The influence of the comic book has never been greater, from movies to streaming and beyond, but the journey comics took from disposable kids’ magazines to literary prize-winning books and global franchises turned on a highly unusual group of writers and artists. Few would have expected a small gathering of British comic book fans and creators in the early ’70s to spark a cultural revolution, but this was the start of a disparate movement of punks, dropouts and disaffected youths who reinvented a medium and became the imaginative heart of a global success story.

Based on years of interviews with a generation of leading writers, artists and editors, Karl Stock reveals the true story of the wild times, passion and determination that helped, hindered and saw the reinvention of comics.

Stock brilliantly tells the story of the triumphs and disasters that rewrote the rulebook on what comics could be and who they should be for.