Redfox (comics)
Redfox is a British fantasy comic published in the late 1980s, created and penciled by Fox. The comic won the 1987 Eagle Award for Best New British Comic of 1986, and was nominated for eight Eagle Awards in total.
Publication history
Redfox herself first appeared in the fanzine DragonLords in the early 1980s. Fox, a house artist at DragonLords, used the strip to comment on fantasy games-barbarian fashion, and later expanded his heroine's story into a three-issue Redfox fanzine.The fanzine stories were revised and redrawn to form the early issues of Harrier Comics' bimonthly US-format black-and-white comic, published from January 1986 to July 1987. Mike Lewis, one of the co-creators of DragonLords, provided additional writing for the early stories. An eight-page "origin of sorts", written by Harrier publisher Martin Lock and drawn by Fox, was published in the Harrier Comics title Swiftsure #9.
Writer Chris Bell joined the creative team with issue #6, usually co-scripting the story over Fox's plots. Bell recounts how this happened:
Bell established Valkyrie Press as a stand-alone publisher in the fall of 1987, solely to continue publishing Redfox with issue #11. Valkyrie later took on publishing Bryan Talbot's comic The Adventures of Luther Arkwright as well. After a further ten issues, publication ceased with issue #20.
Various creators from British comics of the time occasionally helped out with the title: for example, Redfox #7 had a specially painted cover by John Bolton. Bryan Talbot contributed the cover art for issue #9, and Neil Gaiman wrote part of the final issue, when Chris Bell was distracted by the imminent arrival of her baby.
Overview
The Demon Queen Saga
Issues #5-10 of Redfox comprised a story arc officially titled "The Demon Queen Saga", which was a turning point in more than one way. The series, which began as a comedy set in a fantasy world, suddenly became driven by angst and tragedy. This was around the time when comics such as Watchmen were popularizing treatment of more serious and adult themes.The story itself was an obvious clone of "The Dark Phoenix Saga". Both "The Demon Queen Saga" and "The Dark Phoenix Saga" share the following plot points:
- Character A gains a new source of power, which turns her from one of the weakest members of the cast to one of the most powerful.
- Character A has no notion of the nature of this new power, but quickly accepts it nonetheless.
- Character A becomes more vicious and unscrupulous, prompting her friends to become concerned.
- A traumatic event causes Character A to lose control of herself to the source of her new power and become a god-like evil being.
- With her power increased to the level of a god, Character A kills a vast number of innocent people.
- In response, authorities from multiple worlds mobilize to kill Character A.
- Character A's friends fight to free her of the dark influence, but are easily overpowered. Character A renders them all immobile and begins tormenting them.
- A friend of Character A, who Character A overlooked, uses psychic abilities to free Character A from the force controlling her.
- In her moment of lucidity, Character A commits suicide in order to prevent herself from killing any more people.
Ironically, not long afterward, in Alpha Flight #57, Marvel created a thinly disguised version of the Demon Queen under the name of the Dreamqueen.
Major characters
; Redfox; Estaque
; Griff
; Lyssa The Axe
;Shoquastikan
;Trog
;'''Whitefox '''
Collected editions
The series has been collected into trade paperbacks:- The Book of Redfox!, Harrier Comics/Valkyrie Press, Dec. 1986
- Redfox Book II: The Demon Queen, Harrier Comics/Valkyrie Press, Dec. 1988,