British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
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 ...
artist, writer, designer, and editor. He is the creator of the oddball humor strip ''The Cloak'' and the daily comic strip ''Moonbird''.
In July 1964, Higgs created a pastiche of
The Shadow
The Shadow is a fictional character created by magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator, and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by writer Walter ...
called "The Shudder" for a British fanzine (of the same name). In 1967, he revived the character, now called "The Cloak," as a strip for the British weekly comic '' Pow!'', and then '' Smash!'' (running until 1969). The Cloak was the top agent for Britain's Special Squad, nominally a part of Scotland Yard; but he usually operated from his personal headquarters, known as the Secret Sanctum. The Cloak's ingenuity and never-ending supply of gadgets and secret weapons gave him the edge over his somewhat odd enemies (some were ''very'' odd, including Deathshead and various other agents of G.H.O.U.L.). The Cloak had some equally odd colleagues. Assisted initially by Mole (the tall one with the bald head, big nose and specs) and Shortstuff (the short squirt with the hairy nut and big eyeballs), he then began having adventures in which he found himself also alongside the sexy and flirtatious Lady Shady, the shady lady. The strip benefited from Higgs' unusual, idiosyncratic drawing style, whose overt inclusion of pop culture imagery made the strip seem extremely modern.
Higgs designed the convention badge for the inaugural British Comic Art Convention ("Comicon") in 1968. He was a regular attendee of early editions of Comicon, with his art being included in the convention booklets. He also helped with the first
London Comic Mart
Comic Mart is the catchall term for a series of British comic book trade fairs which were held in the United Kingdom from 1972 until the early 1990s. The Comic Mart was one of the earliest recurring public comic events in the UK, predated only by ...
Whizzer and Chips
''Whizzer and Chips'' was a British comics magazine that ran from 18 October 1969 to 27 October 1990, when it merged with the comic '' Buster''. As with most comics of the time, ''Whizzer and Chips'' was dated one week ahead of the day it actu ...
'', and ''Thundercap'' for '' Buster'', and contributed to British
fanzines
A fanzine (blend of '' fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) for the pleasure of others who share ...
. His daily strip ''Moonbird'' was published for a time in various
Associated Newspapers
DMG Media (stylised in lowercase) is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. It is based at Northcliffe House in ...
newspapers; the strips were later collected in a series of children's books.
In July 1976, Higgs was a guest at "KAK 76" (Konvention of Alternative Komix), an
underground comix
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, ...
convention produced by the Birmingham Arts Lab (Paul Fisher and
Hunt Emerson
Hunting is the human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products ( fur/ hide, bone/tusks, horn/antler, ...
), which was held in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
.Skinn, Dez "Early days of UK comics conventions and marts," DezSkinn.com. Accessed Mar. 3, 2013.
In the early 1980s, budding cartoonist Lew Stringer worked as Higgs' assistant.
In the late 1980s, Higgs shifted to becoming a designer and editor. He compiled and designed ''The Monster Society of Evil: Deluxe Limited Collector's Edition'' (1989, American Nostalgia Library, ), which reprints the entire " Monster Society of Evil" story arc that ran for two years in ''
Captain Marvel Adventures
''Captain Marvel Adventures'' was a long running comic book anthology series by Fawcett Comics, starring Captain Marvel during the Golden Age of Comic Books.
Publication history
The series was the first solo series starring the superhero after he ...
'' #22–46 (1943–1945), in which Captain Marvel meets Mister Mind and the Monster Society of Evil. This oversized, slipcased hardcover book was strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies. That same year, Higgs and co-author
Denis Gifford
Denis Gifford (26 December 1927 – 18 May 2000)Holland, Steve, Obituaries: Denis Gifford', ''The Guardian'', 26 May 2000. was a British writer, broadcaster, journalist, comic artist and historian of film, comics, television and radio. In h ...
published ''The Comic Art of Charlie Chaplin: a Graphic Celebration of Chaplin's Centenary'' (Hawk Books ).
Higgs also collected and designed reprint collections of ''
Eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...
'''s '' Dan Dare'' and ''Comics at War'' strips.Higgs entry Lambiek's Comiclopedia. Retrieved Dec. 1, 2020.
In 1995, he edited ''
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Albion'' #1 (WildStorm, Aug. 2005); the six-issue limited series aimed to revive classic IPC-owned British comics characters — including Higgs' The Cloak — all of whom appeared in comics published by
Odhams Press
Odhams Press was a British publishing company, operating from 1920 to 1968. Originally a magazine publisher, Odhams later expanded into book publishing and then children's comics. The company was acquired by Fleetway Publications in 1961 and the ...
Alan Moore
Alan Moore (born 18 November 1953) is an English author known primarily for his work in comic books including '' Watchmen'', ''V for Vendetta'', '' The Ballad of Halo Jones'', ''Swamp Thing'', ''Batman:'' ''The Killing Joke'', and '' From He ...
, written by his daughter
Leah Moore
Leah Moore (born 4 February 1978) is a British comic book writer and columnist. The daughter of comics writer Alan Moore, she frequently collaborates with her husband, writer John Reppion, as Moore & Reppion.
Biography
Moore was born to comic ...
and her husband
John Reppion
John Mark Reppion (born 1978) is an English comics writer. He is married to Leah Moore, the daughter of Alan Moore, and he has worked with both on the comic '' Albion''.
John Reppion and Leah Moore have co-writing credits on '' Wild Girl'', a 6 ...
, with art by
Shane Oakley
Shane Oakley is a British illustrator and comic book artist from Stoke-on-Trent, England.
Biography
Oakley began his career contributing to the alternative comics review '' Deadline Magazine'' in the 1980s, where he created '' Fatal Charm'' with ...