The Bojeffries Saga

Publication history

The first Bojeffries tale – “The Rentman Cometh” – appeared in black and white in the British Quality Communications anthology Warrior No. 12 (Aug 1983), with three further stories appearing in Warrior to July 1984. ^[1] A fifth story was published in the eighth issue of Dalgoda’s Fantagraphics publication (Apr 1986), and the Four Quality Issues were “reprinted, colored and reformatted,” for Flesh and Bones # 1-4 from Upshot Graphics. ^[1]

Between May 1989 and April 1990, further Top oven tales Were published by Atomeka Press as share of its all-star anthology title A1 from # 1-4 with a fifth Appearing in the A1 True Life Bikini Confidential (Feb 1991). ^[1] In 1992, Tundra Press (The company set up by Kevin Eastman with profits from his co-creation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ) reprinted the ten Bojeffries stories together with an introduction from Henry Lenny and four new illustration-stories: cut-outs and a recipe. ^[1]

In 2004, the prologue created for Dalgoda # 8 and the first two-part story from Warrior (reformatted for Flesh and Bones ) were reprinted in the A1: Big Issue Zero as a reminder of the A1 style, before the then-upcoming 2005 relaunch . ^{[2] [3] [4]} The relaunch stuttered, however, and the new ongoing A1 series never appeared. It had been intended for the reprinted stories to the foundation for the A1: Bojeffries Terror Tomes has three-issue series with each issue focusing on a different member of the family, starting with Festus. ^[5]Although previews of the finished stories were made available in February 2005, with an anticipated launch in April, ^[5] no new titles were published.

In 2004 Parkhouse suggested there would be no more stories. ^[6] However, A1- editor Dave Elliott and Gary Spencer Millidge (editor of Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman ) have both suggested there will be more stories ^[7] while longtime Moore-collaborator, Kevin O’Neill said, September 2008, which was taken by the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century to finish the finale of the Bojeffries Saga, ^[8] which was for the new collection from Top Shelf . ^[9]

Influences and reception

Comedian and high-profile comic-fan Lenny Henry (who wrote the introduction to the 1992 Tundra Press collection) described the series as “weird,” recalling that the series “arrival in Warrior was” a breath of fresh air, bringing an anarchy and weirdness to comics similar to the kick up the ass That The Young Ones .. Brought to TV It was different Alan Moore and Steve Parkhouse hAD created a group of people You Would not want to be in the universe Sami as – let alone the Saami room … ” ^[10]

The Independent Described as the series ” The Munsters written by Alan Bennett High is episodes of Coronation Street , all beautifully rendered in a style equal parts Robert Crumb and the Bash Street Kids ‘ Leo Baxendale .” ^[11]

In a 2004 interview Parkhouse said that the story was not influenced by Charles Addams , but drew more on his time in South London as a child. ^[6] He “wanted to be uniquely British and reflect life as I saw it.” ^[6] Lenny Henry noted ” Lord Snooty this was not,” launching alongside “‘ Marvelman ‘, ‘ V for Vendetta ‘, ‘ Shandor ‘, ‘ Laser Eraser and Pressbutton ‘ and … Zirk ” in the ubiqitous UK comics publication Warrior .- its initial storyline (dealing with rent collection ) and the new material created for the Tundra Complete Bojeffries Saga in the British Annual tradition. ^[1] (A trope qui Moore would return to Some ten years later in his and Kevin O’Neill ‘s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemencollections.)

Characters

The Bojeffries Saga is the story of a family living in a council house in Northampton , England (not coincidentally the hometown of writer Moore). The family is made up of:

• Jobremus Bojeffries (father)
• Ginda Bojeffries (daughter)
• Reth Bojeffries (sound)
• The baby (which seems nuclear)
• Uncle Raoul Zlüdotny (was werewolf )
• Uncle Festus Zlüdotny (a vampire )
• Grandpa Podlasp (whose form is amorphous)
• Trevor Inchmale, rent collector appears in the initial stories

Publication

Short stories created for various publications and publishers:

• “The Rentman Cometh” [black & white] (in Warrior No. 12, August 1983); [color] (in Flesh and Bones No. 1, 1986)
• “One of our rentmen is missing” [black & white] (in Warrior No. 13, October 1983); [color] (in Flesh and Bones No. 2, 1986)
• “Raoul’s Night Out” Parts I-II [black & white] (in Warrior # 19-20, June and July 1984); [color] (in Flesh and Bones # 3-4, 1986)
• “Batfishing in Suburbia” ( prologue ) (in Dalgoda No. 8, April 1986)
• “Festus: Dawn of the Dead” (in A1 # 1, May 1989)
• “Sex with Ginda Bojeffries” (in A1 # 2, September 1989)
• “Quiet Christmas with the Family” (in A1 # 3, February 1990)
• “Song of the Terraces” (in A1 # 4, April 1990)
• “Our Factory Fortnight” ( in the UK ) (in The A1 True Life Bikini Confidential , February 1991)

Illustrations created for the Complete Bojeffries Saga TPB:

• “Under the Settee with Len” ( introduction )
• “4-Dimensional Fenestration” ( cut-out recreation of Grandfather Podlasp’s garden )
• “Festus: Halloween Mask” ( cut-out Halloween mask )
• “Ginda’s Fabulous Fashions” ( paper-cut Ginda doll with attachable clothes )
• “Raoul’s Recipe” ( for ” German Shepherd’s Pie “)

Collected editions

Tundra Press published a collection , The Complete Bojeffries Saga ( ISBN 1879450658 ), in 1992.

In February 2013, a new Bojeffries Saga collection was published jointly by Top Shelf Productions (US ISBN 978-1-60309-063-6 ) and Knockabout Comics (UK) collecting all previous material as well as a new 24-page story. Moore described the situation in a 2009 interview:

“

yeah, I have written a final Bojeffries – well, I do not know if it’s a final do some more with them.What we’re going to do, we’re going to collect up, with Top Shelf, all of the Bojeffries material that’s made to date, and we’re going to cap it all off with a twenty-four-page story called After They Were Famous, which is the Bojeffries in 2009, which is now side-by-side with culture as it is now, as opposed to culture in the early nineties [9]

“

Awards

1994: Nominated for “Best Graphic Album-Reprint” Eisner Award for The Complete Bojeffries Saga ^[12]

Notes

References