried on into the early- to mid-70s and it is essentially from this period that I remember then. Where were Yellowknife and Kid Pharaoh (of course the first would need quite a bit of rejigging, as nowadays he isn't quite PC...)

Albion is a good bit of nostalgic comic book fun with some characters reimagined and reinterpreted using a varied set of classic comic book styles. The plot isn't particularly inspiring, but the intent is clearly to reintroduce people to a range of 50s and 60s British comic book characters.The real problem I see is the lack of market for this comic. The majority of the people who can remember these characters will be in their forties and fifties and less likely to buy comics. People like me, who read many of the comics of their parents, aunts and uncles will be in their thirties. I can't see the generation after me (the main comic buyers) to relate to the characters, especially Captain Hurricane, which I thought was getting on a bit even when I read them 25 years ago..If you read Victor, Valiant, Lion, Buster, Whizzer and Chips, Beano and Dandy (comics aimed at girls are poorly represented in Albion, which is a great pity) you'll probably enjoy this. If your upbringing in comics has been predominantly more modern I don't see the point.

What is all the moaning about? This is a really gripping re-imagining of British comics heroes and anti-heroes. I don't begrudge Leah and Alan Moore for re-working the characters of the 1950s and 60s. They are somewhat "before the time" of his likely audience, and people are always interested in what came "just before" their own youth, and also in culturally re-imagining it. I guess it helps if a reader is the right age to "just vaguely remember" the original characters. The story makes these characters into grimly fascinating anti-heroes, drawing out things that were latent but not stated in the originals. I found the story gripping and satisfying - and who cares if it "puts off" American readers from 1960s British comics? Were they every really likely to read them anyway?