Back in 1990, the weekly British science fiction comic 2000 AD ran a bizarre eight-part series entitled "Hewligan's Haircut". A paperback collection appeared several years ago, but now the whole story has been repackaged in a brand new sumptuous hardback. (Rebellion, £10.99. ISBN 1-904265-06-5).
The tale concerns the teenager Hewligan (his name being an amalgam of writer Peter Milligan and artist Jamie Hewlett) embarking on a totally barmy journey through surreal situations. (The storyline makes "Fall Out" seem sane in comparision). The book is of interest to fans of The Prisoner because at one point he visits an obvious parallel to The Village as seen in a certain tv series. (In fact, photo montages of Portmeirion and Alexis Kanner are used in the strip alongside artwork depicting the Butler and a "beach balloon"). The Village visit only lasts one page before Hewligan is off to another loopy location.
Scriptwriter Peter Milligan is obviously an admirer of The Prisoner's use of allegory. He recently courted controversy as the writer of Marvel Comics' pop culture satire comic book X-STATIX wherein a recently advertised storyline "Di Another Day", which was to have featured Princess Diana returning to life as a superhero, was hastily rewritten and redrawn before publication. (Now called "Back From The Dead", the story features an ex-dead brunette pop star, but her "powers of empathy" and press manipulation show that the story still alludes to Princess Di).
"Hewligan's Haircut" artist, Jamie Hewlett was the artist of "Tank Girl" and is currently involved with the band Gorillaz and designed the characters for their videos.