Goldtiger
Published by 2000AD
10 March 2016
Art – Antonio Barreti
Script – Louis Shaeffer
Originally commissioned by Baskerville Newspaper Group
Brought to life by Guy Adams & Jimmy Broxton
This will be the first Graphic Novel published by 2000AD that hasn’t previously been published in in either 2000AD or sister publication Judge Dredd Megazine.
This book is described by Rebellion’s PR Guru, Michael Molcher. as a ‘love-letter to the British newspaper adventure strips of the 20th Century’.
Writer Guy Adams and artist Jimmy Broxton have fought to bring this unknown classic to an audience for the first time.
And they started all this on Kickstarter…
2000AD and their parent company Rebellion don’t do Kickstarter but after Guy Adams & Jimmy Broxton hit a few issues (pardon the pun) a partnership with 2000AD became a possibility.
Collecting all the published, and/or unpublished, Goldtiger stories from the 1960s. This book will also include many details of Barreti and Shaeffer that have never been revealed. Barreti was either Italian or Portuguese I think, Wikipedia was no help with me checking that fact so this book will certainly help me out there. Schaeffer was a writer for pulp Sci-Fi magazines and a specialist in crime. They both died in obscurity, Schaeffer apparently died off the coast of Corfu in 1972 but no one seems certain of what happened to Barreti after he was released from an asylum following years of care after Goldtiger was shelved after one published story.
Here is the Press Release:
Of all the Sixties newspaper strips, one of the most discussed has to be Antonio Barreti and Louis Shaeffer’s Goldtiger. Uncollected until today, this astonishing book lifts the lid on comics’ most unsung creation and also reveals its incredible connection to British comics icon and the Galaxy’s Greatest Comic, 2000 AD!
Working with Shaeffer, a writer entrenched in the world of crime and sci-fi pulp magazines, Barreti produced the first serial in its entirety. Deemed too sensational – not least because both of its main characters were openly homosexual – the strip was cancelled, but even Barreti’s mental breakdown didn’t hold him back, he continued to write Goldtiger and later mysteriously vanished.
Using extensive restoration techniques and after many years of scouring the archives, Goldtiger is ready to be presented again, complete from the very beginning and starting with their debut adventure The Poseidon Complex.
“This extraordinary secret history is something that we had to see revealed. 2000 AD’s history of bestselling archive collections, from The Daily Dredds to our Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files series is about to take the most unexpected new turn with Goldtiger.” Ben Smith, Head of Rebellion Publishing.
Well that’s all illuminating and informative isn’t it?
Well maybe.
If you haven’t realised yet (and you went to Wikipedia for answers didn’t you?) this Newspaper Comic Strip and the creators Antonio Barreti & Louis Shaeffer might not be all I’ve built them up to be…
Judge-Tutor Semple 