The Bojeffries Saga

''The Bojeffries Saga'' is a series of comics stories written by Alan Moore and drawn by Steve Parkhouse which have been published by a number of different companies since their debut in 1983 in the UK comics anthology ''Warrior''.

It features an eccentric English family of werewolves, vampires and monsters in various peculiar tales.

Publication history

The first Bojeffries tale – "The Rentman Cometh" – appeared in black and white form in the British Quality Communications anthology ''Warrior'' No. 12 (Aug 1983), with three further stories appearing in ''Warrior'' to July 1984.Moore & Parkhouse, ''The Complete Bojeffries Saga'' (Tundra, 1992), , p. 4 A fifth story was published in the eighth issue of the Fantagraphics publication ''Dalgoda'' (Apr 1986), and the four Quality issues were "reprinted, coloured and reformatted", for ''Flesh and Bones'' #1–4 from Upshot Graphics.

Between May 1989 and April 1990, a further four tales were published by Atomeka Press as part of its all-star anthology title '' A1'' issues #1–4, with a fifth appearing in the ''A1 True Life Bikini Confidential'' (Feb 1991). In 1992, Tundra Press (the company set up by Kevin Eastman with profits from his co-creation of the ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') reprinted the ten Bojeffries stories together with an introduction from Lenny Henry and four new illustration-stories: three cut-outs and a recipe.

In 2004, the prologue created for ''Dalgoda'' #8 and the first two-part story from ''Warrior'' (reformatted for ''Flesh and Bones'') were reprinted in the ''A1: Big Issue Zero'' as a reminder of the ''A1'' style, before the then-upcoming 2005 relaunch. The relaunch stuttered, however, and the new ongoing ''A1'' series never appeared. It had been intended for the reprinted stories to form the foundation for the ''A1: Bojeffries Terror Tomes'' a three-issue series with each issue focusing on a different member of the family, starting with Festus.Preview: Bojeffries Terror Tomes 1
Newsarama, 10 February 2005 Although previews of the finished stories were made available in February 2005, with an anticipated launch in April, no new titles were published.

In 2004 Parkhouse suggested there would be no more stories.Steve Parkhouse Interview part 3
, 2000 AD Review, 21 November 2004 In contrast, ''A1''-editor Dave Elliott and Gary Spencer Millidge (editor of '' Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman'') have both suggested there will be more stories while longtime Moore-collaborator, Kevin O'Neill said, in September 2008, that Moore was taking breaks from working with him on '' League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century'' to finish the finale of the Bojeffries Saga, which was for the new collection from Top Shelf.

Influences and reception

Comedian and high-profile comics-fan Lenny Henry (who wrote the introduction to the 1992 Tundra Press collection) described the series as "weird", recalling that the series' arrival in ''Warrior'' was "a breath of fresh air, bringing an anarchy and weirdness to comics similar to the kick up the arse that '' The Young Ones'' brought to television. It was different. Alan Moore and Steve Parkhouse had created a group of people you wouldn't want to be in the same universe as – let alone the same room..." Henry, Lenny, "Under the Settee with Len" ''in'' Moore & Parkhouse, ''The Complete Bojeffries Saga'' (Tundra, 1992), , pp. 6–7

''The Independent'' described the series as "''The Munsters'' written by Alan Bennett high on episodes of ''Coronation Street'', all beautifully rendered in a style equal parts Robert Crumb and the Bash Street Kids' Leo Baxendale".

In a 2004 interview Parkhouse said that the story was not influenced by Charles Addams, but drew more on his time in South London as a child. He "wanted it to be uniquely British and reflect life as I saw it". Lenny Henry noted "Lord Snooty this wasn't", launching alongside "'Marvelman', 'V for Vendetta', ' Shandor', 'Laser Eraser and Pressbutton' and... Zirk" in the ubiquitous UK comics publication ''Warrior''. The British-ness of the strip was underlined by its setting – a council house in Northampton – as well as its initial storyline (dealing with rent collection) and the new material created for the Tundra ''Complete Bojeffries Saga'' in the British Annual tradition. This trope would be used by Moore ten years later in his and Kevin O'Neill's ''The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'' collections.

Characters

The Bojeffries Saga is the story of a family living in a council house in Northampton, England (not coincidentally the hometown of writer Moore). The family is made up of:

*Jobremus Bojeffries (father)
*Ginda Bojeffries (daughter)
*Reth Bojeffries (son)
*The baby (which appears nuclear)
*Uncle Raoul Zlüdotny (a werewolf)
*Uncle Festus Zlüdotny (a vampire)
*Grandpa Podlasp (whose form is amorphous)
*Trevor Inchmale, rent collector appears in the initial stories

Publication

Short stories created for various publications and publishers:
* "The Rentman Cometh" lack & white/small> (in ''Warrior'' No. 12, August 1983); olour/small> (in ''Flesh and Bones'' No. 1, 1986)
* "One of our Rentmen is missing" lack & white/small> (in ''Warrior'' No. 13, October 1983); olour/small> (in ''Flesh and Bones'' No. 2, 1986)
* "Raoul's Night Out" Parts I–II lack & white/small> (in ''Warrior'' #19–20, June and July 1984); olour/small> (in ''Flesh and Bones'' #3–4, 1986)
* "Batfishing in Suburbia" (''prologue'') (in ''Dalgoda'' No. 8, April 1986)
* "Festus: Dawn of the Dead" (in ''A1'' #1, May 1989)
* "Sex with Ginda Bojeffries" (in ''A1'' #2, September 1989)
* "A Quiet Christmas with the Family" (in ''A1'' #3, February 1990)
* "Song of the Terraces" (in ''A1'' #4, April 1990)
* "Our Factory Fortnight" (''panels & text in the UK comic strip tradition'') (in ''The A1 True Life Bikini Confidential'', February 1991)

Illustrations created for the ''Complete Bojeffries Saga'' TPB:
* "Under the Settee with Len" (''introduction'')
* "4-Dimensional Fenestration" (''cut-out recreation of Grandfather Podlasp's garden'')
* "Festus: Halloween Masque" (''cut-out Halloween mask'')
* "Ginda's Fabulous Fashions" ('' paper cut-out Ginda doll with attachable clothes'')
* "Raoul's Recipe" (''for'' "German Shepherd 's Pie")

Collected editions

Tundra Press published a collection, ''The Complete Bojeffries Saga'' (), in 1992.

In February 2013, a new ''Bojeffries Saga'' collection was published jointly by Top Shelf Productions (US ) and Knockabout Comics (UK) collecting all previous material as well as a new 24-page story. Moore described the situation in a 2009 interview:

Awards

* 1985 Eagle Award nomination for Favourite Group (UK)
* 1994 Eisner Award nomination for Best Graphic Album—Reprint for ''The Complete Bojeffries Saga''

Notes

References

*
The Bojeffries Family
at the International Catalogue of Superheroes

External links

index of published issues

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bojeffries Saga
Fictional families
Fictional English people
British comics characters