Rankin developed a unique style based on traditional British idiom established as early as the 1890s. In a sense he took and reinterpreted this style rather in the way that Robert Crumb re-used a traditional American newspaper strip style. But in Rankin's case the changes he makes seem to put his drawing under a kind of tension. Even his lettering, which is also distinctive, seems bent under pressure.

In the wake of its own high-profile obscenity trial Oz launched cOZmic Comics in 1972, printing a mixture of new British underground strips and old American work.
When Oz closed down the following year the Cozmic title was continued by fledgling media tycoon Felix Dennis and his company H. Bunch Associates until 1975. The UK based cartoonists included Chris Welch, Edward Barker, Michael J. Weller, Malcolm Livingstone, William Rankin (aka Wyndham Raine), Dave Gibbons, Joe Petagno, Bryan Talbot, the team of Martin Sudden & Jay Jeff Jones and Brian Bolland.

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