Redfox (comics)

Redfox is a British fantasy comic published in the late 1980s, nominated eight times for Eagle Awards and winner of the 1987 Eagle for Best New British Comic of 1986.
Publication history.
"Redfox" herself first appeared in "Dragonlords" fanzine. Fox, the comic's artist and creator, used the strip to comment on barbarian fashion-sense in fantasy games, 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 a bimonthly US-format black & white comic, which were reprinted in the two "Book of Redfox" graphic novel compilations. Harrier Comics published the first ten issues in the UK. Valkyrie Press was then established solely to publish "Redfox", but later took on Bryan Talbot's comic "The Adventures of Luther Arkwright". After a further ten issues, publication ceased. An 8-page "origin of sorts", written by Harrier publisher Martin Lock and drawn by Fox, was published in "Swiftsure" #9 (July 1986), another Harrier Comics title.
"Redfox" #7 (January 1987) had a specially painted cover by John Bolton. A number of the top UK professional comics artists gave their support to Harrier Comics by contributing covers in this way.
The Demon Queen Saga.
Issues #5-10 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.)
Additionally, it was during The Demon Queen Saga that writer Chris Bell joined the creative team, usually co-scripting the story over Fox's plots. Chris Bell recounted how this happened:
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:
Fox was unashamed to admit that The Demon Queen Saga was almost entirely derived from the legendary X-Men story arc. Besides giving the story an obviously similar title, when a reader wrote about issue #5 "Is this the start of some 'Dark Redfox' kind of saga?", Fox teasingly replied that there was little resemblance because Dark Phoenix had a weaker sense of humor.
Guest appearances.
Other figures from British comics of the time helped out now and again: for example, Bryan Talbot contributed the cover art for issue nine, and Neil Gaiman wrote part of the final issue when Chris Bell was rather distracted by the imminent arrival of her baby.
Collected editions.
The series has been collected into trade paperbacks: