Secrets of the Unknown – Alan Class Biography Now On Kickstarter!

Nick Neocleous’ biography of British comics publisher Alan Class has exceeded its Kickstarter goal, with 37 days to go – but it’s not too late to pledge to the project and get your copy!

Alan Class launched his career in the 1950’s, repackaging American comics in extra-thick squarebound anthologies for Britain at a time when US comics had little to no circulation in the UK.

Alan’s ‘Big Six’ titles – Astounding Stories, Creepy Worlds, Sinister Tales, Suspense, Uncanny Tales, and Secrets of the Unknown – ran until the late 1980’s, becoming part of the landscape of a generation of comics readers, and the first format n which they encountered many classic characters and creators.

After being rediscovered around the turn of the century first by Paul Hudson of Comics Showcase, then by Rob Rudderham and Will Morgan of 30th Century Comics, Alan was gratified to find how well remembered his comics were, and appeared at several signings.

This book features entirely new interviews and biography material from Alan himself, not reprinted from any other source, and is lavishly illustrated, focussing on Alan’s entire line, including short-run titles, oddities, esoterica and one-offs.

From the Kickstarter campaign page;

“Secrets of the Unknown… ALAN CLASS

From 1959 to 1989 Alan Class published his series of comics which were distributed throughout the UK. Alan was the first person to obtain rights to reprint Fantastic Four issue 1 back in 1961. In the book Alan relates the unfortunate story of what happened to the copy they gave him. Alan’s comics featured reprints from most of the major US companies, Marvel, Atlas, ACG, Tower and Charlton. Many collectors have grown up with fond memories of these comics which featured countless comic strips in many genres. But for many years no one actually knew who Alan Class was. Was he even a real person or just a publishing house name?
Now the story can be told! Nick Neocleous interviewed Alan several times and the results of those interviews have been combined with many pages of newly written memoirs by Alan to create this book. Alan goes into detail about publishing comics in the 1960s and beyond. There are also details of all the distributors that carried his comics and many more facts and data, some of which dismisses false ‘facts’ that were previously thought to be true. The book also contains many full colour cover reproductions including all his number one issues and lots of rarities and oddities.”

The regular edition, A4 size, 297mm by 210mm (approximately 11″ x 8″) is a 124 page softcover, and will cost £20, plus an additional £3 postage within the UK (£7 Europe, £15 USA).

A limited edition of 250 copies, signed by Alan himself, will be available for £30 plus postage.