Books

The Bojeffries Saga Review

• 20th Feb 2014

Authors: Alan Moore and Steve Parkhouse

Fans of Alan Moore should look no further than this brilliant compilation of the complete Bojeffries comics soon to be jointly published by the ever reliable Knockabout (and Topshelf in the U.S.). Spanning thirty years, this hilarious and skewed family saga is finally brought together in a complete edition from start to finish. Highlights include a fantastic new present day comic ‘After they were famous’ where the family end up in the Big Brother house, a Christmas comic and a light opera. The Bojeffries comics are a deeply humorous and satirical look at life in modern day Britain through the eyes of a gangling cast of misfit monsters:- the werewolf and vampire uncles, decomposing Grandpa, a radioactive baby and the scary misfit kids who live with their long suffering father all in one ramshackle Northampton council house amongst ordinary people.

As you would expect from a Moore/Parkhouse collaboration, the writing is deft, cutting and darkly amusing. It is hard to find a page that doesn’t have a laugh out loud moment, or to reach the end of a strip without raising your eyebrows in wonderment. These are true little gems which rank highly among Moore’s oeuvre and sparkle with his trademark wit and anarchy. Steve Parkhouse has done an admirable job with some fine line work to match him. His characterisations are superb and the characters are finely realised in this pacy, vibrant collective. It’s a wonderful partnership, and one feels such sadness when reaching the end that there is still not more. This looks sets to be the end for good of the Bojeffries if recent interviews with Moore are anything to go by, so we must savour each piece of this surreal and disturbing pie.

My absolute favourite has to be ‘After they were famous’, but ‘Our Factory Fortnight’ (where the family go on an ill-fated holiday) and Raoul’s Night Out’ (werewolf uncle up to no good) come close. All the comics hit the mark, even the Christmas episode ‘A Quiet Christmas With The Family’ which I don’t find nearly as funny as the others, still stands head and shoulders above the norm.

It’s short, it is the end of an era, but it’s god darn sweet.

Claire Hyypiä