Roy of the Rovers back in time for World Cup

(Via Lew Stringer and others): Egmont is joining in with the World Cup mania gripping the UK with the release of a 52-page full colour comic, All About Roy of the Rovers, which joins Titan Books fab new Roy collection as a couple of ace football goodies now on sale.

The publication is the latest of Egmont's regular All About... series, which are normally feature-driven so this Roy of the Rovers special is something of a novelty.

Lew Stringer reports there are five comic strips in all over on his ace Blimey! It's Another Blog About Comics blog, selecting material from the late 1970s to the 1990s. The issue kicks off with eight consecutive parts of a 1978 Roy of the Rovers story concerning Roy Race forming an England squad that includes real-life 1970s footballer Trevor Francis and, in a rare UK comics crossover, Nipper Lawrence (from Tiger's long running Nipper strip). The art is by David Sque, now the artist on the Mirror's Scorer strip. (David drew the Roy of the Rovers story from January 1975 to August 1986).

Two other Roy of the Rovers stories are included which, at eight pages in length each, possibly from old annuals or specials; a four part Goalmouth story by Tom Tully and John Cooper; and a four page Andy Steel Playmaker story by H.Manning and G. Marchetti.

"Football isn't really my thing and I hardly followed the old Roy of the Rovers comic at all but this is a very nice collection of strips," Lew enthuses. "The format is glossier than the Egmont Classic Comics of last year and I'm pleased to see the strips are more complete rather than the open-ended choices of those Classic specials."

Titan Books also have an ace Roy of the Rovers: World Cup Special out now - which includes work by the great artist Joe Coloqhoun, who's perhaps better known these days for his stunning art on strips such as Charley's War and the early Johnny Red strips. This lovingly put together title - hats off to series editor David Leach for another gem! - includes stories from four different decades as Roy Race strives to help England to relive the past glories of the 1966 World Cup.

Whether it's leading the British B team, or taking part in qualifiers, Roy was always at the forefront. The story of Roy's trials and tribulations in Australia, pitted against increasingly violent opponents both on and off the field, is simply priceless!

Back at Egmont, the latest issue of TOXIC continues the World Cup theme with a selection of World Cup Funnies alongside the usual assortment of strips and daft features. That's on sale now and comes with three free gifts.


• All About Roy of the Rovers is £3.99 and will be on sale from 16th June to 13th July.

• Read a 2006 interview with David Sque about his work on Roy of the Rovers and more. (Part 2 here)

• The Official Roy of the Rovers website