TEAM BUILDING
A host of classic British comic characters return to take on a cosmic threat in The Vigilant
Rebellion is delving once more into their vault of vintage British comics characters with a new one-shot based on classic ’70s characters from defunct titles Lion And Thunder, Smash and Valiant. The Vigilant, written by Simon Furman and drawn by Simon Coleby, sees a new superteam assembled from the likes of the Leopard from Lime Street, Steel Comando, Thunderbolt the Avenger and more. It’s the first step in establishing the Rebellion-verse – an ambitious new superhero line from the 2000 AD publishers. “The comics I’m now immersing myself in are those I read as a kid,” says Furman. “Outside of some key players like the Leopard from Lime Street, I loved Lion’s era-spanning Adam Eterno strip. The lead story is replete with cameos.” Of course, bringing back old (and sometimes obscure) characters can be tricky, with the need to balance pleasing the faithful with appealing to new readers. Furman says that The Vigilant will be, “reverential but not sacrosanct” when it comes to updating things. “I’m very conscious of the legacy and the weight of expectation that comes with writing these characters, so I’m being as faithful as I can. On the other hand, the last thing we want is for The Vigilant to appear too retro or slavish. It has to be a contemporary, relevant entity.” The comic will be epic in scale, with a story that spans time, space and multiple realities. Furman says that his pitch was “essentially Crisis On Infinite Earths – in 24 pages! There’s a problem that’s affecting not just ‘our’ Earth, but a bunch of other realities. The main antagonist is Von Hoffman and he’s allied with another classic Fleetwayera bad guy, Dr Mesmer. They set stuff in motion and it all gets out of hand...”
The one-shot is primarily drawn by Simon Coleman (with the help of some surprise guest artists) and his art is crucial to the comic’s reinvention of the material. “He’s a dazzling, versatile and dynamic artist, but more than that it’s the sheer punchiness of his work that I love. It’s utterly of the moment and that skews your preconceptions, presenting these characters in a way that seems new.”
Of course, Rebellion is best known for gritty sci-fi antiheroes like Judge Dredd and Johnny Alpha. How will their approach to capes differ to, say, DC or Marvel? Furman describes it as, “all a little more gritty and visceral and always with that subversive edge of humour and satire. Hopefully it’s like, ‘What if 2000 AD did superheroes?’” WS
The Vigilant is published on 15 August.