When Jazz & Blues act Sy Snootles And The Max Rebo Band embrace the techno wizardry of new member R2D2, their residency at the Cantina is relinquished in favour of an intergalactic tour which (metaphorically) includes a few disturbed nights at the Casino Royale - with cheese aplenty! Meanwhile, in the hands of creator Andy Luke, band roadie and occasional tippler Anakin Skywalker proves himself more worthy of the identity 'Heineken Skywalker', and Samuel L. cements his reputation as an actor capable of five easily recognisable facial expressions.
Affectionate parody of the Star Wars mythology, however irreverent, is not my thing. However, in Revenge of the Cantina Andy Luke provides the shifting focus of a non-linear narrative applied to a linear plot, which at one point prompted me to contemplate the abandonment of reading in favour of some form of sequential snorting. The patchy artwork, though no more than functional, manages a naive appeal, and any creative effort I think that can inherently highlight the error of the most blatant beard-promotion since Grizzly Adams is to be applauded. All in all, an oblique reading experience that made the back of my brain hum. (And no, I don't know if this is a good thing!)
28 A5 pages, £1.50 from Andrew Luke, 11 May Avenue, Castle Street, Bangor BT20 4JT, N. Ireland. Email: j_andrewluke@hotmail.com
Containing power fantasy parody vitally flavoured with a Whizzer & Chipsiness, this collection of one and two page strips is enjoyably diverting. The endearing brevity offers a series of padding-free scripts adequately cartooned, which succeed in telling neat, little stories that introduce absurd villains and prompt a smile or two on the way.
In one such story Paul McCartney has been replaced with an android, and female agent Diana St George must track down Damon Quint, the diabolical mastermind responsible. Conveniently enough, this villain also runs the small shop 'Quint Electronics' and St George soon has the culprit in her sights.
With a sugar-fueled mania throughout, Martin Street's Cartoon Showcase #1 is solid entertainment for the offspring of comics fans and, with adult sustenance found elsewhere, for the small press enthustiast attentive to the demands of their inner child.
14 A4 pages, 50p from Smallzone.
This took quite a few reads before I was quite sure of who's who and what exactly was taking place, which isn't exactly a good start.
Jay Bonney's wild west story, this has the thematic elements of your average Hollywood popcorn film - a murder. a will to be settled, a young priest with a questionable past, a ranch up for grabs and a feisty young heroine who gallops off to settle things at the 11th hour.
It has the bare bones of a script, it cuts straight to the story, there's no little set up narrative or character introductions which might have helped the story and enriched things somewhat.
George Bailey's artwork is more sucessful when rendering backgrounds. These are pretty good and establish the mood of the story very well. The characters are less successful. Spiky and stylized drawings that lack confidence (you can feel the fear in the final backshot of the heroine's arse!).
Having said that, for a no-brainer, Sins of the Past isn't that bad a stab. Fans of westerns or anyone who's enjoyed Jay Bonneys/George Bailey's previous work may want to give Sins of the Past a go.
Price ???
24 pages B+W
ministrycomics@aol.com
jaybonney@aol.com
Nighthouse
by Andy BrownA one-off short story, Nighthouse relates a supernatural chain of events in a naturalistic style. An isolated lighthouse with a creepy history compels a young woman posing as a journalist to take a closer look, only to fall victim to the Lighthouse’s dark legacy.
The story itself isn’t that great or original but what makes Nighthouse so readable is the believable characters and attention to detail. The lighthouse provides a writers den to Tudor Jones, an oddball playwright. The dialogue between him and the prying Jasmine is deftly handled, both script and artwork are rhythmic, and creator Andy Brown works hard to keep the interplay between his two characters visually stimulating. He succeeds. When Jasmine seductively twiddles her hair, Tudor burns his hand cooking and sucks his fingers in pain, an ominous echo of her gesture. Touches like this are particularly good.
The artwork, although flawed, is very charming nonetheless pitched somewhere between a more serious Dame Darcy and a less accurate Chester Brown. There are some ambitious scenes at work and everything is rendered with lots of tonal quality. Nighthouse is interesting to look at, though at times an excess of detail does muddy the action and slows the eye down when it should be surging forward.
An exciting debut overall from a promising comic creator.
Priced 50p (plus 1st Class stamp)
20 pages,
B+W, A5from Andy Brown
21 Cae Odin,
Brackla, Bridgend
Mid Glamorgan
CF31 2HH
by Debra Boyask
There's some an editorial bless of community and throughout this comic that Debra is doing this comic for chums and that's a telltale sign of an interesting commic. Indeed,a very personal experience, her works. Snug. As before, a collection of interconnected stories good for reflection, and catchy with the giggles. There's a computer-generated art experiment that doesn't really work for me, although I think that's kind of her point. Being less obscure, it's all good relations, with expressive characters and animated in-panel sequencing,
£1.50 & A5 SAE
For more details teacake2@hotmail.com
Todd McFarlane is hard at work under the tutelage of Willian Blake and Johnathan Ross. There's your soundbite for Hong Kong Pussy. Mind-alteringly brilliant. This rocks!
I wasn't prepared to like this so, despite the entertaining Mancunian (EPILEPTIC ENGINE) scribbler's quality pitch. I wish him the best of fortune in getting these tales of sexual urges/rebellious biology to the hands of skateboarders. There is import there.
Hong Kong Pussy contains some impressive multi-meanings, and some so obvious. However, it's worthwhile; there's certainly not a dull moment on the eyes, although be careful reading it last thing at night!Not sure were you would get this. Try www.fuckucomx.com
Debra Boyask, New Zealander transplanted to England gives her best recollections of first impressions. This is a pleasant read, little but not lacking, cataloging placement. This captures the stranger in a strange land sense and makes some interesting comments on English life, facets crap and pleasurable that are taken as granted. It's a good introspective album of pictures and words, I got the feeling from it, as a neighbour of England, that we have still a way to go, but so many positive aspects also, which at lows can be so taken for granted. This observational mini diary of the pursuits of England hits the spot with minimal effort and looks the part.
Contact Debra Boyask at teacake2@hotmail.com for information on were to get this.
Bit of an engaging shambles, this, a collection of strips from siblings Louise and Trevor Smith which might more appropriately have been titled 'All Fall Apart'.
'Suburban Tales Of Horror' and 'A Teddy Bear's Revenge', both courtesy of Louise, seem plagued by an insecurity-fueled panic which cripples these potentially rewarding stories with a deus ex machina disguised as off-the-wall craziness. The former displays some lovely detailed cartooning that is modestly ambitious; the latter, some sound writing ('til loss of composure) that succeeds in involving the reader. Trevor's series of 'Mix Tape' one-pagers prove the more satisfying read, being of a taming brevity. In essence the observations of a fledgling cynic not yet resigned to his lot, they're nicely understated and adequately illustrated. Of equal appeal is Trevor's short text piece 'Crowd'; a clever, lyrical contemplation on interrupted gatherings. Joint and further solo efforts account for the remainder of the issue, but only worthy of note is the sloppily realised parable of 'Jethro Meed', a boy who harnesses, then misuses the power provided by a build-up of sulphur in his fingertips.
Mostly under-developed and with impatient scripts that often drift into an irritating 'zany' or an irritating 'meaningful', All Fall Down #1 offers some polished if unremarkable cartooning, and afflicted flashes of potential. Colour cover, 36 A4 pages, £2.10 - available from Smallzone. Email: allfalldown2005@hotmail.com
I've been trying to write this review for days, but I just can't get it straight in my head. Be warned then that this might not make a lot of sense, because I'm just going to have a go anyway.
Imagine a world where Tharg isn't a green alien from Betelgeuse, he's school teacher from East Anglia. Instead of satirising the extremes of American society, 2000AD's lead strip celebrates and gently mocks Britain and Britishness. Rather than a Rigellian hotshot, you'll be handed a sound thrashing. No - this analogy isn't really working. Jason Cobley, BAM's writer/editor, is obviously in love with the weekly adventure comic. BAM! looks the part. There's a bold cover with teaser copy trailing the strips in side. Inside the cover, there's a proper editorial missive, a who did what in this issue and everything. It's great.
Jason once described himself as a wannabe John Wagner. Actually, he's better than wannabe. More than simply admiring adventure comics, he's learned what makes them work. Bulldog, BAM!'s lead strip of some 20 years standing, is still a strong read, for many of the same reasons as Judge Dredd is. The central character is strong, the surrounding cast is good, there's an integrity about the whole deal and, most important, Jason isn't afraid to throw everything in the air and shake it around. For a good long time, Bulldog was the hero of Blighty's Air Defence Force, fearlessly taking the war to the aggressor Vegenation. Now the war's ended, the Queen assassinated and even the mighty Ian Botham Memorial Statue destroyed, Bulldog finds himself fighting a civil war against a despotic new government. It's ace. Here's a writer deliberately trying to write beyond himself, to still keep pushing and working. You've got to applaud that. The strip is drawn by a variety of artists with a pretty wide spread of styles, but the narrative is strong enough that it isn't especially hampered by this.
As an editor, Jason doesn't seem to be afraid to risk eclipsing his own lead strip by carrying other people's work. There's solid support in the form of Jim Cameron's Bobby Buccaneer. That's an interesting strip - Cameron's cartooning is cutesy, but the opening battle sequence is played dead straight. I'm not entirely sure it's working, but it's a strong try. It much more successful that his Vrai text pieces of the last couple of issues, though. This issue's stand out strip is Garen Ewing's Rainbow Orchid, a 1920s set high adventure. It's just so complete - everything about it is good and all fits together wonderfully. If there's any justice you'll see this turning up in local Waterstones on that spinner with the Asterix and Tintin books in.
So there you go. BAM! is a just a big fat solid good damn comic. Buy it.
£2.60 from Jason Cobley, 94 Elm Road, Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, PE13 2TB, or order online. Other issues also available. BAM!Blog - Rainbow Orchid
A series of disparate cartoons by Andy Stanton that are mostly gag-free in favour of a casual profundity. Essentially it's a transparent attempt to capture the easy creative energy of absurdist David Shrigley, but the result lacks a convincingly askewed world view and is curiously soulless. Considered a foundation for the development of his own style, some encouragingly amusing moments surface, among them the line "You know, they called me 'ugly' at school...but I had the last laugh - I watch porn every night!" However, if you're familiar with the four course symphonies of Shrigley or Toby Tripp, 'Munchers' won't satisfy, and will be difficult to hold down. If you're not, though...
32 A7 pages, 75p - available from Smallzone.
Every so often a Tony McGee comm-booklet I've had a real difficult agreemement in liking. This is awkward as straight narrative, working as conveying emotion though. As with the rest of the 'frontiers' pieces, it is viewable as stand-alone and places the characters in a difficult or hostile environment and rising. The serials banded phrase "something is coming" arises at climax and brings in a case of hope perhaps optimism for the victim characters. This comm-booklet has pictures on both sides of the pages delicately added to, over a period of time and built solid.
Last night I spent an hour looking at the cover of Issue 4. Tony McGee is one of the finest artists working comic books in the UK by the self-publishing route. His work should be treated as such and it would trouble me if there were no feedback on just how unique this dedication of work.
£1 plus A5 SAE
Tony McGee, 143 Meldon Drive, Bilston, West Midlands, WV14 8BE
Banterous tale of childgirl Beatrix and her perception of the Iraq war, Writer Michael Bregman succeeds in using his character to rip the piss out of the anti-war campaign and validates their raison d'etre. Sally Anne-Hickman provides suiting illustrations in not just a Powerpuff Girls meets South Park style, but also in the selection of photographs in The Fall of Baghdad story. This is very funny stuff. I aim to get the next one.
£2.50 plus A5 sae should be directed towards 36 Finchley Way, London N3 1AH.
The miserable tale of Demeter & Sharky and a drunk piano
Ben Oakes, creator of the well-liked crowd pleasing 15 Nuns. Basic adequate illustrations in grey and black set at distance from bodies of text in Arial Narrow, Gothic and other MS Word fonts. This tale, of two mental asylum inmates, one out of control, the other out of control in her selection of the first as longlove companion friend.
This minimal short story appears intended as part of a collection, although it is fairly direct and the mind imaginative creating some laughs and ponderings along the way.
That mind,
,
Reckon interested folk should check Benoakes@lineone.net or http://www.geocities.com/rev_merv/ first to arrange the mailing appointment. I'm not sure if the below address is his or of John 'The Bruising Pit' Cake.
Textual excerpt-
"He is convinced he is an artificial life-form. It is true AI and robotics now permit the creation of artifical humans, but this technology is in it's infacy. The costs are so great that this technology is very exclusive. Only the government, military and very wealthy have artificial humans. Everybody else has to do with the old school clunky robots like from Lost In Space."
A flimsy but mostly worthwhile attempt to capture a sophistication worthy of adult attention, 'The Anthology Project' offers a mix of solidly crafted strips and prose with off-beat appeal, but little resonance.
'Mr Smith' by Bonney and McColm, and 'The Dream Of Lazarus' by McColm, provide some effective sequential moments and a 'voice' which engages my adult ear. The former concerns a Green Mile-like incarceration; the latter a character-motivated study of an abyss-gazing ex-cop, past his prime. Equally beyond his 'best before date' is the elderly protagonist of Bonney's short story 'Tomorrow'- an uneventful piece with a first person narrative which, for the duration of the read, successfully made this reader experience what it is to exist without sense of anticipation. 'Nemesis' and 'The Experiment', again by Bonney, are photo-aided presentations of mercifully brief texts that are laboriously earnest and wannabe-worthy. And 'To End All Wars' by Bonney, with art by Walker, is a predictable, humdrum tale of a war casualty 'recovering' in hospital-with-a-twist.
Technically sound throughout, with thematically symbiotic contents, 'The Anthology Project' may lack the complexity and subtlety of subtext to satisfy a mature readership, but certainly offers enough to seduce the average small press enthusiast.
Card cover, 36 A5 pages, £1 - available from Smallzone. Email: jaybonney@aol.com
One for a young Deadline kind of audience, this. Preceding the beginning of the story proper, seven pages of visually pleasing but indulgent 'character development' (disguised as youthful, inane, quip-fueled banter) redundantly opens proceedings. Ironically, page 8 offers set-up enough, page 9 the story trigger, and only then do momentum and anticipation build as three Spaced-like friends investigate a Satanic cult and make a startling discovery before the tale lamely fizzles out. The cartooning of writer/penciller Simon Perrins and inker Andrew Livesey is Ilya-like lovely, boasting a flawless sequential story-telling; and suitable computer lettering is competently applied to complete the visual polish. With a half-hearted 'director's commentary' thrown in, it's all likeable, vacant hokum. (That needs grabbing by the shoulders and thorough shaking!)
Colour cover, 36 A5 pages, £1.50 - available from Smallzone.
Poorly crafted with Mark Beyer-like graphics (mostly) and an often clueless narrative which finds little rhythm and jarringly switches tense half-way through, 'Train To Shangai' has nothing going for it save for a thoroughly disarming charm, a matter-of-fact honesty and an author with something of actual interest to relate. Detailing (presumably) creator Rob Jackson's 33 hour train journey from Harbin to Shanghai, this travelogue captures with bemused detachment the alienation and the physical and emotional discomfort of cramped conditions shared with a culturally and linguistically different people. There is intrigue, deftly realised characterisation, and towards the end, some photo-referenced city-scapes imbued with nuance. Certainly there's no polished swagger here, but the primitive shapes this title throws are both captivating and distinct.
Card cover, 28 A5 pages, £1.20 - available from Smallzone; or from Rob, 18 Harpers Lane, Bolton, BL1 6HR. Email rob_in_korea@hotmail.com.
Styled on a children's book for 4-6 year olds, but with nods of misjudged humour in the direction of a cross-over adult market, 'Little Jimmy's Day In London' (400 words approx.) may satisfy neither the young nor the old. With politicians described as men who wear suits and lie a lot, and beer and turps associated with the homeless, its fatal flaw is the inability of the author to recognise that in the context of a book for children, socio-political opinion (especially when inappropriately sour) should exist as subtext for adult deciphering, rather than as a surface reading for children. The shaded, pencil drawings are nice, though, and the A6 landscape presentation neat and polished. Creator Adam Davison just needs desperately to eliminate confusion by re-adjusting his focus on a target audience.
24 pages, £1 available from Smallzone; or email adavision78@yahoo.com.
An elusive, silent mood piece not for those inclined to consider such things a form of onanism, 'Anxious Something' comprises a montage of seemingly random sequences which form a visual description of anxiety rooted in Catholic guilt. Impressively, the pen and charcoal art echoes a disarming Mattotti and McKean, and the whole A6, card covered package offers a subdued sophistication suited to further elevating coffee table pretension. A collectable objet d'art from creator Chris Stonehill.
28 pages, £1.50 available from Smallzone; or email chris_stonehill@btopenworld.com
Twenty four pages detailing the adventures of two mates on a night out trying to find just the right girl. As you'd expect from Tony McGee the art has direction, and while he never shies away from cramming the page, he never exceeds the boundaries by overcomplication. This is a lot accessible, the story is warm, funny, with lots of pop culture references in the manner of the show Teachers or a Tarantino movie. Actually, I really want you to look at this, as it's one of the finest small press comics I've seen this year.
£1 plus A5 SAE
Tony McGee, 143 Meldon Drive, Bilston, West Midlands, WV14 8BE
McGee treading the senses flooring of BBC horrorshows, frailty and madness. If you enjoy the work of Frazer Irving or Chris Webster, you'll like this also. Mother and daughter stranded in a time of heavy sleeping and suffering effects of this encroaching and amnesia too. It works well as a stand-alone read this and made me feel that all was definitely not right. An uncomfortable, are there insects crawling at the back of my neck? I'm not sure but I think Tony wants me to check and I want to. Well done that man.
Nobody ever quotes me anymore. I hope they're still looking though.
£1 plus A5 SAE
Tony McGee, 143 Meldon Drive, Bilston, West Midlands, WV14 8BE
Not so suffused with the temporary mania celebrated in previous issues, MBLEH! #3 offers indication of a maturing, more composed Bob Byrne. Still in evidence is that penchant for tapping a cruel humour rooted in the imaginative abuse of cute, bug-eyed cartoons with vulnerable, child-like characteristics; but also apparent is a thirst for achieving more than a sequence of quick-fix pay-offs saturated in pathos to sate the desensitised appetites of South Park junkies.
No more is the success of this development evident than in 'Negative Space' and in 'Mister Amperduke'. The former is occupied with a boy victimised for displaying a right side of the brain perception. His struggle to find understanding in an artisitic rather than autistic context is derailed by a mother intent on a correctional procedure that requires a surgical hell involving Tetris shapes. A minor structural collapse in the penultimate page of this story fails to halt one's sense of anticipation and involvement, and the thing reaches a satisfying, bitter-sweet conclusion.
In the allegorical 'Mister Amperduke', the serenity of a community of sentient, anthropoid creatures with Lego-men attire is interrupted by the arrival of three undressed strangers. Though the same beneath their Lego-men shells, the community refuse to accept the presence of these outsiders and set about rectifying matters. A 'simple' six-pager told in hypnotic 16 panel grids with affecting Chris Ware silence, 'Mister Amperduke' is quality, adult story-telling.MBLEH! #3 is not without its flaws, though. At times derivative, disjointed and lacking succinctness of script, it is occasionally afflicted with sudden lapses in rhythm, but never falters in emanating a seductive gusto. There is a sense of the drunk finding his feet on a shifting surface; upright between awkward stumbles. Fortunatley Bob Byrne realises that cracking a head open on the pavement loses its comedic effect after a while. His mad buzz fades, and methinks his vision begins to clear.
US comics format, colour cover, 36 glossy pages for $2.95/3 euro. Available from
Clamnuts.com, Smallzone and Diamond; or direct from Bob Byrne at 43 Kilclare Gardens, Jobstown, Tallaght, Dublin 24, Eire. Email: bob@clamnuts.com.
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