REVIEWS


Escape Magazine (1983-1989):
A review by Alan Moore


In 1983 Alan Moore (Watchmen, V For Vendetta, League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen) was working for Marvel Comics UK, writing Captain Britain for the monthly title The Daredevils. Each issue Alan would review a batch of fanzines and in issue 10 he reviewed the very first issue of Escape Magazine.

Alan presumably forgave the early missteps made by Escape and went on to become a semi-regular contributor to the magazine during its 19 issue run in the 1980s. In #5 his conversation with Eddie Campbell (well before their collaboration on From Hell) was presented as a ‘Snacks With The Stars’. In #6, his diary of a trans-Atlantic trip to the DC offices in New York appeared as ‘Comics USA: An Impossibly Rich Celebrity’s Guide’. Issue 11 contained his tribute to UK artist Ken Reid. In #14 he discussed his motivation for writing Brought To Light, an examination of the illegal activities of the CIA with artist Bill Sienkiewicz. His editorial, ‘No More Sex’ in #15 dealt with religion and sex. Also, he reviewed comics for the magazine (Big Ideas by Lynda Barry in #7, Any Similarity To Persons Living Or Dead… by Drew and Josh Friedman in #9, At Home by Rick Geary in #8, Lady Chatterley’s Lover by Hunt Emerson in #10, Maus by Art Spiegelman in #10).

Escape is an excellent catalogue of some of the exciting new talent that’s flourishing away from the Comics mainstream and, as such, is probably one of the most important British comic publications to have emerged during the last ten years. Represented herein are people like Eddie Campbell and Phil Elliot, who are of course, like unto gods. There’s also some vintage Hunt Emerson material which it shouldn’t be necessary for me to remark upon the quality of, and lots of really interesting things by perhaps lesser known luminaries such as Dave Harwood and Myra Hancock. Dave Harwood’s one page Georgette strip is a thing of beauty and a joy forever, and Myra Hancock is very definitely the nicest surprise of the issue… her Miss March strip reveals an accomplished and fluid talent at work and in an issue or so’s time I hope to take a look at a couple of her solo books within these pages, so maybe I’d better save all the inevitable gushing until then, when you’re your stomachs are up to it.

For the moment, Escape is a slab of sheer brilliance marred only by its strange insistence on using the distressing neologism UKBD when what they really mean to say is Comics. Give it a rest, eh, chaps? I mean, you’re not ashamed of us or anything, are you?

At best, the phrase is just a soupçon pretentious. At worst, it’ll run the magazine straight into yet another pointlessly divisive comic book ghetto, alongside Ground Level comics and Underground comics and all the other dead ends that didn’t realise that the quickest way to kill a movement stone dead is to give it a name. A word to the wise guy…