This arrived today, as part of the offer that apparently results in me getting a lot more concs than I bargained for. I may have squealed a bit with delight when I saw it on the mat.
Now, i don't like football and I never have. Even as a kid it never interested me in any way at all. As a result of this, I've never bought an issue of Roy of the Rovers in my life. Actually, that may be a slight lie, as I seem to remember a special (which may have been Tiger now I come to think about it) concentrating on a Red Indian Wrestler, or something- and that may have had some Roy Race in it
Can't remember, but the point is I've not knowingly bought the comic, ever, and even my usual desire to "support the industry" hasn't made me pick up any of Rebellion's rebooted graphic novels. Because, you know, football.
I dont want to make this a long post- but let me say this very clearly: this Special is magnificent. Not only does it contain two frankly rather excellent new comic strips, which I will talk about in a sec, but also two very funny Ken Reid one-pagers, a text story that I didnt think I'd read but then did and enjoyed immensely, three brief Q&A interviews (with writer Rob William's, novelist Tom Palmer and classic RotR artist David Sque) and an overview of the character's career playing for the national team, which gloriously never comments on his absurdly long life as a professional footballer). Throughout, its richly illustrated with covers and panels from classic issues- and the upshot of all that was I very much want to read those stories now. Good job there's an ad for the collected 'Best of the 50s/ 60s/ 70s' volumes so I know where to find them. And I think I will.
But the real standout aspect, for me, was the way in which the current coronavirus is referenced throughout. It drives the stories (and makes the text piece unexpectedly poignant). Is this the first time the current situation has been used in a piece of contemporary fiction, excluding last night's first Emmerdale lockdown episode?
And it immediately altered my expectation of the strips. The first page of the main strip especially- with its cranes on the skyline, low angles and destroyed building in the background (the club ground?) As the characters talk about "lockdown" and "travel restrictions" is more like some dystopian Action strip from the seventies than what I had assumed this Summer Special would be.
The scripts, for both stories, is clever and at times melancholic, and had no trouble maintaining my interest despite, as I may have mentioned, my disinterest in the sport. The art, by Elkys Nova, John Charles & Lindemburgh Mendes (on Euro Adventure) and David Sque (on Old School) is fun and clean and at times quite beautiful. Our own Jim Campbell provides letters throughout, and as is usual, they are unobtrusive and give that extra flow to the story.
A complete surprise,then, all told. At £4.99 I'd say it was worth a punt of anyone's money. Even if you dont like football. Oddly perhaps most of all, it stands as a commemoration of this global pandemic and its affect on us all.
And yes, I will now buy the back issues of this reboot. Damn you Rebellion.
SBT
