British Invasion (comics)

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For other uses, see British Invasion (disambiguation).

The British Invasion of American comics is a term used to describe the influx in the late 1980s of British comics creators, especially writers. The creators initially worked in the employ of DC Comics, but in recent years many have also worked for Marvel Comics. The invasion is cited as occurring in the wake of Alan Moore's successful run on Swamp Thing and his Watchmen series^[1]. After Moore had a falling-out with DC and swore to never work for them again, DC editor (later Vertigo Group Editor) Karen Berger recruited many promising writers and artists from the UK. The names primarily associated with the invasion include Jamie Delano, who was approached by DC as the writer of the Swamp Thing spin off Hellblazer; Neil Gaiman and Dave Mckean, who collaborated on the Black Orchid limited series; Peter Milligan, who launched a new Shade, the Changing Man series; and Grant Morrison, whose pitch of an Animal Man series was approved. Later British creators to work on American comics include Warren Ellis and Garth Ennis.

The term is to some degree a misnomer. Peter Milligan had actually been published in America by Pacific before Moore's popularily made British creators "hip." For another, British creators have worked--though not as en masse as after Moore--in American comics for some time, such as Steve Parkhouse, Alan Davis, Brian Bolland or Barry Windsor-Smith. Nevertheless, for reasons of shorthand if nothing else, the term has stuck.

[edit] Trivia

This is sometimes referred to as "the Second British Invasion" as the first one, and the inspiration for the name, was the British Invasion of North America by British rock and roll stars during the Sixties, with The Beatles providing the beachhead. The term has cropped up numerous times in the music business over the years, with subsequent waves coming from emerging music styles like punk and the New Romantics.