The event includes plenty of interviews and anecdotes and more about our industry - its successes, its highlights and most importantly, how it continues to succeed and adapt despite the harsh realities of the news stand and declining sales figures.
The range of articles and interviews and there's plenty to stir debate. In his interview for the site, for example, Pat Mills is unequivocal about the reasons for 2000 AD's survival on the British news stand. "[It's] because so many of us who work on it and have worked on it are passionate about it," he argues.
"Over the last ten years it’s had one excellent editor [Matt Smith] - the first one I could ever say that about. He hasn’t tried to turn it into Loaded, Deadline, Warrior, or an American comic clone, or a vehicle for Vertigo-style writer and artists, like some of his predecessors. Just 2000AD. Why do we want to be any of those alternatives?! That’s got to have made a difference.
"And because it had very firm foundations. I had a year to get 2000AD right. I had six weeks to do Action! And I think all of us – creators and readers - like 2000AD in our different ways. So many people in comics didn’t actually like comics and when readers realize this they walk away."
Broken Frontier Managing Editor Andy Oliver, a born and bred Brit, was responsible for putting the event together. He says: "With Brits on Top! we wanted not just to shamelessly wallow in the nostalgia of the golden age of British weekly comics, but also to shine a spotlight on the rich diversity of the contemporary UK comics scene.”
From the great newsagent survivors like The Dandy and the game-changing 2000 AD through to the indie sensibilities of publishers like Blank Slate and Nobrow, this event looks to introduce Broken Frontier’s large international audience to some of the most distinct approaches to the medium to be found in Dear Old Blighty.
“Brits on Top! is both a celebration of our uniquely British comics traditions," says Oliver, "and an opportunity to look forward in eager anticipation to the next chapter in the story of the industry on these shores."
The celebration started with features on publishers Blank Slate, Commando and and interview with 2000 AD's creator Pat Mills. All week long, creators from Mike Carey and Shaky Kane to Bryan Talbot and Rufus Dayglo share their childhood memories about growing up on British comics.
Established in autumn 2002, Broken Frontier quickly built a solid reputation for its extensive, unique, and critical coverage of the comic book industry. Coverage includes headline news, interviews, articles, reviews, columns and blogs. The website covers every corner of the comic book industry, from mainstream to independent publishers, from print and digital publications to film and tv adaptations.
Additionally, Broken Frontier is the publisher of the first digital comic book magazine for mobile devices, The Frontiersman.
Brits on Top: Direct feature Links
• War Papers: The Best of British War Comics
Andy Oliver takes a look at some of the compilations available of classic British war comics.
• Full Metal Mayhem with the ABC Warriors
The ABC Warriors hit the United States full throttle with this new collection of stories by Pat Mills and Simon Bisley.
• Comic Cuts: Brit Creators Reminisce! - Part 1
Noted Brit creators share childhood memories of UK comics: Mike Carey, Shaky Kane, Tony Lee and Gary Northfield
• Comic Cuts: Brit Creators Reminisce! - Part 2
From cowboy-eating dinosaurs to plucky World War II fighter pilots, we've more childhood memories from Rufus Dayglo, Simon Fraser, Nick Abadzis and David Hine
• Commando: 50 Years on the Frontline
BF talks to Commando editor Calum Laird about five decades of the Eagle Award-winning war comic
• Enter the DFC Library
BF takes a look at the wonderful, all-ages, collected offerings from the much-missed DFC weekly.
• Etchings on a Blank Slate: An interiew with Kenny Penman Part 1
In the first part of a major three-part interview BF talks to Blank Slate publisher Kenny Penman about BSB's diverse output and the state of the comics industry in 2011.
• Etchings on a Blank Slate: An interiew with Kenny Penman Part 2
In the second part of their interview with Blank Slate's Kenny Penman BF talk about the ambitious Nelson project, Oliver East's Trains are...Mint and Darryl Cunningham's Psychiatric Tales.
• Fine and Dandy: 75 Years of Desperate Dan and Company
For nearly 75 years the home of Desperate Dan and Korky the Cat, The Dandy got a major makeover last year. BF talks to ed-in-chief Craig Graham about the relaunch of the classic Brit humour comic.
Other Main Sites
• Broken Frontier web site: www.brokenfrontier.com
• Follow Broken Frontier on Twitter: www.twitter.com/brokenfrontier
• Become a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/brokenfrontier
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