It took me a while to figure out how I could share my
love of Alan Class’s wonderful vintage comics, Creepy Worlds, Astounding Stories and all the rest. How could I put
them in my novels in an interesting, entertaining way? I struggled for a while but
eventually hit on a really simple solution – give the characters in the novels their
own comics to read and enjoy! Theirs would be based on the real ones I had read,
with the same kind of brilliant stories, cover art and interplay of speculation
and retro.
And then I realised these comics could do more than that –
provide tantalising clues for my readers about what was going on in the novel. They
could become ‘stories within stories’ and actually become mixed in with the
unfolding action. So you could have different layers of interplays between the
reader, characters and the comics. This would also give a post-modern nod, a
wink to the reader saying, ‘This is artificial. We know it’s artificial. But,
hey, let’s enjoy the ride!’
Oh, and while researching Alan’s comics, I also made a
surprising discovery – there was a whole world of British comics too from the
1940s and 50s which I didn’t even know about! I knew about Eagle but there
was a whole universe of other comics like Oh Boy!,
Valiant and Thrill. And plenty of wonderful characters too like the
multi-talented Gail Garrity and amazing Kronos the Egyptian. So I decided to give
these long-forgotten Brit superheroes guest appearances in my novels.
So how did it all these work out in the end? Well, in the final instalment I’ll post some
extracts so and you can decide for yourself. After all, the reader is the best
judge.
Now where’s my tie with Kronos hand painted on it…?
www.internationalhero.co.uk/e/erauk.htm
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