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TRS2 May 2001
Angel Nebula #8
Let’s start somewhere near the top. "Angel Nebula" is a 170 page comic strip, "Forget That Day" being the penultimate instalment. McGee’s work is becoming more accessible for the single issue reader, although why anyone would want just one issue of this piece is beyond me. A lot is explained here as this exceptional UK mini-comic creator continues his tale of identity bringing optic restraint and constriction and pairing it off with wide open spaces. Solid geographies, fluent movements: art that is built by the multipage. Every artifice becomes orifice around rocky grounds. And aspiring cartoonists there, may cross their terra firma. For more information on spandex-pigeon-shooting, write to Tony McGee, 143 Meldon Drive, Bilston, West Midlands, WV14 8BE or email tony@mcgee46.freeserve.co.uk , Angel Nebula is 20pgs, A5 and jeez, 75p plus p&p. Madness, I tells ya. Also, stocked by Smallzone.
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
Bulldog Adventure Magazine Vol.2 #1
Adventure anthology series set in Big City, Blighty in a hostile era, "A version of Earth were many animals and vegetables have evolved into sentience alongside human beings, Blighty’s capital city is a place were a vast cosmopolitan variety of cultures collide" Captain Winston Bulldog, with the stature of Dan Dare, works from scripts by Jason Cobley and a selection of artists. Neill Cameron illustrates "Hello, Sailor" were the captain faces off against pirates after his zeppelin is shot from the sky. Cameron doesn’t make the translation from his super "Dumbass Comics", nailing the essentials and not much more. Panels are fairly traditional or confusing, although the compass points and see-through layouts do work reasonably well. Joe Ahern illustrates the prologue to "Buzz", a tightly packed piece of conciseness, serving as a grand introduction to the ancient canine and his world.
Paul Harrison follows this with a distinct blend of expressionism, cubism and surrealism. Thick black lines bestow a lunatick’s energy, reminding me very much of Marc Hempel‘s ‘Gregory’.
Backups include ‘Eldritch’, filled by James Newell, it’s the tale of a World Weekly News/Fortean Times hack, who feels like he’s wasting time and talent. Newell’s cluster of markings give the strip a ‘Battle’ artists look, as if he’s an uncredited foreigner churning out pages, destined never to be recompensed for, while Cobley’s script details the pessimism involved in fruitless search of value in an unappreciative world. Without ever being too downbeat. Jim Cameron rounds it off with a selection of "Ginger Perkins" tales, looking somewhere between Chris Sprouse’s "Strongmen of America" and Reg Smythe’s "Andy Capp".
‘Bulldog’ has been about the UK sp scene for years on end, something of a firmament. Like Judge Dredd or Batman, Bulldog is a strong iconic invention. His tale is set in a Britain were the sun never went down on the empire, were imperailist attitudes stand hand-in-hand with the notion of ‘fair play’. It’s not just played for laughs. This is real. The re/creation of The British Dream, on a par with the theory and ideal of that of America’s. This comic is a good read, if only for the fact that for half an hour, it would make an anarchist proud to be British. Truth. Welcome back Bulldog! A4, 28 pgs, £2 from Jason Cobley, 94 Elm Road, Wisbech, Cambs, PE13 2TB. BTW, Jase’s email is kingsunset@yahoo.com or check out the website
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
Eggtown #1
This is The Comic Presently Known As Eggworld. Winning this month’s prize for comic with the least lines on a page. Is a collection of strips of the size found in newspapers, about a community of ova.
Jonah Stevenson works hard to make the characters one-dimensional, his situations ordinary, obvious and dialogue (plus catchphrases) typical of non-realism. Any sequential procession is concealed, hidden in the overwhelming places of with blank spaces, behind the still frame of what is there. The scenery invisible, drawn by the iris as it struggles to find just what is redeemable here. Fluctuating, finishes applied with a tippex pen. How much of this is intended and how much of it is me? So, therefore it’s a clever retrospection of the fragilities and certainties of life, of which we are only in one chapter of a big big but not too big page. It’s up to you. It’s up to you. A4, 11 pages, £1 available from : Jonah Stevenson, 24 Elm Grove, Liverpool, L7 3EH
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
Behind a glorious Star Wars inspired colour cover, comes Simon Perrins’ Hope For The Future #3. The conclusion of a two part story of three friends and a Lara Croft actor at a PC Fair invaded by Phantom Menace style robots. There’s adventure afoot.... The scene were most of the action takes place has been constructed with consistency in mind, and the layers that have been applied have a bare quality about them. With so many dimensions, Perrins utilises preexisting identifiables and a fluent writing style that seems to cater for far in advance. Like somebody put LSD in all Peter David’s food. Or something.
This is a comic about the fan, by the fan, for the fan. And it’s all the better for it. Intelligent, respectful, silly and loveable. This comic is A5, colour cover and costs £1.50 from Flying Monkey Comics, 11 Royal Park Avenue, Leeds, LS6 1EZ. Contact Si also at usby@freeuk.com near the website.
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
Hugh Jazz #2
1971 and Sartre The Marty, sick of Crossroads, decides to blow up parliament. From thereon, Grant and Smith take an alternative Austin Powers on a wild ride laying into the Osmonds and mormonism. There are chronicle stratagems, novel panel configurations for the optics and a serving of winks through the holes in the fourth wall. Grant supplies the most unlikely of circumstances, the corniest sense of humour and familiar nostalgia in a sensibility that is fanboy and piss-ripping at the same time. Richard J. Smith’s particular style really makes this book his own, though I’m not sure anymore, that’s entirely a good thing. Grant and smith are both part of the new breed of UK small pressers - dedicated to meeting a schedule, hard-working in terms of putting the time in. And usually their stuff is not ‘alf bad. But the side effects of that ethic, to someone like me who spends too much time reading comics, show that this exercise is riddled with frailties. The ‘small press comics’ board game on the back page is a welcome addition (and perhaps an explanation!). Hit or miss? Why don’t you decide? Hugh Jazz #2 is A4 with 28 pgs and costs £1.50. Cheques should be made payable to Iain Grant, 13 Granville Street, Eccles, Manchester, M30 9PX. To contact Iain by email, the address is xenocrayon@hotmail.com and the Xenocrayon website.
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
Leaflit
Looking through the online listings it became apparent that I’d missed out writing up of John Robbins’ final Leaflit, ‘Closing Shots From A Grassy Knoll’. And I can’t have a mistake of that magnitude, now can I?
Set out as a tract, a works notice, ‘Closing Shots’ is a study of communique with the UK underground. Robbins passes along his intelligence, opinions from experience, anger, presenting everything the small press stands for, it is quietly (celebrated) and taken down a peg or two. The key is in the title which allows John to get away with a brutal tone. The sentences there lack the linguistic concentration of John’s earlier effort. Ill considered and heartless, betrayed with the faint whiff of a scrutiniser scrutinised, scraping to fit responsibility with the knowledge of great public consequence Ideas of grandiose importance, and assumption of the bigger picture’s layout on a "I’m more important than you" manner. The perfect resume for a CIA operative!
This John at his ugliest, with extra impact given the universality of the subject matter. That’s the chiller. Many of John’s findings could be considered right on the mark. We are all perpetrators, and there is a fairly ironic nature to this piece. His LEAFLIT series totals thirty in all, some of my best reads over the last few years, and this is not a good place to start. But it does raise points, and reminds me of REM’s ‘Falls To Climb’. And when the dust settles, I think the UK underground will be in a better shape because of it. Leaflit comes with TRS2’s highest praise. It also comes from John Robbins, 11 Avonmore Avenue, Tallaght, Dublin 24. ‘Closing Shots’ costs 20p plus p&p, with a range of leaflits available from 15p to 35p. A fiver will get you the pack of the first twenty. In fact, it’s so great, it’s now available from me as well. At the trs2 address, that’s right.
"Dougal, what have you gotten yourself into this time?"
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
Mondo #March 2001
Lee Davis has the tendency to surprise, editor of this long-running s/p anthology brings gems to the eyes. Contents include the comical and offbeat ‘Beef and Dweezil" by Richard J. Smith, the linguistical experiment in entertainment by Johnny Odds in his jazz pop art, ‘Fred Fortune’. Really wooing me into this, is next treat ‘Spring Heeled Jack’, a synergetic Guy Ritchie-esque tale infused with a healthy dose of humour and marinaded with an imagination of remarkable incidents and rendezvous, a spirit of enterprise. Tim Brown and Lee Davis thrust a complete delicacy upon those who part with their pounds.
Belfast man Ricky Douglas writes a piece on the muddlement of bureaucracy, illustrated sharp by the contorted pens of Andrew Grey. Next, Brown returns with another sweet Star Wars strip, before Douglas closes the excellent issue with ‘Cybertommies’. A beautiful reminisence of Commando and 2000AD with Tim Chapman’s art resembling Transformers artist Geoff Senior, and is perfectly suited to Mondo’s boasts. Goal! The Mondo costs a pound is Us size with 36 pages. For scoring information, contact Lee Davis, 140 Amersham Avenue, Edmonton, N18 1DY.
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
More Than We Seem #1-2
Taking the self-publishing bull by the horns comes this new split book by Deva Comics. There are strong geometric forms, a flat analytical cubism underlying ‘Trojan’, the first offering. Painter Dave West supplies watered down down india ink providing pleasant greys applied using sponges, brushes, rubs and a variety of other art utensils. This fits well with Larry Beatt’s down-to-earth tale of an actor (playing Shakespeare’s Oberon), who gets taken into unlikely circumstance. He makes use of his ‘words with power’, taking our journey to an inconceivable route and West ups the tempo accordingly. Chucking in structured technology design plans paired with all the attitude and sparkle of the modern realist.
The partnering strip, "Out of Time" bludgeons Lichtenstein, draws on expressionist elements and uses an amount of minimalist stratagem (layouts) to bring to the page the recollections of a British pilot in a WWII dogfight. W David uses greys in just the right places to realise the upper atmosphere while writer M E Read lays down chunky words of power, so bold they create colours that a restricted budget cannot deliver. Indeed , Read takes the strong evocation of mood (see LEAFLIT), and gives it transit. "All military equipment burns with a characteristic black pall of smoke, a violent noisy stain on the country. The isolated farms die in a different way. Their smoke is white and smells of dust: it crackles like a true domestic fire" This is a distinguished piece of work. They are men, are they not? They are deva. More Than We Seem is available from Deva Comics, 2 Mill Lane, Holmes Chapel, Crewe, CW4 8AT. It costs £1.75 with the usual topping it up with a sufficient postage and packing. That’s US size, with 32-36 pages. There’s a good connoisseur. Webvisiting is encouraged.
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
Nambanga 2000
So this is a zine on CD, and although this reviewer was a little cynical about the whole exercise, I have to admit that this new medium not only makes a good conversion, but it adds so much more to the comic/zine format. Seeing this was such a huge package (subsectioned into six issues) we’re taking half this month and half next month. But anyway, on to said package.
First up there's issue 1 with Skin Deep by Antoinette Rydyr and Steve Carter. The meticulous attention to detail here, in the anatomical features of the character's muscles and general inner workings of the body is carried out with a true artistic elegance. The story is all-visual and the final frame (I won't spoil it) is reminiscent of one Patrick Bateman of American Psycho fame, just for the satire alone. Here, in this first strip, you can see the advantages this medium has in relation to other outlets Small Press might offer. The small touch, a sort of reactionary musical chime for the last frame allows for an amalgam of both musical and visual mediums. But there is more of this type of thing to come. Anyway, Skin Deep is very smart. It allows for a build up of tension with an assortment of close-up shots of a person fitting on a skin like body shot. The pay off raises a snigger, and the taste left in your mouth is one of surreal delight (like an Opal Fruit!).
Next up is Lust Objekt by Lian Ong. The artist owes a lot to both Alfred Hitchcock in his choice of irregular angles, and Frank Miller for the sparse Black and White visuals. Sometimes it is a little hard just knowing what is going on but that is the point. There is disorientation and anguish, let it be a metaphor for the lead character of the piece, the lust objekt. The visuals are not only reminiscent of Hitchcock; so is the characterisation. Here we have a man despairing over that which controls him, a recurring factor in Hitch's work. But he also brings his own touches to the piece, and with great effect.
Mark Horeman's assorted drawings have a great stinging wit throughout the small portfolio (just a pity there wasn't any more). There is the blind artist's model, which is a hoot, and a whole host of other crazy juice. Definitely check it out.
ISSUE 2: "I admire people...especially women/And that's why I always cry...when I kill them."
That was Wampir and those were the immortal words of Jerry Szylak. You take this guy add Alexandra Czubek's art and you get a bloody strip with a dash of poetry. This reminds me of Rob Lee's Dhampire in terms of visuals. Great strip.
Arte Suicida from Pablo Nunez is very much influenced by Picasso visuals, yet is a witty commentary on the whims of art evolution rendered with sickeningly apt visuals. You have the suicide artist's movement here, which takes the artistic temperament thing too far. In terms of satire it works very much like Skin Deep, but more effectively and with less subtlety, which is not always a bad thing.
M.S. Bastian's Screwballs is going to be the greatest thing on the CD, well that's a little bit of a biased view because anything with the name Bukowski on the cover page has got my vote. This is a lot like Buk's Ham on Rye. Bastian writes about freaks and degenerates following him all through school and from there, through the rest of his life as well. The art has the greasy fingerprints of Ralf Steadman rubbed all over it. These two masters of the surreal and subversion have obviously greatly influenced Bastian, and by the looks of it for the better.
ISSUE 3: The delicate realism seen in Mark Hendriks' Fruits of the Sea makes this one of the most visually striking strips on the CD. The profound subject matter contrasted with the eye-catching illustrations of decrepit fighter planes make Fruits of the Sea stand out among the others. There is a real flavour of bad taste running through all this, with touchy subjects such as paedophilia and cannibalism running through the narrative. The leader to the strip tells you to take a deep breath before delving in. I think that's a good idea.
Litany of Bad Thoughts (Amber Carvan) uses this multimedia application to its fullest effect. More like a movie preview than a comic it fades in and out over a sublime music track. Telling you anything about the narrative would be giving the game away, but let me just say you're a liar if you can't identify with this.
The second strip in Amber Carvan's section is about the search for some other form of intelligent life in the cosmos. A kind of Raymond Carver kind of strip here, very minimalist illustrations, but it puts the point across very well whilst taking a gentle dig at SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) in the nicest possible way.
Lastly there's Maria Bjorklund's LSD inspired Sex Dreams. Like one of Robert Crumb's rawest works this is a purely visual strip accompanied by a psychoanalytical breakdown on relationships. Great use of colour here, and definitely not one to look at if you're feeling the whitey creeping up on your psyche.
Nambanga 2000 costs $29.99 (approx. £20) and is available from Augom Limited, Toshima-Ku, Tokyo, 171-0033 Japan. English-speaking contact Kelvin Lee can be emailed for more details, This is a wonderful collection!
Reviewed by Richard Barr, May 2001
NSFG #2
This zine is a breath of fresh air from my usual. Well chummy, explanatory articles on the rock sci-fi culture, and not a member of the Klingon brigade in sight. From the Norwich Science Fiction Group, ‘Alternative Visions’ scopes pop media, Hawkwind and Michael Moorcock. (educated me.) The comic strips are a mixed bag. Yet supremem s/p 3 panel weaver Paul Curtis is out on the town and Ken Shinn turns in a smile triggering curry-powered-superhero piece. Summary, hardly in-depth or artistical analytical, just a lovingly enjoyable casual hour’s read. NSFG#2 is A5 size, 28 pgs and costs £1.20. Available from 15a St. Augustine’s Street, Norwich. Email is tvheaven@cwcom.net and you may wish to check out the website.
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
Paradise Lost #1
Author of the bloody and evil TALES OF URBAN HORROR return with another glimmering product. Scribe Jay Bonney litters ‘EDEN’ with the same attention to intricacy to create a dwelling gripping transport. Stop by as Michael McColm paints the page expressions of anguish and hope, that same minutiae applies with scenes of town and country, and buried finger. Sure, it doesn’t end with the same scene to scene hypnotic appeal it began with but it does in black and white in eighteen pages what JMS is still trying to do with Rising Stars.
‘THE CRUELEST TWIST OF FATE" is a strolling piece of decor by Colin Stanford, yet suffers from ocassional wishy-washiness as found in certain Hollywood high-budget cine. The s*p*rh*ro plays a more important role, something any serious comick practicioner should stay away from. For if we re-visit without new aspect in abundance, we will kill it. And where’s the sense in that? To be kind, Bonney does bring some new aspects, treading with a tale of love, stranger stranger, reader. Kirby haircuts are in place too. The infuriating thing is that while there are many better qualified authors in the small press, Jay Bonney (and his crew) will make it to the higher levels of the ‘job’ because, they’re just that good. "Now Bonney, no more superhero tales for ten years. And go easy, next horror tale". Paradise Lost is 32 pgs, US size with a colour cover and retails at and I haven’t got a price or an address. It’s available from Smallzone, I think.
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
Silk Pussy #2
Concise format allows Richard J. Smith to pack the panels with description in this seamy tale of a porn star superheroine. Smith has yet to fully adapt to the A4 double-sided but early signs (content, pacing, character) make this a more attractive and appealing than slogging through one of his twenty page larks.
Smith’s art is shambolic, drawn in a state of overzealous dedication and modesty, by Ralph Wiggum. So stubborn in amateur language, it takes half as much viewer investment as it does artistic investment. Is it worth it? My tastes tell me, sometimes. Clutter all over the hidden joke but eventually there are creepy resonating little cartoons. And I fear they may attack my worktops with their tiny feet. Silk Pussy costs 20p plus p&p, is an A4 fold-out and is available from Richard J. Smith, 39 Lower Unwin Street, Penistone, Sheffield.
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
Space Opera: The Artist’s Book
If I had to name just two comics of the late 1990s which have really pushed the envelope in terms of storytelling techniques and which have also afforded me hours of enjoyment, I'd unhesitatingly pick Chris Ware's ACME NOVELTY LIBRARY and Mike Weller's SPACE OPERA. The former has received considerable distribution, fame and applause; the latter is known only to a few and should be read by very, very many.
Weller's highly experimental work has familiar underpinnings: in what was originally a 12 issue series, an all British super-team fights forces of unimaginable evil across the decades, and numerous alternate realities are established. But don't let that turn you off, it's just a way of enticing all those DC and Marvel fans into something richer and stranger than they could possibly have imagined! At the heart of the story lies the artist's search for identity and purpose in a seemingly fractured world: but instead of conveying this through autobiographical mundanities, Weller has chosen to cast his personal quest within the context of a huge, fictional reconstruction of social history and popular culture. It can be no accident that the serialisation was timed to conclude at the end of 1999: Weller's canvas, his materials, are nothing less than the 20th century itself.
If this all sounds like heavy going, well, it isn't a quick and easy read! But the enormous outpouring of ideas, the exuberant execution, the reshaping of the familiar and the blinding clarity and originality of the art make it impossible to put this 400 page epic down, impossible to stop the synapses sparking... impossible to experience SPACE OPERA without being thrilled, delighted and wildly excited. You won't believe that a comic can achieve this much.
(Review by Mike Kidson) 414 pgs in this book of limited print run, it costs £25 (p&p included) , cheques should be made payable to Michael J. Weller, posted to Visual Associations c/o 3 Queen Adelaide Court, Queen Adelaide Road, London SE20 7DZ
Reviewed by Mike Kidson, May 2001
I open up Square Eyed Stories #11, and am immediately greeted with a visual style similar to my own in latter issues of BOB’S. Personally, worrying stuff. This mini-comic of was one of the predecessors to bumper collections PULP KITCHEN, and like wise, anthologised effort of Liverpool folk. It’s a lot rougher round the edges without slick max printing, doodles alongside more laboured pieces. Struggles to meet format requirements brought on by a seeming urgency not only looks bad but gives the collection a rather surreal fairground freakshow mirror quality. If you’re a fan of watching many kid’s cartoons , you’ll probably like this. Little here of my fondness.
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
Square Eyed Stories #12
Anthropomorphic biblical adaption. Targetless opinion without substance. Mindless and effortless doodles that refuse confinement. Accurate observations of banality. The inner pain of a wankaddict. Admiration of artists and the stalking that follows. Cheeky and blatant space-fillers surfing on their own arrogance. This SEE is a vast improvement on the last issue, probably due to the addition of more PULP KITCHEN regulars. All being of one page stories, half of a light calorie count, I would recommend it primarily for the work of the graceful Arthur Goodman and the appealing Laura Wotton. An odd mix. To order, send some metal and tape to Jim McGee, 3 Wellington Fields, Wavertree, Liverpool, L15 0EL. Email the team at pulp_kitchen@hotmail.com as well as home-site. Oh, and I forgot to review the latest Pulp Kitchen again. Oops! The double colour covers are fucking fantastic and it’s sixty pages of comic strip for £2.50. A bargain!
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
Strange Aeons #14
It’s a delight to behold one of the most professional fan zines in the UK today. With none other than supernatural supremo HP Lovecraft scripting, Calum Iain MacIver uses panel arrangements to enforce dimensions. A number of years ago, Caliber covered "The House In The Picture", these manuscripts become maps, illumination for the soul. MacIver’s rendering of this strip is religiously and respectfully faithful, reconstruction articulate. marvel as He Works The Page. Emphasisation of putrid boils (alerts by shade) mark boundaries with medusa weave, good measure.
"The Picture In The House" artcraft, is well wicked and demands your attention scholar lover. This is classic mass cartooning , and just the first ten pages. Complementing this opening salvo the zine is chocfull of Lovecraft-related writings: film reviews, film festival and zine reportage, and a thorough comprehensive article on Ditko and lee’s Dr. Strange. Highly Highly Recommended. 32 pages, A4 size, costs £2 plus p&p. From Calum Iain MacIver, 1 Brookside, Clachamish, Porttree, Isle Of Skye, Scotland, IV51 9NY. Telephone 01470 582 203 or email strange.aeons@tinyworld.co.uk for more information.
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
The O Men #10
Medusa lookalike and general head-warper Malice takes the team that’s not a team on a journey through literary fantasy in the conclusion of another of Martin Eden’s multi-parters. There’s a much more laid back attitude in the air to this story. Mart experimenting and messing around: the results are mixed. There are enough spooky scenes and surprises to show that this book is as innovative as ever while recapturing it’s original loss and atmosphere. £1.50 from Martin, 160a Buckingham Palace Road, Victoria, London, SW1W 9TR. A5, 32 pgs
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
Two To Beam Up #2 is split into two ongoing features, various scenes and characters from Star Wars by Tim ‘Don’t Hit Me’ Brown and the exploits of a beltegusian editor of a children’s comic about spaceships by Ralph ‘Celebrity Drunkard’ Kidson. The tales have a great ‘jam’ quality, despite the sometimes rough layout of the book. Tim Brown’s strips are some of the most amusing bastardisations with Kidson’s input a reverse of his usual tiny drawings to suit the ‘importance’ the lead character. Half size would have perhaps suited better. Yet there are enough of his shat diamonds to demand you harvest your wallets. While approach is never disrespectful for the scribblers do love their subject matter, their manipulation is cheeky, impertinent. And the unsophisticated artwork, the two fingers to rendering countenance and form, the use of no more than fifteen seperate applications per finished picture heightens those, brings them to the fore. Oh yes, and because Ralph and Tim are genuinely pen pals with Jeri Ryan, each purchase of this comic comes with an honest-to-goodness chance to enter a draw to have dinner with the Star Trek: Voyager celebrity. Forty four pages, A5 size, costing £2. Available from Tim Brown, 22 Winscombe Avenue, Somerset, BS25 or from Ralph Kidson, 3 Langridges Close, Newick, East Sussex, BN8 4LZ
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
Top Notch Tosh #4
Think UK Viz style artwork with 2000AD scripts, and a man who sends me a letter on official Noddy writing paper. The first strip, ‘ILLEGAL CARGO’ is the old monster aboard a spaceship routine, but with Sigourney and co being replaced by TNT regulars, Baldy and Maud. This is a shape led strip, be it primary or angular and it is very catholic. Short sharp marks probably layered on an outline, it looks nonetheless trim and graceful. Cheeky and chirpy then, Baldy and Maud are fogies belonging to the new frontier. ‘I.D’, a starkly dressed ‘keeps ya guessing’ piece borders on Future Shock snobbery, but with great focus and competent direction. ‘Stranded’ is another contrast. Guest artist Justin Askham brings his best work yet, an anthromorphic manga which is very cute, and something of a UK s/p fashion. The script plays with a number of notions concerning religion and belief yet the guns and tits accompaniment never detracts. And is free from any preconceptions or stereotypes. Well, not any, but quite a few. Top Notch Tosh costs £1 and is available from Andrew Lewis, 39 Priory Court, Brynoch, Neath, West Glamorgan, SA10 7RZ. Running for 28 pages for A5 compatible eyes. Oh, and frioends of Lewis can also call him on topnotchtosh@hotmail.com
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001
Windhead’s Dogs #5
Psychonaut Hawkfriends travel quantum roads, while sinister religio-government broadcast seeks to throw it’s claws around. Rendered to the max, with some very tight inking and an immensity in contradiction to it’s A6 format. More occult geometrics obscurities serve to highlight how ‘Ledge Of Darkness’ becomes harder to follow with each issue. Though there are three short accompanying strips, tribute to "Spirit Of The Age", Jack Kirby, and a cartoon anthromorphic piece. These vary in workability, but with TUComics support, Windhead’s Dogs seem to be a phenomenon that is reaching and reaching. Available with an SAE from: Zephyr, PO Box 6, North Wirral, CH45 4SJ, UK
Reviewed by Andrew Luke, May 2001