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Whilst IDW has been doing fantastic work with the new Doctor Who comics, and the recent relaunch written by Andy Diggle is particularly worth your time, Doctor Who comics’ real home is the Doctor Who Magazine . Doctor after Doctor has appeared there and, largely freed from the needs of TV continuity and budget, the stories are often far wider in scope and visual imagination than the show itself.
This first collection of both the eleventh Doctor-era strips and Jonathan Morris’ work on them – is the perfect example of that. There are nine stories here, tackling wildly different subject matters and with a rotating art team whose style varies to match the stories. Mike Collins’ work on “Supernature”, the opening story, is a perfect example of this; his detailed, characterful pencil work a vital part of a story which sees Amy and the Doctor dealing with a penal colony, a disease and hyper-accelerated evolution all at the same time. It’s a smart opener, incident- and character-heavy and far more expansive than even the largest scale TV episode, with Morris cleverly working in at least one trick that would break the budget on the show.
“Planet Bollywood” follows it, and this time Roger Langridge is on art duties. Langride’s work is huge fun. Rounded and friendly, and just a little cartoony, it’s a perfect fit for a story which is both very light but again, fiercely clever. Let’s face it, a good portion of us have been waiting for Who to do a musical episode, and this story does just that, managing to get the big production numbers across on the page with style and humour. The title’s more apt too, with the sweeping plot points and the lovely idea of a robotic muse driving it along very nicely.
“The Golden Ones”, this time with the dynamic, precise art of Martin Geraghty and some superb colours by James Offredi, is not only the first longform story, it’s the first standout. Called to Tokyo to investigate the odd death of a UNIT agent, the Doctor and Amy find themselves investigating a smart drink and the suddenly very intelligent children drinking it. Anyone who’s familiar with the third Doctor’s adventures will guess who the villain is here quickly but that’s not the point. This plays like a great TV episode, with a supporting cast, a couple of massively clever twists and a real sense of scale.
“The Professor, The Queen And The Bookshop” is as impressive, but for very different reasons. Opening with Rory and Amy as children in World War II London it’s a Doctor Who story, but… a little to the left. Rob Davis’ expressive and human art is gorgeous throughout, and the story is a single instalment with a surprising, and very touching dedication.
“The Screams Of Death” is surely one of the best titles for a Who story ever, and sees the Doctor and Amy in Napoleonic era Paris and dealing with what, initially, seems to be a case of a simple relationship break-up. Cosette and Louis were deeply in love until Mr Valdemar recruited her to his theatre. Cosette, who couldn’t sing at all before she met him is now heading productions, and the Doctor and Amy smell a rat. The art here, by Dan McDaid, is beautiful, and the story drips with atmosphere. But it’s the only one in this collection that doesn’t quite work for me. It’s still atmospheric, funny and chilling but it doesn’t hit as hard as the other stories. Pay close attention to the ending though…
“Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”, with great art by David A Roach, is another short, but standout, piece. Investigating a series of odd deaths and a group of mysterious children at a nursing home, the Doctor and Amy find something both horrific and hopeful in the basement. This story and the previous one both neatly riff on previous Who TV episodes but not in a way which feels forced. These are simply different approaches and “Do Not Go Gentle” in particular has some real emotional weight to it.
Then things get epic. “Apotheosis” is one of the longest stories in the book and manages to combine nuns with guns and plague robots (an idea exactly as horrible as you think) with a story which is character-driven, idea-heavy and has not one but two real surprises up its sleeve. The ending is a tad timey-wimey, but it’s not only the first real use of that sort of plot in the book, it actually works, without the need of a flow diagram or missing scenes as the show, on occasion, has gone for.
“The Child of Time”, the final story, with Martin Geraghty returning on art, is the moment that Morris really pulls the rabbit out of the hat. Every story that’s gone before is shown in a different light as the Doctor and Amy race to stop a godlike being picking apart reality. Which, let’s face it, is a good premise by itself, but as the story goes on Morris keeps adding more to it. A full-scale war with a race of aliens called the Galataeans takes centre-stage, followed in short order by Alan Turing, the Bronte sisters toting futuristic weaponry and the death and rebirth of humanity. It’s an astoundingly ambitious story and every single beat lands, meaning it actually helps you appreciate everything that’s gone before it more. As “season finales” go this is one of the all-time greats, a sweeping piece of science fiction that’s still human, still utterly British and quintessentially Doctor Who .
The Child of Time is one of the best collections of Who comics I’ve read in years. Morris has a fresh but familiar take on the eleventh Doctor and Amy, an eye for detail and a love for big, sweeping action sequences, and all of them are shown off here. This is idea-heavy, character-driven science fiction that doesn’t just honour the show it’s based on, it embodies it. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Alasdair Stuart
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]]>The post BLOG The Batman/Judge Dredd Collection REVIEW appeared first on Game News.
]]>Art by Simon Bisley and Todd Klein (“Judgment On Gotham”), Cam Kennedy, Digital Chameleon, Ken Bruzenak and Mike Mignola (“Vendetta In Gotham”), Carl Critchlow, Dermot Power and Richard Starkings (“The Ultimate Riddle”), Glenn Fabry, Jim Murray, Jason Brashill and Ellie De Ville (“Die Laughing”), Val Semeiks, John Dell, Gloria Vasquez and Bill Oakley (“Lobo/Judge Dredd: Psycho-Bikers vs The Mutants From Hell”)
Published by Rebellion
£25.00
There are no two crime fighters, anywhere in the halls of fiction, grumpier than Batman and Judge Dredd. Whilst the trope of “two superheroes meet, fight and then team up” is crushingly tired everywhere else, these two guardians of the law were always going to meet, and fight, and fight crime. And then fight again. As this collection of the four crossover specials published in the ’90s shows, whilst both men were left battered and bruised, the end result is some really fun comics.
This first special is basically an excuse for the two iconic figures to fight each other… and Judge Death… and Mean Machine Angel… and there’s really no problem with that. Simon Bisley’s staggeringly muscular, flexed artwork is the perfect match for these two characters and he excels at action and violence so extreme it becomes funny. The climactic fight is especially fantastic, with Mean Machine stuck on 4½ and butting the stage apart. Fast, nasty and fun, it’s a great one-shot exploration of the two men.
Fabry and Murray’s gloriously sinewy, burly art is the perfect bookend to Bisley’s work in the first story and they clearly relish showing Mega City 1 off in all its demented glory. There are some lovely full splash pages and some cheerfully grotesque moments, especially the rapid degeneration of one of Mortis’ victims. However, the whole thing pales in comparison to seeing Batman, astride a Lawmaster, side by side with Dredd. Whilst the Joker as a Dark Judge doesn’t quite work, brilliantly that’s acknowledged in the story and it’s touches like that, along with the endless variety of hideous things the Dark Judges do to people, that make it huge fun to read. “Die Laughing” is the perfect, epic summer blockbuster blow off to the series of stories; huge, demented, hideously violent and immensely fun.
The book’s rounded out by the Dredd/Lobo crossover which has some particularly great art and is about as sensible as you might think. However, whilst it’s fun, this book belongs to Dredd and Batman, the two grumpiest men in comics. They don’t like each other, they don’t trust each other’s methods but they do make a great team.
Just don’t tell them that.
Alasdair Stuart
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]]>The post Small Press COMICS REVIEW appeared first on Game News.
]]>Sometimes, the big guys get all the love. The international publishers, the critically acclaimed mega-selling writers and artists, the juggernaut titles that have been running since the dawn of time – they hog all the limelight. And while that’s all well and good, here at Comic Heroes we’re about much more than that. We know that toiling out there, often with minimal recognition, are the people of the small press, and they’re creating work that is every bit as exciting, challenging and downright entertaining as anything the big boys can produce.
Take Scorgasm , a 21st century update on Roy Of The Rovers that takes a good old-fashioned footy strip, throws in super powers, celebrity culture and cut-throat journalists and leaves you gagging for more after a mere 16 pages. The story of super-speedy Billy Foley and his meteoric rise from small club player to big league hero is not only breathlessly entertaining, it’s also got something relevant to say to lovers of the beautiful game. Gloriously evocative black and white artwork will have you reaching for those old annuals before you can say ‘but I don’t even follow the sport ball’.
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The Ballad Of Frank Sartre
If the trials and tribulations of super human footballers isn’t for you, then how about a slice of deliciously dark rock and roll? The Ballad Of Frank Sartre contains everything you want from a comic about Satan’s soundtrack, namely shagging, chemical overindulgence and buckets of late-night atmosphere. The pages reek of drug-fuelled decadence, and in between the dog-headed reporters and the grim futuristic setting populated by wannabes and has-beens, there’s an artful story waiting to take you on a three-chord thrill ride somewhere you probably shouldn’t go.
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Sometimes a traditionally told tale is exactly what isn’t required, orwe’d all be watching Eastenders on repeat and resigning ourselves to an eternity of grunting cockneys shouting at each other. Roachwell is an antidote to the usual: a webcomic that has now been collected, it’s refreshingly weird, effortlessly funny and at times just plain psychotic. Full of terrifying concepts (like the guy who drinks a skinfull and wakes up to find he’s joined M People), at its best Roachwell is like being told a bed time story by that guy you keep on seeing eating cat food outside Tescos. Funny, frightening, and a world unto itself, it’s as if the writers of Psychoville had a breakdown and threw up on a comic; gloriously wrong and yet so very right.
Wait! There’s more! Go to page two for more small press reviews…
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Hitsville UK
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If Roachwell is the ravings of a Tennents Super-addled tramp savant, then Hitsville is its distant hippy cousin, the one who took one two many trips before disappearing into the bowels of the music industry. An acid-fried report from the edges of sanity that is ostensibly the story of a demonic record label on the hunt for fresh new talent to exploit, Hitsville is both a dissection of the worst practices of muso idiots and a feverishly inventive psychedelic odyssey. Lunatic producers and pissed off punks rub shoulders with mournful singer songwriters and super-cool synth bands in dingy cellars, while the devil does the washing up. Take it from us, you will find no more accurate portrayal of life on the toilet circuit than this; a perfect three minute chemical infused rush of a comic.
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For anyone who spent too much time as a teenager reading comics and watching obscure films (let’s face it, we all did), Video Nasties will be instantly familiar. The story of a shy kid, his obsession with dodgy snuff horror and a school project commemorating a group of kids that went missing a decade ago, it’s full of the sort of incidents that will be all too familiar for those of us who spent our school days tongue tied in front of pretty girls. Beautifully observed school-based shenanigans aside, this is a tale with a dingy underbelly, compellingly told in stark black and white. It’s almost enough to make you pine for those school days. Almost.
■ SMALL PRESSERS! Send in your work to: Rob Power, Comic Heroes , Future Publishing, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, BA1 2BW, or alternatively send links to rob.power@futurenet.com. Ta!
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