Absalom annotations by Eamonn Clarke
This is a set of annotations to the Absalom comic strip from 2000AD, written by Gordon Rennie and illustrated by Tiernen Trevallion. I am basing these notes on the trade paperback which collected the two full stories: Noblesse Oblige, Ghosts of London, and the one-shot story: Sick Leave.
As ever if you have any comments, queries or additional notes please email me.
Noblesse Oblige.
Page 1, panel 1. Somewhere in Cumbria there is a prisoner number 6 which may be a reference to the sixties TV show The Prisoner
Page 2, panel 5. Our first glimpse of the two Homunculi that act as bodyguards to Inspector Absalom
Page 3, panel 1. Absalom refers to the Homunculi as Oddbod and Little Oddbod which is a reference to the monstrous characters of the same names in Carry on Screaming.
Page 3, panel 4. A Stylite was an early Christian who would sit on top of a pillar to fast and meditate.
Page 3, panel 5. Klove was the servant and coach-man of Count Dracula in the Hammer horror film Dracula : Prince of Darkness
Page 3, panel 6. The Stylite club may be based on the Diogenes club from the Sherlock Holmes stories. The Diogenes has also appeared in other fictional works, usually showing it as somehow connected to intelligence organisations.
Page 4, panel 3. Sir Charles Occam's name may be based on Occam's razor
Page 5, panel 1. Absalom refers to Laudanum Lane and his use of an outdated mixture of Morphine and alcohol to control his pain.
Page 8, panel 2. This is the famous Highgate cemetery
Page 8, panel 3. Using Bonetti as the name of the cat-strangling Homunculus may be a reference to the England goalkeeper Peter 'The Cat' Bonetti
Page 9, panel 2. Hopkins used to work for SO14 which protects the Royal family, and for SO13 which was indeed a counter-terrorism unit.
Page 9, panel 5. Absalom makes an oblique reference to the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes by British police in 2005. de Menezes was an electrician ("Sparky") from Brazil
Page 11, panel 4. The Star Chamber was a group of King's counsellors that became a court of law.
Page 12, panel 1. The Stone garden must be Highgate cemetery
Page 12, panel 3. The Woodentops was originally a children's television show but became a slang term for uniformed police officers as used by their plain-clothed superiors.
Page 13, panel 1. The blind street painter wearing an Eye of Providence t-shirt appears to be finishing a portrait of Barrack Obama in front of the Tower of London.
Page 13, panel 2. That famous Hai Karate TV ad
Page 17, panel 5. A Rakshasa is a vampiric figure from Indian mythology
Page 22, panel 1. There is a real Gate wine bar in East London
Page 22, panel 3. Is that a zombie W.G. Grace?
Page 31, panel 4. Creepy Sleaze Investigation = CSI
Page 33, panel 7. Marjorie Proops wrote a long running 'agony aunt' column
Page 40, panel 5. Who is the mysterious Y?
Sick Leave
For details of the medicine in this story (and the errors) read my blog review here.
Page 7, panel 1. Inspector Trout was a character in the Abominable Dr. Phibes films.
Inspector Calhoun was played by Donald Pleasence in the 1972 film Death Line, in which he investigated Cannibals in the underground.
Page 7, panel 3. Jack Regan was, of course, played by the late John Thaw in The Sweeney.
Inspector Barlow was a character in the British TV shows Z Cars, Softly, Softly, Barlow at Large, and Second Verdict, and was played by Stratford Johns. Regan and Barlow didn't investigate the paranormal although Barlow, with his colleague John Watt, did look in to the Jack the Ripper case once.
Finally, the "Irish git who was involved in that Zombie mess up in Manchester" is a reference to the film The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue, and to the police sergeant played by Arthur Kennedy.
The images in the third panel show from the left, Dr Phibes, Inspector Barlow, Jack Regan and, I think, Inspector Trout. Hopefully, somebody will let me know where the demon with the inverted cross on its head comes from.
Ghosts of London
Page 1. This page depicts the real Battle of Cable street that took place between Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists and Anti-Fascist protesters in October 1936.
Page 2, panel 1. The graffiti shows one of the hoody wearing demons from the Sick Leave story.
Page 2, panel 3. The roof top chase reminds me of the pursuit of Mr. Hyde in the rather terrible movie version of the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Page 3, panel 1. This is Spring-heeled Jack, a figure from English folklore. He has the face mask, metal clawed gloves and ability to breathe fire from the legends.
Page 4, panel 5. Absalom refers to Dick Van Dyke in the film version of Mary Poppins.
Page 5, panel 1. That's the statue of Boudicca near Westminster Pier on the banks of the Thames.
Page 7, panel 2. Absalom refers to the character Biggus Dickus from Monty Python's Life of Brian.
Page 7, panel 3. Psycho-geography is concerned with the psychological, emotional and behavioural effects of cities and buildings.
Page 7, panel 4. Arnold J Toynbee, David Starkey and A.J.P. Taylor are all famous British historians. Absalom gets Toynbee's first name wrong.
Page 7, panel 6. There really is a London Stone.
Page 8, panel 5. There is a online magazine called OI, but I suspect the one shown here is an Absalom world parody of Hello!
Page 10, panel 3. This is the 1666 Great Fire of London which started in Pudding Lane. There is a number 7 bus in London but I don't think it goes to Pudding lane.
Page 14, panel 1. Charlie Peace was a real life Victorian Burglar who has appeared in several fictionalised versions over the years, including in the British comic Valiant, and in the Alan Moore collection Albion which dealt with the rich history of British comics.
Page 14, panel 2. Dick Turpin.
Page 14, panel 4. The Stone of Scone.
Page 16, panel 1. William Wallace was the Scottish revolutionary leader portrayed by Mel Gibson in Braveheart.
Page 16, panel 3. The mythology of Gog and Magog is complex. In British folklore they were giants who defended London from attack.
Page 16, panel 5. Sadly Combat 18 is, or was, a real neo-nazi organisation.
Page 17, Panel 5. The Boys from Brazil is an Ira Levin novel about a nazi cloning project.
Page 19, panel 4. Golden Dawn is an extremely right wing political organisation in Greece.
Page 23, panel 5. The Bullingdon club is a society at Oxford University which is currently famous for having British Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson as former members.
Page 31, panel 2. Another comic book depiction of Yggdrasil, the World tree which writers and artists seem to love to reference. See my Stickleback notes for another appearance.
Page 35, panel 6. Spring-Heeled Jack is still out there somewhere.