{{Short description|British comic}} {{EngvarB|date=September 2023}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}} {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Revolver'' (British comics)}} {{Infobox comic book title <!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics--> |title = Revolver |image = Revolver issue2.jpg |imagesize = 250 |caption = The cover of ''Revolver'' #2 (dated August 1990) featuring Rogan Gosh, art by Brendan McCarthy. |schedule = Monthly |ongoing = y |publisher = Fleetway Publications |startmo = July |startyr = 1990 |endmo = January |endyr = 1991 |issues = 7 |main_char_team = |writers = |artists = |pencillers = |inkers = |letterers = |colorists = |editors = Peter Hogan |creative_team_month = |creative_team_year = |creators = Steve MacManus |TPB = |ISBN = |TPB# = |ISBN# = |subcat = Fleetway and IPC Comics |altcat = |sort = Revolver |addpubcat# = |nonUS = y }} '''''Revolver''''' was a British monthly comic anthology published by Fleetway Publications from July 1990 to January 1991. The comic was designed as a monthly companion title to ''Crisis'' and was intended to appeal to older readers than other Fleetway titles in order to take advantage of a boom in interest in 'adult' comics. ''Revolver'' was not a commercial success, and lasted just seven issues before being cancelled and merged with ''Crisis''.
==Creation== After a strong start and an alarming dip sales of Fleetway Publications' mature reader anthology ''Crisis'' had levelled out at a reasonable level. The title's editor Steve MacManus was also made group editor for the newly defined '2000 AD' group, consisting of the fortnightly ''Crisis'' and the long-running science fiction weekly ''2000 AD'', as well as any spin-offs. ''Revolver'' had initially been conceived as a high-quality export title to run alongside ''Crisis'' some two years earlier, but internal upheaval had seen the book delayed repeatedly. However, Fleetway scored a major hit by licensing a ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' weekly just as the franchise hit critical mass, and MacManus was finally given the greenlight to make monthly companion titles for ''Crisis'' and ''2000 AD'' (the latter becoming ''Judge Dredd Megazine'') by managing director John Davidge.<ref name=JDM277>{{cite magazine |last=Berridge|first=Ed|author-link=|date=11 November 2018|title=Four-Colour Classics: Too Much Too Young - The Story of British Adult Comics Part Three|magazine=Judge Dredd Megazine|issue=277|publisher=Rebellion Developments}}</ref> MacManus picked Peter Hogan, who had primarily been involved in the music industry working for the likes of Rough Trade and IRS Records as well as music magazines, feeling he would have "his finger on the pulse". For his assistant Hogan recruited Frank Wynne, an Irishman with a vast knowledge of European comics and was known to Michael Bennent, who was in turn being groomed to take over as editor of ''Crisis''. An unsuccessful applicant for the assistant editor of ''Revolver'' was David Bishop, who nevertheless impressed MacManus and would later become editor of ''Judge Dredd Megazine'' 1991-1992, and ''2000 AD'' itself from 1995-2000. With his design work for ''Crisis'' having received a positive response, Rian Hughes was assigned to style ''Revolver''.<ref name="MacManus">{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ReEQDQAAQBAJ | isbn=9781786180544 | title=The Mighty One: Life in the Nerve Centre | date=7 September 2016 | publisher=2000 AD Books | first=Steve | last=MacManus | author-link=Steve MacManus}}</ref> The name was chosen to emphasise the diverse content of the comic<ref name=TCJ130>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Comics Journal|publisher=Fantagraphics|title=NEWSWATCH International: All Change at Fleetway |issue=130|date=July 1989}}</ref> and in reference to the name of the acclaimed Beatles album.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aMxOPSGZPcwC | isbn=9781861899620 | title=British Comics: A Cultural History | date=December 2011 | publisher=Reaktion Books}}</ref>
The format was settled on as 52 pages, in full colour. Unlike the political bent of ''Crisis'', MacManus decided ''Revolver'' would have a more eclectic mix of genres more in line with the IPC Magazines anthologies he had begun working on, but aimed at an older readership. He began assembling stories for the comic, with the same improved creator benefits as used for ''Crisis''. A Jimi Hendrix biography by music journalist Charles Shaar Murray (based on his book ''Crosstown Traffic'') had been in the offing since the beginning, and was greenlit with Floyd Hughes (who had contributed some work to ''Crisis'') as artist, aided by the so-called Second Summer of Love giving a major spike in interest in psychedelia. Grant Morrison, well known to MacManus from his work on ''2000 AD'' and on good terms with MacManus after he stepped in to publish the controversial "The New Adventures of Hitler" after its original publication ''Cut'' folded, approached Fleetway with a plan for a revisionist take on Dan Dare; with the 40th anniversary of the character's debut in ''Eagle'' approaching, Morrison began working on the story with Hughes as artist. Hogan commissioned another psychedelic-influenced strip in the form of "Rogan Gosh" from Peter Milligan and Brendan McCarthy and "Happenstance and Kismet" from Marvel UK veterans Paul Neary and Steve Parkhouse, as well as recruiting Shaky Kane and Julie Hollings from ''Deadline'' to create "Pinhead Nation" and "Dire Streets" respectively. The final strip in each issue would be a rotating one-off, a format used by MacManus with some success in the pages of ''Crisis''.<ref name="MacManus"/><ref name=JDM277/>
Promoting the comic was difficult for publicist Igor Goldkind due to ''Revolver''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s diffuse subjects, and at MacManus' suggestion he eventually went with the slogan "Where Dan Dare meets Jimi Hendrix", making the same connection between comics and music as the well-received ''Deadline''<ref name="MacManus"/> and to take advantage of a boom in sixties nostalgia.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Comics Journal|publisher=Fantagraphics|last=Hasted|first=Nick|title=British Market Frustrating for Women Cartoonists|issue=148 |date=February 1992}}</ref>
==Publishing history== At £1.65 per issue, ''Revolver'' was at the time the most expensive regular British comic ever put on sale. A buoyant MacManus announced "I don't think that there's any doubt in anybody's mind that it's going to be a success; the only question is how big it is going to be".<ref name=JDM277/> As with the launch of ''Crisis'', the creative staff were sent on a nationwide signing tour.<ref name="MacManus"/>
However, despite high hopes ''Revolver'' was cancelled after just seven issues. The cancellation took most of the title's staff by surprise, though the final issue was able to include a farewell message, avoid starting any new stories and advertising that "Dare" and "Happenstance and Kismet" would be continuing in ''Crisis''.<ref name="JDM277"/><ref name="MacManus"/><ref name=FleetwayCompanion>{{cite book |last=Holland |first=Steve |date=2002 |title=The Fleetway Companion |url= |location=Rotherham |publisher=CJ & Publication}}</ref> A planned update of "Tyranny Rex" by John Smith and John Hicklenton and "Forever England" by Morrison and Paul Grist were both switched over to ''Crisis'', but failed to crystallise before ''Crisis'' itself was cancelled in October 1991, while other commissioned material was placed in a pair of specials.<ref name=JDM277/> MacManus was later told ''Revolver'' had lost Fleetway £750,000 over its brief run. The cancellation was swift enough that there was little chance to investigate why ''Revolver'' was selling poorly; MacManus would later speculate that it was being displayed with children's comics in some newsagents<ref name="MacManus"/> while in others the comic being marked for 'mature readers' saw it placed with pornographic magazines.<ref>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Comics Journal|publisher=Fantagraphics|title=Mature Comics Struggle to Survive in Britain|issue=146|date=April 1991}}</ref>
==Stories== ===Dare=== {{main|Dare (comic strip)}} :'''Published:''' July 1990 to January 1991<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer:''' Grant Morrison<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Artist:''' Rian Hughes<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> Dan Dare is retired, and a puppet of regime intent on exploiting both humans and Treens alike. * Continued in ''Crisis''.
===Dire Streets=== :'''Published:''' July 1990 to September 1990, November 1990 to January 1991<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer/artist:''' Julie Hollings<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> Disaster-prone Kaz negotiates the pitfalls of house sharing and university life.
===Happenstance and Kismet=== :'''Published:''' July 1990 to January 1991<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer:''' Paul Neary<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Artist:''' Steve Parkhouse<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> The misadventures of jazz musician Monty Happenstance and translator Lucius Kismet. * Continued in ''Crisis''.
===Pinhead Nation=== :'''Published:''' July 1990 to January 1991<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer/artist:''' Shaky Kane<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> The rantings of a large man with a tiny head.
===Purple Days=== :'''Published:''' July 1990 to January 1991<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer:''' Charles Shaar Murray<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Artist:''' Floyd Hughes<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> A journey into the life and mind of Jimi Hendrix. * 'Book One' concluded in the final issue of ''Revolver''.
===Rogan Gosh=== {{main|Rogan Gosh (comics)}} :'''Published:''' July to December 1990<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer:''' Peter Milligan<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Artist:''' Brendan McCarthy<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> Rogan Gosh is a loutish Indian time traveller and Karmanaut, out to stop Kali's attempts to destroy time and cause chaos all of his own. * Later collected by Vertigo Comics.
===One-off stories=== *'''Nine Inches to the Mile''' :'''Published:''' #1 (July 1990)<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer:''' Igor Goldkind<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Artist:''' Phil Winslade<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> *'''God's Little Acre''' :'''Published:''' #2 (August 1990)<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer:''' Ian Edginton<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Artist:''' D'Israeli<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> *'''Plug into Jesus''' :'''Published:''' #4 (October 1990)<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer:''' Gary Pleece<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Artist:''' Warren Pleece<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> *'''The Crossing''' :'''Published:''' #4 (October 1990)<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer/artist:''' Al Davison<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> *'''Circular Motion''' :'''Published:''' #5 (November 1990)<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer/artist:''' Simon Harrison<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> *'''Martello Nation''' :'''Published:''' #6 (December 1990)<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer/artist:''' Keith Page<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> *'''The Secret Garden''' :'''Published:''' #7 (January 1991)<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer:''' Terry Hooper<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Artist:''' Aiden Potts<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> *'''51 Stars''' :'''Published:''' #7 (January 1991)<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer/artist:''' Ed Hillyer<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> *'''Zen and the Art of Shopping''' :'''Published:''' #7 (January 1991)<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer:''' Tony Allen<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Artist:''' Shanti<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> *'''Did I? Did I? Did I in My Own Self Shine?''' :'''Published:''' #7 (January 1991)<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer/artist:''' Brendan McCarthy<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> *'''All Around the World''' :'''Published:''' #7 (January 1991)<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Writer:''' Si Spencer<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/> :'''Artist:''' Sean Phillips<ref name="FleetwayCompanion"/>
==Spin-offs== * ''Revolver - The Horror Special'' (1 edition, 1990)<ref name=FleetwayCompanion/> * ''Crisis Presents the Revolver Romance Special'' (1 edition, 1991)<ref name=FleetwayCompanion/>
==Collected editions== {| class="wikitable" width="85%" |- !width=33%| Title !width=10%| ISBN !width=15%| Publisher !width=13%| Release date !width=29%| Contents |- |''Dare'' |{{ISBNT|9781853862113}} |Xpresso Books |1991 |Material from ''Revolver'' #1-7 and ''Crisis'' #56 |- |''Rogan Gosh: Star of the East'' |{{ISBNT|9781853862533}} |Vertigo Comics |1994 |Material from ''Revolver'' #1-6 |- | ''Yesterday's Tomorrows: Rian Hughes' Collected Comics'' | {{ISBNT|9780861661541}} |Knockabout Comics |12 July 2007 |Material from ''Revolver'' #1-7 and ''Crisis'' #56 |- | ''Yesterday's Tomorrows: Rian Hughes' Collected Comics'' | {{ISBNT|9781607063148}} |Image Comics |1 February 2011 |Material from ''Revolver'' #1-7 and ''Crisis'' #56 |}
==Reception== Writing for ''Comics Bulletin'' in 2011, columnist Regie Rigby praised ''Revolver'' for its varied approach and laid-back demeanour, comparing it positively to ''Crisis''.<ref>Rigby, Regie. "Fool Britannia: 'These I Have Loved - Part Three: Six Shooting!'", ''Comics Bulletin'' (2011). [https://web.archive.org/web/20110523013933/http://www.comicsbulletin.com/fool/100213128535044.htm Archived at the Wayback Machine]</ref> Designer Rian Hughes would later opine the title was "too scattergun - Hendrix and Dare in one magazine?", and felt the stories were not all of good quality, though he had positive memories of working with Hogan, MacManus and Davidge.<ref name=JDM277/>
===Accolades=== ''Revolver'' was given the 1991 UK Comic Art Award for 'Best New Publication'.<ref name=TCJ142>{{cite magazine|magazine=The Comics Journal|publisher=Fantagraphics|title=British Awards Announced|issue=142|date=June 1991}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * {{gcdb series|id=49966|title=Revolver}} * [http://www.2000ad.org/?zone=prog&page=specials&choice=revolver1 ''Revolver'' contents listing at Barney database] {{Buster}}