Goldtiger (subtitled Goldtiger: The Poseidon Complex) is a British graphic novel, first published by Rebellion Developments in 2016, and promoted in conjunction with the company's 2000 AD comic. The book tells the history of short-lived and controversial spy-themed newspaper comic strip "Goldtiger" by acclaimed Italian artist Antonio Barreti and science fiction novelist Louis Schaeffer, interspersed with the strips themselves. It was the first comic to bear the 2000 AD branding without having appeared in the comic previously.
The graphic novel is a false document; Barreti, Shaeffer, "Goldtiger" and their histories were created by writer Guy Adams and artist Jimmy Broxton, who use a variety of pseudonyms and pastiche various comic and magazine styles across the book. Beyond absurd and occasionally implausible turns in the purported history of the strip, the graphic novel features no overt disclaimers.
Fictional Premise
Creation
In response to the massive success of "Modesty Blaise", the Baskerville Newspaper Group commissioned minor science fiction author Louis Schaeffer and talented but eccentric Italian artist Antonio Barreti to create a spy thriller newspaper strip for syndication. To the surprise of the publisher, the first serial - "The Poseidon Complex" - was handed over to them as a completed work. More surprisingly, the work was permissive even by the progressive Swinging Sixties' standards - primary characters Lily Gold and Jack Tiger were both openly homosexual. Left with a story most newspapers would not print, both the publishers and writer Schaeffer (who needed the strip to succeed for financial reasons) tried to bring Barreti's excesses under control, without success. With English newspapers unwilling to run the strip, Baskerville only manage to sell the rights to a few obscure publications - European newspapers The Daily Clarion of Malta and Diario Moraira of Spain, and German left-wing magazine Ausflippen - and pulled the plug. Barreti subsequently suffered a nervous breakdown.
Goldtiger
Running chic London boutique Goldtiger isn't enough for Lily Gold and Jack Tiger, so the thrillseeking pair of fashion designers seek adventure on the side. After several boats vanish on the Thames, the pair's investigation leads them to amphibious reptile man Sobek, who is to using a Transubstantiation Ray to turn people into liquid, which he then filters to extract valuable substances.
Battling Lily, Sobek gains the upper hand but the sight of her being strangled in the villain's base is too much for Barreti. Having already appeared in the strip earlier to bemoan the script, he enters the frame and helps, allowing Lily to kill Sobek with a giant pencil before creating a deus ex machina to stop his henchman by simply unplugging the base's powerful supply. Now seemingly unable to leave the frame, Barreti is adopted by Gold and Tiger as a companion.
Cancellation
Having only discovered how far the uncommunicative Barreti had strayed from his scripts when reading the strip in print, Schaeffer attempted to regain control by sketching several strips himself. In protest, Barreti simply submitted Schaeffer's crude drawings as the finished art. Exasperated, Schaeffer instead wrote a novelisation of "The Poseidon Complex" for publisher Club Books before quitting; an excerpt from the book is used to bridge one of the gaps in the narrative caused by Barreti's disregard for storytelling. A film based on the comic commenced production under an Italian exploitation studio, starring Edwige Fenech and Terence Stamp, but was abandoned during filming for unclear reasons.
The strip did however prove a surprise success in Malta, and the Clarion commissioned Barreti to continue the work after Baskerville withdrew. Even though Barreti had been committed, Schaeffer continued to send him scripts to work on. Despite the stories growing ever-more surreal "Goldtiger" ran in the Daily Clarion until 1975, only ending when sporadic communication with the artist suddenly ended. The following year Schaeffer, having failed to carve out the serious literary career he craved, reportedly died in a boating accident off the coast of Corsica.