Revolver (comics)

Revolver is the title of a short-lived British comic book magazine published by Fleetway Publications in the early 1990s. Founded by Steve MacManus and edited by Peter Hogan, Revolver was a spin-off from 2000AD.[1] Revolver attempted to take advantage of the 1960s revival which was sweeping British culture in the early 1990s, including the explosion of the British music scene at the time.[2]

For the 2010 graphic novel, see Revolver (DC Comics).
Revolver
Cover of Revolver # 2 (August 1990). Art by Brendan McCarthy.
Publication information
PublisherFleetway Publications
ScheduleMonthly
Publication dateJuly 1990 - January 1991
No. of issues7, plus 2 specials
Main character(s)Jimi Hendrix, Dan Dare
Creative team
Written byPeter Milligan, Grant Morrison, Julie Hollings, Paul Neary, Charles Shaar Murray, Shaky Kane, Igor Goldkind, Ian Edginton, Gary Pleece
Artist(s)Brendan McCarthy, Rian Hughes, Julie Hollings, Steve Parkhouse, Floyd Hughes, Shaky Kane, Phil Winslade, D'Israeli. Warren Pleece, Al Davison
Editor(s)Peter Hogan, Frank Wynne

The title of the magazine referred to its revolving, diverse content;[1] it also alluded to the Beatles' album of the same name.

Revolver gained a small following, but not enough for it to last beyond its seventh issue. It was given the 1991 UK Comic Art Award for Best New Publication.[3]

Publication history

Revolver was published between July 1990 and January 1991, lasting for seven regular issues and two specials. After it was canceled,[4] some sources blamed the magazine's poor sales on it being labeled "Mature Content," and thus being sold on newsstands next to men's magazines.[5] Two of its stories were concluded in another Fleetway publication, Crisis. (Crisis itself folded a few months later.)[6]

The magazine's letters page was called "The Whole Wide Whirl."

Contents

Revolver featured a wide range of graphic styles and contributors, everything from a surreal inside-the-mind-of Jimi Hendrix storyline (Purple Days), a psychedelic superhero in the form of Peter Milligan and Brendan McCarthy's Rogan Gosh, distorted caricatures in Pinhead Nation (Shaky Kane), plus Happenstance and Kismet (Paul Neary and Steve Parkhouse), student-house antics in Dire Streets (Julie Hollings), as well as the resurrection of Dan Dare, this time in a story called simply Dare. In Dare, writer Grant Morrison and artist Rian Hughes gave a new interpretation to the original Eagle character in a political story, setting Dan Dare against a thinly veiled caricature of the Thatcher government.

Two Revolver Specials were also published, a Revolver Horror Special (including some material by Neil Gaiman and Mark Buckingham) around Halloween 1990, and a Revolver Romance Special in March 1991, two months after the cancellation of Revolver itself.

After Revolver's cancellation, Dare and Happenstance and Kismet were completed in the pages of Crisis. Dare was collected into a four-issue limited series in 1992 by Fantagraphics. Rogan Gosh was compiled into a collected edition in 1994 by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics.

List of stories
Storyline Issues numbers Total pages (in Revolver) Script Art
Purple Days1–772Charles Shaar MurrayFloyd Hughes
Dare1–7 (concluded in Crisis #56)63Grant MorrisonRian Hughes
Happenstance and Kismet1–7 (continued in Crisis #56–61)36Paul NearySteve Parkhouse
Rogan Gosh1-648Peter MilliganBrendan McCarthy
Pinhead Nation1–612Shaky KaneShaky Kane
Dire Streets1-3, 5-632Julie HollingsJulie Hollings
Nine Inches to the Mile13Igor GoldkindPhil Winslade
God's Little Acre23Ian EdgintonD'Israeli
Plug Into Jesus49Gary PleeceWarren Pleece
The Crossing42traditionalAl Davison

See also

References

Notes
  1. Greg S. Baisden, Jean-Paul Jennequin, Jacques Dutrey, Nick Hasted, and Brad Brooks. "NEWSWATCH International: All Change at Fleetway," The Comics Journal #130 (July 1989), p. 45.
  2. Hasted, Nick. "British Market Frustrating for Women Cartoonists," The Comics Journal #148 (Feb. 1992), p. 33.
  3. "British Awards Announced," The Comics Journal #142 (June 1991), p. 17.
  4. "New Comics News," The Comics Journal #141 (Feb. 1991), p. 26.
  5. "Mature Comics Struggle to Survive in Britain," The Comics Journal #146 (Apr. 1991), p. 19.
  6. "Crisis Folds, Fleetway Merges," The Comics Journal #146 (Nov. 1991), p. 22.

Sources consulted
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