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The comics anthologies Ally Sloper and Escape magazine began publication in the 1970s and 1980s. They inherited a complex national situation, one in which locally produced comics always had to compete with foreign imports, primarily superhero comics from the United States. Each of these pioneering anthologies sought to create a space for small press and independent English comics and a wider sense of the history and potential of the medium, but in doing so, they had to negotiate a history and market shaped by the consumption of comics from the United States. Placing the anthologies within this larger situation, this article interprets the work of these various editors in terms of the national and cosmopolitan strategies they deployed as they sought to further develop English comics.

\"It's really our marquee event and that's why we're getting behind it, particularly in this time of year.\" \"We're providing these opportunities on their doorstep and that's why we're so thrilled the schools have taken us up on this opportunity.\" \"This year we're anticipating over double the amount of children or young people than participated in last year's lineup,\" Ms [Malinda Nixon] said.

\"It was meant to alarm and horrify opinion formers and parents,\" said Paul Gravett. \"But they took the comics to schools and kids went 'wow' and it probably boosted sales.\" Gravett said: \"Part of the challenge is to get across to people that comics aren't just for kids. We love kids and we want kids to read comics but we don't want them just to be for kids.\" The politics section includes comic strips by the Guardian's Steve Bell and one-off comics such as Edward's Heave from 1973, showing on its cover a worse for wear Edward Heath after he's vomited at the reader through a ship's porthole.

While each selection is deemed a classic of its kind, no attempt is made to filter out the kids' stuff from the erotica, the meditative memoir from the superhero slugfest, Palestine from Peanuts, Maus from Mickey Mouse. Sensible as this policy might be, it does mean that terms such as \"powerful\", \"complex\", \"hilarious\", \"profound\", etc, are even more relative than usual. It's doubtful whether a reader who admired the disturbing ambiguities of Phoebe Gloeckner's A Child's Life would find the simplistic melodrama of a 1970s Iron Man storyline \"challenging and provocative\", or whether a reader gobsmacked by The Arrival, Shaun Tan's sepia evocation of immigrant experience, would find Spider-Man: Clone Saga \"astounding\". Ah, but I know what you're thinking, those of you who'd like to get to grips with this medium but are dutifully consuming Julian Barnes' Booker-winning chef-d'oeuvre instead. How can you be seen reading a tome with Judge [Dredd] on the cover and Hellboy punching demons inside? Well, look at it this way: studying 1001 Comics You Must Read Before You Die is like visiting the world's most fabulously well-stocked comics shop. This virtual emporium may be far superior to Forbidden Planet, but it can't afford to ignore its regular customers. If superheroes, homicidal maniacs and feisty animals are not your thing, you'll just have to tolerate them as you discover a wealth of other delights. Eventually, the realisation may even sneak up on you that a good superhero comic is better than a bad literary novel. [Jack Kirby]'s New Gods or Martin Amis's The Pregnant Widow? Pow! No contest.

Masterminded by comics expert Paul Gravett, this show does great things with notions of the expanded comic, drawing on the innovations of interactive hypercomics - web-based, choose-your-own-adventure type comic strip experiments.

On Tuesday night, Lightspeed Champion, aka Dev Hynes, who has also contributed to a new exciting book and exhibition Ctrl.Alt.Shift Unmasks Corruption at the Lazarides Gallery, will play a live set amid heated comic-strip discussions. For the book, a collaborative project between charitable youth initiative Ctrl.Alt.Shift (which is known for highlighting social issues through culture) and heavy-hitting comic world names who have provided comic strips on corruption, Hynes has written the story of an exploited intern at a television station who has his brilliant script dumbed down into a trashy tale. \"It's the first time that I've just written the words and let someone else do the drawings,\" he says, grinning away from behind thick black glasses at the exhibition's opening on Thursday night. \"I have a short attention span and I do what I like, whether it's disco or orchestral music, photography or comics.\" Another interesting pairing for the book is that of music artist VV Brown with music video producer David Allain and fellow comic collaborator Emma Price. The three of them started writing a graphic novel together, The City of Abacus, about an imaginary land ruled by a corrupt queen, a while ago (they tested the audience with an excerpt at Glastonbury) and a comic strip from their first chapter is in the book. \"I don't usually do comics but it's a passion project for me,\" explains Allain. \"Last year I did VV Brown's music video and the idea of a comic started from there. The reaction at Glastonbury was great and we're planning to do a whole saga.\"

THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BEST CRIME COMICS...

Paul Gravett's account of how comic-book superheroes were used for propaganda purposes (Guide, April 19) missed a trick: how real-life heroes made it into comics during the second world war.

The update was provided by Paul Gravett, the centre's executive director, at Monday's District of West Vancouver council meeting. \"The Kay Meek Centre is becoming a stately community centre, a place where people go,\" added Coun. Rod Day. \"It has become an important cultural centre. It is now attracting the best artists, Canadian or otherwise, for concerts.\"

The update was provided by Paul Gravett, the centre's executive director, at Monday's District of West Vancouver council meeting. \"The Kay Meek Centre is becoming a stately community centre, a place where people go,\" added Coun. Rod Day. \"It has become an important cultural centre. It is now attracting the best artists, Canadian or otherwise, for concerts.\"