''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'' is a

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

comic book written and drawn by

Bryan Talbot Bryan Talbot (born 24 February 1952) is a British comics artist and writer, best known as the creator of ''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'' and its sequel '' Heart of Empire'', as well as the ''Grandville'' series of books. He collaborated ...

. The story is adult in tone, with many mythological, historical and political references, and a little explicit sex. English writer

Warren Ellis Warren Girard Ellis (born 16 February 1968) is a British comic book writer, novelist, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-creator of several original comics series, including ''Transmetropolitan'' (1997–2002), ''Global Frequency'' ( ...

calls ''Arkwright'' "probably the single most influential graphic novel to have come out of Britain to date... probably Anglophone comics' single most important experimental work."

Publishing history

Luther Arkwright's genesis owes something to the influence of

Michael Moorcock Michael John Moorcock (born 18 December 1939) is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has work ...

'sJohnston, Rich
"Bryan Talbot's Legend Of Luther Arkwright Out Today & I Just Read It,"
''Bleeding Cool'' (July 14, 2022).

Jerry Cornelius Jerry Cornelius is a fictional character created by English author Michael Moorcock. The character is an urban adventurer and an incarnation of the author's Eternal Champion concept. Cornelius is a hipster of ambiguous and occasionally polymorphous ...

stories, though Moorcock and Talbot agree that the similarities between the characters are limited. The character made his first appearance in the mid-1970s in "The Papist Affair", a short strip for '' Brainstorm Comix'' where Arkwright teamed up with a group of cigar-chewing biker nuns to recover the sacred relics of St. Adolf of Nuremberg from "a buncha male chauvinist priests". The first parts of ''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'' followed as a serial in the British

underground comic Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

Near Myths ''Near Myths'' was a comic magazine published in Edinburgh during the late 1970s that only ran for five issues. The initial editor was Rob King and it was produced by Galaxy Media. ''Near Myths'' featured the first professionally published work of ...

'' in 1978, were later continued in ''

pssst! ''Pssst!'' (styled as ''pssst!'') was a short-lived British comics magazine published by Never–Artpool in 1982. ''Pssst!'', which lasted ten monthly issues, was an attempt to publish a British equivalent of the lavish French bande dessinée ma ...

'' magazine, then interrupted in 1982 (when ''pssst!'' was canceled), less than half complete. Between 1987 and 1989 Talbot completed the story, which was published as a series of nine standard

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

s by

Valkyrie Press Valkyrie Press was a British publisher of comics that operated from 1987 to 1989. It published Fox's '' Redfox'', and Bryan Talbot's ''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'', both of which won Eagle Awards. Valkyrie Press was owned by ''Redfox'' c ...

, followed, at readers' request, by a tenth issue containing articles about the history and production of the comic and some extended back story and character information. The entire series was subsequently published in the United States by

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

. In 1999 Dark Horse published Talbot's sequel to ''Luther Arkwright'', called '' Heart of Empire''. In 2005 the artwork was digitally remastered by Comics Centrum for an edition in

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

(''Dobrodružství Luther Arkwrighta''), allowing proper reproduction of both light and dark parts of "tonal" pages. The new artwork was also used for a French edition by Kymera Comics. Bryan Talbot has described the Czech edition as "the best ever published". In 2006 it was republished as a webcomic using the digitally remastered files at the official fan page. A third story, ''The Legend of Luther Arkwright'', has been announced for 2022, and was published in July by

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

Synopsis

''Luther Arkwright'' is a work of apocalyptic

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

set in parallel universes. The eponymous hero has the unique talent of being able to move between parallels purely by force of will, and is aided by Rose Wylde, a telepath whose many incarnations across the parallels are able to communicate with one another. Luther and Rose are agents of a parallel known as "zero-zero", whose stable position in the multiverse has allowed the development of a world at peace with itself and sufficiently high technology to monitor the parallels for signs of the malign influence of the "Disruptors". Most of the action in the story is set in a parallel world where the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

has been indefinitely prolonged by the actions of the Disruptors, who are also responsible for unleashing "Firefrost", a legendary artifact which is destabilising the multiverse. Arkwright intervenes on the Royalist side in order to draw out the Disruptors and locate and destroy Firefrost. Along the way his unit is ambushed, and he is killed, only to return to life with his powers enhanced. The storytelling of the early episodes is complex, with flashbacks to Arkwright's upbringing by the Disruptors, escape to the parallel of his birth and early missions for zero-zero intermingling with the course of his mission in neo-Cromwellian England, with story-telling techniques and art styles shifting to match. The scenes of Arkwright's death and rebirth are particularly abstract and full of religious and mythological symbolism. The comic is unusual in being one of the few adventure stories where the readers and the protagonist both know from the beginning that he's going to die, only the event itself is not known. The later parts of the story have a more straightforward, linear form. At the end Arkwright, having completed his mission, renounces violence.

Awards

Bryan Talbot and the Valkyrie Press edition of ''Arkwright'' were nominated for eight

Eagle Awards The Eagle Awards were a series of awards for comic book titles and creators. They were awarded by UK fans voting for work produced during the previous year. Named after the UK's ''Eagle'' comic, they were launched in 1977 for comics released in ...

in 1988, winning four: Favourite Artist, Best New Comic, Favourite Character for Arkwright himself and Best Comic Cover. In addition, the book was given the 1989 Mekon Award for "Best British Work" by the

Society of Strip Illustration The Society of Strip Illustration (SSI), later known as the Comics Creators Guild, was a British network for all those involved in any stage of the creative process of comics production. The SSI, which was co-founded in 1977 by Denis Gifford, met ...

Audio adaptation

In 2005, ''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright'' was made into a full-cast, three-CD audio adventure by

Big Finish Productions Big Finish Productions is a British company that produces books and audio plays (released straight to compact disc and for download in MP3 and m4b format) based, primarily, on cult science fiction properties. These include ''Doctor Who'', the ...

, starring

David Tennant David John Tennant (''né'' McDonald; born 18 April 1971) is a Scottish actor. He rose to fame for his role as the tenth incarnation of the Doctor (2005–2010 and 2013) in the BBC science-fiction TV show '' Doctor Who'', reprising the rol ...

(cast near the time of the CD's release as the

Tenth Doctor The Tenth Doctor is an incarnation of the Doctor, the main protagonist of the BBC science fiction television franchise ''Doctor Who''. He is played by David Tennant in three series as well as nine specials. As with previous incarnations of the ...

in ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...

'') and

Paul Darrow Paul Darrow (born Paul Valentine Birkby; 2 May 1941 – 3 June 2019) was an English actor. He became best known for playing Kerr Avon in the BBC science fiction television series ''Blake's 7'' between 1978 and 1981. His many television rol ...

(Avon in ''

Blake's 7 ''Blake's 7'' (sometimes styled ''Blakes7'') is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. Four 13-episode series were broadcast on BBC1 between 1978 and 1981. It was created by Terry Nation, who also wrote the first ...

'').

Cast

*Luther Arkwright -

*Cromwell -

*Rose -

Siri O'Neal Siri Willow Ceridwen Neal (born 14 August 1972, sometimes credited as Siri O'Neal) is a film and television actress. Career Neal's grandmother's surname was O'Neal; although her mother altered it to "Neal", from 1996 Neal has also used "O'Neal ...

*Karl/Czar Nicholas -

Robert Jezek Robert Jezek (born 6 April 1955) is a Canadian stage, film and television actor based in the United Kingdom. Career In 1989, Jezek appeared as Sergeant Zbrigniev in the ''Doctor Who'' television serial ''Battlefield''. He is known for playi ...

*Computer/Octobriana/Emily - Michelle Livingstone *Archduke -

Robert Lockwood, Jr. Robert Lockwood Jr. (March 27, 1915 – November 21, 2006) was an American Delta blues guitarist, who recorded for Chess Records and other Chicago labels in the 1950s and 1960s. He was the only guitarist to have learned to play directly ...

*Montpelier/Wittgenstein - Alfred Hoffman *Miranda/Lady-in-waiting - Zoe Robinson *Standish/the Scientist - Andrew Westfield *The Disruptor/Harry Fairfax/the Interrogator/The Five - Jeremy James *Pennington - Robert Curbishley *Whitelaw - Mark Donovan *King Charles - Steve Dineen *Princess Anne -

India Fisher India Fisher (born 1974) is a British actress, narrator and presenter. Her father is the ex- MP Mark Fisher. She is also the stepsister of musician Crispin Hunt and of actress Francesca Hunt, who appears with her in the play ''Other Lives''. S ...

Feature film adaptation

In 2006, it was announced that Benderspink would be creating a

live action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

with producers Andrew Prowse and Sophie Patrick. According to Talbot, the rights for the project lapsed in June 2010.Etherington, Daniel. "The Making of Grandville," ''Comic Heroes'' magazine #3 (Autumn 2010), p. 34.

References

External links

''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright''
at Bryan Talbot's official fansite
''The Adventures of Luther Arkwright webcomic''
- the whole of the comic available to read online as a webcomic.
ARKeology
partial index and electronic copy of ''Luther Arkwright'' issue 10. {{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures Of Luther Arkwright, The 1978 comics debuts 2005 audio plays Big Finish Productions British comics titles Comic book limited series Comics about parallel universes Comics by Bryan Talbot Dark Horse Comics limited series Dark Horse Comics titles Defunct British comics Parallel universes in fiction Science fiction comics Steampunk comics