Albion is a six-issue comic book limited series plotted by Alan Moore, written by his daughter Leah Moore and her husband John Reppion, with covers by Dave Gibbons and art by Shane Oakley and George Freeman. The series aimed to revive classic IPC-owned British comics characters, all of whom appeared in comics published by Odhams Press and Amalgamated Press/Fleetway Publications/IPC Media during the 1960s and early 1970s, such as Smash!, Valiant, and Lion.
Creation As a result of a deal forged by vice-president Bob Wayne of DC Comics and publishing director Andrew Sumner of IPC Media. Sumner described himself as a life-long fan of the characters. It was published through DC Comics' WildStorm imprint. In an interview with The Independent, Sumner noted that "These are characters who have been talked about by UK comic fans for the last 30 years since they ceased publication. They were a fundamental part of every British male's childhood in the Sixties". In an interview with Newsarama, Leah Moore noted that producing the series was made easier by Sumner being in contact with Wayne when the series was first pitched by Alan Moore and Shane Oakley. Her father had already plotted the issues when she and John Reppion began writing the stories, and subsequently proofed the dialogue. Alan Moore had hoped to write the series entirely but was busy with his work for America's Best Comics. Leah Moore also noted that the website International Hero was a source of research for the series.
Publication history Debuting with a cover date of August 2005, the first two issues were released monthly, with the third issue delayed two months – Moore & Reppion cited scheduling as impacting the art productionMoore & Reppion writing at Th3rdworld.com, January 22, 2006 . Accessed 4 May 2008), while Oakley suggested ongoing copyright issues were a factor. Initially solicited release between October 2005 and January 2006, issues 4–6 were subsequently resolicited, and finally released throughout 2006, with cover dates between June and November. The TPB collection followed swiftly after No. 6 was released in both the US and UK, from WildStorm and Titan Books respectively.ComicBookDb: Albion . Accessed 4 May 2008 Sumner felt the delays impacted the series' sales.
Synopsis The British superhero scene becomes embarrassing to the government. As a result, they hire criminal turned crimefighter the Spider to hunt and capture them. He achieves almost total success and the various superhumans are imprisoned in a castle in Scotland, requisitioned from the comatose Cursitor Doom by the Ministry of Defence. Their existence is covered up and the comics based on them are passed off as fictional works.
Decades later Danny is an unemployed orphan; his parents were killed in a bus crash. He has no memory of his life before the accident and has found solace in comics. Danny buys old back issues from a Liverpool antiques store ran by the dour Charles Love, and is confused when he finds an issue of Valiant featuring Janus Stark which he didn't think existed. Later on television, he sees a news item on criminal Grymleigh Gartside Fiendstien. Recognising him as Grimly Feendish from the pages of Smash!, he calls out the name outside court as he is taken to prison and is grabbed by Penny.
Penny takes him to a lock-up where she has been gathering information on the cover-up, including suppressed interviews with creators about meeting the real heroes and footage showing that Margaret Thatcher survived an IRA bombing due to wearing the Eye of Zoltec. Penny claims to be the daughter of the imprisoned Eric Dolmann and is in possession of some of her father's robots. Danny is initially sceptical until she takes him to the basement of a pub in Manchester, where Robot Archie is on display. Danny takes her to the antique shop, where Penny instantly recognises the proprietor as the time-travelling Victorian thief Charlie Peace. He is initially hostile until they make a deal – if Peace helps them rescue Eric and the other heroes, he will be able to loot the exotic technology held at the castle. Penny repairs Archie and the group sets off, travelling to Scotland on the Buoyant Queen thanks to Peace's connections.
The prison is overseen by Ian Eagleton, previously the archenemy of Feendish. Due to growing American concern over the dangers nature of the prisoners CIA Agent Zip Nolan has arrived to inspect the castle. Eagleton takes Nolan on a tour of the facility, and Nolan is shocked by the low level of security, including the degree of freedom given to supercomputer The Brain and dogsbody Faceache. Nolan meets several other inmates including Rubberman (kept at low temperatures to inhibit his powers after an escape attempt), Captain Hurricane (a psychotic, sedated World War II supersoldier who functions as the last resort to combat escapees) and the Spider. The latter largely engages in mind games, infuriating Nolan.
Arriving at the castle, Peace uses a Sapper to drill into the vault under the prison containing the technology captured along with the superhumans along with Danny and Penny. To provide a distraction a heavily modified Robot Archie storms the front gates. The trio begin releasing the prisoners but Penny finds out from Louis Crandell and Tim Kelly that her father died of a heart attack some years beforehand. Danny meanwhile is accosted by Cursitor Doom, long comatose until the break-in. He explains that he is actually his son, Danny Doom, and passes on his memory and the revelation that the castle is actually the Dooms' ancestral seat Castle Baalskein. Archie is finally destroyed by prison security but the prisoners – apart from the Spider – are now free and armed. Eagleton is attacked by Feendish, while Captain Hurricane is unleashed to restore order. However he is stomped by the reactivated Mytek, which then smashes down a wall and allows the prisoners out into the world. Nolan attempts to secure the Spider, only to find he was piloting Mytek, his place being taken by Faceache in return for the chance to reunite with his beloved Martha. Mytek goes out to sea with the Spider at the controls while the rest of the freed heroes escape on the Queen, wondering what their next move will be.
In an epilogue the Steel Claw infiltrates 10 Downing Street and confronts Tony and Cherie Blair to take back the Eye of Zoltec for his friend.
Art and composition Using a similar narrative device to that which Alan Moore employed in Supreme and Tom Strong, flashbacks are related in the style of comics of yesteryear. For example, a flashback to Penny's childhood is drawn in a style similar to Leo Baxendale's work, while a two-page pastiche of The Incredible Adventures of Janus Stark resembles the artwork of Francisco Solano López. Reppion felt this was an effective narrative tool. The series also features appearances by numerous Amalgamated Press/Fleetway/IPC characters, as well as other British pop culture sources, and also features cameos by some real-life creators such as Rod McKie and Steve Moore.
Characters Danny: a scruffy young collector of old British comics who was apparently orphaned in a bus accident that robbed him of all memory of his previous life. He is dragged into Penny's attempt to infiltrate the castle in Scotland, and during the break-in discovers he is actually Danny Doom, the son of sorcerer Cursitor Doom. The original Danny Doom appeared in Valiant in 1974. Penny Dolmann: the daughter of inventor Eric Dolmann, as a child she loved to get in trouble and play with her father's robots. She was put into foster care after her father was arrested by the government and had a very difficult time in school. She has inherited his inventive genius, and has been locating his missing "dolls" since she was 18. Looking for allies she talks Danny into helping her assault the castle in Scotland. After discovering her father has died during imprisonment she decides to continue his legacy and restore the House of Dolmann. The character debuted in Bad Penny, created by Leo Baxendale for Smash! in 1966, though the character's relation to Dolmann was invented for Albion. Charlie Peace: a Victorian thief who travelled forward in time to the 1970s when he stole a magical watch from Cursitor Doom. After evading the government crackdown he set up a music shop in Liverpool under the alias "Charles Love" and later took over an antique store. He is eventually talked into helping Danny and Penny break into the prison. The character was taken from The Astounding Adventures of Charlie Peace in Buster – itself inspired by the real-life Victorian criminal Charles Peace. Robot Archie: An old-fashioned heroic mechanical man who was deactivated and served as a display in a Manchester pub until, Penny and Danny rescue and reactivate him. Fitted with armaments, he provides a distraction during the break-in and is eventually destroyed. The character first appeared in Lion in 1952, and was created by Ted Cowan and Ted Kearon. Ian Eagleton: as a child, Eagleton had many encounters with his nemesis Grimly Feendish, who terrified him. As an adult, he is the warden of the government prison that holds the heroes, villains, and other bizarre individuals from his youth. Despite his attempts to demonstrate otherwise he still suffers considerable trauma from his encounters with Feendish. The character was created by Baxendale in 1964 for the Eagle Eye, Private Spy strip in Wham!. Zip Nolan: once an American police detective who served in both Korea and Vietnam, he is now a member of the CIA who is investigating potential problems in the castle. He is particularly interested in the Spider due to his criminal career in America. The character first appeared in Lion in 1963 in Zip Nolan, which was later overhauled as Spot the Clue with Zip Nolan. Captain Hurricane: a huge, muscular World War II hero who is the final line of defence in the government prison. He has an old-fashioned style about him; he uses quaint phrases and is casually racist. His origin is revised in Albion, with Captain Hurricane the result of hundreds of experiments to create a supersoldier through the use of drugs. His batman 'Maggot' Malone is a medical doctor monitoring his condition and dosing the Captain's tea with sedatives, to prevent him from going into one of his terrifying psychotic "ragin' furies". The characters had been devised for Valiant in 1962. The Brain: a computer in the shape of a human head with a skull-like face and transparent cranium, the Brain is an "inmate" in the government prison who has become integrated with the prison computer systems and predicts an upcoming disaster. The computer had originally appeared in Brian's Brain as the property of a boy named Brian Kingsley in a strip devised by Bert Vandeput for Smash! in 1966. Cursitor Doom: a seemingly immortal sorcerer cursed to remain forever within the walls of his isolated castle who has been in a coma for the past "twenty-something years", a condition which allowed the government to convert his ancient home into a prison. He reawakens during the break-in and passes the Doom mantle to his son Danny before passing on. The character was created for Smash! in 1969.