A fairly simple narrative with a central protagonist engaging in hedonistic indulgence.

The booklet is a gorgeous three-wrap colour card cover gives the book a very fancy art-shop feel. This hides as well as enhances the lesser stock paper comic inside. Two A4 sheets with drawings on one side, which is a very handy hint lesson for creators on how to make something look impressive.

Cliodhna's art-style is well...stylistic. Its in-your-face aesthetic beauty with a calligraphic filling. 'Cake Diving' appears to look for exploration. At times its jittery or telegenic, at others its bursting with energy and abandon.

A quick read, but certainly a pleasant diversion, and the sort of comic that will easily attract onlookers.
To enquire about getting your hands on a copy email cliodhna (at) ztoical (dot) com.

The latest collection by small press luminary Douglas Noble - another communication of his distinguished cinematic style.

'A good turn, a locked door, a solitary child'

An agent without background on a mission which is kept hidden from all but the mysterious employer. The veiwer is chosen to identify with the protagonist through access to limited information, or perhaps to the employer from his observatory stand-point.

From the author's notes,
"A man must complete a number of mysterious actions on behalf of an equally mysterious employer. It’s a puzzle about identity, set in a world without names. Where no answers are supplied and the questions are left unsaid."

Douglas's narrative is strong, layered with phrases which tingle and move, like some fine live Pollack fever. Theres noteable changing pacing points, guilt and intimidation. I was left with the feeling by the end of the book that I should spend a heft of hours working for Amnesty International.

Literary, and visually its remarkable to see how much Douglas's work has grown. His collections back in 2001 were rich with a promise now fulfilled. The central traits remain: static imagery, inked by tool of variety, the essential feel of the experience of reading his books as akin to a worhtwhile education. The influence of Douglas's Rule of Death co-creator, Daniel Merlin Goodbrey can be felt in this new edition, and I see Noblle's own influence in Merlin's work. This sits very comfortably as an extension and evolution of style.

Printed on A5 with a lovely textured red cover. 'Something Happened' in this comic. For anyone serious about the dramatic powers of the form this is a book to look in on. It feels very now-ish.

You can order a copy through the Paypal function on Mr. Noble's site for the goodly sum of £2 plus postage.
http://www.strip-for-me.com/?p=346

And if you're smart you'll ask about the possibility of an autographed copy because, you know, its worth.

A piece of esoteric tongue-in-cheekery provides this twelfth instalment of Michael J Weller's Slow Science Fictions series with a good humoured opening, but the resultant giggles are soon smothered in a sombre fug of nightmarish oddness as the unnatural success of author MY Jolly – the series' JK Rowling-like figure – is darkly investigated. The bizarre-o-meter reading goes off the scale when Jolly is seduced by the cunt-tinglingly mysterious Duke Valentine and exposed to the salacious Love Museum, where a deviant technology chillingly screens other people's dreams: cocks are taken in the mouth; a black girl rubs herself off with both hands as boys spurt semen in her hair; an old gash is moistened. The unearthly edginess and sinister quality further intensify as Weller pointedly puts Jolly through hell to realise her writing aspirations, and though there is some convolution-overload toward the end as story fabric flips and folds a la David Lynch, SSF #12 ultimately proves a captivating if insubstantial reading experience.

32 A5 pages, £2 inc p&p, available from Mike Weller, 3 Queen Adelaide Court, Queen Adelaide Road, Penge, London SE20 7DZ. E-mail: mikejweller(at)hotmail.com Site: http://www.homebakedbooks.co.uk/wellerverse.htm

Additional 3World in 4Time comix, pics, videos, and comments: www.4time.wordpress.com, www.earthco.wordpress.com, www.blog2blog.wordpress.com, www.addingcombe.wordpress.com, www.myspace.com/mickweller, www.egnep.blogspot.com