Behind the serious and beardy face of old Charlie Darwin on the front cover lies Matt Craig’s first comic, a collection of stories originally published on his website between 2001 and 2003. Darwin is My Co-Pilot was released upon an unsuspecting public in 2003, and much like John Henry Hart’s first issue of Insipid Candy (which I reviewed previously for this site) it serves as both a summary of his work to that date and as an indication of where he wanted to go with it.

The issue begins with a neat bit of autobiography, in which Craig established his comic lover’s credentials. It seems like a bold statement to begin your first comic with. Here I am, it says in no uncertain terms. This is me. Get used to it.

The other strips in Darwin is my Co-Pilot don’t have the same bullish sense of self, and seem a little hesitant in places. In part this is due to Craig’s fairly rudimentary art style, and loosely structured page layouts, but it is also because he seems to be getting used to the formalities of putting comics together. Certainly the most accomplished piece of writing in the comics is the three pages of text that lead into ‘Moir’, which has a lively and ribald sense of fun that wouldn’t be out of place in a Dan Lester comic.

That said, there’s still a lot to like. The rampant barminess of Duck with a Gun brought a smile to my face, as did the plaintive cries of I Don’t Exist. It’s also interesting to see an early strip in Craig’s on-going Hondle mythology. More about that in a later review. All in all it’s a spirited beginning – but it’s where he goes next that’s interesting.

Most of this can be found on-line, as stated above, at thematthewcraig.com, but the interested reader can also order this one for a single UK pound (or an American dollar and seventy-five cents), and that includes the postage, though with the new charges coming in who can really tell? Orders from mattscrew at hotmail.com, with discounts on orders of multiple titles. Other titles, you ask? Tune in for more reviews soon.