[misappear]

Hey Y

[The Australian Panther]

Re British comics.

Does anyone have a recommendation of books on the broad topic, or notable pieces that drill down into specifics? 

Paw would be the one to definitively answer that question.

This site has got some  ' notable pieces that drill down into specifics' - but not many.
https://britishcomics.com/british-comics-history

Check the right hand side bar.
It would be a good place to start. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denis_Gifford
Dennis Gifford was one of the first to write a book on British Comics.

Gifford was regarded by many as the UK's pre-eminent comics historian, particularly of early British comics. The British Library provides catalogues and reference works written by Gifford as assistance to researchers of its British Comics Collection, and indeed most of the reference works on the subject provided by the British Library were written by Gifford.[39] 

Comics scholarship, still relatively undeveloped in comparison to other media, was almost non-existent in 1971, when Gifford published his first book on comics history, Discovering Comics. At that time, no comprehensive archive of British comics existed, no fully researched cataloguing had been attempted, the mass pulping of comics in Britain in the 1940s meant that many issues and even titles were lost without effective records, no university courses were dedicated to the study of the medium, and serious research and debate had not taken place into the origin and development of the comic as a form. Gifford was determined that the comic should gain a credibility in mainstream culture and academia which it already possessed in continental Europe, and to a lesser extent the US: "Curiously, only Great Britain, where the comic paper was born, takes its comics for what they superficially seem

[paw broon]

Well, thanks for the kind words, Panther but I'm not sure I have all that knowledge.
This is a quick comment as I have an online Italian class in 10 minutes, but looking at my shelves,  I have 4 books on old Spanish comics and 3 on British comics.
I phoned Colin Noble yesterday and he, and a few others, have been investigating the connections between many of the smaller pocket library publishers, and it is intriguing who's done what and who reprinted what and who took over who.
I've just sent off a piece on the nonsense that is out there about Marvelman and Miracle Man - not that one, the real Spanish hero.
Sorry, I have to make a cup of coffee, get some toast and fire up my tablet for the class.

[Andrew999]

Not much in the way of books as far as I'm aware - although I would recommend anything by Paul Gravett and the late Dennis Gifford:

http://www.paulgravett.com

Nor should we forget our old mucker, Steve

https://bearalley.blogspot.com

In addition, there's:

James Chapman's British Comics - A Cultural History
Graham Kibble-White - The Ultimate Book of British Comics

Whilst books are a bit thin on the ground, there's a surprising amount scattered in snippets across the web - I came across this the other day, a fairly decent primer but it does skip rather rapidly from the 50s to the anarchic (and not entirely pleasant) Viz of the 80s:

http://www.europecomics.com/british-comics-cultural-history/

This is worth a peek:

https://www.britishcomics.com/british-comics-history

There are a couple of Wikis that fill some gaps:

https://ukcomics.fandom.com/wiki/UK_Comics_Wiki

https://britishcomics.fandom.com/wiki/Albion_British_Comics_Database_Wiki

[paw broon]

Andrew is bang on here.  The links he posts are worthwhile and there's no doubt that Paul Gravett is very knowledgeable, and entertaining to read. Gifford produced a lot of works but even he couldn't cover everything and there are a lot of omissions and errors in his books.
http://www.europecomics.com/british-comics-cultural-history/    is very good and as the post points out, there is still an awful lot of research to be done.  So many writers and artists are still unidentified and many of the, heaven knows how many, one shots or short runs from almost pop up publishers are nowhere near being found.
It's easy to find out about DC Thomson; AP; Marvel UK; Eagle, but there's still a lot that is unexplored country.
Bear Alley is a great site and CB+ has benefited from scans found on the site. 
There are some fans who are currently investigating various aspect of British comics but a lot of the results haven't been posted as yet.
Not a lot of help, but a start, misappear.

[Jetstone]

I was lucky enough to come across a huge pile of 2000AD comics... the originals on newsprint and grabbed a few dozen with Judge Dredd artwork that is jaw dropping. I also inherited from a dear friend some issues of DANDY and BEANO. There is a documentary called FUTURESHOCK about the 2000AD comics story.

[paw broon]

I don't read 2000AD nowadays but at it's height, it was an amazing comic.  And that jaw dropping art Jetstone writes about, well, I suppose he saw the Brian Bolland Dredd which is seriously good but I have always loved Mick McMahon's approach to the character.  He's not only a fine comic book artist but also a really nice bloke.
Dandy and Beano give you a look at some classic British illustrators and you'll find a lot of DD Watkins in them.
Beano featured one of my much loved superheroes, Billy the Cat. Drawn in Beano by Dave Sutherland.  If you search you'll find a crossover with General Jumbo.
Here's an (authorised) origin:-
http://www.davidcarman.co.uk/billy.htm
If you can find Topper, it's worth looking out for Paddy Brennan's Flip McCoy the Floating Boy strip.  When it was revived it was drawn by Ron Smith of Dredd and King Cobra fame, to name a couple.
Please let us know if you need more info.

[Jetstone]

ROY of the ROVERS was a delightful recent discovery. I lucked into a compilation volume which tickled me because of the bastardization of real club names and the "football" situations which I have only learned to appreciate with the Premiere League's US coverage in the last decade.

I think my favorite double page spread of Dredd from 2000Ad was a story drawn by Ron Smith, a huge front view of Dredd on his "Lawmaster" cycle. And the cover wraparound art with WW2 fighter planes straffing Megacity has got to be the most ambitious piece of comic art I've ever seen. I want to say that was Smith as well.

[Andrew999]

Ron Smith was a genius:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Smith_(comics)

My favourite Dredd artist though would still be Bolland - I loved the gothic feel he created, the monochrome imagery gelling with Dredd's world-view - and of course he brought us Judge Anderson at just the right moment to give the strip a new dimension.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Bolland

[Jetstone]

Cam Kennedy is another one whose standards were extremely high. Boland is truly otherworldly in his precision. I've got a couple of dozen Dredd comic books published by Eagle with Boland covers.
The only comic art I've seen more ambitious than that Smith WW2 fighter cover for 2000AD is the wall of mirror reflective chrome panels in a centerfold for ZAP COMICS by Robert Williams. One side has reflections of reflective chrome objects from the other side.

[paw broon]

Cam has done a lot of awfy good work.  If you fancy something a wee bit different, try the Scots language version of Kidnapped.  Alan Grant's script is translated into Scots and the title becomes Kidnappit. Aprt from being a cracking good story, Cam's art adds to the atmosphere and excitement.  It's worthwhile comparing the look with the D.D. Watkins textstrip version. 
Kidnappit and the English version are available from Amazon and other outlets:-
https://www.amazon.com/Kidnappit-Cam-Kennedy/dp/184502138X
I've met Cam a few times over the years and the famous/notorious night in a rough Glasgow pub after one of our marts, or cons, I can't remember which, remains with me still.  There was an "altercation" at another table and Cam took a dislike to what was said.  He was a biggish bloke back then and he stood up in his big coat, turned his bunnet back to front and asked something along the lines of, what was that?  That was enough.  We all calmed down and left soon after. Just in case.

[BlackCat]

'The Penguin Book of Comics' (first published in 1967 or '69) covers both British and American comics up to, and including, the 'Marvel Age'. It also includes the work of 'underground' comic book creators like Robert Crumb. It was published in Britain (by Penguin) and was, I think, written by two Britons - George Perry and Alan Aldridge.

It is actually very good on the early history of British comics, and also on what might be called the 'prehistory' of comics, stretching back as far as ancient Egypt.

I read the 1975 edition, in paperback, from cover to cover and enjoyed it. Given the technology of the period, which was far more limited than our own, it is well illustrated with plenty of examples.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Penguin-Book-Comics-History-graphic/dp/0140028021

[paw broon]

Nice one BlackCat.  I read that one years ago.  I don't have it and the copy I read was borrowed from a friend.  As with all these books, there are a lot of omissions in British comics.  In fact it would need a multi-volume series to encompass it all, especially as we are still digging up stuff.