Not quite the first great modern British superhero, but certainly the combination of Britishness, superheroics, Lovecraftiana all merged with a sneery eighties synth-pop celebrity excess lifestyle sensibility more concerned with fame and TV appearances than getting in fights in Thatcher's UK really shook things up - it certainly shook me up. Of course, Zenith, the shallow and vain young eighties superstar who's mostly irritated to be bothered by dark shadows from forties and lost relics from the sixties come to upset his soaring career by ending the world. This was all before Alan Moore razed London in Miracleman and Kieron Gillen fought WWII with superpowered soldiers - but it's all in here. I loved this when it came out first and like it a lot still.

I'm giving this edition the side-eye, though, for some small subtle discrepancies. Wasn't Book 1 called 'Tygers?' Here it's just 'Phase 1.' Why have some full stops been replaced with exclamation points? I remember being impressed with the way some sentences were printed with full stops where you would normally expect to see an exclamation point, making them quieter, more powerful, sinister or affecting. It seems weird to replace them like this. Not many, just a few here and there that I might not have noticed if they hadn't made such an impression on me. Also I'm certain Maximan didn't use 'bitch' like he does here. Not entirely sure it's an improvement.