The Tower King

"The Tower King" is a British comic strip, appearing in titles published by IPC Magazines. The story was published in the anthology ''Eagle'' from 27 March to 4 September 1982, written by Alan Hebden, with art by José Ortiz. The story was set in a dystopian London, where society has broken down.

Creation

While the relaunched ''Eagle'' included a mix of photo and conventional picture strips. "The Tower King" was one of the latter. It was written by IPC stalwart Alan Hebden, who had experience writing for ''Battle Picture Weekly'' (including creating Major Eazy) and '' 2000 AD''. José Ortiz provided the art; while the strip was in black-and-white, the web offset printing method used for ''Eagle'' meant he was able to give the art a grey wash, enhancing the atmosphere and detail. The strip's creators made use of the opportunity by juxtapositioning jarring visual elements, such as historic London landmarks strewn with the rubble of modern buildings, or soldiers in patchwork armour complete with pocket watches and police helmets, armed with both halberds and grenades.

Publication history

The story debuted in the launch issue of the new ''Eagle'', dated 27 March 1982 and continued until the 4 September 1982 edition - when it was effectively replaced by another Ortiz-drawn strip, " The House of Daemon".

In 1998, the rights to the strips created for ''Eagle'' – including "House of Daemon" – were purchased from Egmont Publishing by the Dan Dare Corporation. In 2014, Hibernia Books licensed "The Tower King" and produced a collected edition with a foreword by ''2000 AD'' artist Leigh Gallagher, initially in a print run of 200 copies. A second limited run followed in 2017. In 2020, Hibernia produced another short run, along with another run of their collection of "The House of Daemon".

Plot

Following from a nuclear war, a malfunctioning solar satellite bathes the Earth in radiation that makes the production of electricity in any form impossible. Without heating, transport, food or communication and in the middle of a heavy winter ,London swiftly falls into mass panic, resulting in pseudo-medieval anarchy. Hope is provided by Mick Tempest, a natural-born soldier and leader, with a down-to-earth demeanour. He organises his neighbourhood into a group, sharing protection and food in the face of rioters and looters. Tempest then negotiates entry into the Tower of London for protection, Britain's monarchy having been killed in the chaos. He was captured in an assault on the Tower by Lord Spencer, a self-styled feudal warlord, who tried to publicly behead Tempest on Tower Green when he refused to swear fealty. They were attacked by Tube Rats, a vicious group who had taken over the defunct London Underground system; in the battle, Tempest proved his worth to Spencer as an equal rather than a lieutenant.

Tempest, Spencer and their army slowly regained control over parts of central London, encountering a hospital containing medical staff who had become insane due to events and had started a cult around worship of human organs; a group called the Wreckers, who drove hand-cranked diesel-powered tanks and trains; and an 'electric temple' inside a power station, within which another deranged group of people worshipped electricity, pretending it to still exist. The electricity-interfering satellite had been destroyed by meteor impact shortly before, a fact Tempest discovered when he switched the station's generators on to prove electricity was never coming back. Instead, Tempest vowed to re-create the world without the many social problems wrought by modern technology.

Reception

Reviewing the 2014 collected edition, Lew Stringer highly praised both the art and story, describing it as "one of the best British adventure strips of its time", despite noting a hurried conclusion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tower King, The
1982 comics endings
Comics set in London
Dystopian comics
Eagle (1982) comic strips
Nuclear war and weapons in popular culture
Post-apocalyptic comics
British comic strips