The Legend of Luther Arkwright: With an Introduction by Adrian Tchaikovsky

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Quite honestly, I’m not seeing that at all; this new story is pure Luther Arkwright adventure throughout, as it has always been, gritty, imaginative and thoroughly enjoyable, throughout. To pick from his British peers, Talbot's illustration style lies between the heavy, dark inks of David Lloyd (V FOR VENDETTA) and the intricately detailed linework of Brian Bolland (CAMELOT 3000, BATMAN: THE KILLING JOKE). This was followed by the three volume trade paperback reprint edition in Britain from Proutt and the American edition of the comic book from Dark Horse Comics in 1990-1991 and 1997. And unlike the superhero comics I was also into, I could read Luther Arkwright on the bus without getting beaten up – I even made friends with other kids who were in on this culty secret. We are reposting it as part of our From the Vaults series to celebrate our exhibition about the history of the series, open until 2 October.

This book and Raymond Briggs’ When the Wind Blows, published in the same year, are usually considered to be the first British graphic novels, although the serialised form of Arkwright was created four years earlier than When the Wind Blows. became the standard for technical documents and academic papers, since it was possible to produce complex mathematical figures and equations effectively and accurately. Regarding the story level, Bryan wanted to move away from formulaic plots usually found in superhero comics. There are times in the audio production when it is not altogether obvious what is actually going on - I could get 'round this by prior knowledge of the comic (though even I, on occasion, couldn't quite get what precisely was supposed to be happening. Announced today: Three River Studios has optioned both the Adventures of Luther Arkwright and Heart of Empire!

It felt like the creation of a crazed outsider artist, producing obsessively detailed work for the eyes of the privileged few.

The legacy of Luther Arkwright haunts his daughter Victoria, as she embarks on a mission to uncover her family's hidden secrets.It was going to be produced by Andrew Prowse and Sophie Patrick, but according to Talbot, the rights for the project lapsed in June 2010. I came across this in the late eighties but my copies of the individual books - one of them signed - got left behind about 10 house-moves ago. compared to Morrison it's quite limited; even if the Invisibles was just self-indulgent, Animal Man had incredible range and was often very moving, even in issues which were supposedly just formal or conceptual exercises. It's a rare work that can survive being influential, but Arkwright not only survives it but still looks fresher and more original than almost everything that came after and was indebted to it.