The biggest event in the world, the World Cup, is kicking off today and we’ll kick off (heh) our link blogging with Richard Bruton’s tribute to Roy of the Rovers , which, based on the squeal FMB gave when a Roy collection arrived on our doorstep, is some kind of seminal kids footie comic. Bruton concentrates on the “Dark Knight” of Roy comics, a 1994 version by Rob Davis and Stuart Green:

The artist on much of these new Roy Of The Rovers strips was Rob Davis, who talks about the genesis of the idea at his blog here. Essentially it all came from an idea from the ill-fated Tundra UK (a 90s money pit of excess and wonderful idealism funded by Kevin Eastman and the millions made from the Turtles goldmine). The proposed Glory Glory football comic never got off the ground (a familiar tale for anyone who remembers Tundra) and writer Stuart Green and Rob Davis took the idea over for a radical reinvention of the worlds most famous football comic.

If that’s a little too dystopian for ya, we point you to the ‘70/’80s version, which is a perfect synthesis of feathered blond hair, tight shorts, and panels full of little figures executing soccer plays.