Zenith/Invasion!

The latest issue of Zarjaz! is out now and features Zenith/Invasion! by David Frankum and I. This is what to look for in all good comic shops:



The strip is my debut in Zarjaz! which is the leading 2000AD fanzine and hails from the formidable Futurequake stable. The idea for Zenith/Invasion! really stemmed from my love of Zenith by Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell, the first run of which emerged at the height of my love of 2000AD in the late 80s and which was, and remains, my favourite ever 2000AD strip.

I re-read the whole series recently and it was as good as ever. Indeed, it seemed to me that there's quite a lot more potential in the characters and situations that was left untapped over the four "phases" of the original run. My mind turned to speculating on what a Phase V would look like and Zenith/Invasion! basically represents my idea for a prologue to Phase V. Well, sort of. This being intended for publication in a fanzine rather than 2000AD itself I didn't have to introduce the setup from scratch and I could go to town with what I believe in Doctor Who circles is called "fan wank" (eg. references to obscure characters and/or peripheral events). Therefore, for example, when reading Zenith/Invasion! it's probably handy to know that in this universe the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on Berlin in 1944 whilst a punch-up between British superhero Maxi-Man and Nazi supervillain Masterman was under way.

So, what of Invasion! then? Well, that strip was from the 70s, which was slightly before my time. Although I was aware of it and loved the concept, it was only relatively recently that I read the whole thing (there's a great Rebellion trade). So when I was developing my Zenith story and I realised I needed an adversary who were like the Invasion-era Volgans and I needed them to be active at more or less the turn of the millenium it didn't take me long to decide I would actually use the Volgans, circa 1999. After that I brought myself up to date with the alternative history that Pat Mills created as backstory to Savage and fortunately this segued really nicely with what we know about Zenith's version of Britain. Also, Zenith is set in a multi-verse (something else I loved) featuring reimagined versions of many classic British comic characters (most notably Robot Archie) so an alternative version of the Volgan invasion of Britain does not seem at all out of place.

Once I had all the ideas in place the script was pretty easy to write and I was delighted when Zarjaz editors Bolt-01 and Richmond Clements accepted it. They then asked David Frankum to take on art duties. I wasn't aware of David's work at the time but when I checked out his online portfolio I could see he was a great choice. I'm a massive fan of Steve Yeowell's clear, crisp style and you could see immediately that David would be able to capture this feeling, whilst at the same time retaining his own unique and supremely engaging style. Sure enough, David has done a wonderful job and I am totally delighted with the way the strip has turned out!

For David's own view of the genesis of Zenith/Invasion! please click here.

To see what the Forbidden Planet blog has to say about it, take a look at this.

Most importantly, to buy Zarjaz #12 you need to visit the Futurequake shop. Do it Now!

The Lovecraft Anthology

This was my main purchase at the recent Bristol Comic Expo:



I am a massive Lovecraft fan and really enjoyed the Self Made Hero adaption of Mountains of Madness, so expectations were high. In a spirit of extreme modernity I tweeted my thoughts on each story. In a spirit of recycling those tweets into a review, here they are again...

1 Call of Cthulu. Slightly disappointing. Reads like an illustrated abridged short story not a comic strip. Guess this was hard to adapt. I feel I should add that I am a massive fan of Edginton and D'Israeli, The Great Game in particular was a masterpiece. I think, though, they tried to do Call a bit too literally, and it doesn't really work.

2 Haunter of the Dark. Pretty good. Feels like a proper comic. Lovely evocative art by Shane Oakley. Possibly a bit under coloured.

3 The Dunwich Horror. Pure genius. Didn't think Rob Davis liked Lovecraft but his script is near perfect. Ian Culbard art out of this world.

4 Colour Out of Space. Nicely done. Not one of my favourite HPL stories but I enjoyed this version of it.

5 Shadow Over Innsmouth. Decent adaption by Moore & Reppion with stand out art by Leigh Gallagher, channeling John Ridgeway I feel.

6 The Rats in the Walls. Enjoyable if slight. Not sure it quite captures the spirit of the original. Shocking ending though.

7 Dagon. Nice vignette to end on. Story harks back to the Call of Cthulu but totally different art style gives it distinctiveness.

Conclusion: Has its ups and downs like any anthology, but overall it's a great collection. Recommended.

Introducing... Walking Wounded: Eastern Front

So, we're back in action on the Back In Action front.

This is the first page of Pagan Blood, the debut story for Walking Wounded: Eastern Front with script by myself and art, colours and (unseen here) letters by David Frankum:



Looks great doesn't it? Well, as Bachman-Turner Overdrive so rightly teach us, you aint seen nothing yet!

Judge Dredd Tour of Duty: The Backlash Review

This weighty collection follows on the heels of Dredd's brief re-acquaintance with his clone-father, Fargo, at the conclusion of the “mega-epic” Origins. Now doubting the role of the Judges for the first time, the legendary lawman turns to politics to force through a liberalisation of Mega City One's tough anti-mutant laws. The only problem is pretty much everyone in the City disagrees with him and that leads to some fairly dire consequences.



Despite the title, this graphic novel features precisely zero pages of Tour of Duty as seen in “The Galaxy's Greatest Comic” but instead includes all the 2000AD strips that depict the events leading up to the story actually called Tour of Duty. This makes for a fascinatingly eclectic collection, with the odd weaker story to be sure but also some bona fide classics such as ...Regrets and Emphatically Evil.

John Wagner has been working on the character since the 70s and he's still doing an amazing job here, complemented by an array of talented artists led by evergreens Colin MacNeil and Kev Walker. With all due respect to other Dredd scribes, Wagner is pretty much the only writer who's ever captured the man's contradictory core of fascist decency, and here he pushes the instability of such an outlook to breaking point as the man is driven by his more noble feelings to imperil not only his own position but that of his allies such as Chief Judge Hershey. Adding the entertainingly bloodthirsty serial killer turned Mayor P J Maybe to the mix makes for an impressive cast.

The real star of The Backlash however is the city itself, which has been created over a span of decades and is now an extraordinarily complex and well drawn backdrop that ties all the stories in this volume tightly together. It's a classic Dystopia, riddled with misery and hate. Nothing demonstrates this more clearly than the attitude of virtually all the “normal” citizens to their mutant cousins which is one of unbridled murderous rage. This makes Dredd's downfall inevitable, and yet it's done so well you can't help but look forward eagerly to the next volume.

Futurequake 17

I find it almost impossible to walk past a comic shop and so, after a nice lunch in Covent Garden I recently found myself in Orbital Comics. It was heartening to see they stocked a healthy selection of small press offerings, including both Zarjaz! and Futurequake. Always keen to support my fellows - and always keener to have something to read on the train home - I purchased this:



It's a great cover by Richard Smith and leads straight into the first strip, Regrets, Rules and Jellied Eeels, scripted by Neil Merrett. The art is crisp and clear, Smith's background in computer games is evident and that's no bad thing at all. I really enjoyed the story too, the twist is pretty funny.

The highlight of this issue for me is Ex Libris by Eoghan Ahern and David Frankum. Regular readers of this blog will know I've worked with David on a forthcoming Zarjaz! strip and that I'm working with him again on a Massacre For Boys piece at the moment. Therefore I guess I am not entirely neutral when I say that I think David is extremely talented and that his work here is little short of genius. Some of the panel compositions are really powerful and you can see that technically he pretty much has everything. It's no surprise to me that one of the "Big Two" comics publishers have expressed an interest in his work. Ahern's sharp post-modern writing gives David the platform he needs to flourish.

The other strips in this issue all have something to recommend them. I particularly liked the last couple actually - the atmospheric Robo Sapiens by Mark Smith & Steve Howard and then the short and spikey Rugged Romper by Michael Deshane and BMB. Still, I have by no means mentioned everything in the comic that's worth reading.

The quality does vary, as you would expect from an anthology title, but the overall level has definitely improved markedly from a couple of years ago. I think this is down in part to the editorial prowess of Dave Evans and Richmond Clements, but also to the vast number of submissions they now receive. There's some fine art in this issue but I perhaps naturally like to focus on the writing, which can often be pretty bad even in quite high profile professional comics let alone the small press. However, in FQ 17 there's maybe one story that's difficult to follow and overall the standard is as good as I have seen outside the very highest echelons of the medium.

On this form, Futurequake is clearly an important breeding ground for UK comic talent and long may it continue.

Sisters of Grud 2

Unlike the first Ezquerra tribute strip which I basically scribbled on the back of an envelope (and Steve rightly ignored my panel layouts for), I approached Sisters of Grud using my usual writing method. I had the idea for a Necropolis mini-sequel which I plotted, then wrote breakdowns for before doing the full script. It seems to work well as a pastiche of 90s Wagner but I know it's not really Dredd. He's a character only Wagner can write.

The art is lovely reflecting the respect Steve has for Carlos, but also his potential to step up to 2000AD duties himself. The letters are by Nikki Foxrobot, the first time she's worked on one of my scripts and I very much hope not the last!

Sisters of Grud 1

Here's two pages of lovely Judge Dredd artwork by Steve:





The script was by me and we originally intended it for inclusion in the second Carlos Ezquerra tribute comic (now apparently delayed or cancelled). I'll post the lettered version next week unless anyone tells me not to in the meantime.

Oh, and whilst we're on the subject of the Galaxy's Greatest Comic, I've contributed a script to the fan offshoot Zarjaz! which is due to appear in the July issue. It's been illustrated by the highly talented David Frankum and the collaboration went so well we've already embarked on a second project together!

Check out David's website for further info and a teaser image.