My first comic work was Cla$$war, published by Com.X back in 2002. A superhero mash-up of my reading habits at the time – Alan Moore comics and Noam Chomsky books – it was a hit, partly down to the stellar art by Trev Hairsine, partly down to a script that was me feeling joy at just making a comic for the first time in my life. Politics and punches that took a whole jaw off. The whole project had a widescreen, indie energy about it. People seemed to like it and suddenly the idea that I could write creatively for a living was possible, when it had only seemed like a pipe dream before.
We did six issues of Cla$$war. Three with Trev as artist, three with the similarly excellent Travel Foreman. But both artists immediately got interest from the Big Two of Marvel and DC, and were soon poached. Cla$$war went on ‘hiatus’ with issue six with the idea that we’d finish the story one day. Com.X published a hardback collection in 2009 but it’s never been available in paperback. Until now.
So it’s really exciting that Image Comics are collecting Cla$$war in paperback, finally. A brand new edition will be out in July. And you can preorder it from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cla-war-Classwar-Rob-Williams/dp/1534315918/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=cla%24%24war&qid=1578256103&s=books&sr=1-1
One thing Com.X were superb at was pulling together an exciting new ‘generation’ of artists to their London office, which was just off Russell Square. Round the corner from 2000AD just before Dredd & co moved to Oxford. There was, for a brief period, a feeling of friendly rivalry about two British publishers who had some of the same creators – Mick McMahon, John Higgins, Trev Hairsine – and a bunch of brand new ones – Ben Oliver and Neil Googe. I remember meeting Liam Sharp at a meeting at the Com.X offices. There was a sense of the unruly new kids on the block coming to take on the comic industry.
Trev Hairsine doing superheroes was a perfect match. There was a dynamism and a physicality about Trev’s work. He’d already made his name on Judge Dredd, but within a few months of Cla$$war being released he was drawing Captain America, and you could see why.
All these pinups and the short ‘prologue’ story Trev and I did for the hardback edition are collected in this new book. Another thing Com.X have always done well is design, so it’s going to be a beautiful-looking book.
While looking at Amazon for the Cla$$war order details, I noticed that Lisa Henke’s cover for our 5th Roy Of The Rovers GN – All To Play For – is on release. This is our 2nd Gn of Season Two and it’s out in March. So: preorder. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Roy-Rovers-Play-Comic-Graphic/dp/1781087563/ref=sr_1_13?keywords=roy+of+the+rovers&qid=1578257079&s=books&sr=1-13
What else is going on? I’m halfway through writing another long-form Judge Dredd story. The Small House was ten episodes. This is… longer. And co-stars a character I don’t think anyone could predict. More on that when I can say so.
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