In Review: The Amazing Mr X - Special Edition

In 2011 the University of Dundee ran a comic art competition as part of the annual Dundee Comics Day to create a new Beano-style comic strip of one or two pages. The competition was won by Steve English's Belle's Magic Mobile which was printed in The Beano in February 2012 as well as in the University's Anthology One publication.

In 2012 the competition was for a three page strip and a cover image based on The Dandy's 1940s superhero The Amazing Mr X. Entrants were allowed to update the character in any form they wanted and the competition was won by Steve Marchant with a tongue-in-cheek take on an elderly Mr X still attempting his heroics. Rather than running the winner and runners up as part of Anthology Two, the University imprint UniVerse have put out a separate title entitled The Amazing Mr X and labelled it as a Special Edition.

Yet despite that description, this is more than just a publication of the competition winners as it reprints original pages from The Dandy as well as including a feature on the background and history of the character.

Dundee Comics Day organiser, and director of the Scottish Centre For Comics Studies, Dr Chris Murray writes about the background to Mr X in The Dandy where he first appeared in issue 272 in 1944 as what Chris describes as "Britain's first home-grown superhero". While the superhero grew to dominate the American comics scene, Britain never really  succumbed to the idea with most superhero characters that appeared in British comics over the years being reprints of American stories or British stories using US characters. Indeed The Amazing Mr X only lasted 14 issues (plus a single appearance in the 1962 Dandy annual courtesy of Dudley D Watkins) and Chris postulates why the character failed to gain a following with The Dandy's readership. The book reprints 3 of those 14 stories which were in the 'picture and paragraph' format that we now tend to associate with Rupert Bear. These are certainly interesting as an historical document but seventy years after they were originally published they are now more of a curiosity piece than actually being entertaining.
 

The book then goes on to publish the strip by the Dundee Comics Prize winner, Steve Marchant, which Chris says "undercuts the tome of the usual superhero story with a playful satire on the mythology of the superhero". Personally I prefer the Darren O'Toole written and A Kaviraj illustrated runner-up strip (above) which sets the scene for a potential ongoing series that the actual winner did not, while the other runner-up, Gavin Boyle, presents an amusing Scottish themed tongue-in-cheek version of the character. A further 11 stories from the competition cover a multitude of styles and ideas, some rather more interesting than others, giving a total of 14 new strips with the character, echoing the original number of 1940s episodes. 

The Amazing Mr X: Special Edition is not at all what I was expecting to see from UniVerse given their previous two Anthology titles. A very well produced, 76 page US comic sized book, it will be of interest to devoted Dandy fans as well as no doubt proving to be something of a curiosity to students of old British comics. 

The Amazing Mr X: Special Edition has a cover price of £8 and is available, as the other UniVerse titles are, by sending an e-mail requesting details to - universecomic@gmail.com

Photo Review: Dundee Comics Day 2012 - Part 2

The Dundee Comics Day has been running as part of the Dundee Literary Festival at Dundee University since 2008 under the guiding hand of Dr Chris Murray of the School of Humanities (above). The event treads the fine line between the accessibility of a public Lit Fest and the seriousness of an academic conference and now, with comics courses being run at the university, it now adds an educational element for the course students. While the main day of this year's DCD was, as usual, on the Sunday, this year the event did expand out somewhat with a screening of the documentary Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods at the Dundee Contemporary Arts cinema on the Friday night and a talk and signing session with artist Dave Gibbons on the Saturday afternoon. The downthetubes photo review of the Dave Gibbons event is here.

The main day however was Sunday 28 October 2012 under the titleInvisible Symmetries: The Comics Of Grant Morrison, with Grant Morrison himself and a selection of his British and Canadian artistic collaborators. The number of attendees at Dundee Comics Day has increased over the years as the guest list has increased and as more people hear about the event. Last year's DCD, with its predominance of 2000AD art and script droids, had perhaps the largest turnout to date but the Dave Gibbons talk on the Saturday appeared to match that turnout while the appearance of Grant Morrison on the Sunday easily brought DCD's largest turnout in all the years that it has been running.

The hour long morning session was devoted to Chris Murray interviewing Grant at the front of the large and well equipped lecture theatre before opening the discussion out to include questions from the audience. This took in his earliest work on Near Myths and Starblazer, through his IPC and Marvel UK work and onto his better known American superhero work. While the difference between Chris' academic questions and the audience's more fannish questions was noticeable, Grant took them all in his stride and, for all the adulation he receives from some sections of comics fandom, he quickly relaxed into the interview and came across as a regular guy.

Lunch gave the attendees a chance to inspect the entries in the Dundee Comics Prize competition for a 3 page story and cover for an update of the 1940s DC Thomson superhero character Mister X which were in the corridor outside the main lecture theatre or the original 2000AD and Megazine artwork on display upstairs in the Baxter Suite exhibition The Art Of Judge Dredd. The cold buffet selection for lunch was included in the cost of the £15 ticket which covered both the Saturday and Sunday events.

After lunch came five of Grant's artists in a run of half hour talks which normally included a QandA element at the end. First up was Rian Hughes (below) who has previously appeared at DCD several years back. He covered the Grant Morrison Dan Dare series in Revolver and Crisis that he had illustrated plus he gave a general overview of his work including a vast selection of logos for various DC comics as well as stylised versions of Wonder Woman, Batgirl and Supergirl for DC 's merchandising arm.

Next up was Frazer Irving (below) who concentrated on displaying and talking about the covers that he has produced for 2000AD and DC Wildstorm. Fraser was the first of the guests to connected his iPad to the lecture theatre's main screen and it proved to be an interesting and much more dynamic and interactive experience than the more traditional Power Point presentations as he zoomed into the specific covers and then into details on the given cover before moving on to his next subject.

The second break of the day allowed the first of the two signing sessions to take place in the Baxter Suite. The increased number of attendees did put a strain on what in previous years had been relatively quick signing queues and this first signing session ran over so badly that it had to be curtailed to allow the next batch of guests to give their talks. While it may not have been obvious to the academic organisers, perhaps not being used to such behaviour, it was obvious to those of us in the audience that some attendees were expecting to get serious numbers of books and comics autographed based on the piles of items that they were arranging and rearranging during the talks. Indeed an announcement had to be made prior to the second signing session that only one or two items should be presented for signature.

The third session of guest talks brought Frank Quitely (above) back to Dundee having appeared at DCD last year. With pages of the newly remastered Flex Mentallo on the screen behind him, he talked and took questions about his work with Grant and his current artistic style. For someone perhaps best known for his DC work, when asked what characters he would like to work he he listed Spiderman, Daredevil and the Hulk.

Next up was Canadian Cameron Stewart (above) who pointed out that his first "collaboration" with Grant Morrison was when he donned a Zenith outfit for a costume party in Canada many years before. As with some of the other guests, Cameron described the differences he had experienced between working traditionally with paper and then moving on to creating his art digitally.

The final guest of the day was artist and colourist Peter Doherty (below) who chose, perhaps wisely as the fifth of five artists talking that day, to concentrate on his colouring work showing examples of his Judge Dredd work as well as, of course, Flex Mentallo. Peter's laid back presentation concluded the guest's individual talks for the day after which most attendees made for the Baxter Suite again to join the long signing queue as the scheduled time of the concluding roundtable discussion came and went.

Indeed while the Dave Gibbons signing on the Saturday was scheduled at the end of Dave's talk with nothing due after it, the length of it was never really going to be an issue. However it was the signing sessions, more than the couple of technical glitches with the presentation equipment, that proved the most problematic for Sunday's schedule. The scheduling and control of the signing sessions is something that, while never really a problem before at the Dundee Comics Day, will need to be reconsidered for the future.

That said the weekend's events were interesting mixture with a good selection of presentations and presenting styles and all the guests seemingly relaxed about answering questions about their work. It certainly was something of a coup for Dundee to get both Dave Gibbons and Grant Morrison, as well as so many of Grant's artistic collaborators, to take the time to attend this year.

Indeed given that this year the event had Dave Gibbons, Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely appearing, there is really only one other British comics creator that could top those names for next year - but no pressure there Chris!

There are more details of the Dundee Comics Day on its Facebook page.

There are more details of comics studies at the University Of Dundee at the University's website.

Dundee Comics Prize competition returns with superhero theme

In 1944 The Dandy introduced a home-grown British superhero – The Amazing Mr X, who appeared in 14 instalments between 1944 and 1945.

Drawn by DC Thomson staff artist Jack Glass, the The Amazing Mr X made a brief reappearance in The Dandy annual in 1962, drawn by Dudley D. Watkins -- but since then, he has been all but forgotten.

Now the University of Dundee, in partnership with DC Thomson, is giving comic creators the opportunity to bring the character back to life, re-interpreting the character for the 21^st century!

The challenge to recreate one of Britain's first superheroes (DC Thomson actually created other characters that could be regarded as superheroes earlier than Mr X) is the focus of the Second Annual Dundee Comics Prize.

Entries should consist of a two - three page origin story and a cover image featuring your interpretation of this classic British superhero.

The first prize is £500, plus publication of the story in The Sunday Post and in the Dundee University publication Anthology, which showcases new work by up-and-coming comics creators. There will also be two runner-up prizes of £250 each.

The deadline for completed submissions is 1st October 2012. The work will be judged by a panel consisting of comic professionals and scholars, with the announcement being made at the Dundee Comic Day on 28th October 2012.

Winners and runner-ups will be invited to attend. There will also be an exhibition of artwork from the competition at Comic Day.

Mr X was the alter ego for private enquiry agent Len Manners who dons "a queer costume, black skin-tight trousers and white jersey" and uses amazing strength that he can "summon at will" to fight crime.

Former Dandy editor Morris Heggie has described Mr. X as "The closest we've ever had to a super hero". However, he also admits that "His arch nemeses weren't glamorous.... He would chase people who stole lead from roofs and other small time crooks."

The character is actually one of several ill-fated superhero characters we're told DC Thomson has considered reviving in the past. These also include the mysterious Captain Hornet, The Comet, Captain Q, Danger Man, the Flaming Avenger (who appeared in Rover back in 1933), King Kobra (drawn by Ron Smith, he appeared in Hotspur back in 1976), Tarzan imitator Morgyn the Mighty, Red Star Robinson, the Scarlet Hawk (who fought crime from a secret base in Dorset) the Supercats (first appearing in girls comic Spellbound), Spring-Heeled Jack and Zogg the Wizard.

The company even had its own version of Supergirl, although we suspect a certain very large US comics company might have a few things to say if they tried to re-publish her...

Image © DC Thomson

The aim of the Dundee Comics Prize is to nurture talent in comics, and to help new creators gain recognition. Anyone can enter the competition, and the submission can be in any style, in black or white or colour, but the work must be finished to a high standard (lettered, inked, etc), and it must be a complete story. The work must be original, the creators must own the copyright, and it must not have been published already, or currently offered for publication elsewhere. When submitting work good quality scans are requested in the first instance, although original artwork may be requested at a later stage (although will remain the property of the creators).

The prize is awarded to the creator or team who produce the work. If the work is collaborative the members of the team will share the prize money equally. All winners (including runners-up) will be asked to provide a short account of how the comic was created, along with any relevant photos and sketches. These will be used on the website and in the exhibition and publications to demonstrate how the winning entries came about.

Artwork will also be required on a short loan for the purposes of an exhibition. The decision of the judging panel is final, and DC Thomson reserves control over what is published, how it is presented, and in what format, in their publications.

• There's a feature on The Amazing Mr X in the the Art and History of The Dandy book

• Further information about The Amazing Mr X is available at http://www.v14.co.uk/misterx/ and via two pages from The Amazing Mr X:

• The Amazing Mr X, Page 1
• The Amazing Mr X, Page 2

• Please also read the Rules and Guidelines for the prize.  A flyer about the prize is available for printing and display.

• All queries and submissions should be sent to Dr Chris Murray, University of Dundee, at dundeecomicsprize@gmail.com

Related Information

• Winners of the Dundee Comics Prize 2011

(With thanks to Jeremy Briggs for the heads up on this item)