LLC Recommends Skullkickers!

Ah, Skullkickers - at last a comic which scratches my fantasy itch.

I'm a massive fan of ogres, skeletons, orcs, dragons and all that D&D, Tolkien-style gubbins, but let's be honest, fantasy comics and literature can be a bit of a bore.

All those characters with silly names doing ridiculous things with straight faces? Gaggh! Do me a favour! For something that's meant to be fantastical, reading fantasy is often a depressingly stodgy experience.

Not so Skullkickers!

First of all, no silly names! The two main characters don't have names. We don't even know anything about them. They're just there! Two mercenaries - a hulking human with a gun and a curmudgeonly dwarf with a thirst for booze and blood. Little and Large, Abbot and Costello, Penn and Teller - pick any comedy double act you like, the comparisons are there to be made. Forget the necromancers, taverns and goblins - this is your classic straight man/funny man duo and the reason Skullkickers works so well is down to the chemistry between the two.

They tool around an unnamed fantasy world, (which seems to be a composite of every other fantasy world we've ever seen), fighting stuff and getting into scrapes - and that's it! No pretentious overarching plot, (not yet anyway), just good, honest, blood-soaked shenanigans. It's fantasy which is a good deal closer to the hack-and-slash style D&D games you played as a thirteen-year-old than it is to the impenetrable 900 page epics that clutter the fantasy section of your local bookshop. Read it in 20 minutes, enjoy the bejiminy out of it and then move on. Magic.

Writer Jim Zubkavich is a funny man. There are moments when his story reads like a vintage 80s MAD Magazine-style parody of Hawk The Slayer. His script races along at glorious speed, gently poking fun at the fantasy genre while serving up generous portions of claret-drenched slapstick.

Pacewise it reminds me of Robert Kirkman's Invincible - all big, bloody, page turning action sequences. But even the most exciting battles are done with tongue tucked firmly in cheek - there's plenty of gore for sure, but the accent is always on laughs.

The art is stunning. I'm reading the series on an iPad via the Comixology app, and it springs off the screen. Misty Coates, (surely the greatest name for a colourist ever), drenches every panel in bright, rich colours that are a world away from the dark, brooding tones that are so often on show in fantasy comics. Her dynamic palette makes the tight pencils pop, not that they necessarily need help.

There's a Dragon's Lair sort of cartoony style to the art - shared by Chris Stevens and Edwin Huang - and it fits the tone of the book perfectly. The fight scenes are the obvious draw, but care and attention has been paid to every single panel of this comic. Indeed, the individual panels look like animation cells, a fact which only adds to my belief that Skullkickers would make a fine, fine cartoon.

The monsters are rendered really well and the town squares, forests, dungeons and grimy inns that act as a backdrop to the action are all beautifully detailed. Even the lettering is special - trust me, you'll laugh at the sound effects.

It really is a top comic and, although there's a trade due out next month, it's definitely worth considering reading on the Ipad, if you have access to one.

LLC Recommends Burlesque Paraphernalia and side degree specialities and costumes

Burlesque Paraphernalia and side degree specialities and costumes. Not exactly a name that trips off the tongue. But if you see this Fantagraphics book on the shelves of your local comic shop or book store, then at least give it a look.

It's not a comic but, if like me, you love vintage comic book ads, then this will appeal to you. It's not a book of comic book ads either though (bear with me), Burlesque Paraphernalia is in fact a reprint of a vintage catalogue of machinery and costumes designed to be used in the initiation and hazing ceremonies of early 20th century American fraternities and secret societies.

At the turn of the last century, some 40% of American men belonged to these societies. Organisations such as The Woodmen of the World and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks provided a place for men to get together, fraternize and, err, play pranks on each other!

Taking their inspiration from more serious groups such as the Masons, these clubs often adopted quasi-ceremonial initiation ceremonies and, as unlikely as it sounds, an industry sprang up supplying such groups with the equipment needed to make their ceremonies as authentically weird and scary as possible.

The undisputed leaders in the invention and supply of this bizarre paraphernalia were the DeMoulin Brothers, three fairly earnest looking Victorian men with a taste for sadistic pranks and the capital required to put their Heath Robinsonesque ideas into practice.

Burlesque Paraphernalia and side degree specialities and costumes reprints The DeMoulin Brothers 1930 Catalogue. It comes with an introduction from David Copperfield, who sets the tone by recounting the time that he had a hole burnt in his arse by an antique gunpowder charged spanking paddle from the catalogue. From there we get two lengthy essays on the history of early 20th century fraternities and initiation ceremonies before catalog no. 439 is presented in all its bonkers glory.

What to say about catalog 439? It's a crazy-arse thing, full of richly illustrated intricate drawings of smartly dressed men torturing each other with ridiculous devices. There are electric carpets, exploding mallets, vats of boiling lead, spiked pathways, cages, boxing rings, spiky blocks and branding irons. All items come with gleeful descriptions of the terror which they can inspire in the minds of prospective and unwitting fraternity candidates and detailed illustrations of the gadgets in action. Here's an example of the kind of thing on offer...

De Moulin also sold the costumes for these ceremonies. Along with the devils and goats there was a selection of "Race Costumes" available, all of which are illustrated in the catalog. It's an offensive section which nonetheless provides a fascinating insight into the prevailing attitudes of the day. If looking at the racial masks leaves you with a nasty taste in the mouth, then you can always cleanse your palate by flipping back for a look at some of the mind-bendingly weird initiation gadgets.

With its electric canes and exploding cigars, the De Moulin Bros catalogue was clearly a source of inspiration to the novelty item manufacturers who plied their trade within the pages of the American comic books of the 50s, 60s and 70s. All those joy buzzers and whoopee cushions are after all just shrunken down versions of the prank machinery on display in catalog #439.

What you get with this book then is not just a fascinating glimpse into a little known corner of American social history, but the template for many of the ad pages from the silver and bronze age comics that so many of us comic collectors love. I really enjoyed it and, although it isn't about comics, I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the history of comic book advertising.

For more London Loves Comics recommendations, click the the LLC Recommends tag below.

LLC recommends: Gravel

I've spent a very productive couple of evenings reading comics in front of the football. Magic!

Best of all I've cracked through the 10 issues of Gravel which I'd built up. Usually if I find myself getting behind on a title it's because I'm not enjoying it. With Gravel though, I just sort of let it build, knowing that I was going to dig it when I got round to it. And dig it I did.

For those who don't know, Gravel is a Warren Ellis and Mike Wolfer comic published by Avatar. It's a violent book about an ex SAS man, William Gravel, who happens to be a combat magician.

I've been guilty of falling into the the easy trap of comparing the book with Hellblazer in the past. I feel lazy every time I do this, but comparisons between the two are inescapable. Like John Constantine, William Gravel is a working class Brit with a black sense of humour who also happens to be a practicing magician. And, as with Hellblazer, Gravel is all about using magic, demons and ghosts as metaphors to examine issues of class, culture, politics and society in modern day Britain.

Gravel is a different animal to Constantine though - older, chunkier, more cynical and willing to resort to violence. While he's definitely an outsider he's also a climber. So where Constantine is keen to stand apart from the world he occupies, Gravel is determined to fuck over everyone to get to the top and change things from a position of power. At the start of the current series, Gravel is one of the Minor Seven, a group of British magicians whose job it is to deal with problems on the street level of British society. Above this group stand the Major Seven, an altogether more powerful bunch who deal with loftier matters. The rest of the series to date has detailed Gravel's efforts to destroy both the Minor and the Major Seven and create a new hierarchy with himself at the top.

Structurally it's a bit like an American gangster flick. Tonally it's more like a Brit noir crime story. There's certainly a bit of Jack Carter about William Gravel, that's for sure. Of course, there's also more than a hint of Warren Ellis about him and maybe a little of Bill Savage too. The point is, that he's a very British character and this is a very British book. It's full of English folklore, it touches on the history of immigration and industrial decline. Its big moments take place in clasically British pubs, docks and country estates. And, above all else, it concerns itself with the all pervading power of the British class system. Gravel is determined to beat that system, but the overriding feeling after 19 issues is that he may ultimately fail to do so.

If that is the case, then Ellis is delivering a pretty bleak message. Who knows, I could be wrong, perhaps Gravel will prevail. The series is at a point where it appears he might already have done so. But the forces of establishment Britain are lurking, making their presence felt, issuing warnings to Gravel not to get any further out of line, insinuating that bad things will happen if he goes too far.

It's good stuff. Not perfect by any means - I felt the second arc moved towards a conclusion too quickly for example - but very enjoyable. It is, as are most of Avatar's books, extremely violent, often disturbingly so. I guess it could be labeled gratuitous, but I'm willing to accept the gore as a vital part of the world William Gravel lives in. If you don't mind the frequent disembowelments and decapitations, then it's well worth a spin, (there are a couple of trades out I think), London Loves Comics gives it a big fat 8 out of 10!

LLC Recommends: Dungeon Quest Book One

The first volume of Joe Daly's Dungeon Quest is a surreal treat of a comic. Following the narrative style of a classic roleplaying adventure, but with American stoners instead of fantasy archetypes as the protagonists, this is a story which anyone who has ever dabbled with D&D and/or recreational drugs will love. It's also a beautifully drawn book full of absurd looking characters and rich, involving landscapes.

The star of Dungeon Quest is bored teenager, Millennium Boy, a curious chap with a light bulb shaped head and a passion for magic. With nothing on TV, he just ups and leaves his house on a D&D style quest. As with all roleplaying adventures, his first job is to assemble a party. He starts with his pal, Steve, a lazy dropout who finds it hard to get off the couch. Later they hook up with a sensitive jock, the fantastically named Lash Penis, and the silent but deadly (ahem) archer, Nerdgirl. As they move further away from the centre of their suburban town, the

boundaries between the world that we know and the world of the fantastic begin to blur into one. Where once everything was parked cars and paved streets, suddenly molemen and pirate graveyards jostle for space with the hobos and liquor stores of our reality.

It's this hazy crossing of the lines between the real and the imagined that makes the book so good. Suffused with sick, deadpan humour, graphic fantasy violence and more than a little pothead style mysticism, this is a comic that isn't easy to pigeonhole. It's fantasy, but it's also a classic slacker yarn which wears its underground influences (Crumb, Burns, Clowes) as proudly as it does its nerdier D&D/Tolkien ones. It shares certain similarities with C.F.'s brilliant comic, Powr Mastrs, but is more grounded than the trippy, alien world of New China that C.F. creates.

There's plenty of cool visuals and weird fun to be had here, but Daly's characters are the real entertainment. Vacuous potheads, hobo shamen and skeletal pirates - all of them (bar Nerdgirl who doesn't say anything) have distinct, funny voices. Daly really gets slacker speak and he revels in the joy that wasters take in discussing the banal. But of course this isn't Clerks, there are monsters to be killed, cool treasure to find and kick-ass weapons and armour to kit up with. So just as you're getting comfortable with the mundane BOOM! Daly smashes you in the face with the extraordinary. It's masterful stuff.

As an artist he rocks. Funny looking folk with fat heads and imposing bodies. Heavy skys. Thick black lines. A BEAUTIFUL fantasy-style map. It's comical, but it's got heavy body and real soul.These are good meaty pictures. Oh yes.

Book One ends just as the party are about to move into the foreboding gloom of Firebug Forest, intent on delivering the "Penis Sheath of Disturbance" to the mysterious forest hermit, Bromede! It's a cliffhanger and a half. Bring on Book Two!

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Stuck for something to read? Click the LLC Recommends tag below for more of my favourites!

The best book I've read this year!

And so, being an insufferable bore who refuses to stop shouting into the ether about stuff very few other people want to listen to, I plod on into year four of this bilge filled bloggery. When the fuck will I learn, eh?

Given that it's New Year, I was going to compile one of those end of year/decade things that everyone else seems to have been doing over the last few weeks, but then it dawned on me that I really can't remember what I was reading last January, let alone ten bloody years ago, so I knocked the idea on the head.

I can tell you that I enjoyed the comics of Rick Remender last year. I was quite upset when he announced that he was chucking in all his creator owned books to go and work for Marvel, but it turns out that Doctor Voodoo and The Punisher are as brilliantly bonkers as anything he's done at Image or Dark Horse, so I needn't have worried. Besides, he's still knocking out the odd non-Marvel project...

Issue #1 of The Last Days of American Crime there. I read it this afternoon and it's very, very good. How about that for a cover, eh? Pulp to the max! This is a beautiful package, printed on high quality paper and running to 48 pages of story with some bonus sketch material thrown in. Square bound, with a card stock cover, it's a trade in all but name, and at $4.99 it represents superb value.

We've already seen that Remender loves to mess with genres, the conventions that govern them and the archetypes who populate them. He's provided us with new angles on everything from monster movies (Gigantic) to super-heroes (The End League), horror (XXX Zombies) and classic SF comics (Fear Agent). Here he's tackling crime, giving us his take on the classic heist movie, complete with a cast of characters who'll be familiar to every fan of criminal noir flicks.

Don't let that put you off though. Yes, we've seen the damaged femme fatale and the grizzled old criminal planning one last heist before, and yes, the sense of inevitable failure is one which will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen a heist movie. But it's obvious that Remender is playing with our ideas of what makes a heist story, presenting us with familiar characters so that he can fuck with those preconceptions further down the line.

At least I imagine that's what he's doing. Even if it isn't, it's clear that this is going to be a different kind of crime book, because the big hook with this story is that the characters are planning their heist in a near-future world where the American government is about to transmit a brain-controlling signal which will make it impossible for anyone to break the law! How's about that for subverting the traditional crime caper?

In this environment, a good percentage of the population have lost the plot, getting every illegal impulse out of their system before the big switch-off. This then, is a story told against a backdrop of crime infested car-lots and dangerous looking bars where burglary, mugging and prostitution are as much a part of the scenery as the buildings and cars that populate the city streets. It's a tale infused with a sense of decay and danger; a vivid and frightening world brilliantly realised by Remender and given life by artist Greg Tocchini.

A brief bit of internet research reveals that Tocchini is no newcomer to comics, but I have to admit that I'd never heard of him before I picked up The Last Days of American Crime. Sad really, because he's so good that I can't believe he isn't already a massive name. It must be slightly daunting to draw a book where Alex Maleev has turned in a bona fide Grade A cover, but it's testament to Tocchini that his interiors more than match what Maleev has done on the front of the book.

It's beautiful painted stuff, done in watercolours that remind me of Bill Sienkiewicz or Jon J Muth, and presented in layouts that are very clever. The book kicks off with a series of panels that zoom out from the protagonists eyeball and into the hell of crime-infested America. From then on we're treated to a series of unusual and very cinematic looking shots that place us above, below and in the midst of the action. It makes for deeply involving visual story-telling which complements the rhythm of Remender's script perfectly.

All in all great stuff then. What you get from this first issue is a glossy intro to a potentially excellent crime caper, brought to you by two creators working in perfect synthesis. A nice comic to kick off the New Year with and, on this evidence, one that's going to be hard to top in the next twelve months.

Highly Recommended.

LLC Recommends: Prison Pit Book One

Prison Pit by Johnny Ryan begins with a huge phallic drill descending from space to fuck a barren planet in the arse, and ends with a prosthetic alien slug arm sucking off the main character as he lies slumped in the desert. In between these two magical moments there's a fight with a jizz monster and an attack from a villain who shoots a scythe made out of hardened alien Nazi pus from his nipple. Knowing all this should be enough to convince you that this is a book which belongs on your bookshelf. In case you need to know more though, here's a brief outline of the plot...

Some MMA wrestler type guy is about to be dropped down the shaft of a huge cock drill for some crime or other (probably) which he may or may not have committed. In an attempt to escape he takes one of his guards hostage, but it turns out that the other guard hates his colleague anyway and he shoves both men down the rabbit hole!

Prisoner and guard tumble down and down, fighting all the way until they eventually find themselves in The Prison Pit, a barren dimension filled with cactuses, bleak crags and cock-shaped bones. The asshole in the sky closes and there they stay. After an extremely bloody scrap our hero eventually kills, pisses on and eats the guard and chops off his razor-clad arm to use as a weapon.

After this he stumbles on a strange slug-like creature which is slurping up the manky juice of a cactus-like tree. Repulsed by this sight, hero kills the slug and is immediately confronted by a trio of baddies led by a devil-skulled Nazi wrestler with a gigantic mace instead of a hand. Nazi informs him that the creature he's just squashed is in fact a Slorge, a beast which digests the slime of the Blugg tree and shits out fecid, a drug which (and I quote) "makes you feel like you're the #1 most fucking awesome maniac!"

Anyway, it turns out the dead Slorge belonged to the Nazi devil skull wrestler and his cohorts. He orders our hero to find him a new Slorge, but hero declines. A mad fight with Nazi's sidekicks ensues. Hero appears to have won but is eventually beaten when he has his arm chopped off with a pus scythe. Nazi tells him he won't get it back until he brings a replacement Slorge back from the wastelands of the Prison Pit.

Hero sets off to find a Slorge, and does just that. Unfortunately this Slorge belongs to a multi-eyed naked twerp who wanks off until he is surrounded by a cum monster type construct which hero has to fight. The monster gets the better of him drowning him in jizz.

Lying dead in the desert, our hero is resurrected when the Slorge attaches itself to the stump where hero's arm used to be! Fecid surging through his system, hero rises from the dirt to kill and eat Jizzman. Now bonded physically (and it would seem telepathically) with the Slorge, hero feeds his new arm with juice from the Blugg tree and is then given a blowjob by the slug arm. Book One ends!

I don't have much more to say really. It's as good as it sounds - like something written and drawn by a disturbed 13-year-old on crystal meth. Every bit as hard and tasteless as Ryan's previous outings in Angry Youth Comix, yet fundamentally very different. This is first and foremost an action comic and fans of action will love it. I thought it was brilliant and hilarious, but clearly, it is also very, very offensive. I like offensive, you may not. Either way this is a comic that has to be seen to be believed and deserves your attention.

LLC Recommends: Wednesday Comics

So, after loudly proclaiming that I would be buying precisely 0 new series in single issue format, I went and picked up Wednesday Comics.

Douche.

To be fair, if there's one comic worth picking up in singles it's this one. Deliberately aping the American newspaper funny sections of yesteryear, this is a comic which is at once innovative and nostalgic, a throwback to a more innocent time packaged in a format that will leave your average Direct Market punter scratching their heads.

Forget writing for the trade, this is all about writing for the moment. A series of one page ongoing strips showcasing the talents of a bunch of A list artists and writers, printed on paper which you could wrap a bag of chips in.

It's a comic which shouts at the reader to get stuck in. The very act of unfolding it (yes it's a broadsheet!) and reading it is going to cover your copy in tiny creases. The corners will blunt and buckle, you'll create new folds off the old ones, the paper will give as you turn the pages. In short, this is a comic which tells you to forget about keeping things mint and just enjoy yourself.

And, unless you are a very jaded old soul, you will find something to enjoy here. Sure, there are a couple of clunkers (Caldwell's Wonder Woman, Berganza and Galloway's Teen Titans) but in the main these strips are things of beauty - lovingly rendered shorts, free of the blood, guts and other bodily fluids which we've become used to wading through. There's a real affection going on, a playfulness which comes to the fore in Gaiman and Allred's Metamorpho, as the writer messes around with a series of gentle double entendres against a backdrop of gorgeous silver age style images.

You get Joe Kubert doing Sgt Rock BETTER then he's ever done him before. Paul Pope drawing fantastic mandril space pirates in Adam Strange. Ryan Sook providing Kamandi with a Prince Valiant style treatment. Kyle Baker giving us a birds-eye view of life with Hawkman. Azzarello and Risso bringing the noir back to Batman. And much, much more.

Every page is different, but the tone remains consistent. Forget about continuity, bags, boards, NM, Gem Mint and CGC. This is comics for comics sake. Comics that revel in the silliness of DC's characters while celebrating their brilliance. There aren't going to be any groundbreaking story arcs here, no repercussions that will echo through the DCU for years to come. Who needs that anyway? These are just strips about colourful characters drawn by folks with a healthy respect for the absurd wonder of superhero comics.

In many ways then, Wednesday comics is the antidote to the impenetrable, continuity heavy epics that dominate the output of the big two. In an age when the traditional single issue is on the way out, DC have provided us with one last example of a comic that demands to be handled. This one isn't going to work half as well on a computer screen as it does in your hands, and it won't read particularly well in a collection (although no doubt some of the art will look lovely on better quality paper). No, Wednesday Comics is a comic to pick up and put down every week. Perhaps the last of its kind, or maybe the future for non-digital single issue comics. Whatever, it's worthy of your attention, go pick it up!

Two to read

Read a mountain of comics yesterday. Mediocrity abounded. Two nice single issues though: Batman and Robin #1 and Chew #1.

By now I'm sure you've read a gazillion reviews of Batman and Robin so I won't blather on for too long about it. Suffice to say that it's a really nice Batman comic. Being a Grant Morrison joint I was expecting to have to don my thinking cap and fire up the ol' Wikipedia, but no this was as straightforward a start to a story as you can get. I didn't read any of The Battle for the Cowl muck, but I can see that Dick Grayson is now Batman and that Damian wassisname (Bruce Wayne's son or summink) has taken his place as Robin. There's a nice little dynamic going on between the two of them with Robin the more serious of the two. Anyway, it works well. There were some good character defining moments such as Damian's treatment of Alfred as a menial rather than, you know...ALFRED! The new villains were suitably wacky - loved Mr Toad (POOP! POOP!) And, of course, Frank Quietly's art is always a delight. Smashing stuff.

Chew isn't a superhero book as such, but the lead character does have the most original and possibly yuckiest superpower I've seen in a comic for yonks. Written by John Layman and drawn by Rob Guillory, this is a cop book with a difference. You know that psychic cop in Heroes? Fat Fellah, bad actor? Well Tony Chu, (the lead in Chew), is a bit like him, except that he does his psychic detective work by chomping on human flesh. Urggh! Yeah, he gets glimpses of stuff from the food he eats. Thus he doesn't like eating burgers because he sees cows being slaughtered, but he does like chewing off serial killer's faces because he gets a full MO and a list of their victims by doing so. Yup chums, it's a gross idea - but it works! Not least because Layman garnishes his story with a sprinkling of dry, black humour. He's also chosen an artist who has added to the lighthearted feel of what could have been a very dark book with a cartoony (sorry I hate that word, but it's the only one that fits) style. It's a really enjoyable package and I recommend it to you.

Uzumaki

Imagine that HP Lovecraft, Franz Kafka and David Lynch had been born as conjoined triplets. Imagine that this three-headed abomination somehow survived and grew into an adult. 

Imagine that gradually the three heads merged into one single Japanese head. Now, imagine that the creature started writing and drawing manga. This one super-head packed full of the weirdest, most horrifying ideas for stories ever dreamed up would be called Junji Ito and it would have spewed forth Uzumaki, the remarkable and disturbing horror manga charting the descent of a small coastal town into lunacy. 

I have a bad track record with manga. I just haven't ever got on with it, but with Uzumaki I've finally found a manga book which I love. This three volume series, collecting stories initially published within the pages of the monthly book Big Comic Spirits, is as creepy a comic as I've ever read. The title, Uzumaki means spiral, and its creator Junji Ito has crafted a story which tells the tale of what happens when an entire town becomes obsessed and eventually possessed by spirals. 

Told as a series of short stories, which taken together build into a satisfying whole, the book is a gory, surreal ride through the dark side of human nature, a series of cautionary tales and a masterpiece of sequential storytelling. It begins when high-school students Kirie and Shuichi become aware that Shuichi's father is behaving oddly. He's ignoring his work, getting ratty with his family and spending more and more time with his hastily acquired collection of spirals. Over a short space of time, his obsession with this collection overwhelms him, driving him into a spiral-fuelled descent towards lunacy which only ends when he himself becomes part of that collection. His demise presents the reader with the first and arguably most shocking moment of the entire story, as Shuichi and his mother return home to find Shuichi's father squeezed into a box, his broken body rolled into a horrific spiral. It's a chilling tale which sets the tone for what is to come. 

Shuichi's father is merely the first inhabitant of Kurozo-Chu to fall prey to the spiral. Like him, all those who encounter it will be overwhelmed, transformed and ultimately destroyed by its power. In telling this horrific story, Ito takes the opportunity to provide a series of closely observed commentaries on the weaknesses that we are all prey to. Shuichi's father possession by the spiral is manifested in his obsession with his work to the detriment of his family, later on the vanity of two teenage girls provides the platform for the spiral to wreak havoc through hairstyles at the local school, and the slothfulness of a teenage boy sees him transformed into a snail.

These are cautionary tales in the tradition of Shockheaded Peter, and it's arguable that, (until the last volume, when the story becomes more linear), they work better as stand-alone stories. To take them as a whole, the reader needs to suspend their disbelief somewhat. After Shuichi's mother is also overwhelmed by the spiral for example, we are asked to accept the fact that Shuichi, who is still a child, continues to live by himself in the family home with no intervention from any outside body. Similarly, while their classmates are dying in increasingly horrific and bizarre ways, the children of the local high school continue to attend class as if nothing is happening.

Really though, none of these anomalies matter. As the reader you can either tell yourself that the absence of sensible reaction to the unfolding horror is part of the spiral's hold on the town's collective consciousness, or, you can decide that believability is unimportant when measured against the surreal beauty of Ito's vision. 

And it is an awesome vision. As a writer, he continually hits the beats that good horror comics demand, building the reader up to a series of beautiful pay-offs, speeding the narrative up at points, slowing it down at others, bringing elements from the opening chapters back into play at later points in the story and finishing the whole thing up with a Lovecraftian piece of brilliance.

But none of that would count for anything were it not for his skill as a draughtsman. Much of what turns me off a lot of manga has to do with the art. All those snub noses, wide eyes and gaping shouty mouths seem to work against the artist to me, squashing originality and encouraging a uniformity of style. Again, as someone who knows very little about manga I may be missing the nuances of the artform, but as a layman I would struggle to tell one piece of manga art from another. This is not true of Ito's work. His painstakingly drawn pages display an intricacy of form and emotion that elevate the moments of horror to twisted heights of brilliance. The physical and mental decline of a whole town is written on the increasingly pinched and desperate faces of its inhabitants and the foreboding presence of the spiral in everything from the trees to the sky is drawn subtly and convincingly throughout.

Ultimately, the origin of the spiral which decimates the town is left open to question, but the effect that it has on the characters in the book is clear. Uzumaki does not have a happy ending. The spiral wins. Humanity loses. It makes for a disturbing and fitting  climax to a fine piece of horror. Without a doubt, Uzumaki is one of the best comics I've ever read. A classic which deserves to take its place on any list of comic book greats.

Who the fuck are The Pipettes?

HEY! Phonogram The Singles Club has kicked off.

If you don't already know, Phonogram is a comic about Phonomancers - magicians who make magic through music. Phonogram The Singles Club is the sequel to Phonogram and will follow a bunch of different Phonomancers over the course of one evening in one night club.

Issue #1 is the story of Penny B who uses dance magic or something. She's very pretty, a bit of an airhead and likes The Pipettes (whoever the fuck they are).

I'm telling you about this dear chums, because unless you've heard of it you probably won't have noticed The Singles Club. See, it has this incredibly girlie cover which is most likely invisible to the majority of men seeking comics about other men in leotards. For those who can see it, I say pick this book up! It's the best pink covered comic I've read since Alpha Flight #12

SPOILERS! no one dies - but people do dance! They're all very beautifully drawn by the very talented Jamie McKelvie, and given witty things to say by the equally excellent Kieron Gillen. Mr Gillen also writes two supplemental short stories which are ably illustrated by Lauren McCubbin and Marc Ellerby.

All you trade waiters should be aware that the Phonogram chaps have jumped on the back matter bandwagon that makes buying the floppies essential. Not only will those backup stories be omitted from the collected version, but you'll also miss out on Gillen's lively text pieces/rants.

You don't want to be buying this in trade anyway. For a start it's called The Singles Club (clue's in bold chums) and if that doesn't convince you then just take Glllen's word for it that every issue will work perfectly well as a stand alone story. I believe him.

As ever some knowledge of the bands referenced in the story is useful but not essential. Personally I'd only heard of Blondie, and was surprised to learn that any club where they play The Tide is High can still be considered cool.

As someone who last attended a night club when Guru Josh was in the charts, I'll have to defer to Gillen an McKelvie on this one. Frankly the club in their story looks like a bit of a hole in the wall to me, but it's populated with young and beautiful people who appear to be enjoying themselves, so I'm willing to accept that this is the kind of place where hep young magicians go to partay these days.

I'm too old for it of course, but I liked issue #1 a lot. It's smart, snappy and above all very nice to look at. I can't claim to have understood everything about it (I have no idea what band Laura is quoting for example) but I'm damn sure that Gillen hasn't wasted a word in the telling of his tale.

At £3 it's a bit on the pricey side, BUT you do get all that lovely back matter. Believe me that elevates it beyond the usual five minute read that you get for £2, PLUS you're totally going to want to go back and stare at McKelvie's drawings for another half hour after you've read it anyway.

LLC definitely recommends.

LLC Recommends: Love Story From Nation Of Silence

Well, I still have head full of green stuff, but I do feel a bit better and have managed to read a few of my purchases from last Saturday's Comiket at The ICA.

My favourite of a generally enjoyable bunch of Indie goodies is Takayo Akiyama's charming tale: Love Story from Nation of Silence, Daisy and Violet Siamese Twins.

Clearly influenced by the likes of The Mighty Boosh (several of the stars from that show make cameo appearances in the comic) this is a quirky story about co-joined pub singers and a bar full of strange creatures. It's a surreal little comic, full of gentle jokes and beautifully detailed panels which only the most serious of souls will fail to enjoy.

There's some adult humour, (principally involving the efforts of one of the twins to get a Yeti into bed), but it's nothing that you'd call shocking, and while the book is aimed at the adult reader, there is much about it that I think children would enjoy as well. Indeed, I think Akiyama has the germ of a kids classic on her hands here. Sure it would need tweaking before any publisher would consider marketing it to a young audience, but there's enough to look at in this comic to keep most kids entertained.

Akiyama is a VERY talented artist who is able to pack her panels with a huge amount of detail. I spent a good time soaking up some of the scenes, and I'm sure that kids would return to the book to enjoy multiple viewings of panels like these...

CLICK IMAGES TO ENJOY THE DETAIL

That's not to say this book is of no interest to adults; if you appreciate 70s kids shows like Mr Benn or Bod or, like me, still get a kick out of reading Where the Wild Things Are, you'll love Akiyama's stuff, it's magical, crazy and a lot of fun to look at. She's clearly bursting with ideas and she has a special talent for loading up those ideas without making a mess of the page.

Some of her dialogue is a bit muddled and there are several spelling mistakes in the story, but with a judicious editor those problems could be ironed out easily enough. Even with the mistakes, the story moves along at an entertaining pace. The main characters, Daisy and Violet, are well fleshed out and, while they are meant to be adults, would work equally well as children. Yes, you'd have to get rid of the references to sex and alcohol if they were to be truly kid friendly, but that wouldn't compromise the comic in any serious way. In fact I think it would make it more enjoyable.

Perhaps I'm doing Akiyama a disservice here then, but I really think she should aim the future adventures of Daisy and Violet squarely at a younger audience. I believe she has a real eye for childrens storytelling and illustration and it would be a shame if some of the more adult themes in the book were to prevent young kids from getting their hands on Akiyama's stuff. As it is, I'd still be happy to give my son Love Story From Nation of Silence to look at, I'm sure that like me he'd get a lot of pleasure from it.

You can read a web version of the comic and order print copies from Takayo Akiyama's website. She also designs clothes! Check her out HERE

LLC Recommends Watching The Watchmen

My copy of Watching the Watchmen arrived today, it's a beautiful beast of a book that weighs as much as a concrete paving slab and is packed with Dave Gibbons goodness. If you love Watchmen (and given that you're a comic fan, I'm assuming you do) then this is essential, and can be picked up on Amazon for 50% of the RRP

I've ploughed through it already, and can't recommend it highly enough. It's a fantastic insight into the process of comic creation that sheds new light on a work about which I thought there was nothing left to say.

Gibbons laces the book with some interesting anecdotes, but with its glossy paper and oversized reproductions of previously unseen art, the book is primarily eye candy. There are a host of breakdowns and layouts for the individual issues and some brilliant and long overdue insights into the colouring, but the most interesting part of the book for me was the section on Gibbons' early concept art.

For example, prior to picking up this book I had no idea that the original designs for Rorshach included a full body suit. From the sketches for this initial design, it seems the idea was to have Rorshach periodically whip open his grubby mac to reveal his costume...


It's a terrible idea that makes the character look like a flasher and was mercifully dumped. But, how great is it as a fan to be able to see stuff like this?

What with these early ideas, the sketches for rejected covers, original designs for the Owl ship, colour guides and original page layouts, there are a wealth of goodies on show here.

Like Watchmen itself, Watching the Watchmen is a book that I'll be returning to again and again over the years. In my opinion it's a must have for everyone's bookshelf.

LLC recommends Minder

Best comic of the week? No contest, it has to be Minder, a little gem exclusive to London's finest shop Gosh!. To be honest I'm not sure there are even any left. If that's the case then I'm very sorry, I only hope co-creator LORD HURK makes some more copies available or puts it up on the web, because it's ACE!

Obviously Minder is a comic with limited appeal. If you've never watched an episode of the TV programme then there's really no point in you picking it up. If, however, you do remember the show then you'll love this affectionate send up.

Creators Janet Roque (who may or may not exist) and Hurk have refined and distilled the very essence of Minder into 19 glorious pages to produce nothing less than a missing episode. Alright, so it's a slightly surreal missing episode, but there's no doubt that Roque and Hurk (take note David Walliams) have nailed it. All your favourite characters are here...

Arfa & Terry

Dave!

DS Chisholm

even Taff (or is it THE MOOG?!)

The story follows the familiar pattern of EVERY other episode of the show, which is of course what makes it so funny. Terry's birds, Arfa's dodgy merchandise, the inevitable punch-up - you get them all! Magic.

My one slight criticism is that Arfa never mentions "'Er indoors". Other than that I have nothing but praise for this comic. It's done so well that I can only hope that it's the first in a series of tributes to great British TV shows of the 80s. I can already imagine a Professionals, Gentle Touch and Dempsey & Makepeace comic done in the same style. Please, make it happen!

LLC Recommends: Northlanders #9-#10

VIKINGS! You need to read comics about VIKINGS! Specifically (given that I think it's the only viking comic on the stands) Northlanders from Vertigo. The first eight issues were excellent, but with the second and much shorter story in Brian Wood's ongoing series, the book really comes into its own.

It reminds me a lot of Criminal. Different setting obviously, but like Ed Brubaker, Wood has built a world and populated it with enough characters to be able to tell a variety of different stories. He's not limited himself by focusing on one character in particular, so while he's arguably constrained by the genre, he still has the scope to explore different themes by introducing new characters with every arc.

Issues 9+10 are dramatically different to the first eight which told a traditional tale of homecoming and revenge (similar to the Lawless arc in Criminal in many respects). They tell the story of a young Saxon boy who grows up hating his violent Christian father and by extension the monks on the island of Lindisfarne where he lives. This hatred drives him on to help the vikings as they launch the first of their infamous raids on the monasteries of Lindisfarne.

It's a fast paced short story, with a smaller cast than the first arc in the series. But it's also much tighter than Sven the Returned was. The art by Dean Ormston is perfect, his characters look suitably windswept damp and bloody while the landscapes are rugged, full of spindly trees and shadows. The battle scenes often look like they could have been torn straight from a dark age tapestry.

It's a style that proves to be a perfect match for Wood's script. Perhaps the writer takes some liberties by putting contemporary turns of phrase and expression into the mouths of 6th century characters, but he does it for a reason and while there may be very few "arts" "thous" or "verilys" in Northlanders, there's no doubt that Wood has captured the brutal spirit of the age.

There's nothing particularly sympathetic about most of his characters, they live in a rotten world filled with violence and greed, where the struggle to survive often precludes sentiment. The reader can feel sympathy for the child in Lindisfarne, but by the end of the two issue story it's clear that the child himself has had to abandon any thoughts of sentiment to stay alive.

The conclusion of his story is a fitting one which makes me hope that we see him again. One of the strengths of Criminal is that characters who were the focus of earlier arcs often pop up as bit part players later on. It's a device that would serve Northlanders equally well. I'd also like to see Wood take another leaf out of Brubaker's book and include some back matter with the comics. A potted history of the viking raids on Lindisfarne for example.

Even without these, Northlanders is an excellent series. If you missed the first arc it's coming out in trade pretty soon and is well worth picking up. The second story is better though. At two issues it's a decent taster for what I hope is going to be a long running series.

War Comics

Listen up ladies! You should read the following comics:

Special Forces

Army@Love

Storming Paradise

Three war books, two of which take a sideways look at the ongoing mess in Iraq and Afghanistan, and one which deals in an alternate history of the road to VJ Day. All three are excellent.

In a recent interview with John Siuntres on Word Balloon, Storming Paradise scribe Chuck Dixon alluded to the fact that he believes both the Vietnam war and the war in Iraq to have been righteous wars - an opinion which I can't agree with. But while I feel more comfortable with the politics of Army@Love's Rick Veitch and Special Forces Kyle Baker, I can appreciate Storming Paradise because Dixon isn't preaching, he's writing an absorbing story about a war which most reasonable people (including myself) consider to have been just.

Storming Paradise is set in a world where The Manhattan Project failed to reach fruition, leaving America with no choice but to mount a land invasion of Japan. So far it's been a gritty, well researched and exciting tale which sweeps between the military planners and the men on the ground on both sides of the conflict.

Dixon was keen to point out in his interview with Siuntres that it's a straight up World War Two story with no metaphorical nods to America's current campaign in the Middle East, but it's difficult not to draw comparisons between the tactics of the Iraqi insurgency and the Japanese in Storming Paradise. This is especially true of issue two which kicks off with a Kamikaze cameo that could just as easily be a study of a suicide bomber in Iraq. It makes for a compelling aside within the bigger story - one of a series of great moments that help to establish the platform for the grand epic which Dixon is clearly about to hit us with.

In that respect it's much more like a comics version of The Winds of War than either Baker or Veitch's books, both of which are designed to hammer home the pointlessness rather than the necessity of war. This and the fact that they are populated by an unhinged cast of weirdos and misfits, puts both books in the tradition of other great anti-war satires such as Doctor Strangelove and Catch 22.

The fact that both books are also drawn by their creators enhances their polemical feel and allows Veitch and Baker free rein to play with the whole war comics genre. Baker does this particularly well, throwing in visual references to Kurtzman's EC war books and Kubert's work on DC's war titles.

All this is not to say that Storming Paradise suffers for not being drawn by its writer. Butch Guice's detailed panels and grand splash pages are a huge part of what makes Storming Paradise such a great story. Whereas Baker's cartoony style is perfectly suited to the sick satire of the story he tells in Special Forces, Guice is at home detailing the real world. Whether it be the haircuts, the uniforms or the military hardware, he captures the spirit of the 1940s perfectly.

Army@Love has more of the feel of an HBO series about it than the other two tales. Essentially a story where corporate America has taken over the running of a war in the fictional country of Afbaghistan, it's an often surreal take on American militarism. But there's also a soapy quality to it particularly during the moments focusing on the folks back home. Like Baker, Veitch has plenty to say about the US military and the government which runs it, but he is equally concerned with the evils of globalization and the dumbing down of youth through rampant corporatism and commercialisation. This is important, because ultimately he sees those forces as being partly responsible for the mess America finds itself in abroad.

While Baker might agree with those sentiments, his Special Forces has more to say about the damage that America's military is doing, not only to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan, but to the young American men and women who are sent off to fight in those wars. In that respect he shares something with Chuck Dixon and Rick Veitch. As far apart as they are politically, they all recognise that good war stories should be about more than guns, tanks and bombs. Good war stories are the ones that show us what war does to the people who get caught up in them. Storming Paradise, Special Forces and Army@Love all do that. I recommend all three.

Method Man review

Flipping heck, the folk at Hachette Books actually sent me a review copy of Method Man's new comic! This despite my admission HERE that very few people read my blog. The fact that Hachette don't seem bothered by that means that they're either very kind or very desperate; either way I'm in a frenzy of free comic based excitement. So thanks Hachette books, here's what I thought of Method Man...

Let's get this straight, I know next to NOTHING about rap music. I occasionally hear it being played through tiny mobile phones by irritating schoolchildren on my bus to work, but ask me about blunts, bitches or Hennessy and I'm lost.

I was aware of the Wu-Tang Clan, but aside from hearing vague rumours that they ain't nuthin ta fuck wit, I couldn't really tell you very much about their music. Apparently at least one of the Wus is a fan of comics though, and much like Guy Ritchie, Dave Stewart and Jenna Jameson at Virgin, Method Man has put his name to a book. And you know what? It's actually quite a lot of fun.

Honestly, I was sceptical, but the rap star's comic has a sparky energy about it that makes it well worth a read. The concept is gloriously ridiculous. You've got this P.I (the fabulously named Peerless Poe) who also happens to be a renegade member of the Order of the Sacred Method. Now get this, The Order of the Sacred Method are (and I quote) "The direct descendants of Cain, a near-fanatical religious elite order of disciplined murder-priests who use their abilities to attack unholy threats on a global scale."

I may not be up on my rap, but any comic about murder-priests who can trace their family tree all the way back to the world's first killer is alright by me. As for those unholy threats? Well, we're introduced to them early - seven pages in as it happens, when Peerless Poe gets into a ruck with a man-eating sewer dragon...

Rap stars chasing monsters around sewers while calling them bitches. Truly this is comics excellence.

Anyway, we soon find out Peerless has been kicked out of the order, but that his old Sensei needs him to track down some Monster Queen or other called Lilith. They climb in a spaceship and head for Stonehenge (naturally) and all sorts of demon killing ensues.

Writer David Athcison keeps the whole thing zipping along at a frenetic pace while Sanford Greene's pleasing hybrid of comic book action and graffiti style art lends the book a suitably street feel. The fact that the art is in black and white might put some people off, but it works, giving the whole project a rawness that suits it well.

The fight scenes (and there are a lot of those) crackle with energy, using jagged panels and dark slashes to create a speedy blur of movement...

...while the dialogue is punchy and often very funny. Perhaps the supporting cast could have been fleshed out a bit more, but in truth it doesn't matter that we don't really get to know them. Method Man isn't trying to be deep after all, it's a gods-honest beat 'em up book where axe-gun wielding rap ninjas take on flying demons in a fight to the death. If you're up for that kind of thing then I'm sure you'll enjoy Method Man

Wu indeed.

LLC recommends: Captain Britain and MI13

OK, so I’m late to the party, but the buzz about Captain Britain and MI13 has been so loud that I thought I’d better give the book a try. I'm glad I did, because while I was initially put off by its links to Secret Invasion, this new series is well worth a go.

The story follows the super heroes of government intelligence department MI-13 as they battle the Skrull invasion of the UK. It’s a tightly written, super fast, action packed Marvel book with a fantastic roster of British characters who play off each other brilliantly.

For that we have Paul Cornell and artist Leonard Kirk to thank. Cornell has been writing Doctor Who novels for years, but he’s also penned some of the best episodes of the TV series itself, including my favourite story from season one: “Father’s Day”. He’s a top class writer and it shows here as he takes on that most difficult of superhero subgenres, the team book.

The problem that a lot of team books run into is that they involve such huge casts that effective characterisation tends to get buried by the action or, (and this is even worse in my opinion), the action gets overlooked in favour of a succession of conversations designed to give each character their moment. This is hardly a surprise, I imagine it’s hard enough to write a 22 page comic book about one character let alone five or six, yet Cornell pulls it off.

The pace of MI13 is unremitting, but the book manages to be more than just a series of explosions because Cornell splices the thrills with some superb banter between the very different protagonists. Whether it be the Captain Britain himself, British Muslim super-heroine Faiza Hussain or the frankly awesome Skrull John Lennon, all the characters have their own distinct voices. Their personalities also come through in the art. Leonard Kirk’s style is reminiscent of Bryan Hitch at his best. He does action and facial expressions equally well, and the level of detail in his work puts this book on a par with the first series of the Ultimates. He even succeeds in freshening up the Skrulls with a succession of superb Superskrull action sequences.

MI13 is great to look at then, but in the end it’s the writing that’s going to carry the book. Cornell is taking risks (killing Brian Braddock at the end of the first issue being chief amongst them) and the book is hardly packed with the A listers that guarantee sales, but it’s snappier than Spider-Man and has already packed more story into two issues than I suspect we'll see in the entirety of Secret Invasion.

It might be a spin-off of Marvel's latest mega event then, but I'm already crossing my fingers that Cornell and Kirk's creation lives on long after Secret Invasion has been forgotten.