The Tower King!

Catching up with reading led me to The Tower King, an exciting black and white reprint comic I'd picked up at Enniskillen Comic Festival a couple of years ago - yes I can be that slow!

This was the second edition of an authorised limited reprint from Hibernia Press, reprinting a complete story from the instalments first serialised in the New Eagle #1 to 24 back in 1982. This was a comic’s void period for me after leaving school the year before and having dropped comics as 'childish' as you did back then. I think I picked up the occasional Marvel Conan magazine around that time as, with its sword 'n' sorcery violence and sexual content it was at least considered for mature readers! Other than that though, comics passed me by for almost the whole decade, meaning I missed out on the period when comics grew up! So much of what was published back then remains unknown or new to me, such as The Tower King, a comic arguably more violent and gloomy than the Conan stories I was reading!

I think it was an online mention just before the Comic Fest by the very talented Leigh Gallagher, 2000AD artist on how the Tower King's Jose Ortiz had influenced his art that led me to seek out the issue at the event, that and the fact that the story's writer, Alan Hebden was also going to be in attendance for a rare convention appearance.

As it happened, although the one day event was hugely enjoyable I didn't get a chance to speak to Alan, (or sadly another attending legend, Carloz Ezquerra). I was exhibiting on my own and in the rare time away from the table couldn't commit to standing in line to patiently wait my turn, such are the joys of juggling creating and fandom - don't feel too sorry for me though, my table neighbours were the wonderful Cam and Isobel Kennedy who I was honoured to have a fun wee banter with.

In any case, having not at that time read The Tower King or recalling any of Alan Hebden's countless other comic stories for the then crowded British weekly comics market, I didn't feel too bad about that - in my defence, many of his earlier comic scripts were uncredited and having discovered Marvel comics around 1976, I'd largely moved away from British comics.

Anyhow, now finally reading the whole Tower King story, I can only say that it was my teenage loss; it's a great visceral frantically paced tale. Crammed into punchy 3 page instalments, it's tight script gallops along with no let up as our titular hero plunges from one death defying encounter to another, exploring the anarchic landscape of a London (and World, although we don't venture that far) left without electricity or government control.

Jose Ortiz's artwork is breath-taking, more than keeping up with the frenetic pace as danger and action explode off the page with countless groups of characters and ravagers rapidly introduced and overcome without drawing breath!

The pace is both the episodic story's boon and Achilles heel as, enjoyable as the whole experience is, it leaves no time for only the most basic of back story and characterisation, before coming to a rather abrupt end. But sometimes that is enough and perhaps like the Mad Max Fury Road movie, it's simply a case of going with the flow and enjoying the ride. I'm certainly glad I did, even if it took me a while to get there!

Hibernia's online store doesn't list any copies so probably ebay is your best bet of tracking a copy down or the original Eagle issues themselves? It's possible that the story could be collected by Rebellion under their fine Treasury of British Comics reprint programme, but the reprint credits the Dan Dare Corporation, so I don't know if that would impact on the rights?