Gone but not forgotten: Near Myths - The early work of Grant Morrison and Bryan Talbot

Near Myths was an A4 SF magazine (similar to Dez Skins’ “Warrior”) published out of the Science Fiction Bookshop in Edinburgh under the ”Galaxy Press imprint”. Although the magazine only ran for 5 issues between 1978 -1980, it has gained a bit of a cult reputation over the years (in the UK at least) as it was the first home of Bryan Talbots excellent “Adventures of Luther Arkwright” series. The magazine also featured some of Grant Morrisons earliest published work with his "Gideon Stargrave" character. In line with many British comic magazine at this time Near Myths was printed in black and white on newsprint with full colour (glossy) covers.

I can still recall the first time I saw the first issue of "Near Myths" in 1978 in a small village newsagents, from memory the initial excitment of seeing a new sci-fi comic magazine (and a Scottish one at that) was tempered by the fact that most of the strips were pretty poorly illustrated, the exception being the excellent "Adventures of Luther Arkwright" by the talented Bryan Talbot (splash page from #1 above).

Above: "Near Myths" #1 (cover from internet as my copy has lost its cover)

Above:"Near Myths" #2

Above: "Near Myths" #4 (issue 3 at header).

Above: the contents page to #4.

Above: from #4 the splash page of Grant Morrisons "Gideon Stargrave" strip which he wrote and drew as a teenager. Below from #4 a page of Bryan Talbots "Luther Arkwright" series.

Although Near Myths had national (UK) distribution and was planned as a monthly title most issues arrived late following its debut in October 1978, with the final issue (#5 cover below) appearing around 18 months later in April 1980. This along with the magazine being clearly tagged as being for “mature audiences” may have resulted in its demise although there were also some pretty serious finacial issue at play with the magazine.

The Science Fiction Bookshop at this time was run by Rob King who edited issues 1-4 of "Near Myths". Sadly Rob King and the Science Fiction Bookshop were heavily in debt with Mr King abandoning the shop, his debtors and the magazine leaving Brian Talbot to edit the final issue (cover above from Internet). Due to the long delays between issues I missed the last issue of "Near Myths" (or perhaps I lost interest) which looks to have been heading in a more commercial (for an "alternative" magazine) direction with excellent creators like Hunt Emerson and Trina Robbins contributing.