British Update: Collected Editions – Leopard From Lime Street, Garth, Trigan Empire, June & School Friend
*Collected Editions: Four more entries for this popular category gathering up strips of years agone; we open with the 1975 Daily Mirror Book of Garth, which reproduced the epic science-fiction strip featuring superlative artwork from Frank Bellamy, one of the acknowledged masters of the medium. Although not the first Garth collection, we believe this to be the first full-size reprint of Bellamy Garth stories, in VG/FN softcover album form at £25. Next up, the Best of June & School Friend, a 2007 nostalgic compilation from Prion remembering the late and much-beloved weekly, with features, fashions and of course comic strips – ‘Lucky’s Living Doll’ and ‘Vanessa from Venus’ prominent among them! NM at £6. Our next spot (ahem) is taken by Rebellion’s release, The Leopard From Lime Street: young man bitten by a radioactive critter, gains powers, fights crime, has an ailing aunt and works part-time as a newspaper photographer… Hmm, does this sound oddly familiar? Well, despite any (coincidental, we’re sure) similarities, Tom Tully’s scripts caught the imagination of Buster’s readers, and with the artistic talents of Mike Western and Eric Bradbury, the series ran for almost a decade. This first in what we hope will be a series of albums is brand new at £15. Finally, the 1978 Hamlyn edition of The Trigan Empire, an attractive hardcover which was the first collection of the epic science-fiction strip by Mike Butterworth and Don Lawrence from Look & Learn weekly. This copy is VG+ at £35.