Cyclops (magazine)

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Cyclops, "The First English Adult Comic Paper," was a "comic-strip" tabloid published in London in 1970. It was developed by a group of people from the U.K. underground paper International Times (IT), led by photographer Graham Keen. It had 20 pages, its publisher was Innocence & Experience and had national distribution and a large print run, but lasted only four issues. Price may have been a factor: it cost three shillings (3/-), when IT with app. 24 pages cost 1/6 d, an average paperback 3/6 d. and an American comic 1/-.[1]

Keen's photographs had appeared in IT and he became involved with the editorial team. One of IT's founders, Barry Miles, was an old school friend from Cheltenham College. Keen shared a room in the house occupied by Barry and his wife Sue in North Lord Street, London, and, according to Raymond Lowry, ran Cyclops from there.[2] He managed to bring in William S. Burroughs, who contributed The Unspeakable Mr. Hart. Burroughs wanted Malcolm McNeill to do the art work ("I'll work with this guy"). McNeill, who had not read much Burroughs, was a senior student at the Hornsey College of Art.

Artwork

In addition to reprinting comix by Spain Rodriguez, Vaughn Bodē, and Gilbert Shelton, Cyclops also published original work by U.K. artists like Raymond Lowry (# 1-4), Edward Barker, also called Edweard (# 1,2, 4), Mal Dean (# 2-4), David Jarrett (# 1, 3, 4) and Australian Martin Sharp, a poster artist from OZ. Some early Alex Raymond Flash Gordon comics from the 1930s were reprinted in issues 2-4.

Novelist M. John Harrison, who would go on to become an exponent of the British New Wave, and literary editor of New Worlds, scripted comic stories which were illustrated by Richard Glynn Jones.

  • No. 1, July 1970, included work by Vaughn Bodé, Richard Glyn Jones, Larry Lewis, Bernard Power Canavan: Orcus (p. 4),[3] Martin Sharp (untitled; p. 3)[4]
  • No. 2, August 1970.
  • No. 3, September 1970, included work by Mike Bygraves, an advert by Alan Moore for the London comic shop Dark They Were on p. 8; again in #4, on p. 12.
  • No. 4, October 1970, included Judy Watson, Richard Jones, Mike Harrison, Spain Rodriguez.[5]

Ah Pook Is Here

McNeill and Burroughs continued to work together for years, but only eleven pages (of intended 120) of their Ah Pook Is Here were published, in Rush Magazine in 1976. John Calder and Viking produced a text-only version in the collection Ah Pook Is Here: And Other Texts. Burroughs admired the Maya codices and he and McNeill wanted to create "an unprecedented, full blown word/image novel." Only fragments of this project have been published and only online.[6][7][8][9]

Fantagraphics announced its publication of McNeill's memoirs Observed While Falling and Ah Pook in a two volume package in the summer of 2011.[10][11]

Literature

  • Barry Miles. In the Sixties. Jonathan Cape, 2002
  • Roger Sabin. Adult Comics: An Introduction. Routledge, 1993
  • _____. Comics, Comix and Graphic Novels. Phaidon, 1996

References

  1. ↑ In 1971-72, the IT published seven issues of another comic book, Nasty Tales, concentrating on American reprints.
  2. ↑ Huxley, David (2001). Nasty Tales. Critical Vision (Headpress). p. 35. 
  3. ↑ Indebted to Spain's Trashman; Huxley, p. 34.
  4. ↑ Resembling Victor Moscosco's work in Zap, no. 2, 1968; Huxley, p. 34
  5. ↑ "Printing Techniques: Offset". RealityStudio. 2007-03-17. Retrieved 2012-05-26. 
  6. ↑
  7. ↑ "Malcolm McNeill Interview | William Burroughs, Ah Puch Is Here Artwork - Ah Pook| The Unspeakable Mr. Hart | London 1970s | by George Laughead, Beats In Kansas". Vlib.us. 2007-08-28. Retrieved 2012-05-26. 
  8. ↑ "Interview with Malcolm McNeill conducted by Larry Sawyer". Bigbridge.org. 2008-01-20. Retrieved 2012-05-26. 
  9. ↑ "Interview with Malcolm Mc Neill". RealityStudio. 2007-09-05. Retrieved 2012-05-26. 
  10. ↑ Alison Flood. "William Burroughs graphic novel to be published for first time | Books | guardian.co.uk". Guardian. Retrieved 2012-05-26. 
  11. ↑ "William S. Burroughs' lost graphic novel coming in 2011". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. 2010-09-10. Retrieved 2012-05-26. 

External links

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