True Brit Q&A

Posted: Thursday, August 19, 2004
Posted By: Craig Johnson

True Brit, out now, is a celebration of some of the most influential artists in modern US comics - and they all come from Britain. The likes of Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, Barry Windsor-Smith, Alan Davis, Bryan Hitch, Dave McKean, Kevin O'Neill and David Lloyd need no introduction to canny readers, being involved with some of the biggest selling and most critically-acclaimed comics and graphic novels in recent years. SBC sat down with editor George Khoury for a quick chat.

Craig Johnson: There's an impressive roster of talent in the book, George, but is anyone missing? Were there any targets on your list that didn't have the time to contribute or just couldn't be found?

George Khoury: The only artist who I really wanted in the book but couldn't get was John Bolton. We just couldn't agree what to do. His wife wanted me to republish an interview he did for Black and White (a photography and art magazine), and what I wanted was a brand new interview, because everything in the book was completely original. Later, I discovered an unreleased Bolton video documentary by my friend Richard Ashford (of Speakeasy fame), but was told by Mrs. Bolton that John wasn't happy with his answers in the transcription because it was over 15 years old, and his opinions had changed somewhat. All of this played out over two or three months, and didn't payoff for me at all. I wish I had had a chance to have spoken to Mr. Bolton personally… I think I could have convinced him to have done an interview and explained the purpose of this book a bit better.

Nevertheless, none of the artists in the book were second choices. They are the crème of the crop in British comic art. Selecting who was going to be in the book was perhaps one of the most difficult things in the entire process of the book. I wanted the roster to be a group that spanned the entire history of comics in the UK. I understand that some readers will debate the selections, and that's fine, because anything is open to debate. My list was chosen by me after much discussion and deliberation with my fellow contributors, friends, and some pros that I admire.

CJ: How did you go about organising such a large project, what was the overall aim from the outset?

GK: This project was completed relatively quickly - it was pitched to John Morrow (the publisher) on August 10th of 2003, and approved a mere three days later by him as my next project. Now a year later, this book has come to fruition. So immediately after it was okayed, I got to work and started pondering the list of artists, the structure of the book & interviews and asking my friends (David Roach, Jon B. Cooke, Eric Nolen-Weathington and other new friends) to contribute some work for the book, because although I am doing the bulk of the book, I couldn't do all of this myself and live to tell about it. I approach this book like I do all of the others -- I aim big and I'm not satisfied with anything else.

The main reason I did this book was because I was always surprised that most of my favorite comic book artists were Brits. To a degree, I've also felt that UK artists were a bit under-looked in comparison to the recognition writers like Moore, Morrison and Ellis received. This book is for every British artist of any generation, because I hope they never forget the contributions they've made in comics. Another thing I wanted to capture was the beautiful heritage of British comics, remembering some of those who are lesser known in the States because they deserve that right to be exposed to artists like Mike Noble or Syd Jordan, both of who are simply fabulous artists. At over 130,000 words and 250 images, I feel that this is easily the essential book on English comic art.

CJ: Was anything cut from the book due to reasons of length? If so, will the missing portions appear on a website to fill in the gaps?

GK: No cuts were made. True Brit was supposed to be 192 pages, but I went eight pages over and Mr. Morrow simply included it without a fuss. So now, it's a two hundred page book with a small unadvertised colour section.

CJ: Now this one has been put to bed, what's your next project? The Swamp Thing book?

GK: I really don't know. There's a chance that Swampmen might be ready for next year. I'd really like to see what the response is for True Brit -- hopefully it'll steer me in the right direction as to what to invest a year or two into next. These books are all emotionally draining, and True Brit was the most difficult of them all because of the volume of interviews, comic art and contributors within it. Yet, I feel it's the most important of my books. I can safely say with glee that it is this "the book" that I envisioned a year ago, and have wanted to do for so many years before it.

Our thanks to George for his time. True Brit can be ordered from your local comics shop (TwoMorrows Publishing, ISBN 1-893905-33-0), or via the website http://www.twomorrows.com/books/truebrit.html.

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