Titan scores with Roy of the Rovers

In an extensive deal for worldwide book publishing rights, Titan Books has acquired a licence to publish an exciting range of classic comic strip collections from Egmont UK, in what promises to be the beginning of a winning range of title series, revelling in nostalgia.

The first character that Titan will return to shelves is iconic fictional footballing hero Roy of the Rovers, with the release of a paperback collection, The Best of Roy of the Rovers: The 1980s, in June 2008, followed later in the summer by Roy of the Rovers Archives, the first volume of a series of hardbacks presenting the classic strip chronologically from its beginnings in the weekly sports comic Tiger in the 1950s.

Joining Roy at Titan are the phenomenally popular boys’ war-story comic Battle, the humorous, long-running Buster, and the violent and mid-1970s forerunner to 2000AD, Action!.

Conceived by Pat Mills, Action! was met with censorship controversy on its release and was rapidly diluted amid a storm of protest that included questions in the Houses of Parliament - but was highly influential in its reflection of the changing social and political climate of the time. (There's more about Action! on www.sevenpennynightmare.co.uk)

From within Battle, Titan has plucked some of the top strips for attention – air ace Johnny Red (drawn by Joe Colquhoun’s and John Cooper), the super cool, Bentley-driving Major Eazy, and convicts-cum-commandos, The Rat Pack.

But it’s not all about the boys; for the girls, Titan has also acquired Tammy, the magazine home to classic stories of boarding schools, sinister holiday camps and secret agents, plus fan favourite mystery-horror comic Misty, with stories of alternate dimensions, reincarnation and ghosts, the tone of which was inspired by classic movies such as Carrie, Audrey Rose and Flowers in the Attic.

Covering an impressive range of some of Britain’s best-loved comics and characters, the launch of this deal sees a major new expansion in Titan Books’ line of classic comics collections, which already includes favourites such as James Bond, Modesty Blaise, Dan Dare, Jeff Hawke and Charley’s War.

• More information from www.titanbooks.com
• Buy Titan graphic novels from the downthetubes amazon store
• Visit the official Misty web site