“Once upon a time, in a land of glass, steel and concrete, lived a displaced and homesick people wandering the sidewalks, hidden from the wider world. Fabled characters of lore and stories, they co-exist with us, the mundys, whilst dreaming of reclaiming their stolen lands. In the shadows however, lurked an ancient evil. An evil of many forms and shapes. Wampir, Striga, Peuchen, Kasha…Vampire. Different breeds and legacies inhabit the night, but in this modern world of steel and glass, a new breed lurks. Different. Feral. Wild. The American Vampire. In this land of fables and monsters, only one will inherit our world…let the battle commence…THE COMIC BATTLE!”

Rather than have two books of the same nature facing off against one another in the latest comic battle, I wanted to see what would happen if I chose two beloved series and threw them head to head at one another; snarling, gnashing, clawing at each other until one stands victorious over the other, it’s ink leaking all over the pavement, pages torn and ripped and it’s spine tattered and broken. Step forward, the challengers: Scott Snyder, Stephen King and Rafael Albuquerque’s American Vampire and Bill Willingham and Lan Medina’s Fables: Legends In Exile. Two unique books from two very talented creative teams. They were unleashed upon each other all over my twitter feed and during the course of the day the poll swung in both books favour. However, only one could stand victorious…and that one was…

Fables.

New York. Home of immigrants, the hot dog, the Empire State building, community spirit, yellow taxi cabs and the displaced refugees of the fairy tale worlds. Our once upon a times are their worlds and existences. A world and existence that was ripped from them by the omnipotent and malevolent Adversary.Those who survived the invasion and onslaught fled into our world, the one world the Adversary had no interest in, the one world without magic, the Mundane world. Fables: Legends in Exile collects the first five issues of Bill Willingham’s sprawling epic, introducing us to the world the fables inhabit and several key figures. Snow White, deputy mayor/director of Fable affairs, and Bigby Wolf (formerly the big bad wolf, in a human form) are tasked with investigating the suspicious death of Snow’s sister Rose Red. Effectively a prologue, the volume suffers slightly due to it acting as an introduction. The pacing is slow to start with, but as you follow Bigby’s investigation, it picks up, the writing starts to shine through and the detective story really picks the pace up.

What Fables: Legends in Exile does, is provide us with a great deal of characterisation, despite the (at the time) ludicrous idea of fairy tale characters existing in the “real” world. The murder mystery feel of this first volume concentrates more on the reactions to Rose Red’s apparent death rather than the procedure, which adds a nice touch of charm to things, instead of focusing on the procedure behind the investigation, and it helps us to get our bearings in Willingham’s world through the eyes of the reformed Bigby and Snow. Snow is a strong character, albeit a slightly stereotypically 90’s woman, however her dialogue is snappy, her emotive scenes work well and she is an excellent companion to Bigby’s grizzled, noir-ish detective and his unrequited affection for Snow offers us laughs. The side characters are also intriguing, and it’s obvious that they are being setup for future issues/arcs. There’s Jack the fabled giant killer, an inept tricksters and schemer and his girlfriend Rose Red, Snow White’s estranged sister, socialite, party animal and the assumed missing. Then there’s Bluebeard and Prince Charming, the former a posturing, wealthy villain, the later a slick, womanizing conman with a list of conquests who haunt him.

Lan Medina’s artwork, unfortunately, can feel very dated. However his style is evocative and the detail he puts into each panel is beautiful. The character designs are fantastic, with Bigby’s gruff detective reflecting his wolfish nature, the other animal fables shining through with personality and charm and each fable has a modern element added to them. to keep a fairy tale theme, there are scroll designs throughout the artwork, playing on the comics roots and the colours and shading, whilst dating the comic, do also lend to its charm. Each of the cover’s are a standalone work of art, with cover artist James Jean creating masterpieces.

Whilst there can ultimately be parallels drawn between Fables and the TV shows Once upon a Time and Grimm, it was Willingham’s idea that came first and this first volume sets the scene for the long running story, chock full of characters with an unexpected amount of complexity and tantalizing storylines. From what I understand, it only gets better from here.

Inter-Comics currently has Fables and the Comic Battle loser American Vampire on sale at the moment, where you can pick up single issues starting at 99p! Just follow the LINK!

Until Next Time…

Rob Jones is an honourary Yorkie, but for the life of him, he can’t understand why. He writes articles, is attempting to write comics and his life ambition is to own a solid gold Donkey… For more comic news, reviews and the odd bit of sense, follow Robin on twitter @Hulksmash1985

HAIL HYDRA!

I had to get in on it eventually, even if it is two months late… Hello again, it’s back, my almost annual column of rubbish, twaddle and occasional news!

In a throwback to how I initially started this column, I’ve decided to switch up how I write Papercuts and Inkstains. It’s been a long time since I last wrote one, and that’s unfortunately down to working more, wedding planning and actually writing my own comics. So, in old school Papercuts style, I’ve been asking you guys to pick which book I should read over on my twitter! Since the first story you all picked for me was the fantastic All Star Superman from Morrison and Quietly. This time around,  I’ve done my usual lazy ass thing and decided I’ve wanted you to pick between Mark Millar, Dave Johnson and Kilian Plunkett’s Red Son and Geoff Johns’, Richard Donner’s and Adam Kubert’s Last Son. Therefore I took to twitter with #RedSonvsLastSon and you voted!

Just like Highlander, there can be only one, and it was clear that the winner of the quickening here was Millar et all’s modern classic Red Son! A wonderful twist on the classic origins and mythology of Superman, Millar presents to us a world where the infant Kal-El landed not in Kansas with Ma and Pa Kent, but in the Ukraine on a collective farm in the heart of Soviet led Russia. Within this world, Superman is brought up with farm workers whose values of truth, justice and world view is wholly different to the American as apple-pie upbringing he had in his traditional origins. How does the arrival of a superhuman being become utilised by the Soviets and how would a communist Superman differ to our “normal” Superman, brought up with the values and beliefs of the beating heart of capitalism? What effects would this have on the Cold War and just how would America, devoid of a Superpowered being of her, act in defense and retaliation at the news? These are just some of the questions Millar decided to raise and answer within Red Son.

Millar’s writing is, more often than not, highly provocative, and the themes he explores within Red Son are equally so. Within this 3 part inverted geopolitical tale we see an America divided, an economy crushed, an ideology shattered and a monstrous alternative to truth, justice and the American way! The fate of the capitalist west is left in the hands of the brilliant yet morally skewed Lex Luthor, whose own private ambitions and drive to defeat Superman at any cost threaten the world at large. The status quo is also shaken up by having Lois be the estranged wife of Luthor, hiding an obsession with the Man of Steel but never acting upon it. Luthor, with his brutal cunning, must stop the expansionism of the Soviet Union, under guidance of both Stalin and Superman himself, and save the West from an almost inevitable twilight. What Millar does is present us with a character study, albeit a skewed one. By reversing and restructuring the political background and warping the familiar origin tale, we get a piece that examines the concept of nature vs nurture, gone are the comforting and reassuring constants of Kal-El’s past, what we have is an alien…alien.

Millar also sharply brings into question, the geo-political and religious structures of our world. Moving within the zeitgeist, Millar takes a concept which is widely questioned, the argument of theoretical assumptions of ideology vs their implementation and practice, and helps show the discrepancies on both sides. Capitalism isn’t the be all and end all, it’s a social and ideological construct which can be heavily flawed, as is the socialism and communism. Millar also highlights the fact that even the best intentions, whether political or otherwise, can have unexpected, almost devastating consequences. These subtle arguments within his writing parallels the political situation today, with countries acting with the best intentions, but ultimately causing more harm than good. It’s a clever way to mix up things within the medium and enhances the impact of Red Son greatly. There’s also the argument surrounding THAT ending, a controversy which sees many claim it ruins the story. I disagree. I felt that the ending was a suitably Alan Moore-esque way of neatly tying things together. It’s an Ouroboros situation, a never ending cycle with a gnostic influence, perhaps Millar is playing on the Godless ideals of a communist society, where Superman must continue this cycle, learning through his own self reflection that he can do more good for the world by letting it flourish on its own two feet, with the memory of his work being the catalyst?

It would be criminal of me not to mention the artwork within Red Son, from the 50s influenced style, the sci-fi beauty of the later pages, right through to Bamankopf and his fantastic Russian fur hat. The whole artwork from Dave Johnson and Kilian Plunkett compliments Millar’s writing wonderfully. The way the art evolves over time, moving from the golden age style in part one through to a grittier, more modern style for book three helps to show the passage of time and Superman’s loss of innocence. By evoking Soviet-era propaganda posters, it helps plant the story in world which seems very real, and conjures up the fear and uncertainty of the Cold War era.

I implore you all to read this story.

Now, in another returning theme, I am asking you all related questions to the stories you all pick for me! This time around, I wanted to ask you all what Superman meant to you, with Red Son twitsting the Man of Steel’s ideals and emotions, I felt it only pertinent to see what you all felt about the big blue boy scout?

So readers… Here what you all felt #SupermanMeans to you

William Gordon

#SupermanMeans to me: Hope. If an Alien can love earth more than its inhabitants, it gives us something to look up to!

Michael Moor

What #SupermanMeans to me? Based on what I’ve read in the New 52 nothing but confusing stuff lol!

Reece Morris-Jones ‏

#SupermanMeans Well the thing is, Superman is really a US Farmboy. Hes the ultimate immigration story, especially since the 80s as they’ve moved away from Super Science Superman.

James M Clark ‏

#SupermanMeans Though at times admirable, [He] has the mental capacity of a gnat. I prefer Batman, hardened by life’s cruelties. Superman just seems oblivious to them

Mikael ‏

#SupermanMeans Though I don’t really have a personal connection with Superman,he’s the ideal, not just for heroes but for people. He’ll make the effort to improve things for people. With powers or without he’ll stand up for what he believes in & he’s usually nice while doing it.He’s for everyone. When u need it; an inspiration, protector & friendly face.

WhatAboutTheTwinkie

#SupermanMeans: he’s an idea, a sign that we can all be better and do better.

Scott Stamper ⚡️ ‏

#SupermanMeans Superman is the story of who we should be. Not who we are. He says no matter how different you are you’re still capable of doing great things, even in the face of something seemingly impossible. That’s Superman.

Adam Snape ‏

#SupermanMeans Superman represents the golden age of comics… That time is over.

Shaun Balliah

He represents, honour and respect. He is the type of person we should all strive to be like.#Supermanmeans

マーティン

#SupermanMeans wearing tight red pants on top of a blue gimp suit.

Graham Day

#SupermanMeans Superman is everything I’d hope to be. A timeless icon.

Brandon J. White

#SupermanMeans moral heroism aligned with a chiseled conscious. Epitome of a comic book archetype.

Kieran

#SupermanMeans seeing as I’ve just written a thesis about aspects of the character, he has become the bane of my life

Nerdo McNerdy

Superman means a happy childhood spent watching Lois & Clark and fancying the shit out of Teri Hatcher!

Alexander Adrock ‏

#SupermanMeans Do the right thing as much as you possibly can

Michael Patrick Kane

Superman means an icon that stands for the things we as humans are incapable of doing. That level of truth, justice, honour, and respect etc….it takes an alien to lead us  He also shows how power can corrupt, might take a little kryptonite but it happens.

Ephrain Silva ‏

#SupermanMeans He is my idol, the one person I always look up to. I love his morals and personality. They’re inspiring.

Jeff Norton

#SupermanMeans that trying to make the world a better place starts with just one person. (Please have a read of Jeff’s blog about why he wears the S right here, he puts forward a compelling argument for how we should all view the world)

mighty and the moon ‏

#SupermanMeans he is the constant benchmark for all superheroes , in my opinion

Keep your eyes peeled to twitter guys and girls, as I’ll be asking you to choose my next book soon!

Until next time….

Rob Jones is an honourary Yorkie, but for the life of him, he can’t understand why. He writes articles, is attempting to write comics and his life ambition is to own a solid gold Donkey… For more comic news, reviews and the odd bit of sense, follow Robin on twitter @Hulksmash1985

Yes, THAT title says it all really… Hello and welcome back to another Papercuts and Inkstains, so, what did you guys think of Darick Robertson’s answers? I loved them, the man himself was a pleasure to work with and he has recommended so many good books for me to read it’s unreal! However, we must continue on, so we’ve had a letterer in the shape of Marvel letterer supreme, Joe Caramagna, Darick Robertson, artist extraordinaire and now finally we get to one of the hottest comic book writers of the moment, Cullen Bunn!

With Oni Press’ The Sixth Gun, Cullen has given readers an ongoing supernatural western saga, incorporating myth, lore and legend with gunslingers, show girls and cow pokes. Running since 2010 it has taken readers on a journey with protagonist Drake Sinclair, including a spin off comic Sons of the Gun and has garnered Bunn two best writer Eisner nominations and three other nominations for best colouring, best new series and best artist. Bunn balances the two genres of western and supernatural beautifully, neither being too heavy on either genre, and develops the characters stories with a nice, steady pace. The art, initially from Brian Hurtt, is stylised and doesn’t lean too heavily on the dark and gritty side, celebrating it’s comic pulp roots, with colours bursting out and the art really grabbing you and enveloping you in the action. It’s a superb series and deserves every accolade going!

Then there’s the fantastic Magneto and equally villain centric Sinestro, which booth look great and it is encouraging to see two popular villains getting their own comics. Having given us great anti-hero comics such as Deadpool Kills Deadpool and most recently Night of the Living Deadpool, Bunn is more than capable of giving us some great quality, villain titles! So, enough waffle from me, onto the great man himself!

Me: What was the inspiration behind your Oni Press title The Sixth Gun? Was it a deep love of westerns or the whole Manifest Destiny period?

Cullen: I’ve always loved westerns, especially supernatural or weird westerns. If there was a single story that was the biggest direct influence on THE SIXTH GUN, it would be the novella “Dead in the West” by Joe. Lansdale. That’s a story I revisit from time to time. In fact, one of the first pieces of prose that I ever sold was a supernatural western titled “Followers of the Serpent” that was a tribute to the Lansdale story.

Me: Night of the living Deadpool has been quite the success for Marvel, was this a project you’ve had in mind for a while, or did it come together quite quickly?

Cullen: It came together pretty quickly, actually. I was wrapping up DEADPOOL KILLS DEADPOOL when my editor gave me a call and asked what I’d do with a book titled NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEADPOOL. Being that I’ve always loved horror movies and zombie flicks, the story took shape in my mind very quickly. I was really pleased with the way that book turned out, so I’m excited that readers have been digging it.

Me: You’ve got Sinestro and Magneto books coming out, is the traditional comic book villain a particular attraction to you?

Cullen: Bring on the bad guys, right? I think I’ve always been drawn to villains. Some would say that even my heroes in THE SIXTH GUN and THE DAMNED are a bit villainous. Characters with a bit of darkness in their soul are just more interesting, I think.

Me: What do you do to get into the “writing zone”? Do you listen to a particular playlist, have certain rituals you follow or do you just dive right in where ever you are?

Cullen: I don’t really have any rituals to get me in the zone. Sometimes I listen to music… usually soundtracks… while I write. Recently, I started noting “music I should listen to while writing this” on my outlines. The biggest ritual for me is simply planting myself in front of the computer and getting the work done.

Me: What were your favourite comics as you grew up? Was it the art or the writing that drew you in?

Cullen: My favorite comic was THE MICRONAUTS. I loved the art. I loved the story, especially the world-building that was accomplished in those pages. DREADSTAR, ATARI FORCE, ROM, and UNCANNY X-MEN were all books that meant a great deal to me as a kid.

Me: Do you still read comics now?

Cullen: Of course! I still head to the comic book store on Wednesday to pick up books. I’m cutting back a bit on hardcopy floppies simply because I’m running out of room and my comic book boxes are a messy disaster. There are a few I pick up, though, and others I buy digitally, and others I buy in trade. And there are a few I buy in all three formats.

Me: If you could pick a dream title to write for, what would it be and who would your ideal artist be?

Cullen: I don’t know. That’s a tough one. There are probably a few of my weird creator-owned books I’d love to see happen. There’s a book called FREAK HUNTER that I once pitched with Chris Samnee. That’s one that will almost certainly never happen… but I wish it would.

Me: What can we expect in the future from Cullen Bunn?

Cullen: I’ve got a number of new books in the works. My Marvel series MAGNETO is starting up, and my DC book SINESTRO is just around the corner. I’ve also got a new creator-owned book from Boom! titled THE EMPTY MAN, and there will be more information on that series coming up. And I’ll have a couple of new creator-owned books from Oni Press that will be announced shortly.

Me: Finally, is there going to be a, much rumoured, Sixth Gun TV Show?

Cullen: Well, who knows? A pilot episode was developed, but NBC passed on the series. It’s a never-say-never situation, really. Other networks did show some interest in the show, so it’s possible. But I can’t obsess over that too much. Otherwise I’d never get any work done! For now, all I can do is focus on the comic and telling the best story possible.

You can order Cullen’s Sixth Gun series here, his Magneto series here, his Night of the Living Deadpool series here and pre-order his Sinestro series here. His digital comic The Remains is on sale on comixology at 0.99c here and readers can follow Cullen on Twitter @cullenbunn and check out his website at www.cullenbunn.com!

Until next time…

For more comic views and reviews follow Robin on Twitter at @Hulksmash1985

Hello, welcome, good day and how the fuck are ya doin’? Welcome to another Papercuts and Inkstains, and it’s the second of our special treats for you as this time around, we are talking with one of comics most shocking, sensory overloading, sublime artists, Mr Darick Robertson!

Darick Robertson is a name synonymous with ultra-violence, gonzo, boundary pushing artwork. He has co-created two of comics’ most outlandish, outrageous and outstanding bodies of work, Transmetropolitan and The Boys and he has worked with some of the greatest writers of comic bookdom, including Warren Ellis, Garth Ennis, Grant Morrison, Stan Lee, Mark Waid and Greg Rucka to name but a few. He has illustrated classic characters like The Punisher, Spider-Man, the X-Men, The Justice League and the New Warriors. He has also written numerous other comics as well, including Spider-Man, New Warriors, Conan and Batman. Darick is currently working on Ballistic for Black Mask Comics and Oliver for Image Comics. And we here at Inter-Comics are lucky enough to have the man himself answering some of our and some of your questions!

So enough background, anyone who reads my column knows that The Boys is perhaps my favourite comic book story. It had ultra-violence, sex, depravity, Machiavellian political struggles, haunting back stories, defamation of the capitalist system, war weariness, a running social commentary and it looked none too lightly on the world of Superheroes. There was nothing I didn’t like about this series. The art, courtesy of Darick, was EXPLOSIVE! It leapt off of the page at you, grabbed you round the back of the head and slammed your face into the table repeatedly whilst it had wild, unbridled, passionate sex with your better half, which they enjoyed more than with yourself. It ate your favourite sandwich, drank your beer, then left you sat in a puddle of sweat, vomit, mucus and other bodily fluids as you struggled to catch your breath and figure out what the hell had just happened? Each character was flawless, with their appearance and facial expressions revealing all that Robertson and Ennis wanted to reveal to you. They visually had depth and even the stone cold bastard Billy Butcher came across as warm with the stroke of Robertson’s brush. After conducting this interview, I started reading Transmetropolitan and I can safely say that it has knocked Butcher and The Boys off the top spot. It’s easy to see why Wired magazine called it the “graphic novel of the decade.”

It combines elements from two of the 20th Centuries greatest writers, Hunter S. Thompson and Phillip K Dick, creating a dystopian, sci-fi tale, with an over-sexualized, over stimulated populous living in huge metropolitan areas, following Feeds on google glass style headwear, in cities where the poor are vilified, politicians are corrupt and only one man can bring the world to rights. Spider Jerusalem, a horny, drug taking, over stimulated, under-sexed, gonzo journalist, who hates fame, loves money, comes with “filthy assistants”, one of whom act’s as his bodyguard (who also happens to be an ex-stripper and nun of a semi transient sex addict) who bears a striking resemblance to the afore mentioned Thompson. Darick’s art is sublime, portraying an advanced yet morally decayed future with charm and ease. You love Spider Jerusalem as he is the voice of the disenfranchised, the mouth piece of the masses and he hates every minute in the limelight. It is quite frankly, fucking brilliant and if you haven’t read it, you deserve to be shot in the gut with Jerusalem’s bowel disruptor. On its unspeakable gut horror setting. But enough waffle from me, let’s get down to the nitty gritty!

Me: First off, you’ve worked on several titles with Garth Ennis, including Punisher MAX, Fury and the brilliant co-created The Boys. What is about Garth that made you want to keep doing projects with him?

Darick: Ennis is full of funny and challenging ideas. Creatively, he knows what he wants and explains himself very clearly.

Me: How did the idea and concept for The Boys come about?

Darick: Originally it was going to be a more subtle book, more along the lines of Hitman, and we were going to present it as fitting into the DCU. However as Ennis got deeper into the concept and we started to share ideas, we realized that it would never work unless we could go full out and do what we wanted to do, no gloves. That’s when Ennis started to say, and included in the pitch, that this series would “Out-Preacher, Preacher”.

Me: Did you set out with the intention to tear apart the foundations of the big two’s Superhero lore and history?

Darick: Not really as much as satirizing the idea of how Super-heroes would function within our real world. There are a lot of presumptions made that people with great power will rise to the challenge of great responsibility. What if they didn’t? What if the people with great super-power were just like everyone else in our corrupt, dirty real world? What if these people had super powers, but instead of nobility and integrity, a greasy dollar was all that leads to the costumes and uniforms? So not the characters themselves, but a different take on how and why those characters would exist. I love Super-heroes, and grew up with them in California, USA. Garth grew up on Beano, 2000 A.D. and war comics in Belfast, Ireland. Our creative worlds met in the middle in very different ways. I was just happy to be creating new characters and working with someone as talented as Ennis. I think for Ennis, he wanted to explore the side of US Comic book characters that he unsentimentally delved into with Hitman and Punisher, but really take them apart from the inside out, while making a deeper statement about corporate power and malfeasance, and its influence on corrupt government.

Me: Was it difficult turning down Spider-Man in favor of doing Transmetropolitan, or did the idea of pursuing something which would be yours outweigh the idea of drawing everyone’s favorite friendly neighborhood Spider-Man?

Darick: It was a difficult choice, in that until that time, I believed that drawing Spider-man monthly was what success would look like. However, I had already done quite a few Spider-man projects, including an issue of Amazing Spider-man and had worked on a Spidey story with Stan Lee himself in 1995, so really, there was less to gain from a side book that predictably, because of the state of the market at that time, got cancelled after eight issues.  It was 1997, and the book I turned down was called “Spider-Man Team up” which was going to be a monthly title featuring Spider-man and a different Marvel character each issue/arc. I did not turn down “Amazing Spider-man” or the like. I had already been offered, but hadn’t committed to, Transmet when the Spider-man Team Up book was offered. Honestly, I would still enjoy a run on a book like that, I just believed in Warren Ellis and what we were planning with Transmetropolitan, too much to pass it up. So it was a tough choice. It was generous offer then and like I said, I would dig drawing that book today if it were offered again. A few years earlier I’d turned down a run on Excalibur, and I would have followed Alan Davis. I didn’t know who the writer would be because Scott Lobdell, who I knew and liked, had passed, so I said “no, thanks” so I could write and draw my own book for Malibu’s Ultraverse that never really got off the ground. But that writer on Excalibur that I inadvertently passed up collaborating with? Turned out to be Warren Ellis. D’oh!

So, Co-creating Transmet with Warren seemed like something I was inspired to do and was more to my sensibilities as a reader at that time. And to this day I love knowing, as I’m often told, that Transmet brought some readers back into comics or has been some reader’s introductory comic to the world of sequential art. That is more than I ever dreamed I might achieve with that title.

Me: What’s your creative process, and when it comes to creating a new story, what decision process do you go through to choose whether you write it, draw it or both?

Darick: I want to do good work with good people. I know that I am trying with great effort to keep that process fresh and find new pathways into creativity. I try to craft my work more now to get a look I am proud of, rather than just produce just to hit deadlines. I have reduced the number of steps in my technical process in the past 6 years. I went from creating layouts in non-photo blue, to pencil, to ink, and now I draw only in blue pencil and ink from there. I spend a lot more time thinking about a script before I draw it. I still avoid, and have for years, drawing thumbnails first unless I have to, as it tends to dilute the spontaneity of the final image. I try as much as possible, to capture of my original idea onto the page by drawing the script as I read it. As far as a comic I write, my process is the same in that I draw from my script. I write my scripts as if I’m not the artist and find myself annoyed as my own artist when drawing, like I’m two different people. But I feel it’s important that both crafts, both skills, get treated with equal effort. I shouldn’t get a pass at being a mediocre writer just because I can draw. I like writing my own stories, but when you have worked with writers of the caliber that I have, and when there are so many talented writers I still want to work with, it’s difficult to justify going off on my own. I imagine there’s a future where I’ll start exclusively writing and drawing my own ideas. I have a lot of stories I’d like to tell.

Me: Do you still read comics now and if so what are some of your favorites?

Darick: I don’t read as much as I want to, as I don’t get to shops that often and I’m very busy. Plus I try to keep my mind fresh so I’m not overly influenced by what’s being published. I’ve been reading SAGA and The Umbrella Academy. Both are fantastic. I want to read “Locke & Key” and “Quantum & Woody.” Mostly when I read now, I read prose. I read a few books at a time. I am currently reading a biography of Wyatt Earp, Tom Shadyac’s “Life’s Operating Manual” and “A Farewell To Arms” by Hemingway.

Me: What got you into comics in the first place, and do you have any particular titles which stand out from your reading history?

Darick: My first ever series that got me hooked was “The Flash”. Then I got my big boy pants reading Wolfman and Perez’s “Teen Titans” and Barr & Bolland’s “Camelot 3000”. From there I started getting into Frank Miller’s Daredevil and the classic Byrne/Smith/Claremont era X-men and also Spider-man was always on my reading list. When Dark Knight, Watchmen and then Sandman and Animal Man were published, my taste went that direction. I was heavily influenced by film too, as I’m a massive fan of movies, and would often want to work my ideas for films and such into comics. I drew as way of expressing story.

Me: I recently read something you tweeted, referring to people picking up on writers as being the sole creator of certain comic books whilst artists, who toil and sweat and pour life into words often get overlooked. Is this something which you find is endemic amongst comic book fans?

Darick: I just feel it’s disrespectful to something that is clearly a team effort to leave half the creative team out when the work gets into the media. Artwork in a sequential story is not accidental. It’s a craft that is embedded into the read. If it was just the writer, then it would be only text and it would be a novel. But when it’s a comic, that’s two story-tellers working in unison to create what the reader experiences. It wouldn’t be reasonable to just talk about the artwork as if those images would exist independent of the story when a writer has created the context, any more than it’s reasonable to talk about the images that are being used to promote a comic as if the writer, who’s name is often the only name being presented, created that artwork and by default, it’s solely a reflection of that writer’s talent. That artist is their own person and deserves to be regarded as such. Two people made it and it doesn’t take much to include both of their names or at the barest of minimums, credit the artist in the artwork being shown. Photographers get photo credit, and comic art gets credited often to the publisher. Two creators started with blank space and two creators made something successful together, so two creators should be named when discussing it. It wouldn’t exist without the other. Like a child has two parents; If a creative work has two parents, both are essential. Bendis AND Oeming made ‘Powers’. Moore AND Gibbons made ‘Watchmen’. Ennis AND Dillon gave us “Preacher”. Tony Moore, then Adlard AND Kirkman made “Walking Dead”. Somehow of late, a certain intellectual laziness in media has made it OK to boil a creative team down to one component. If you take away an artist’s name from his work, and just present the work, you imply that the writer drew the art as well as wrote the story. And you make the artist invisible and inconsequential to the successful creation.

Me: What has been the hardest panel you’ve ever had to draw?

Darick: Too many to mention! Emotionally or technically?  The most recent technically difficult drawing I’ve done was page 3 from Ballistic #1:

But emotionally, one of the hardest things I recall was penciling the final page of Transmetropolitan as it was the end of a 6 year creative journey.

Me: You’ve worked with some of the biggest names in comics, is there anyone working at the moment who you would love to collaborate with, either writing or illustrating with them?

Darick: Certainly! There are too many to list and there are people I’ve collaborated with in the past that I’d love to work with again, I just can’t draw fast enough to even propose new projects outside of what’s already on my schedule for the next few years. The work I am currently doing with Adam Egypt Mortimer on “Ballistic” and Gary Whitta on “OLIVER” is very satisfying.

Me: Do you have any advice to give to new starting illustrators/writers out there?

Darick: Honestly, as far as this business goes, the internet and digital age has changed the game entirely. So as an artist, this is my only advice: Do it because it brings you a sense of accomplishment when you finish something and you enjoy it while you do it. Draw because it calls to you. Draw because you can’t think of anything else you’d rather do. Draw because it’s the best video game you’ll ever play, and the levels are only your limitations to what you can learn. If you do that, success will find you. Success will be in your soul, not in your paycheck.

Me: Finally, just for fun, who would win in a fight…. Billy Butcher or Spider Jerusalem?

Darick: Butcher for sure. But he’d have a pants load of shit when it was all over.

I’ve also got some readers’ questions for you, I hope this is ok?

Darick: HELL NO! Well, OK…

Matt Saviker asked:  Did anything which you drew on the boys disturb  you at all?

Darick: Of course! To create that stuff you have to really put your head in that reality and a lot of that was a very disturbing reality. The scene with the little boy getting sucked out of the plane in particular upset me, as I have two sons.

Flodo Span asked: Do you have to be a little bit twisted to co-create The Boys or do you just channel it for the book?

Darick: I’ve drawn violent images since I was a kid. Long before I drew the BOYS, I liked twisted stuff, like Tarantino movies and horror/sci-fi, Heavy Metal and Punk Rock, so if that makes me twisted, I suppose the answer is yes. I work my demons out in my artwork.

Leon McKenzie asked: If  you had the pick of the Comic universe, which character would  you love to write and draw today, and was there an event story that you weren’t involved in that you thought  “I would have done a better job than THAT!”?

Darick: It’s arrogant to think I could do something better than another creative person as I don’t know what their challenges were, how much time they were given, how much editorial influence and interference may have been a factor,.. so I don’t judge stuff that way. I keep my judgment to my own stuff, as it’s got plenty of room for improvement. As a fan, I would have loved to have been involved drawing the Comedian and Rorschach for “Before Watchmen”. Just because I love Dave Gibbon’s character designs. I love the sillier characters of both the DC and Marvel universes and would love to get to play with them. I drew “Squirrel Girl” in Angoleme, France for a fan and realized that I would enjoy doing a series with her. When I worked on New Warriors back in the day, I loved Speedball. I like Firestorm, Blue Devil and Plastic man… but all this desire to create something like that just has me trying to get more original work out there as I truly enjoy not being told what I can’t do with a good idea. When you play with other people’s toys, you have to give them back. They’re not yours.

You can order Darick’s co-created masterpiece The Boys HERE Search his back catalogue of work HERE at Comixology, check out his personal website at www.darickrobertson.com and follow him madly like a stalker on Twitter @DarickR.

Next time around, we have Magneto, The Sixth Gun and Sinestro scribe Cullen Bunn chatting to us!

Until next time…

For more comic views and reviews follow Robin on Twitter at @Hulksmash1985

ZAPP! POW! BIFF! BOOOOOM! BWOOOM!

Welcome to the latest Papercuts and Inkstains! It’s been a while but I’m back and this time around I’ve got a special treat for you! In fact, the first of several special treats!

Now, lettering in comics is a big deal. A poorly lettered and laid out comic can really affect the flow and pace of the story. In some instances it can make a comic unreadable. Having had a go myself, I can tell you, choosing correct fonts, letters, styles, sizes, shapes and picking a layout can be extremely tough. Well, my guest this week is perhaps the king of lettering. Joe Caramagna is one of the hardest working guys in comics right now, and if you’ve read any major Marvel events and storylines over the past few years, chances are, he lettered them! He also writes several comics for the Marvel universe, including Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers Assemble and Hulk and the agents of S.M.A.S.H!

Joe has also written this years free comic book day Rocket Racoon title from Marvel which, with the release of the Guardians of the Galaxy film later on this year, is guaranteed be a sure fire hit! Joe is a massive hockey fan, and if you follow him on twitter you’ll often see him talking about the New Jersey Devils! But more than anything, he’s a really cool, approachable guy. Joe was kind enough to have a chat with me about lettering, his writing and influences, so without further interruption, here’s what he had to say:

Me:  First things first, what was it that first got you into comics and how did you get into lettering comics?

Joe: Like many people my age, I got into comics because of the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends cartoon of the ’80s starring Spidey, Iceman and Firestar. I wasn’t even that aware of comics until a friend gave me some issues of Amazing Spider-Man and I thought, “I love that cartoon!” I already loved to write and draw, so I fell in love with comics very easily.

Me:  You’ve worked on some of the biggest titles to come out of Marvel. What was your favourite Marvel project to work on and why?

Joe: In case you couldn’t tell from my reply to your first question, I’ve always loved Spider-Man. So my favorite Marvel project as a letterer has to be the one hundred consecutive issues of Amazing Spider-Man that I lettered, and I moved from that into my second favorite, which is the current Waid/Samnee Daredevil run, so I’ve been very lucky. As a writer, I really enjoyed writing the stories in my upcoming Giant-Size Amazing Spider-Man, on sale in May/June.

Me: What’s the most important part of lettering, and how do you decide how to choose particular fonts/typography/directions? Is placement a major issue for you and how do you decide on when to string word balloons together or have them as a single balloon?

Joe: The most important part of lettering to me is the reading order. The reader has to be able to know which balloon comes next without being taken out of the story. That obviously makes placement a big issue, especially if the artist doesn’t leave enough room for text or draws characters in the incorrect speaking order. The decision to string word balloons together or have them as a single balloon is usually the writer’s, not mine. But there have been situations where i thought the writer and/or editor wouldn’t mind and I made a judgment call.

For font and style choices, I take visual cues from the art. Though if the comic belongs to a certain “family” of books, like Spider-Man, the Avengers or the X-Men, I try to match it to the house style of those books to keep the threads there.

Me: You also write comics, notably Marvel Universe Ultimate Spider-Man, Avengers Assemble and Hulk and the Agents of SMASH, which are all, primarily, kid centric. What’s the most important aspect of writing for a younger audience, do you find it restrictive or can you have a lot more fun with the characters?

Joe: The most restrictive part is that Marvel requires the all ages stories to be told in one shot and not continued over the course of multiple issues. I rarely have the luxury of writing “To be continued” at the end, so everything has to be compressed, and you have to find ways to squeeze the small moments in between the fast-paced action. Otherwise, in many ways, I prefer writing all ages material. I love knowing I could be getting someone else hooked on comics the way I was hooked as a kid. And it’s a nice break from most modern comics that are just so gloomy.

Me: Have you got any creator owned work coming out?

Joe: Everyone who’s contributed to my Kickstarter will tell you that i’m taking a really long time working on my comic The Further Travels of Wyatt Earp. A final on sale date hasn’t been set, but I sure am glad I’m taking my time with it instead of rushing it out just to satisfy my backers because the last thing I want to do is crank out a product I’m not proud of. So far it’s the single most satisfying work of my career, and I hope they find it worth the wait.

Me: Seeing as you pretty much letter EVERY major comic that comes out, do you still have time to read comics yourself, and if so, what are your top comic picks at the moment?

Joe: I don’t. For a while I was keeping up with a bunch of DC titles, but had to stop when they increased the wait time before dropping the cover price on the digital versions. I fell too far behind. There are a few Marvel books that I don’t work on that I read, like Superior Spider-Man and some others. But I fall behind and have to binge-read when I get a long weekend or something.

Me: Lettering is massively important to a comics flow and pace, do you get involved in the writing side of things too, suggesting where something may or may not work or is it your job to make what your presented, script wise, work?

Joe: I think it’s my job to help the writer tell the story he wants to tell. If I find something that doesn’t work, and I feel I have a solution to offer, I’ll bring it up to the editor. Most of my editors value my input so I feel comfortable sticking my nose where it doesn’t belong, ha ha!

Me: What’s the thought process that goes into choosing particular sound effects and then sizing them up for the panel?

Joe: I always deliver the sound effect as it’s written in the script. Sometimes I might delete an “o” or two in a “BOOOOOOOOM!” just to make it more visually pleasing in the space I have to work with, but I’m almost always told what it should be. Sometimes I’ll get a “insert loud crash noise here,” but that’s rare. The size of the sound effect depends on how much room I have, how loud the sound should be, and sometimes what looks best based on my graphic design training.

Me: Do you have a particular way of working, such as a routine involving particular music or do you just plough on into your work?

Joe: I am VERY routined. I wake up at the same time every day (very early), check e-mail and twitter first thing to see what I missed, and I mostly listen to podcasts while I’m lettering. After lunch i switch to listening to music to keep my energy levels up. I always letter the hardest parts of a book first so I know that it gets easier as I go along, which keeps me from getting burnt out. I also set a timer so I know how long each page is taking me, and I have a better grip on when I’ll finish each page/issue.

Me: Finally, if you could pick any comic from any of the different eras to have lettered and stamped you mark on, which would it be and why?

Joe: I don’t know, I’m not that much of a lettering nerd, to be honest, haha. I just want to have fun with whatever it is I’m working on. if the work isn’t fun, even if the book is great, it’s a grind. So rather than choose a particular book from any era, more than anything else, I want to have fun.

So there we go, when you’re checking out your comics, don’t forget about the letterer! It’s an important job, one that’s often overlooked! You can order the Daredevil series which Joe currently letters HERE and you can check out info on Joe’s The Further travels of Wyatt Earp HERE.

Join me next time when I’ll be chatting to Darick Robertson, co-creator of Transmetropolitan, The Boys, HAPPY and Ballistic and he’ll also be answering some of your questions too!

Until next time…

For more comic views and reviews follow Robin on Twitter at @Hulksmash1985

I haven’t been reading comics for very long, in fact I started reading them around the same time I started writing about them. So last year. In that time I have had a list of comics recommended to me, which if written down as a list, in a really, REALLY small font type, it would already be as long as my entire body. From classic DC runs like Frank Miller’s Batman, Gerry Conway’s Firestorm, to Marvel runs from the likes of Bendis, Hickman, to being shown and discovering independent comics released from publishers like Valiant Comics, Avatar Press, Dynamite and Image. Stories, writers, artists and possibilities seem to be endless! Many writers stand out of the crowd in many different ways, but none stand out as much as one writer for me and that writer is Garth Ennis.

Ennis is synonomous with horror, ultra violence, pushing the boundaries, religious subtext, imaginative strings of swear words, (some so good they’d make Malcolm Tucker blush… and for those who don’t know who that is…WHY NOT!) an exploration of male friendships and the odd cunt or two. Mr Campbell, proprietor, owner, slave driver and brandisher of the whip at Inter-Comics got me started on Ennis, suggesting I read The Boys. Subsequently, I did a post about reading the first story arc, which can be read here if you haven’t already read it. Ennis loves to subvert the superhero mythos and nowhere is this more evident than in the scathing, satire drenched pages of his and Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti’s The Pro or the afore mentioned The Boys. Ennis tends to prefer real world problems than the pointless gesturing of Superheroes. Even his big two work has focused mainly on the more grizzled, realistic characters, like with his long running stint at the helm of The Punisher, or his Nick Fury stories. I recently read “My Wars gone by” and it was unputdownable and other made up words as well. Fury came across exactly how I imagine him, world weary, tired of the bullshit and with a hard on for war. Same with Frank Castle.

The Boys is as subtle as a sledgehammer. It has one goal and one goal only, to kick down your front door, fuck your wife, smash your teeth in, shit on your carpet and leave with a wink, a smile and a red bearded Simon Pegg-a-like calling card on the bedside table. You’ll feel dirty, used and abused, but if you’re of the right disposition, you’ll come back for more. And you’ll have a huge bowl, you’ll ask all your friends to put their car keys in it as you show them the newly planted Wisteria in the front garden, your HUGE inflatable waterbed and the nice, shiny gimp suit that the misses brought back from the shops, and I’m strangely fine with this. It’s nice to read a book full of cunts and fucks and whores and hamsters being secreted into bodily orifices, because the real world is full of cunts and fucks and whores and such. And God we love it for it.

But then there’s Preacher and Crossed, comics tinged with horror. Crossed #1 – 9 is my favourite survival horror story. It’s cold, uncaring, brutal and doesn’t hold back. It’s exactly what a world would be like if it all went to shit. Yet despite that, it’s still painfully funny, with such classic, all age fun character’s as “Horsecock”, “Stump” the dismembered sentry, an old man who had a tendency to kill young lads and store their body parts and various other misfits and miscreants who Ennis somehow managed to make us find likable. It’s the same with Preacher. What other comic could justify a character with an arse for a face, played seriously against the backdrop of God’s disappearance? Then all Ennis’s characters are shades of grey, much like George R R Martin’s characters in Game of Thrones, there doesn’t seem to be a black and white in his mind, and again it’s the same as in the real world. We are all shades of grey, some darker, some lighter. It’s relatable for all of us, and it’s another reason why his books are so damn good!

I mean, even his stories with cute puppies, wagging tails and floppy dog ears are full of DEATH, VIOLENCE, DESTRUCTION and more DEATH!! Rover Red Charlie is Ennis’s Homeward Bound, which was Disney’s Stand By Me. It’s a tale of friendship in the face of adversity, overcoming great obstacles, and in Ennis’s case, DEATH and the end of the world. It’s a dogs life…and yet the canine characters are relatable, we can see traits of ourselves in them and you feel for them, you worry about the plight they have laid out in front of them. So you know something. It’s exciting for me, as a relatively new reader of comics still, that I have Ennis’s Punisher run to read, I have half of Preacher to read and his Batman. Then there’s his Hellblazer, Judge Dredd, Stitched and so many others! I count myself lucky as I have this all to read and discover, and if you haven’t read any of his stuff, you’ll be able to share in my enjoyment. But then if you have read a wealth of his work, you’ll understand my excitement! Expect updates on my Ennis Exploits as we go along!

Now, enough rambling and writing effectively an open love letter to Garth Ennis’s work, it’s time for something important. It’s time for your answers to the #SundayMorningQuestion! This week, we asked “Who is your favourite comic book writer?” So, here’s your answers ladies and gents:

Steve Tasteslikedoom Fable – Warren Ellis. Really looking forward to his take on Moon Knight

Steven Mckee – Garth Ennis, Ed Brubaker, Greg Rucka. There really isn’t much between them. Brubaker’s Cap, Daredevil, Winter Soldier, Catwoman and Gotham Central all fantastic. I haven’t read a bad thing from him.

Jack Dalton – Rucka, Brubaker, Snyder, Morrison, and Manpaul & Buccalatto

James Gibbons – Warren Ellis, Scott Snyder & the almighty BKV!

Anna Readman – Brian Wood or Scott Snyder

Duggi Douglas – Garth Ennis

Matt Saviker – Alan Moore I guess or Morrison

Mark Williams – I have three, Alan Moore, Grant Morison (apart from what he has been doing in the DCU at the moment) and Garth Ennis.

Matt Jay – I’d have to agree with the 2 above and say Alan Moore. I am still new to reading comics but what I have read from Moore has stuck in my mind the most. Swamp Thing, Watchmen, Killing joke. More swamp thing trades are coming soon

Mike Kane @SpikaelKane – I’m apparently falling in love with Jason Aaron. *swoons*

Adam Cheal @AdamCheal - Erm, is there anyone better than Alan Moore? Don’t think so.

Inter-Comics @InterComics – Mine obviously is Garth Ennis, but followed closely by Brian K Vaughan and, not everyones cup of tea, Geoff Johns

Julie Dalton – I don’t have a fave. But I’m gonna point out a writer who doesn’t get enough recognition – Bill Mantlo. The man worked on EVERYTHING!

Chris Mager – I can’t pick a fave. I have to have a variety. if i read too much of one writer i start to notice all their flaws. But i like Robert kirkman, Scott snyder, Brian K Vaughan, Bendis, Waid, Duggan, Remender

Finally, it’s time to announce which title won my vote for which to read and talk about next. By a long shot, the winner was Cullen Bunn’s The Sixth Gun! Therefore, next time, expect cowboys, ghosts, injuns, shoot outs, saloons and dancing girls. Ya varmints.

Until next time…

For more comic views and reviews follow Robin on Twitter at @Hulksmash1985

Ower field, ower glen, ower ben, ower river
Frae th’ wild blue yonder, he doth come hither
Standin’ mighty an’ strang as th’ largest Oak
He protects th’ lain fur th’ lest free folk
Immortal, cunnin’, brae, quick as air
Scootlund will rally behin’, th’ big blue, Saltire.

Welcome back one and all. Break out th’ bagpipes, dust off ya kilt, tussle up yer sporran lasses and laddies, as Papercuts and Inkstains is headin’ oop the highlands! Scottish independence is a hot topic of conversation these days, what with there being a referendum on whether or not the country secedes from the United Kingdom and stands proudly on it’s own two legs as an independent country. Perhaps this is the final call for it, after a long line of wars, persecution and division, Scotland is now in the position to finally decided as a Nation what it wants to do, and that’s the beauty of democracy. Don’t be deceived though with the timing of the comic I’m looking at this time, Saltire Invasion. Published by Diamondsteel Comics, it tells the story of an Immortal warrior of the free lands, he is the protectorate of the Highlands, the defender of the low people and all round ginger bearded bad-ass. Whilst it could be argued that invoking the symbolism of the Saltire, Scotland’s heraldic symbol could be seen as taking a pro stance to independence, Saltire raises it’s head loftily above the political mire of pro and anti independence stances and instead weaves a tale steeped in history, mythology and stirs a national pride, but doesn’t smack of Nationalism. If that makes sense? Instead we get a balanced tale of wizardy, war, mythology midst the backdrop of the Scottish countryside.

From creator John Ferguson comes the first two issues in a series centered around Scotland’s first comic book superhero. Using the countries own myths and legends, Ferguson creates a protector of the realm, using pivotal moments from the countries turbulent and tempestuous history as the backdrop for his story. Issue One deals with a a battle for freedom, where in deepest Caledonia, the Ninth legion of Rome are attempting to further the empires vast reach, and the defending Celts are forced to call upon their champion and his band of warrior cohorts to defend them from the invaders. Issue two deals with Saltire’s origin story, and how the mighty, immortal protector of the Celtic lands was brought into being and his pilgrimage to the clans of his creation. It is a much gentler tale than issue one and the juxtaposition of starting at 100mph then slowly down to weave Big Blue’s genesis works beautifully. Gary Welsh and Tone Julskjaer provide artistic duties for Saltire, and a sterling job they do too. discovered through a competition at Duncan of Jordanstone Art College in Dundee, their art easily stands up to releases from the big three. (Sod it, I’m including Image now as they’re MASSIVE!) The action scenes are seamless, providing slug bu slug shots, but in comparison the more intricate scenes also stick out. The art of the immortal realms, the scenery all seem to take on a character of their own and play their own part in the story. It seems Scotland itself is a character within Saltire’s pages.

What we have with Saltire is the potential for a very accessible super hero. Whilst initially set in Scotland’s past, there is the chance for it to be transposed to a more modern setting, and the complexities and challenges Big Blue himself would face with a more modern Scotland would prove an interesting read themselves. Ferguson has his sights set on the biggest names in Superherodom and is setting a very good foundation for his assault on their crowns. What Saltire has is character, heaps of it. It has room for growth with its lead, the countryside, the fellow Guardians, the mythology and what it is also has is time. If Ferguson et all continue with the same level of quality we have a sure fire hit on our hands. It’s follow up, Saltire Annihilation is due out autumn of this year, so plenty of time to get this added to your pull list! BUY THIS COMIC!

Now, I was lucky enough to get a few words with Mr Ferguson himself, so here’s what he had to say about his big, bad, blue, bearded creation:

Me: What was the major influence behind creating the story of Saltire and where did you draw your inspiration from?

John: I love Tolkien, ancient mythology and The Marvel and DC universes. Superhero narratives are essentially modern mythology and Scotland is an incredible source of legends and folklore that have never been utilised within a modern storytelling medium. I like mythology that feels real and the idea of a central character, with superpowers no less, seemed like a great way to bring Scotland’s past to life within a pseudo history.

Me: Does it have any links to the current political debate of Scottish devolution and a move to a more independent Scotland?

John: Not particularly, other than the timing coinciding with the debate and vote on independence. The book obviously creates opinion in this regard but everything that is Scottish does at the moment. Some people have used the book to make a political comment and we have no problem with that, but we believe the construct and the Saltire character stand up outside of Scotland and politics. Anything that gets people engaged in politics is great as there’s only so many articles on Justin Beiber’s new haircut that can keep people interested for so long.

Me: So what is the story behind the creation of your artistic team? Did you all gel from the start?

John: The artists were the winners of a competition held through Dundee University which teaches Comic Book Studies as an academic subject. Gary Welsh and Tone Julskjaer who won the competition are very professional but easy going and great to work with. They understand the stories are Scottish so they bring a deliberately different style than you would find in a Marvel or DC comic. I try not to drive them too mad with changes!

Me: What can we expect from the series as we progress through the story? Do you have plans to create any more works?

John: Yes, it’s pretty exciting, several works are on the way, at least six books are in the pipeline and a few other short stories. The next story is a huge epic, Saltire Annihilation, which combines a quite sinister piece of Scottish mythology within the setting of the Dark Ages and the Germanic tribal expansion. Saltire also exists into the future where Scotland and the world are very different places. This gives us scope to take the narrative in a totally new direction.

Me: What were your major influences growing up and do you still read comics now?

John: Growing up it was everything from Commando comics, 2000AD, The Eagle, Batman, Hulk, Spider-man and a particular love of the Fantastic Four. I mainly read graphic novels now, i like having the whole volume, the complete story in one place.

Me: If you had to sell Saltire to our readers with one sentence, what would you say?

John: If you like superheroes, Lord of the Rings, Braveheart and the story of a country who’s freedom has been threatened and defended over centuries, then the story of Saltire, the immortal guardian of a nation, will absorb, enthrall, and inspire fans of epic story telling.

Me: Can we expect any team ups, perhaps with Sir Terry Pratchett’s Nac Mac Feegle fighting and cussing alongside Saltire, or is he strictly a one man deal?

John: Saltire might be immortal but he is a team player. The guardians of the twelve clans are always there to assist in the Saltire universe. Saltire also bumps into quite a few famous historical figures on his travels through the centuries. The Nac Mac Feegle might be a bit on the wee side for a team up but i can imagine them giving Saltire some healthy abuse if he ever tried to help them.

So, Saltire has the potential to be something quite epic! Lets keep our eyes out this autumn for the ANNIHILATION!

Now, just for fun, I thought I’d ask all and sundry, who their favourite comic book artist was. Controversial I know, tough descicions were made, difficult choices had and here are all your answers in splendid Technicolor…what?…hang on…seems Technicolor is somewhat out of our budget, so it’ll have to be just good old black and white. Sorry about that…please aim any complaints at your local MP/Congressman/Evil Despot…

Rodrigo Guevara – Clayton Crain has some really fantastic work

Adam Snape – Rafael Grampa is incredible. he adds so many awesome costume details.

Inter-Comics – Kevin Maguire for me, his run on the Justice League was Legendary

kirke novak – Grzegorz Rosiński. It’s been a privilege to watch his evolution from the first issues of Thorgal.

Kieran – Too difficult – currently Rossmo, Capullo and Francavilla , all time? Bolland, Ditko, Kirby, Miller plus more!

Karim Shehimi – Very hard to choose from but these are my top #3 Adam Kubert, Mike Mignola, & Rafael Albuquerque.

Daniel Cole – George Pérez, Jean “Moebius” Giraud and Darwyn Cooke. I can’t decide a winner between them.

Andy -42LevelOne.com – Humberto Ramos his work on Spectacular Spider-Man is incredible no one draws spider like him

Ruben Mendoza – Mike Deodato Jr

Mikael – I think David Aja, 90s Joe Madureira or Fiona Staples. I like it kinda cartoony. Probably Aja.

Russ – I’d have to say Jim Aparo. I got into comics during his Batman run and his style defined comic art for me.

Jason Webb – for photorealism no one comes close to Alex Ross man, but I think Michael Allred then maybe Jim Lee close second!

[REDACTED] – Tie between Bill Sienkiewicz and Jim Mahfood

The Sean Fav – I love Brian Bolland. Day the Law Died, Killing Joke so pretty.

Alexander Adrock – My favorite active artist is Darwyn Cooke and of all time is Jack Kirby

Justin S. – Cam Kennedy

albirhiza – Tough tie between Mike Allred (madman) and Eric Powell (goon)

DrPaJi – You can answer this for me. (It’s Sean Gordon Murphy!)

Chandler Mellon – Ryan Stegman

Steve Taylor-Bryant – Mike Dowling’s art in Death Sentence is truly stunning.

Dan Butcher – My favourite artist (at the moment) is Ryan Ottley, penciller on Invincible. The man’s art/style is incredible.

steamrunner – Carlos Ezquerra. Without any kind of hesitation.

papa spineburn – Kelley Jones without a doubt!

Collin Fults – My favorite artist is the late great Michael Turner. The details in each of his drawings was incredible!

Ricardo Azevedo – My favourite artist is jock I just love the way he draws and how good his work looks in black and white

Duggi Douglas – Mike Mignola.

Steve Tasteslikedoom Fable – Humberto Ramos and Stuart Immonen

Anna Readman – Sean Gordon Murphy

Jose Diaz – Nicholas Pitarra

Bottle City of Kanga – Alan Davis!

chris hogan – Sean Gordon Murphy

Matt Saviker – Geof Darrow atm

Steven Mckee – Stjepan Sejic

Adam Hollander – Alex Maleev

Abe Bewls – Boo Cook

James Simpson – No all-time favourite, but the most recent artist to blow me away was Javier Rodriguez

Nerdo McNerdy – Andrea Sorrentino continues to blow me away with his images

So there we go! Don’t forget to join in the #SundayMorningQuestion over at the Inter-Comics Facebook page, which can be found here…

Now. Where do I go from here? Well I’m planning on having a Team Up month this February, with loads of different contributors wading in on different subjects! But what about what I should read next? Well, let’s get you guys choosing shall we? So, since, like Handle, Indie comics are so hot right now, lets get you guys choosing which Indie title I should read!

The choices are as follows:

So get voting, pick your favourite and help me choose what I should read next!! However you choose, choose wisely, otherwise your life force will be sucked out and you shall become the equivalent of a dried fig… or it wont win and I don’t get to read the book you choose…

I’ll announce the winner in next weeks column, which is shaping up to be an open love letter to Garth Ennis…

Until next time…

For more comic views and reviews follow Robin on Twitter at @Hulksmash1985

With great vengeance and furious anger, 2014 has born down upon us, and arrived kicking and screaming as it blasted a high powered laser beam through the chest of 2013, spitting in it’s eye, flipping it the middle finger and saying inflammatory remarks about it’s mother and her nocturnal habits! Now, in my Christmas special I named my favourite comics of the year. I figured I’d do that then rather than now as I wanted to talk about comic book resolutions. I don’t normally do resolutions, I’m rubbish at keeping them. Every year for 10 years I promised to stop smoking. I finally quit on Halloween two years ago… Not exactly a resolution. Plus over the past couple of years I’ve realised it’s best only to make promises you know you’re going to keep, that way people, loved ones and myself aren’t let down. So resolutions and promises made with false intent do not sit well with me. However, when it comes to comics, I think there’s definitely some changes I could make which would benefit me!

Throughout my foray into comics, I’ve careered from pillar to post with no clear cut route or direction. I’m assuming this is the norm for most new starters, everything looks shiny, new and inviting. You want to immediately be part of the zeitgeist, know the context of every discussion and not sound like an arse because you haven’t seen the cover to 2006′s issue #13 of Heroes for Hire, which caused a storm of controversy due to the issue of over sexualisation. It’s these important details which means you need to take a structured approach to collecting and reading comics. Therefore, in the spirit of Grant Morrison and his “Morrisons’s Manifesto for X-Men”, this is my guidelines for comic book reading this year. So, this is change number one.

1) I solemnly swear I am up to no goo… wait, this isn’t the marauders map…. Okay,  number one is to introduce more structure to my collecting of comics. I initially started with the idea of just ploughing headlong into everything, but this I find, isn’t possible. So, as I’m a Marvel Zombie through and through, I am looking to collect my favourite characters from that. Now I know chronology is a difficult thing in comics, and a long, drawn out coherent story spread over several volumes is a rare gift in comics, but I am looking to make my collections coherent. Such as I own all of Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men run, but, I never understood what the precursor to it was. I know all you avid comic fans out there are shouting New X-Men by Grant Morrison you Bilgesnipe, but I didn’t know, and I’m not huge, scaly or have big antlers. So I want Morrsion’s run as it will make Whedon’s clearer. Same as my Fiancee and I have the whole JMS Amazing Spider-Man run and as such are now collecting the Dan Slott run to continue that particular story of Peter Parker. Same with Brubaker’s Captain America and Greg Pak’s Incredible Hulk. I’m after stories which are linear, or as near as dammit to linear as you can get with comic books. So, organisation…like with Hydra…is the key!

2) I need to branch out more. I need to read more than the Marvel and the occasional DC title, with a dash, and I mean a small dash, of Image and Indie comics, which I usually read. So do you know what, I’ve binged. I spent the entirety of January 2nd reading purely Image titles. Titles which I guess you guys already read, like East of West, Saga and The Sixth Gun. All I can say is oh my Zod, what the hell have I been missing? I know a lot of the writers have also worked with the big two, Hickman being the principal architect for one of the most well received cross-overs of late, Marvel’s Infinity, Brian K Vaughan cutting his teeth on X-Men & Runaways and then there’s creators like Matt Fraction and Scott Snyder having their brilliant stories brought to the forefront by Image. It seems Image is the place to be for forward thinking, challenging and complex stories which play out like stories too. There are profound beginnings, thought provoking middles and sometimes heart breaking endings, all of which challenge the big two’s continuous storytelling with their major characters. Brian K Vaughan summed it up best with the quote “Something like Spider-Man, a book that never has a third act… seems crazy.” I suppose this all falls into my first category of the problems with continuity. What image does is almost comic novels. There is a much more traditional method of storytelling to their comics than there is to Marvel or DC’s comics. Y The Last Man for instance was split into chapters, same with East of West. Image’s books are more accessible, more mature and generally broader in scope. So how could this be a bad thing?

3) I need this to be an action point on its own, I must, must, MUST read more Garth Ennis written pieces. As those of you who follow the column know, I read The Boys and was utterly blown away by it’s realism, scope, maturity and believable characters, especially Simon Pegg. Ennis has the innate ability to create realistic characters and present them as gray rather than a clear cut black and white. What he does is capture the worlds ambiguity and present it for us all to see gloriously on his sex, drugs and violence filled pages. His Fury MAX run was absolutely fantastic, Nick Fury being an ambiguous character anyway is played out as the grizzled, war hardened bastard that he would be. The war stories within are engaging and brutal. On request of Captain Inter-Comics himself, I read his one shot known as The Pro. It plays out as a satirical attack on the Justice League, lampooning their values and deeds. Ennis argues that they are childish, ignoring the worlds real problems, like terrorism, famine and oppression in favour of fantastical adventures. His hero is a prostitute, who would rather keep turning tricks with her new found superpowers than use her powers to protect the Earth. It is biting, funny and brilliant and has made me realise that I am definitely missing out on something. Plus, if I’m honest, I don’t think I should be reviewing/writing/attempting to write comics without having read Preacher (I can hear the gasps, the tuts, the calling me a Philistine and you slamming the door/laptop lid in disgust at my actions) but it’s on my “To Do List” so never fear!

So, there you go. My micro manifesto for the year 2014! Have any suggestions? Drop me a comment below and I shall revise these through the year! I’m also planning the return of “You choose what I read” as I trust you all fair readers. I think…
Either way, I’m going to finish up by sharing with you all your own #ComicBookResolutions which you gladly shared with me. So, how will you guys be approaching comicbookdom this 2014:

Simon Dixon ‏@MritalkApple123 -My New year resolution is finally finishing my Ultimate Spider-Man omnibus!

Science Pie ‏@sciencepie – To start trying to fill the gaps that have opened in my trade collection

Roy Taylor ‏@Cornishwomble – Mines to read all of Neil Gaimans Sandman series. read American Gods this year & was blown away. Aim to read all books & graphic novels next year

Voodoo Child ‏@Acidburn81 – Read Battle Pope and read and buy all Judge Dredd Case Files! #Comicbookresolutions

Karim Shehimi ‏@KarimShehimi – Mines the same as you Rob! I’ve tried DC but I can only cling to Batman, sadly .

Geekin Podcast ‏@GeekinPodcast – My #ComicBookResolutions for this year is to begin writing my own books.

Steve Taylor-Bryant ‏@OpinionGeeks – To try and enjoy Marvel more. I just don’t get on with them. I’m going to make more of an effort. I’ve made it too easy to not buy them and get Titan titles instead.

Daniel Cole ‏@gizmo151183 – To give @KarimShehimi his wish of me not being on an episode of the podcast.

Keil ‏@Keilimanjaro – Read more image and actually drop Superman!

Phil IngChristmassy ‏@PUDPiE2010 – I dropped Superman/Batman for the same reason. Mine is to just catch up :$

AARON WEAPON X-81 ‏@HANNIBALPB81 – If any one gets in my way when I’m reading comics ITS CLOBBERING TIME!!!!!!

Philip Foster ‏@PhiltheBear – To some how reduce my pull list to less than 10 books a month !

Colt Seavers ‏@steve_ryall – Read more and organise and store properly what I have!

Bottle City of Kanga ‏@bottlecitykanga – My resolution is only to buy trades! No more monthlies for me!

/|||‏@Aswimtobirds – To pull up my socks and go pro this year (y)

Flodo Span ‏@GL875 – Earn more ££ & get my pull list back up to full capacity! Missing lots of good books ATM.

For The Fan Blog! ‏@4TheFan – To not buy every single tie in to a major event like I did with infinity this year….

That’s all food for thought don’t you think? Happy new year one and all.

Until next time…

For more comic views and reviews follow Robin on Twitter at @Hulksmash1985

Merry Christmas you crazy comic loving people! Welcome to this, my Papercuts and Inkstains Christmas Special! I was tempted to start listing Christmas themed comics, ala my Halloween special, but decided against it. I was also going to do a countdown of awesome Geeky gifts and presents, but, you’ll see why I didn’t. What I have done is write you all a Marvel twisted Christmas poem, give out some festive awards for my comics of the year and asked you guys a myriad of times what would be your favourite Geeky Gifts for Christmas if money was no object! Have you all seen the Countdown to Christmas sale that Captain Inter-Comics has been running in the build up to Christmas 2013? There’s 50 – 60% off of Trades and Hardcovers, then there’s massive reductions in titles like Punisher Max, X-Men Legacy, Green Lantern, Simon Dark, Northlanders, Blade and American Vampire! There are so many awesome gifts going for such a low price, you would be mad to miss it! Follow this link and get yourself some treats for yourself or presents for your loved ones! Check out all the awesomeness right here!

So, onto the festive fun! let’s stick to tradition here  and read you all a Christmas lullaby, with a comic book twist! I decided to give “‘Twas the Night before Christmas” a Marvel twist, so gather up your children round the fire, put on some Bing Crosby and read them this little festive Jackanory…

‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the bungalow
Not a creature was stirring, not even a MAGNETO;
The costumes were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that the X-MEN soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of danger rooms danced in their heads;
And PROFESSOR X in his chair, and BEAST in his cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter’s nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a din,
As SENTINELS from TRASK INDUSTRIES were trying to break in.
Away to the window I flew like QUIKSILVER,
Tore open the shutters and looked to the river.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave off the look of the PHEONIX FORCE glow,
As I looked with telekenisis at what I was seeing
There was a miniature sleigh, pulled by 8 super beings

With a little old driver, so lively and twee,
I knew in a moment it must be STAN LEE.
More rapid than eagles his AVENGERS they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

“Now, THOR! now, IRON MAN! now, WASP and HAWKEYE!
On, ANT-MAN! on VISION! on, CAPTAIN AMERICA and THAT INCREDIBLE HULK GUY!
To the top of the porch! And don’t you tremble!
Now dash away! dash away! AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!”

And then, in a pounding, I listened aloof
The fighting of COLOSSUS and JUGGERNAUT on the roof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney WOLVERINE came with a bound.

He was dressed in blue and yellow, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of knives came out of his fists,
And he looked like a hobo, permanently pissed.

His eyes — how they twinkled! beneath a cowl so merry!
The blood on his claws the colours of cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a scowl,
And the beard of his chin was as stubbly as hell;

Through the wall came THE BLOB, shouting “Good grief!”
And the brick dust encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a round face and a huge round belly,
That shook, when he shouted like a bowlful of jelly.

With a punch and a thump, Wolvie damaged his health,
And I laughed when I saw this, in spite of myself;
A BAMPF in the dark and a NIGHTCRAWLER on his head,
Soon let me to know I had nothing to dread;

The X-Men spoke not a word, but went straight to their work,
But were soon hampered by DEADPOOL attempting to twerk,
Wade laid his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, and stared out this book
And eyeballed at you reading, and gave you a look
And I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“MY COMMON SENSE IS TINGLING, TIME TO BLOW SHIT UP TONIGHT!!”

Now, instead of giving you a new years run down of “Awards” I would give out if I had money/contacts/a conference hall/Matt Fraction’s little black book or actual awards for the new years, I’m planning something different, so what I will do is give you a run down of my favourite Graphic Novel of the year, best on-going series and favourite story arc. There will also be a mention of my favourite Indie Comic which I have read/reviewed as well. So put on your little black dresses ladies, and men straighten that dickie bow, it’s the Papercuts and Inkstains “Best of the year” mentions!

Best Graphic Novel: David Hine and Doug Braithwaite’s “Stormdogs” from Image.

I was fortunate enough to go to Thought Bubble festival in Leeds in the last weekend of November this year and got to meet David and Doug Braithwaite, noted artist who has had drawing duties for probably every major character the big two have produced, as they were in the main hall. Initially I just wanted to say thank you in person to David (For his interview in a previous post) but, and happily so, I bought one of his latest releases Storm Dogs, published by Image. I then got it signed by both artist and writer,then left to pursue alcohol and chicken with my Fiancee. Little did I know, that Storm Dogs would keep me reading through til 3am on a night where I had to get up at 6am the next day. I physically couldn’t put it down.

It’s a cerebral comic that gets you thinking, mixing equal parts sci-fi, western, horror and detective story. The sci-fi element of aliens, strange fauna and flora, symbiotic lifeforms, deadly weather systems and ancient organic telepathic links conjure up, in this readers mind, strong links to the glorious Sci-Fi epics of the 1980′s such a Dune, Alien and Total Recall. Doug Braithwaite’s aliens are humanoid yet striking different, the Elioths are placid and subservient, yet hide a devastatingly dangerous past, his native landscapes are harsh and unforgivable, which strikes a chord with the grizzled prospector angle Hine uses throughout the story.

Read this book. Buy the trade and read it. Then wait patiently for Season Two. It’ll be worth it!

Best On-Going Series: Dan Slott’s “Superior Spider-Man” (Contains Spoilers if you haven’t read SSp-M)

Dan Slott. You tricksy Hobbits you. What Slott has done is take the nicest, most likable character in the Marvel universe, a character we could all relate to, since he was a flawed human character, and has ripped that from us! Peter Parker is no more, the Amazing Spider-Man is no more. What we have is SpOck. The Superior Spider-Man, and I will be honest. I hate SpOck, but the series is just so compelling, so riveting, that it has become my favourite on-going series! SpOck’s mandate to be superior to Peter Parker in every aspect of his life is both brilliant to read and devastating at the same time. Everything Peter built, which may not have been a lot, but was a bastion of morality, was destroyed. MJ, Spidey killing Massacre, his reliance on Spider-Bots, Henchmen and Spider Island. (Version 2.0) It’s Spider-Man but not as we know him.

And do you know something? It’s like crack. I need to find out where it’s going. I relished in seeing the destruction of Shadowland and Kingpin having to fake his death and the dark tinged tale of the death of the Spider-Slayer was another masterstroke in storytelling. All the while bubbling under the surface, we have the Green Goblin, self-professed Goblin King, building an undetectable army in the sewers of New York. It is building to something huge, and Slott, who has written some of the best Spidey story lines of recent memory is perfect to lead the way. It is unmissable and entirely worthy of being my best on-going series. I also sincerely hope Peter Parker comes back and it ends in a duke out between SpOck and our Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man… time will tell. Let’s all keep reading it!

Best Story Arc: Jason Aaron’s “Godbomb”  in “Thor: God of Thunder”

I love heavy metal. Vikings kick ass. Norse Gods are the most bad ass Gods of all. I also like Thor. A lot. And so, to my great surprise, my wonderful Fiance bought me Thor: God of Thunder “The God Butcher”. I read it instantly and was hooked. So hooked I had to buy the second vol, ”Godbomb”.  It was the most Heavy Metal comic I have read. Battles between Gods, a bomb build specifically to destroy all the universes immortals, a time travel event that makes perfect sense (Looking at you Age of Ultron…no…no…) and best of all…three…yes, three different Thors. Young Thor, Heroic age Thor and old, embittered, one armed Thor who is the last of the Gods at the back end of the universe.

This arc had me gripped, utterly gripped. I’ve read this and “The God Butcher” at least five times now. It is stunning, I mean where else will you see Thor riding a space shark into battle, all while cursing it to go faster. Esad Ribic’s art is beautiful throughout, and the battles are frenetic, huge in scope and a glory to behold. It is more than worthy of my “Favourite Arc Award”! Now Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic, deliver us ANOTHER!

Spirit of Independence Day (With Will Smith punching that Alien in the face bit…I love that bit) Award:  Colin Bell and Neil Slorance’s Dungeon Fun from Dogooder Comics

Welcome to Earth…

This comic blew my mind. It was the Pixar film of comics. Aimed at kids, with language and visual jokes adult would appreciate, Dungeon Fun was my pick of Thought Bubble festival, I was the first person to review it and i count this as a true honour and blessing. If you read my review, you’ll know I found it immeasurably fun and clever. Colin Bell and Neil Slorance deliver a comic that works on so many different levels, a strong female lead, very funny support characters and a story with a lot of depth and warmth. There are comic creators who have worked years to try and achieve what Bell and Slorance have achieved in their first major release. My children love it, Charlotte; loves it, our cat; loves it. Do yourself a favour and buy this book. You won’t regret it I promise, if only for the tragedy of Muddy Stickarms….

And so ends my “Awards”, there’s no drunken celebrity punchups or obese Lenny Kravitz lookalikes vomiting in a plant pot, so it ends thus. However, What I wanted to finish on was what I initially wanted to focus on. Geeky Gifts. Instead of me preach at you over what cool geek gifts I would want, I wanted to hear what you, the reading public had to say! Well, in true Papercuts style, here you go…these are your suggested Geeky Gifts…Check em out…look…stop reading this and read them!

Brent Rome ‏@rome_brent – a comics spinner rack

Dr PaJi ‏@DrPaJi – I’d like all the Walking Dead TPB

K.J Stewart ‏@KevJStewart – The most enormous, expensive Doctor Doom statue/bust that money can buy. Actually, I know I suggested a big Dr Doom statue, but my mind is changed. I want Sif. Not a statue of her – actually Sif.

Sean Favager ‏@Seanfav1 – Gwen Stacy would be nice or Black Widow (Johansson Version) or world peace and for Rick to stop being a bad gimp on Walking Dead and fucking do something! Plus, to have my xmas dinner and then have Adam West narrate Dark Knight Returns to me.

Adam Snape ‏@AdamJSnape – A Harrison Ford “Han Solo” DL-44 Blaster from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back & Return of the Jedi, a Spider-Man chunky knit jumper and personalized Superhero Action figures

James Kirk ‏@jamesk1990 – Best geeky gift ever would be that replica 66 batmobile thats going round on the internet for like 200k haha

Kieran ‏@vintagelaureate – How about a new chair for the garden? A replica Iron Throne from Game of Thrones…

Dan ‏@BrumsNightwing – A replica of Mjolinr.

Just Like That ‏@YourSweetVenom7 – Real spiderman web shooters and The Tumber from Nolans Batman no one going mess with me or get pulled over XD (cant drive tho haha)

Ian Nesbit ‏@i_nesbot – A replica Cap shield of course

AARON JEDI KNIGHT ‏@HANNIBALPB81 – A thermal detanator replica

Rob Richardson ‏@robbrichardson – Green Lantern Ring. An ACTUAL Green Lantern Ring

David Payne ‏@littlechief1982 – The sweat off Yvonne Strahovski’s brow. #Chuck #GeekGift

Bottle City of Kanga ‏@bottlecitykanga – Lego Death Star

kara ‏@Kryptonkara – I am still needing two lightsaber lamps for above my bed. Got a whole Star wars bedroom going on

Michael Sambrook ‏@Rapiaghi – A plethora of shit Batmobiles…. Budget, botch job, mobility bat shufflers

Homespun ‏@_homespun – Easy a musac bag so i can be like the guy from Moon

Uproar Comics ‏@Uproar_Comics – We’d like Sting so we can tell when Orcs are about, and be really cool obviously It would also be handy to ward off our enemies, namely those pesky Zombies that roam our corridors O.O

ElDisturbo ‏@TonyGrnlntrn715 – A Batman cape. 1966 style… (I asked which Cowl…) So hard… To choose… Between cowls… Dastardly fiend…Keaton cowl… Would clash… But… Favorite… Fashion… Problems…or… Go… With…. Complete Zur-En-Ah…I have…. Problems…. Bat problems….. Cue CSI music

Matt Saviker - I would love a temperature controlled room for the comics with a display wall for statues with custom lighting……..and I want it filled lol

Ricardo Azevedo - mine would have to be every issue with green arrow

Cameron Bell - a fully operational death star

jeremy smith ‏@The5thRobin – A SWAMP THING FIGURE!!!!!!

Jason Webb™ ‏@jaybwebb – Dude I want that capullo joker statue so bad! Not looking likely at the minute but god damn I’m gonna get one! Mine is actually useful geeky, I need Microsoft office, but fun geeky I almost always get completely geeky things! I really WANT anything major, I try to concentrate on buying the kids geeky things, got my middle girls a TMNT comic book maker.  I would also like to get that sandman ultimate collection, that would be awesome!

Shaun Balliah - Iron man armour.

Freeland Costin - An infinity gauntlet that works. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t pick on you guys. That or somebody could get me Michelangelo.. Somehow… However On a serious note, nunchucks, a bo staff, two katanas and two sais would make a happy girly. Not that I’d be able to use them or anything.

Michael Patrick Kane - Adamantium skeleton complete with retractable claws!

Daniel Cole - A blue Lantern ring so I can inspire Hope in the DC Universe again. Or perhaps a deluxe hardcover of Private Eye.

Katy ‘keith’ Armstrong - A real life hawkeye bow complete with boomerang arrows!

James Gibbons - Fully working, to scale personal assistant Sentinal! Ha ha ha

Scarlett ‘whorebiscuit’ Woodward - my first thought was the full size sammael statue from guillermo del toros house!…..but concidering we dont have our own place i should be abit more sensible…..so…..ummm….yeah! guillermo del toros house with contents please! Lol

Duggi Douglas - Original Jack Kirby or Mike Mignola art.

Russell Hagan - I’d love Cyclops visor, (but with my prescription lenses in!). Coolest sunglasses ever.

Shannon-aggins ‏@CakeOSaurusRex – I would build my boy and I a life size Ewok village in the woods. Everyday could be the battle for Endor…..:)

Steve Tasteslikedoom Fable - A replica Iron Man suit, all the DC Bombshell figures, my old comic collection back from 6 years ago when I was broke and had to sell it Oh and a MacBook with Adobe Illustrator

kirke novak ‏@kirkenovak – The entire set of Big Fish’s Mass Effect action figures. Legion would hold baby Jesus

I spoke to all the indie comic creators I’ve featured in posts this year, in both “Hipster Hipster Shake” posts, and here’s what ideal Geeky Gifts they’d love this Christmas!

Sam Read ‏@bronzetrex – Breaking Bad Complete Box Set. Job done.

Neil Snowrance ‏@osmart – The Deadpool head desk tidy…

Colin Bell ‏@colinbell – I’ll take subscriptions to The Phoenix & 2000ad plz thx

Reynard VanFoxwinkel ‏@ReynardCity – For me the ideal #GeekyGift would be a year long cinema pass!

Adam Cheal‏ @AdamCheal – Walking Dead Monopoly.

Dan Butcher ‏@VanguardComic – erm, I would honestly love it if someone bought me a replica Batmobile from the Tim Burton era one sold recently at Historics Auctions - obviously, I’d have to have a Batsuit made too – heh

Luke Halsall ‏@LJHalsall – The doctor who missing episodes for power of the Daleks

Joe Martino‏ @jgmcomics – A #JudgeDredd helmet.

Brandon Rhiness – That’s hard. I’d have to say a life-size statue of the Punisher. I was also blessed with the good fortune of having a few well known comic creators give me their best Geeky Gift ideas for Christmas! All the guys on here were a pleasure to talk to and I appreciate their input massively!

Joe Caramagna ‏@JoeCaramagna (Ultimate Spider-Man, Agents of SMASH) – GEEKY gift? I want the new iPad Air and a @Comixology gift card
PJ Holden ‏@pauljholden (2000AD, The 86ers) – Like every Christmas, all I want is time alone to draw (it’s the one gift I never get!)

David Hine ‏@HineDavid (Stormdogs, Spider-Man Noir, Civil War X-Men) – Sounds like reverse payola! You can buy me a pint next time you see me Thought you were playing real-life Santa there Young Marvelman Annual from 1960… I had that Annual when I was a kid and lost it somewhere. Been looking for it ever since…

Alex Maleev ‏@alexmaleev (Daredevil) – Mario kart.

J Michael Straczynski ‏@straczynski (Amazing Spider-Man, Thor, Superman) – A lifesize replica of the C-57D Starcruiser.

Sean Gordon Murphy ‏@Sean_G_Murphy (Punk Rock Jesus, The Wake) – There’s a Stormtrooper statue where he’s leaning on a speeder. Always dug that one!

So…erm… there we go. I’m sure Santa would have a tough job giving up these gifts himself. However, that’s all folks! This just leaves me to say to you all, thank you for reading and sticking with me. Have a merry Christmas and a happy new year, I hope you get your Geeky Gifts and I shall see you all in the new year!

Until next time…

For more comic views and reviews follow Robin on Twitter at @Hulksmash1985

Passion. Passion flows through us all. It’s in our blood, in our hearts, minds and veins. For some of us the pull of it, the overwhelming nature of it, is stronger than others, but it is there, buried in recesses of your soul. I like to think I’m a passionate man. There are many things in my life I am passionate about. Charlotte, my fiance, our children, music, comics, films, my job and such. All these things stir the Phenylethylamine in my head, give me a rush of blood, a surge of adrenaline and excitement. I get goosebumps from guitar solos, giddy from reading Jason Aaron’s Thor: God of Thunder, a kiss from Charlotte makes my head spin and a cuddle from the kids makes me want to try harder to ensure they grow up to be the best they can be. Passion. It’s what the world was built on.

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ll know I am attempting to channel some of my passion into actually creating my own comics with two very good friends, Paul James (@DrPaji) and Mike Sambrook (@Rapiaghi). As such, it’s also rekindled my love of drawing which has been long suppressed! It’s daunting thinking of attempting to submit your work to someone to see if they like it/think it’s worthy of promoting/want to set fire to it/send you to a Gulag but a few weeks ago I saw a post on a Facebook page I follow which outlined the 10 steps to take before submitting your work to a potential publisher/collaborator. It was written by a gent named Brandon Rhiness, a co-founder of The Higher Universe, a collective of stories, with differing genres, which all exist in the same shared universe. The premise of the Higher Universe was a brilliant one in my opinion! What if Stormdogs and Trillium occurred in the same universe, with actions in one story having far reaching repercussions in another. It also wouldn’t be as convoluted as Marvel and DC’s universe either. It was also his frankness about submitting your work to publishers/promoters etc that struck a chord. Be enthusiastic but then also be pragmatic about things. Make things as professional as possible, and don’t expect it to be easy street! What also shone through was his passion. It was this that really caught my eye, as you could feel the passion for comics and his work pulse through the words he wrote! I contacted Brandon and he was more than happy to have a chat with me about his work, his comics and his experiences in a frank and open manner.

Me: What was it that inspired you to start creating comics?

Brandon: I’ve been writing stories for as long as I can remember. As soon as I was able to write the letters of the alphabet I was writing stories. I used to write these Star Wars stories that were about a paragraph long. That’s as long of a story as I could write at the time. The first major turning point was in Grade 4. I created this character named Nodnard Ssenihr, which is my name spelled backwards. I wrote a story where Nodnarb gets kidnapped and held hostage in a skyscraper. Then he has to escape and get back to his family. The day after I wrote it, I asked my English teacher if I could read it to the class. She allowed me to. The response was great. All the kids loved it and were asking me to write a sequel. I ended up writing a few Nodnarb stories that were well received. After that I was thinking, “Hmm…maybe I’m onto something here.”

A lot of people say they grew up with comics or they started reading comics because their dads or older brothers did. Not for me. For me, my first exposure to comics, and my decision to create them, occurred in one moment. I’m sure some of your readers remember the Marvel trading cards from the early 90s. In Grade 5 science class some kids were looking at the cards. I asked them to show them to me.
Now, I was aware of Superman, Batman, Spiderman and all the big-name superheroes, but my knowledge of comics was pretty much non-existent. As soon as I saw those cards with all those cool characters on them I knew I was into this for life. Throughout my teen years I began creating lots of my own characters. Some of which are finally being brought to life in my comics!

I continued writing various kinds of stories. I mostly wrote screenplays. It wasn’t until the last few years, though, that I finally began writing specifically for comics. Even the first drafts of Misfits, Stargirl and Ghoul Squad were written as screenplays. I translated them into comic book scripts later on.

Me: When starting out, did you decide there and then that you wanted to create the Higher Universe collective or did that progress as you started piecing together your own comic ideas?

Brandon: It really happened more organically. At first, there was no real plan to actually have a “universe”, or even a real company. It started out with my co-creator Adam Storoschuk and I working on Misfits. While we were doing that I started writing Stargirl, which was my own project. At that point there was no intention of having them, or anything else we did, under the same umbrella.

But as things progressed, and the stories grew, we started adding other characters and bigger stories. Soon we were coming up with plans for other series and I decided they should all be in one “universe”. So I came up with the name Higher Universe and I got Brittni Bromley (the colorist/designer on Stargirl) to design the HU logo. And at that moment the Higher Universe was born!

Me: What difficulties did you face in setting up the Higher Universe with Adam? Is there anything you could have done differently, or wish you knew then that you know now?

Brandon: Oh my god, yes! (laughs). It’s honestly been an uphill battle every step of the way. And it continues to be to this day. But, wow, have I ever learned a lot. It was not quite two years ago that Adam and I decided to actually start making comics. We’d been talking about it for years. Misfits and Stargirl were created seven or eight years before they actually went into production. I originally wanted to do them as an animated series. But when that didn’t work out I decided to just grab the bull by the horns and make them both as a comic book. It was really hard since I had no idea how to even make comics. Reading them was one thing, but making them was quite another. I was also completely broke at the time. And so was Adam. But we jumped in head-first and decided to learn as we went. One of my Facebook friends, Chris Johnson, was into making comics. I asked him if he knew any artists I could hire. He put me in touch with Luca Cicchitti, an artist from Italy.

I contacted Luca and he told me how much he charged per page. I almost had a heart attack. I could barely afford to take care of myself. How was I going to pay an artist? But there was almost a voice in my head telling me that this was the right thing to do. Adam and I both agreed that it was now or never.

So we hired Luca and began paying him out of our own paychecks from our jobs. I also hired Brittni Bromley to begin the artwork on Stargirl.Those were some scary times, let me tell you. It seems like it was ages ago, but it was really only a year and a half. There were many problems to deal with along the way. We began adding artists to pencil, ink, color, and letter our two main books. We also hired people to do character designs, and we even hired some writers to write other projects for us. Keep in mind, everybody was paid. And Adam and I paid them all out of our paychecks. And we weren’t rich guys either. We sank every penny we had into our comics. That’s how much dedication we had (and have) to our comics.

So for people out there who don’t want to pay their artists, because they said the artist will get “exposure” or whatever their excuse is – it’s absolute bullshit. You have to make sacrifices to make this dream of yours a reality. There’s no other way. Every part of the process was a struggle for me since I had to learn everything from scratch. We had artists from all over the world and sometimes there were language barrier issues that made it hard for me to explain what I needed done. There were also arguments with artists and writers over creative issues.

Even once we had our first comic book completed there were still problems and lots of stuff to learn. Just getting everything formatted to send to the printers, or to get it on Amazon, or Drive-thru comics or whatever was a lot of work. It took a lot of time to figure it all out. Even when that was done there was the problem of promoting and selling the comics. This takes as much, if not more, work than actually making the comic! But Adam and I learned fast. There’s so much “advice” out there on the internet about how to sell and market comic books. It seems like everybody is trying to figure it out and chase the next big lead. I just try to ignore all that, for the most part, and do things the way I feel is best. We’ve learned so much since we started and we’re still learning more. But there was a huge learning curve to overcome. I can see why so many people quit early on. They say that it’s their dream to make comics but they soon realize how much work it is so they quit. Don’t even get started unless you have a real passion for it because there will be roadblocks every step of the way that will make you want to quit.

Me: Did you find that, by creating your own comic books, Misfits, Star Girl and Ghoul Squad, it has enabled you to help others to do so?

Brandon: Oh, yeah. Now that I’ve learned so much I can help people who are just starting out. There are lots of people making comics that are way further along than I am. I can’t do much to help them. But there are people who are just starting out that can benefit from my experience. I talk to people on Facebook and even out on the street all the time about how they can start making comics. A lot of people say they’re thinking about it, but they just don’t know how to start. I always give people the same advice: “Just start doing it!” There’s no other way around it. You can’t wait until you have the money, or until your life sorts itself out, or until the planets align. Those things will never happen. Just do what I did and jump in and start doing it. Deal with problems as they come up. In a couple of years you’ll be amazed at how far you’ve come.

I actually wrote an article called “10 Do’s and Don’ts for submitting to comic book publishers”. I frequently do talent searches where I’ll post ads to Craigslist and Kijiji in cities all over the world looking for artists and writers. I’ll usually get hundreds of responses. And I’ve found that every time I do one of these searches there will be about 1 person out of every 75 that I end up hiring. And out of those only a couple will end up sticking around. There are so many people I have to filter out. And a lot of people were making the same mistakes. So I wrote this article about the main things people should or should not do. At first I wasn’t sure if anybody else in the comic book industry would agree with me. These were just the things that I would consider to be the do’s and don’ts. But the response I got to the article was amazing! It seemed like a lot of other publishers, and even artists felt the same way. So be sure to read that article before you submit anything to me (or to any other publisher).

Here’s the link: http://atthamovies.com/10-dos-donts-submitting-comic-book-publishers/

Me: You’ve started to combine up and coming comics, with up and coming bands, what led you think about profiling the two together?

Brandon: Well that’s an easy answer: comics are cool, music is cool. Why not combine them in some way?!
I came up with the idea of profiling up-and-coming and indie bands in my comics to help new bands and musicians get exposure in a different market. A lot of people who read comics are also into music so it works out really well. I’ve had lots of bands writing me wanting to be a part of this. They all say what a cool idea it is.

So in each of our comics from now on we’ll have a two-page spread with a profile and interview with a different band or musician. I’m a fan of rock and heavy metal but I’m open to other styles of music. I’m also featuring previews of other people’s comics. I’m doing this free of charge, of course. There are a lot of indie projects out there that are really good and I want to help promote them. I find there are some indie creators out there that are all about themselves and they just want to promote their own projects and try to yell louder than everyone else so they can rise above all the noise out there and have people pay attention to them.

We’re all in this together so I think it’s worth helping out other people that are doing cool projects. The first comic book I’m previewing is called “Wrecking Ball”. I’m giving them 5 pages in Misfits #2 which is crazy since I’m covering the costs of that myself. But it’s worth it to help people out. But I think I will normally be giving people a one or two-page preview spot.

Me: What do you have in store in the future for us all?

Brandon: We are releasing a 2nd printing of Misfits #1 with a variant cover. The first cover was all the guys sitting around the bar. The new variant cover is the junkie gorilla injecting himself with a needle while sitting next to the dead body of a zookeeper. It’s lovely. Misfits #2 will also be out within the next few weeks.
I’m not sure if your readers know what’s happening with Stargirl, but basically issue #2 was released with a different artist than the first issue. I then decided to go back and redo the first issue with the new creative team so that it matches the 2nd issue. So #2 is already out and the new version of the first issue will be out early next year. There are only 100 printed copies of the first version of Stargirl #1 out there and there won’t be any more made. So if you have one you’re very lucky.

Ghoul Squad #1 is well on its way to completion. This is the first comic I’ve made where there’s been quite a bit of demand for it before it’s finished. It feels nice. People are contacting me all the time saying “Hey man, how’s it going? By the way…when’s that Ghoul Squad comic coming out?” We will be releasing a black & white version of the comic early in the new year. There will be a very limited print run. Probably only 50 or 100 copies. The full-color version will be out in the first half of next year. The black & white versions will sell out fast, so if you want a copy send me an email. We also have some new series launching later next year, including Skull, Brutal Jones and Kill Rabbit. All three are going to be really cool. And really violent.

I want to thank you for this interview, Rob. I want to thank all your readers for reading it. Please check out our comics and buy a digital copy. You can check out our website at www.thehigheruniverse.com

We really are the very definition of indie comics. True underdogs. Feel free to contact me. I like meeting new people with big dreams and big ideas.

You can drop Brandon an email here: rhiness@thehigheruniverse.com or grab him on his Facebook or Twitter.

I loved Brandon’s ethos, his “We’re all in this together” attitude and it that which has made me want to profile him in my column this week. Support him and the Higher Universe and lets help the underdogs get their shot!

Join me next week as I try to inject some Christmas cheer around the place!

Until next time…

For more comic views and reviews follow Robin on Twitter at @Hulksmash1985

When I was a young warthog…. WHEN I WAS A YOUNG WARTHOOOOOOOOG…. Wait, no. Stop plagurising Disney Robin! When I was younger, I loved characters like Batman, Superman, the X-Men and such and very much enjoyed the TV shows that were on offer at the time. There were classic like Batman The Animated Series, The X-Men cartoon, which to this day has one of the most recognisable (and immense) theme tunes, Spider-Man,The Tick, Earthworm Jim, Bucky O’Hare and so so many more! The problem I had as a kid though, wasn’t a lack of TV but a lack of actual comics! I used to read the Beano and Dandy but when it came to the big two I honestly couldn’t tell you what children’s comics there were available to a 7 year old back in 1992. I have vague memories, from when I was about 12, of going into my local hobby shop on Lowestoft’s High Street to buy my latest fix of Warhammer as I expanded my Blood Angels army with a Whirlwind tank…and in the corner there were twirly book racks covered in comics of all shapes and sizes. I distinctly remember Witchblades breasts staring out at me from the front pages of her comic, her metal clasped nipples threatening to have my eye out, and I also remember seeing Priest and Preacher glistening at me. However, what I don’t remember is comics specifically aimed at the little fat kid I mentioned before hand.

However, things changed, the Internet took over our lives, Geek Chic became the new mainstream, fuck you jocks and fuck you popular kids. The meek HAVE inherited the earth. And if we can’t protect it, you’ll be damn sure we will avenge it… I’m being sidetracked, basically, it is now so easy to access the geek life, comics, films, TV shows etc. And now that us 90′s kids are all grown up, there are comic books galore catering to our spawn and offspring. Some would say that back when I was younger that the medium of comic books were aimed squarely at children, however when you look at the comic book stories of the 90′s, with Batman getting his back broken, Superman dying, Spider-Man having a clone and it all generally being doom and gloom, I don’t think I could happily let my 9 year old read them! Either way I’ve got my children tablets for Christmas and absolutely rammed them full with some amazing comics, Tiny Titans, Mary Jane loves Spider-Man, My Little Pony, Adventure Time and loads of others.The choice and quality of said comics are simply staggering! So, what I’m going to do is take a look at Marvel’s Oz series and DC’s Tiny Titans and look at why they are so appealing!

Let’s start with a modern adaptation of a classic work. Adapting L. Frank Baum novels, Eric Shanower and Skottie Young bring Dorothy, Toto, the cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow, the Tin-Man and all of Oz’s wealth of memorable characters to life! Adapting six of Baum’s novels into comic forms, Young and Shanower have captured the spirit and innocence of the novels, with Young’s very famous style perfectly suited to such a book. It was recently announced the series was to end, which in my personal opinion is a massive shame since it has earned much critical acclaim, several Eisner Awards and achieving a place on the coveted New York Times’ Bestsellers list! One of the best parts of these adaptations is there dedication to the original source material, this isn’t a modern, gritty re-imagining of  Oz like the Sci-Fi channel attempted a few years back with the rather forgettable Tin-Man. (Staring none other than Dum-Dum Duggan: Neil McDonough, Nightcrawler: Alan Cummings and New Girl’s Zooey Deschanel to name but a few) Eric Shanower, in an interview with Examiner.com stated ”These adaptations are very close to the original material. The only changes I make to the stories is to incorporate, when appropriate and useful, other versions by Baum, such as stage scripts and introductions for excerpts” and that he ”hope(d) readers of [his] comics adaptations of the Oz books [got] a thrilling and humorous experience that’s fresh and direct.”

The Oz series is an excellent introduction for children to get into the world of comic books, and to the world of Marvel as Young’s artwork appeals to adults and children alike. (Myself and my Fiancee are starting to collect his variant covers due to how BRILLIANT they are!) It is captivating, charming and delightfully fresh in today’s market of dark, gritty visuals. Young himself had this to say about the series ending:

“I’ve never been emotional about a book I’ve worked on. As an artist in today’s comic landscape, you get used to spending 6-8 months on one title and then moving onto another. The long run of characters being yours and yours alone is very rare. To come to work every day for nearly 6 years and spend time with the same characters in the same world is something I grew to love and depend on. Leaving it behind is bitter sweet. I’m excited face new challenges but a bit sad to leave one of the most reliable things in my life.”

That sadness is mutual Mr Young… very mutual.

Next up, we have the simply fantastic Tiny Titans. This comic absolutely captivates myself, and I’m a 28 year old man, so imagine being the 5 – 10 year old this comic is aimed at! Mind…BLOWN! If you aren’t familiar with Tiny Titans, let me give you a brief, set in the DC world, it followed the various sidekicks of many of DC’s major heroes as they deal with life at Sidekick City Elementary School. The school is run by Principal Slade, yes…Deathstroke and the children think of him as a mean guy, and generally, they’re right. notable characters include Robin, Batgirl, Aqualad, Wondergirl, Cyborg, Kid Flash and Beast Boy. Created by Art Baltazar and Franco Aureliani, Tiny Titans encapsulates everything that was good, in my eyes, about the Beano and Dandy, mixes it up with a little bit of Schultz’s Peanuts adventures (I think Robin looks like Charlie Brown) and adds a dash of Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes magic. The result is wonderful for children and adults alike!

Baltazar and Aureliani won Eisner Awards in 2009 and 2001 for Best Series for Kids, and it was a New York Times best seller, and it’s easy to see why! Throughout the whole series, there are many references to wider DC continuity, with the kids finding the different Spectrum rings of the Lantern corps, Lunch Lady Darkseid declares the kids exams as their “Finals Crisis” and Robin even has to battle for Batman’s cowl…with a cow. It had a fantastic initial 50 issue run, with each issue containing several different stories, my personal favorites being the Beast Boy ones! What Tiny Titans does is introduce our children to the characters we love, in a method and means they will love. And recently, it was announced due to the popularity of Baltazar and Aureliani’s work on titles like Itty Bitty Hellboy, Super Family Adventures and Super Pets that DC are bringing Tiny Titans back early next year! Art and Franco talk about the series returning here with an interview they gave to Newsarama. Thus it is a time for much rejoicing and a whole heap of shouting “AWWW YEAAAH COMICS!”

What Art and Franco do is summon up a wonderful feeling of nostalgia when you read Tiny Titans, like a warm fuzzy blanket. You know the cool, wholesome fun that’s contained within, you’re familiar with the treehouse, the canteen and the classrooms, because it’s your childhood and the programs you watched growing up, all wrapped in a bright, colorful bubble of comic goodness with your favorite sidekicks leading the fun! i for one, am certainly looking forward tot heir return!

Since this a new volume of my incoherent ramblings, I figured it was about time I included a Twitter/Facebook chatathon like we’ve all done before! This time around I asked you all, what was your favorite comic/comic related TV show from when you were young?  Lets take a look at your answers:

Aka legless ninja ‏@Jetjaguar67 – The flash, that shows legit I still watch it! Conan has to be the worst comic book show though! Do you count tales from the crypt cause Its up there too?

Joe Havard ‏@KroganSushi – Toss up between 90′s Spider-Man, 90′s X-Men, or Justice League!

Mathew Wilmot ‏@HiMyNameIsOften -Batman the animated series. Still the best animated show there is, don’t get me wrong, loved the xmen and spidey cartoons but bats is still king! Also can’t beat the tick and lest we forget, Earthworm Jim!

Sean Favager ‏@Seanfav1 – Haha this is a no brainer batman animated series. If anything else even gets a vote then its bullshit haha

Steve Taylor-Bryant ‏@OpinionGeeks – I was in my teens but the original The Flash tv show was a favourite. Wonder Woman as a child was good although I was quite young when it was on so didn’t ‘get’ it til I was older

Mattiiiiiiiiiiiie ‏@Super__Cyan – X-Men TAS > Batman TAS #justsayin

Inter-Comics ‏@InterComics – If its actual super hero shows surely the camp Batman one should be up there I used to love Battle of the Planets too as a kid

PaJi ‏@DrPaji – Batman the animated series. It’s a no brainer. Don’t ask stupid questions you should know the answer to.

Stephen McDonnell ‏@McDoodil -Don’t forget the Spiderman series either!! Best has to be Batman though #Fantastic! Top episodes have to be “Heart of Glass” and the Joker fish one LOL

Bekki Short ‏@ALoadofBekkiS – Grew up watching Lois and Clark new adventures of superman with my ma. Freakazoid…does he count?

K.J Stewart ‏@KevJStewart – The Mask, from back in the day!

Rob Richardson – Transformers!

NightOfTheLivingEd ‏@ed_pool – Batman The Animated series and 90′s X-Men. I’ll put them up against anything

Jason Webb™ ‏@jaybwebb – Surely the 90′s Spider-Man cartoon gets a mention! But Batman TAS rules

Russ Hagan ‏@russy_h – As I’m an old fart, gotta be the original Transformers cartoon (shown on Wide Awake Club!)

Ephrain Silva ‏@ComicBookGuy90 – Real tough choice for me but it’s between Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League.

Haddonfield Horror ‏@HaddonfieldHor -Uum Spiderman probably!

The Cult Den. ‏@TheCultDen -For me, it was either spiderman, x-men or Banana Man. Good shows, but honestly, Xmen. The scene where Cyclops is staring off into the sunset after Jean dies? FEELS! Also, it was a better ending than the actual phoenix saga. There, I said it.

Shaun Balliah – The X-Men animated series. Interesting to note there are two episodes that, it would seem, the latest x-men movie is based on and named after. “Days of future past”.

Hcmoviereviews – Defiantly the 1994 Spiderman series! They are unreal!

Ross Xander Diprose – Even though the Spider-Man cartoon from the 90s can muddle a lot up and Peter did come across as too whiny at times.. What a show! So many characters and awesome storylines! My fav by far. Followed by the tick! A cartoon I would love for them to have another crack at in comics form though? Disneys Gargoyles! THAT was a good show!

Jordan Kroeger ‏@jkroeg – The Tick!

Mikael ‏@alsoMike -Can’t pick between the animated shows Batman, X-Men or Spider-Man. I loved all of those. Also I kept renting a tape with 2 eps of Spider-Man & His Amazing Friends from the store over & over again. It was Swarm and 7 Little Superheroes for the record. #Swarm #Swarm #Swaaaarm #SWAAAAARM

Charlotte @lottiejonesy – The Spider-Man cartoon from the 90′s!

Well there we go. Apparently there’s people ready to fight anyone else who disagrees that Batman: The Animated Series is the greatest kids comic cartoon. I loved the Bat, don’t get me wrong, but I’m going out on a limb here and saying that the X-Men cartoon was the best. Furious, full of fights, grown up and THAT Intro music… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZAhqEiq4cA

Yup, this was the formative cartoon of my childhood…come at me Bat-Kids! Lets rumble!!

Until next time…

For more comic views and reviews follow Robin on Twitter at @Hulksmash1985

So Thought Bubble came and went. Myself, Charlotte my fiancee, Captain Inter-Comics, Dan Cole and our good friend Sean Favager descended upon Leeds like a group of alcohol deprived ghouls and drank our way through the whole thing. So as the cobwebs, hangovers and various drink related injuries were wearing themselves off, my good friend Michael Sambrook  got in contact with me, imploring me to get hold of Paul Holden, the comic book artist well known for his work on 2000AD, Judge Dredd, Battlefields, The 86ers and Terminator/Robocop: Kill Human. You see, Holden is the artist on a new creator owned comic book called The Dept. of Monstrology and boy is it a good one! Distributed by Renegade Arts Entertainment and written with Holden’s long time co-hort Gordon Rennie, it is set among the unofficial the Department Of Monsterology, otherwise known as Dunsany College’s Department Of Cryptozoology, Mythological Studies, Parapsychology and Fortean Phenomena, we follow a pair of teams, known as Challenger and Carnacki, as they search the world for the macabre, the horrifying, the mystical and sometimes, downright weird.

Whilst team Challenger are exploring some wreckage on the ocean floor in the South Pacific they uncover something fishy…and scaly…and with HUGE DAMN TEETH! Cue harpoons being fired and a professor in full diving suit laying waste to large swathes of sharp fanged beasties!

Team Carnacki however are chasing up some missing Chinese artifacts and have to deal with Jiangshi, or Chinese vampires! There’s astral projection, acrobatics over the rooftops of Budapest reminiscent of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and an Oxford and Stamford professor, who also happens to be a veteran of the revered Ghurkha Rifles (so he could definitely hold his own in a fight!) There’s also psychic named Belasco who bears a striking resemblance in manners and stature to a certain flamboyant comedian famous now for his sensible political musings and sleeping with anything with a pulse! It seems Rennie is more than happy to inject some humor into what could be seen as an otherwise quite straight up horror book!

Issue two focuses more on introducing a villainous counterpart to our intrepid heroes. What we have at the very beginning is a massacre of peaceful monsters in Slovenia by a paramilitary response group, after nothing but their diamond eyes. These are revealed to work for a group known as the Lamont Institute, who unlike the benign Dunsany College group, will use force to get their hands on any and all specimens they can! This ruthlessness is a lovely juxtaposition to Challenger and Carnacki’s approach and could be seen as a metaphor for many government/corporate approaches to most situations. Shoot first, ask questions later.

We have team Carnacki heading out to China after their encounter in Budapest, whilst team Challenger are having to deal with something straight out of Jules Verne novel Journey to the Center of the Earth, as they have to track and tag a dinosaur, all the while Professor Wilmington is investigating a huge, underwater Cluthulu statue. Cue a standoff with more Jiangshi, and this is where Holden’s art really shines through. The fight scene is frantic, gory and humorous and could easily have been lifted from any of Guillermo Del Toro’s film scripts!

I whole heatedly implore you to check this book out! Buy it and support Rennie and Holden’s work.

Holden’s art is beautifully tight, his monsters are genuinely creepy and unnerving! Rennie’s writing is witty, fun, well aware of influences and likes to play to them! He takes a seeming love of Lovecraft, Mingnola, Verne and Conan Doyle and mixes it up, plays around with it and makes it his own. All supported by Holden’s brilliant art. What they also do is break the norm, which is risky for a new book, but also sets it apart wonderfully. You don’t just get one main narrative with DoM, we have two separate narratives with many sub plots delicately weaved together. Then comes the brilliant characterization. Each member of the Dept has their own unique style, prose, grace and personality. This is very difficult to do in such a short space of time, but Rennie and Holden manage to. The characters are captivating, genuinely interesting and have a lot of depth left to explore!

What we have on our hands here is a British challenger to the American domination of monster books. Dept of Monsterology more than stands on it’s own feet and could duke it out with BRDP, Hellboy or Locke and Key. Still unconvinced? Well I was very luck to get to speak with Paul Holden about Department of Monsterology and he even answered a couple of your questions!

Me: Paul, you’ve worked on some big name books, such as Judge Dredd, the 86ers and most recently Terminator/Robocop: Kill Human, now you’re working on a creator owned comic, Dept. of Monsterology. Does the creative process differ between the two? Do you find you have much more freedom of expression with Dept of Monsterology than you had on previous works?

Paul: I feel much more involved in Dept of Monsterology - Gordon and I have been talking about some of the ideas in DoM for years – in particular, the Jiangshi (or Chinese hopping vampires), one of the big villains of the piece, is a monster we’ve wanted to do something with for over a decade. It’s nice to be able to finally get them out of our heads and on to paper. Gordon writes great, exciting stuff laced with humor, so his scripts are always enormous fun to work on. But it’s been lovely to be able to suggest stuff that can be wrapped in to the Monsterology universe, and, because it’s creator owned, for as long as Gordon and I are interested (and we can find sterling support from Alex Finbow at Renegade Arts, Jim Campbell on letters and Steven Denton on colours) we’ll be able to return to and do more and more with.

Me: You said yourself and Gordon Rennie have wanted to do this project for some time but have only just got round to it, was that because of a contractual thing, a lack of time or was it something to do with wanting a longer gestation period for all your ideas to form together?

Paul: More a question of other projects, finding the right publisher and personal lives – we pitched the original prologue strip to a number of publishers, and renegade felt most like the one that would support us and the book. Then it was a matter of working through other commitments.

Me: What do you think sets Dept of Monsterology apart from other monster or paranormal based books that are out there, such as Hellboy or Constantine as people are bound to draw comparisons between them?

Paul: I think there’ll always be a difference in terms of sensibilities – Gordon and I both enjoy humor in our stories, so even if we were doing BPRD, it would be very different. But also, I think, DoM is a much broader base of monsters – while we’re probably likely to touch on some of the same sorts of creatures as BPRD (especially if they’re part of the wider cultural landscape), we’ll be coming at them from a different angle, usually a much more pulpy and possibly over the top angle. (Which isn’t to say I don’t love BPRD - because I do, I really really do!) And we haven’t even hit on the space stuff yet, which is the remit of Team Carter – one of the three field expedition teams, who’ve vanished and are an ongoing mystery.

Me: When you see the huge school of “ichthoid- humanoid hybrids” drawing up from the deep near the beginning of issue 1, it’s a fantastic spectacle, and the use of Bell diving equipment gives off a slight Ray Harryhausen and H.P Lovecraft vibe. Did Harryhausen’s and Lovecraft’s work influence you at all in your art or did you draw inspiration from other sources?

Paul: Well, Gordon is the smart, well read one, so he’s coming at it from a HP Lovecraft angle, and I love Harryhausen. But mostly, I get the script, read it and figure out what these things will look like based on the description Gordon has written. I’ll google around for some images to help (angler fish in particular in this instance) and Harry Wilmington (Me: Who is normally seen in a diving suit) I reference turn of the century diving suits to get some notion of what to go for. Though, ironically, they were so outlandish and out there I felt I’d better tone it down a bit so he didn’t look silly!

Me: We’ve already discussed your inspiration for your monstrous artwork (sorry for the pun), but when sitting down to get into the “groove”, so to speak of creating your beasties, is there a process you follow or do you draw on anything that’s to hand like napkins, envelopes etc?

Paul: I pretty much go at the pages full bore. Unless there’s some specific description that I’ve got to adhere to. It means we’re sadly lacking in sketch back,after though!

Me: As an artist, do you get a large input in the direction of the stories you illustrate, or do you receive a script and just draw away?

Paul: I’m both a slave to the script and totally in charge of how a reader sees it. I’ll rarely contribute much to a script beyond the odd visual idea (or I’ll suggest a certain type of monster that might be fun). And Gordon runs with it. Once I have the script, the onus is on me to make it understandable to a reader. To take the words “awesome giant underwater Cthulhu Statue” and turn it into an image that makes the reader think “that’s AWESOME”.

Which is a cool job.

Me: If you had to sell Dept of Monsterology in one sentence, what would you say?

Paul: It’s called “Dept of Monsterology” - do I need to sell it harder than that? (this is why I’m not a writer!)

LOOK AT THE ART! JUST LOOK AT IT!

Me: Can we expect bigger, badder, meaner and more slatheringly terrifying monsters as the series goes along, or should we look out for more eerie monsters, such as the Jiangshi?

Paul: I think Gordon and I both get bored easily (as evidenced by the rapid pace in this first mini) so it’s fair to say we’ll keep mixing it up. I mean, I’ve seen the outline for the next mini and there’s a great mix of pulp, horror and sci fi…

Me: What can we expect to see in the future for Amelia, Professor Trondheim, Professor Wilmington, Team Carnaki and the rest of the Department of Cryptozoology, Mythological Studies, Parapsychology and Fortean Phenomena? Should we expect more run-ins with the Lamont Institute?

Paul: To be honest, Gordon poured so much into the first miniseries I thought – well, that’s it. There’s nothing left to do. But oh, no. OH NO! There is SO MUCH MORE! And he’d kill me if I told you. Let’s just say our teams, hoping for some R&R after the adventures in this first miniseries, don’t quite get the rest they’d hoped for.

(And if the current miniseries didn’t kill me, the next one might do…)

Me: I asked my followers on Facebook and Twitter if they had any questions for you, and  Ian Hanmore-Farrugia on Twitter asked: As a comic creator, do you still read comics, and if so, what comics do you still get excited about?

Paul: I rarely have the time, though that’s as much to do with the fact that I have two young kids. I like anything that’s fun and funny and over the top. I’ve recently subscribed to the Marvel Unlimited comics app, so I’ve been catching up on some of the Marvel stuff – I’ve particularly enjoyed Superior Spider-Man.

Me: There were several questions about the Murderdrome and Apple incident, most notably from Reece Jones, who wondered what it was like to have a comic banned from the app store? From what I can see, you covered that a lot at the time and I don’t want you to feel as if you’re retreading over old ground. Do you mind commenting, if it’s not uncomfortable?

Paul: Not uncomfortable at all! Though, you’re right, it’s well covered ground!

Murderdrome was to be one of the first comic reader apps on the iPhone, but by a strange quirk of fate, it was found to be too violent for Apple’s sensibilities, and was subsequently “banned” (though actually all they did was asked us to remove the violence – but all it was was over the top violence, so we were stuck between a rock and a hard place). It hit world wide notoriety, because of the perceived banning (google it! we were EVERYWHERE!) and I moved on to draw comics.

Me: This one comes from Michael Patrick Kane on Facebook: How did you conceptualize the story? Is it a set arc that develops specifically each issue, or a more varied type with a solid beginning, middle, and end?

Paul: Well, that’s more a question for Gordon. But Gordon’s introducing a whole universe in Dept of Monsterology, and there are lots of little threads we’ve thrown out there and mysteries that, even when the first arc is finished will leave us others avenues to explore. Each character has a background and a reason for doing what they do, and that’s a fertile ground for new ideas.

Me: Finally, just for fun. If you could pick one comic book artist who has most influenced your style, who would that be and why was their work so influential to you?

Paul: Oh just one… Argh! Too … Hard … Early 80′s Steve Dillon. Maybe.

So there you go! You should check out Paul’s other work and bear in mind, he is also the artist on the creator owned book Numbercruncher with Si Spurrier, the collected edition of which is available on the 31st of December 2013 and you can order Dept of Monsterology here!

Check back next week, when we shall be looking into the awesome world of indoctrinating your kids into the ever increasing comic book fandom…or kids comics as they’re known in this house!

Until next time…

For more comic views and reviews follow Robin on Twitter at @Hulksmash1985

The small smokey room was lit by dust encrusted lamps. In one corner some dame sits with her beau, they’re laughing, giggling and kissing one another. Both of them ignoring the wedding ring on his finger. At the bar stands a rogues gallery of lowlifes, scum, drunks and bastards. Everyone of them one of New York’s finest. I pulled the trench coat tightly round me, turning the collar up and adjusted the brim of my hat. I couldn’t help but fumble with the lighter in my hand, the packet of cigarettes calling to me like a siren song. Whisky. Sweet whisky. Better than a kiss from any broad. I step through from the doorway, no one bats an eyelid at me and I head towards the dark shadowy enclave that is this places apparent library. There, on the shelves is a book, a single book. It’s black and white cover with a sliver of moonlight and a shadowy silhouette on it struck a chord. “I know that S.O.B on the cover” I muttered to myself as the racy couple giggled away. I looked a little closer. Bug eyes, lithe build, swinging on a web. It was that mug Spider-Man but something was different. As if he was a man out of time. Then Humphrey Bogart tapped me on the shoulder, told me to play it again Sam and I sat bolt upright in bed. It had been a dream. A film-noir dream, but something from the dream remained, and that something was the sublime Spider-Man Noir.

Co-Written by David Hine and Fabrice Sapolsky, with Carmine Di Giandomenico providing the wonderful artwork, Spider-Man Noir: Eyes Without A Face is where I started, which was a backwards way of reading them as it’s the second one, however at the time I was reading a Panini Marvel reprint of Astonishing Spider-Man and one of the stories in those pages was Eyes Without a Face #1. I can honestly say I was left quite speechless. As regular readers know, myself and my fiancee are avid Spider-Man fans and to see the characters in a darker, grittier, more harsh environment acting differently to how you would imagine them doing was a shock, but coupled with the story that Sapolsky and Hine intricately wove throughout, it was the most pleasant shock I think I’ve experienced reading a comic book.

With Otto Octavious performing Eugenics experiments on the black population of New York from a base on Ellis Island, Sandman being an enforcer for the newly emerged boss of the criminal underworld, The Crime Master and Felica Hardy as the owner of “The Black Cat” speakeasy club which caters to the most corrupt and powerful players in 30′s New York. She is also Peter’s major love interest in the story. In the original series of Spider-Man Noir, Hine and Sapolsky use minor characters from the seedy underbelly of Marvel’s back catalogue to great effect, such as Ox, Fancy Dan, Montana and Hammerhead as enforcers for The Goblin, the leader of New York’s crime underworld. They also use Vulture as a sideshow freak with a taste for human meat (perhaps Albert Fish was an influence here) and the Chameleon. So what they do is utilize Spidey’s huge Rogues gallery and play around with the characters, and it works so well. To see Aunt May as an outspoken socialist, borderline communist is a most definite eye opener, and although Uncle Ben is mentioned, it’s a different Ben that gives Peter Parker his rites of passage. Ben Urich (Normally one of Daredevils stable of characters) appears here as a grizzled and experienced reporter for the Daily Bugle who takes Peter under his wing. So it’s Spider-Man, but not as we know it!

Fortunately, I was very lucky to be able to chat with both Fabrice and David about the creation and conception of Spider-Man Noir, they’re a great pair of guys who have been nothing but accommodating and friendly. Fabrice is currently writing One Hit Wonder and David has written many different titles, such as Marvel’s Civil War X-Men, Daredevil Redepmtion, Inhumans: Silent War, X-men the 198 and for DC Detective Comics #864 – 870, The Brave and the Bold #19 – 22, Faces of Evil: Deathstroke and The Joker’s Asylum: Two Face. I wanted to get to know about the whole process of writing such a damn cool book, and if there were any problems they faced along the way:

ME: Firstly, the story is a lot edgier than normal Spider-Man stories and from a fans point of view it is great to see familiar characters being written in a new and intriguing way, so was the opportunity to do that with such well established characters one of the reasons you wrote it?

FABRICE: It didn’t really happen the “traditional way”. I mean, when a publisher/editor has an idea and finds the best possible creative team to give life to the project. Spider-Man Noir started as a dream I had back in December 2006. I just had the opening sequence of the first issue. A Spider-Man dressed in black kneeled on a very dead JJJ’s desk, with the title : “Who killed Jonah Jameson” and above that the series title, “Spider-Man Noir”. I was in London when that happened. And the next morning, I was to meet my friend David Hine, in Kensington for breakfast. After a croissant and a cappuccino, I pitched my idea to Dave. He didn’t like it very much to say the least (laughs). He said: “No, that’s not gonna work”. Dave was the pro, and I was just a journalist with a comic book concept. So I took my train back to Paris (where I lived) and didn’t think about it. When I came back, I opened my computer and saw a very long email from David. He gave my idea another shot. Added his own ideas in the mix. And we decided to pitch it to Marvel. A month later, I was in New York. I had lunch with Marvel’s Marketing and PR director, Jim McCann at the time (now Jim is a full time writer and you should check his work, he’s amazing). I pitched Spider-Man Noir to Jim. He said : “I didn’t tell you anything, but you should email Joe Quesada very quickly. An hour later, I called up Dave in London and told him that we had to finish our pitch as soon as possible.

A week after that, we pitched. Then another week after, Joe Q. answered he liked it and said he would present it to the other editors at Marvel. Then Warren Simmons (who now is Valiant’s EIC) sent us an email and the rest is history.

Now, getting back to your question. I think, as a writer, you have to always look at established characters and find ways to keep them interesting and fresh. Writing comics isn’t that different to writing books. There are numerous versions of the Three Musketeers or Romeo & Juliet. Marvel had “What If? ” for a long time. But when we came up with Spider-Man Noir, “What If?” was not an option. Actually, we had more DC’s alternate reality series “Elseworlds” in mind. I always loved those comics. And I wanted to do something Marvel with that. Now, regarding Spider-Man, more specifically, of course, he’s one of my favorite characters in comics. It wasn’t conscious at first, but developing the series with Dave, it became clear that we wanted to re-interpret Peter Parker’s universe, transpose it in another era, and see how it could impact him.

Stan Lee wrote Spider-Man in a relatively happy period. The early 1960s. Peter is a shy guy who overcomes his nature by running around as Spider-Man and using humor. The 1930s were a very different period. It was rough. You could die for nothing. There was a terrible economic crisis. Corruption. Mafia. Violence. So the question was… How would have been Peter Parker if he had been raised in a violent era? We address that in the first mini-series. He would have been like others of his time. He would have overcome shyness with violence. Now, Dave was really the one who brought all the social background and pulp elements. And that was brilliant. Finally, I would add that having a British and a French writer on board, the final product had to be very different. We didn’t do it on purpose for the sake of writing different. It just came out that way.

DAVE: Fabrice is right to say I was initially skeptical about re-working Spider-Man as a pulp book, but on the way home I found the seeds he had planted were taking root and the story was already taking on a life of its own. As a kid, Spider-Man was way out there as my favourite Marvel hero. I loved the fact that he was a loner, a loser who was always screwing up his relationships, and most of all, that he wasn’t part of some semi-militaristic group of masked vigilantes like the Avengers. I liked that he was an outsider, I liked that he was mistrusted and misrepresented by the media. Ditko worked wonders with the character, locating him on rooftops, abandoned warehouses and riverside docks, where mobsters were always meeting to plot dastardly deeds. It was so much more down to earth than most of the other Marvel books, with the exception perhaps of Daredevil, who was my second-favourite character.

The Depression era was the perfect setting for the book. It had to be within the period of Prohibition and setting it in that time when Roosevelt had been elected and was looking to turn things around made the story come alive. It didn’t take too much manipulation of the character to make this a really dark noir story. We concentrated on the earlier villains. I think we both loved the Lee/Ditko books above all the other interpretations of Spider-Man, so the villains had to be drawn from those early years. The link with carnival freaks was an obvious one too. All these elements came up naturally and played to my interests in edgy black-and-white movies and pulp crime novels. I love film noir and early horror movies. Todd Browning’s Freaks is up there with the best and the Vulture in particular seemed a perfect fit as an ex-carny geek. You can imagine him biting the heads off live chickens. The difference is that the Vulture acquired the taste for human meat. I think that whole cannibalism element pushed the plot into a different sphere, but worked perfectly as a metaphor for capitalism and the exploitation of the workers.

I really enjoyed the obvious political line we took, with Peter Parker and Aunt May portrayed as communists. That ruffled a few feathers, but in the thirties socialism was a very powerful force in America and it was clear that the Parker family would be drawn to the kind of political activism that we showed. I’m not sure that we played up the political angle in our pitch. Probably not. It was more along the lines of cool imagery and the noir style. We didn’t know it at the time, but Marvel were already being pitched ideas for noir books. Our original pitch was Pulp rather that Noir and we threw in ideas for half-a-dozen stories, featuring pulp versions of the X-Men, Iron Man, Fantastic Four. One idea was to set each of the stories in a different decade from the 30’s through the 80’s.
The pitch hit its target. We got the book, though Pulp Spider-Man had become Spider-Man Noir. There were a couple of pulp elements that made it through, not least the grotesque Vulture and the partly mystical transformation of Spider-Man with his vision of an African Insect God. That was straight out of Weird Tales, and was perhaps the one story element that jarred a little with the rest of the Noir line.

ME: Was it difficult dealing with the subject material throughout the story, since you touch on racism, Nazism, eugenics and slavery? Where did you draw inspiration for that side of the story?

FABRICE: It may seem odd, but no. When we were doing the first mini, we thought, at one point, Marvel would stop us. But they didn’t. Come on, we started with Uncle Ben and Aunt May as members of the Communist party. Then with a drug-using Ben Urich and many other edgy stuff I won’t spoil for those who haven’t read the series. Regarding “Eyes Without a Face”, more specifically, we didn’t really have time to think twice.

Spider-Man Noir #1 came out in the States mid-december 2008 and about two months later, Dave and I went to visit our editors, Warren Simmons and Alejandro Arbona, at Marvel. They were quite happy with the sales figures. And they immediately said : “We want you to start working on a second series right now. Not in six months, NOW.” They explained to us that the market was really tough and that in six months who knows if they’d had the budget to finance this second series. They wanted a pitch a week later. We started to throw ideas with them at this meeting, but we weren’t really convinced. They talked about Venom, but Dave and I wanted Octopus, without really talking about this before. We came out of that happy and stressed at the same time. The next morning we had breakfast together and tried to figure out something. Octopus came first. I wanted a very crippled guy, somebody with strong ties to Germany, which made sense in the 1930s, but I have to credit Dave 100% for coming up with this memorable description: “a devil with the face of an angel”. Our Octavius had to be blonde. He had to be a Dr Mengele-like character. From Octopus, the story started to unfold and we introduced Robbie Robertson as a black journalist.

We did all kinds of researches about the era. About the Friends of Germany. About how the blacks were treated and perceived in the 1930s. David loves politics, and so do I. He discovered that in those times, the Republicans were more supportive of blacks than the Democrats. And it gave us many ideas.
Spider-Man Noir, maybe more than any other Marvel book, considering its very nature, is full of social and political references. This is something we loved. And Marvel loved it too. They gave us a lot of freedom. I can think of two moments where we had disagreements with them, but in the end, it didn’t change our vision.

DAVE: We were optimistic from the start that we would get a second series. Our editor Alejandro Arbona was really enthusiastic from the outset and the book had a great reception. So we were already planting the seeds for the follow-up. If you look at the last page of series one, you will see a newspaper headline about the Nazis gaining power in Germany alongside a report referring to Doctor Otto Octavius leaving on an expedition to explore the ocean depths. If I remember rightly we originally planned on having him bring back some weird life-form that was essentially Venom. But we dropped that idea as too science-fiction. Too Pulp!

We also knew that we wanted to introduce Robbie Robertson in some way. Once I started doing the deep research I realized that racism was so endemic in every aspect of life in the USA that it was highly unlikely that a black person could be hired as a journalist on a white newspaper. There were a few newspapers produced by black journalists for black readers so that’s where I put Robbie. Simply introducing a black character meant the issue of racism had to be dealt with because of the segregated nature of society back then. I found the same thing when I worked on Spawn. The fact that Al Simmons and therefore Spawn, was black was rarely alluded to in the present-day storyline. I always liked that about the book. He just happened to be black. No big deal. But when I delved into the ancestry of Al Simmons, it was impossible to write the stories without dealing with the issue of race. I wanted Al’s English grandfather to fight in the trenches in World War One, but I discovered that, although black men could sign up, no black British soldiers were allowed near the combat zones, so I had to deal with that. In the Western Gunslinger Spawn story his ancestor was a Buffalo Soldier and again race automatically became an issue. That was also true of our Spider-Man story. Race became increasingly important to the storyline. We discovered through our research that the Nazis were a very vocal and influential group in the USA in the early thirties. They even held a rally in Central Park. Check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6DOxtUYmbA

We really didn’t have to make this stuff up. What I found more surprising was the deep-rooted racism of the Democrats, whose support came mostly from the Southern States. The Republican Party at the time was still associated with the North and the anti-slavery movement. So the politics were complicated. It was all quite heavy, but I think we succeeded in dealing with all those serious political issues without weakening the story. We still had a great mystery thriller going on, and I really did enjoy seeing Peter Parker’s relationship with Felicia develop into a full-blown affair. We had all the elements of a good noir in there – the very realistic violence, the sexuality of the femme fatale, and the most evil mobsters you could imagine in the form of the Crime Master and the Sandman.

ME: What was the process you followed for getting in the mindset of a depression era Peter Parker?

FABRICE: As I said before, it started with the question: how different can you be when you grow up in a violent and cruel era as opposed to a more loving and peaceful one. From there, our alternate Peter had to be different. Plus, in the Marvel 616 classic version, Peter keeps referring to Uncle Ben as his role model. But in our version, he has another one, Ben Urich. And this Ben is way more twisted than his 616 counterpart. His influence on Peter makes Spider-Man Noir a very very dark character. Especially in the beginning. He’s unstoppable. He can kill. He’s not a single layered character, he’s very complex. Dave and I pretty much agreed on everything regarding Peter. We knew he had to be our Annakin Skywalker, if I may use that reference. Except, in the end, he chooses to do good.

DAVE: It’s part of the writing process to inhabit your characters – all of them, male, female, good, bad, but there are always some that are a better fit and as mentioned before, Peter Parker was always the Marvel character I most identified with. To make the character convincing within the period meant a lot of background reading and I still have a big stack of books on the early thirties in the USA that I tracked down when we were working on these scripts. I always do a lot of research but this one needed more than most. One of the first things I did when we all started out on this book was to make sure that Fabrice and our artist Carmine Di Giandomenico were looking at the photographs of Arthur Fellig, more commonly known as Weegee. He was part of the inspiration for our Ben Urich, a guy who was always on the spot to photograph the seedier side of life. Immersing ourselves in those images helped with creating the whole atmosphere of the era.

ME: I personally love the way that you had Curt Connors as Octavius’ right hand man and Sandman as a mob heavy, so would there have been another character from Spidey’s rogues gallery that you wanted to include in the story but couldn’t find an angle?

FABRICE: We had two big story lines in the second series, the Octopus one, on the one hand, the other one being with the Crime Master, Felicia and the Sandman. That one was the consequence of the first series. With the Goblin out of the picture, who’d take over the mob in New York? And that would be the Crime Master.  We struggled a lot in the beginning with all those elements. But in the end, I think it all made sense and it works. That said, I always regretted that Marvel never allowed us to plan our series as 5 issue ones. I wanted to take more time for some scenes. Developing the Felicia/Peter storyline for example. But we just couldn’t.

DAVE: I seem to remember being under the impression that we had five issues, then having to cut the plot drastically when we realized we only had four. I think we included most of the characters we wanted to include, speaking for myself at least. The Chameleon and Kraven the Hunter were in there as well as all the characters we’ve already mentioned. I’m not particularly interested in the later villains like Carrion and Carnage. Electro was boring, the Rhino looked stupid. The Molten Man was cool. I guess we could have done something with him, and if we had made a third series I guess Gwen Stacy would have made an appearance along with her father.

ME: You wrote the story as a duo, was it difficult to write something together or did you bounce ideas off of one another and click as a writing pair?

FABRICE: It was really easy for me. Maybe Dave thinks differently (laughs). I owe SO MUCH to David Hine. Look, it was my first professional writing gig. I learned everything from him. I could tell you who brought what and when, but in the end, it doesn’t matter; It really is OUR book. Yes, we bounced ideas off one another but when I offered the project to Dave, I made it very clear that if we had disagreements, he would always have the final cut. I respect and trust him very much. There’s no way I’d change what has been published.

DAVE: I think the process worked well. We came at the stories from very different perspectives but in the end the result was one of the books I’m most pleased with so the chemistry was obviously there.

ME: Carmine Di Giandomenico does a fantastic job with his artwork, really capturing the tone of the writing and the feel of a gritty detective story, did his artwork have an impact on the tone of the story as you wrote it or did it instantly just compliment the story to begin with?

FABRICE: That part is funny. Marvel picked Carmine and we couldn’t talk directly with him at first. But Warren and Alejandro have really been smart to choose him. This is another factor that makes this Spider-Man series so unique. It’s one of the few, if not the only one, where none of the creators is American!
I have to confess, I wasn’t really sold when I first saw the first pages. Dave loved them immediately if I remember correctly. But as time went by, I changed my mind. And Carmine really delivered the right tone for the book.

DAVE: Yes, I loved the art from day one. It wasn’t as cinematically ‘noir’ as the other books in the Noir line but that was fine. I was really excited to be working with an artist who had a European sensibility. It looks like a European comic book, beautifully realized and very human characters, wonderfully dynamic page design and the line work is just superb. The scenes with Felicia and the cats are really sensual, the detail in settings like the old abandoned theatre is fantastic. I really have nothing but good things to say about Carmine.

ME: How did it feel seeing your creation in the video game Spider-Man Shattered Dimensions? Was that a surprise and did you make sure you got hold of a copy for yourself?

FABRICE: It was a surprise! One day, we received an email from Marvel saying that our character was to be included in a video game. We were not consulted. I think we learned about it like 3 months before it was released. Ironically, they chose a version of the costume that Dave and I rejected.

DAVE: Meh. It’s always cool to see your characters interpreted in other forms but it was really only superficially the same character and as Fabrice said, there was no consultation and of course no payment. I don’t know if we get a credit listing on the game. I’m not a huge fan of computer games and I don’t have a copy. Marvel didn’t even send us a freebie. I’m not making a big deal of it. You know what you’re getting into when you work for corporate publishers and I certainly don’t regret doing the books. They look great and we’re both very proud of them. We do get some payments off the trades and there have been a number of reprints. They sold very well in France too.

ME: Can we expect anymore from the Spider-Man Noir series? Perhaps Spidey as an OSS agent?

FABRICE: That story isn’t over. We had ideas. I have lots of ideas. At one point, we talked about it, two years ago or so. But it never materialized. At the last New York Comic Con, somebody asked the Spider-Man editor, Steve Whacker, if there would be another Spider-Man Noir project. He said “we’re thinking about it”. Well, I’ll tell it publicly, I’m ready to get back to that universe!

DAVE: I think Peter is too much of an outsider to work for the OSS. Another Spider-Man Noir series? I’m not too eager to go back to work for either Marvel or DC. It’s nothing personal. Most of the people I worked with at both companies were great, it’s just that the way the companies are run makes me uncomfortable. I prefer to work on creator-owned projects or write work-for-hire for the smaller independents, where you are more than just part of a production line. If I were to do anything for the Big 2 again, I guess Spidey Noir would be the most tempting. It’s stand-alone and not going to get tangled up with big events and the requirements of the latest Hollywood movie. Good books do come out from both companies in spite of the system. So let’s just say “Never say never.

So there we, that’s the story of making a well received, alternate take on an established Marvel character. Personally, I would love to see another episode in the Spider-Man Noir tales, as there is such a wealth of history of the character that could be taken, unwound and re-woven as a darker edged story. What about Gwen and Captain Stacy as David said earlier? To check out David and Fabrice’s stories, you can read Eye’s Without a Face in the Panini re-prints Astonishing Spider-Man and to top it all off, David Hine will be at Thought Bubble arts festival in Leeds this weekend, so if you’re there, go and say hello, whilst Fabrice will be appearing at the Paris Comics Expo the same weekend, so if you’re off to either, check the guys out and give them some appreciation!

So this is where we leave it this week, on a cliffhanger “will they, won’t they?” note…

Until next time…

For more comic views and reviews follow Robin on Twitter at @Hulksmash1985

It finally happened. The chained up writer in me finally reared it’s creative, hydra like head, roared the roar of it’s people and forced my chubby hand to the keyboard, I attempted to resist and started fighting it valiantly using the nearby kebab stick as a rudimentary phalanx, but alas my pitiful poking device merely angered the beast. Woe initially started to set it, this beast of earth and fire and mind and tramadol essence screamed at me, it’s voice a mixture of velvety space themed chocolate, honey and Morgan Freeman “You will write a comic!” and I screamed back at it, in my best Ian McKellen-esque thespian voice “No… no…lalalalalalalalala I’m not listening!” whilst sticking my fingers in my ears and finally blowing a raspberry. Once the final bit of spittle had dribbled from my lip, I had an epiphany! I shall write a comic, “I’ve read loads of them now, how hard can it be?” I said to myself as I sat down to let the amazing cauldron of bullshit that is my mind, bubble over with ideas… Half an hour passed and nothing…an hour…two…I checked my mind for leaks and started again, eventually in drips and drabs ideas started to trickle along my forehead and down into my fingertips, and lo I started referring to myself as “Your Generalissimo”, shouted “EXCELSIOR!!” and grew a mustache. Then I tried to draw and threw up on the page whilst looking at my efforts. I reigned myself in and said “Let’s leave this to the experts” and thus the second Papercuts and Inkstains “Hipster Hipster Shake” was born.

So, what fun filled comics do I have for you this time? Well there’s a Saturday morning cartoon masquerading as a comic featuring; a dungeon crawler mixed with the Powerpuff girls, a post-apocalyptic thriller involving huge Arks; aliens and punk music and a comic about a killer cloud of gas with a serious vendetta on his hands…gas hands…gshands…gas. Either way, here we go!

REYNARD CITY VOL. 1: INVASION & VOL. 2 STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

Writer: Rob Turner
Artistic Director/Penciller: Dan Butcher
Head Artist: Susie Gander
Artist Team: Nicholas Webb, Bijoy, Jed Soriano, Danielle Soloud, Ielle Palmer, Marcela Hauptvogelova

First up, it’s Reynard City Vol 1 and 2 and much like Vanguard, a comic I’ve previously reviewed, it’s a web based comics, offering you free downloads of it’s volumes as PDF files! Reynard City describes itself as a ”Saturday morning cartoon in webcomic form! Reynard City is an online comic about three superhero foxes that come to Earth to stop an evil robot fox.” Instantly, in my mind I picture Samurai Pizza Cats, Biker Mice from Mars and TMNT, I also picture being sat on my bum, in front of the telly watching Captain Planet  and laughing at the kid with the power of heart, but that’s a story for another time.

Now, Reynard City isn’t just trying to be a comic, from the looks of things, it’s trying to take over the whole media world, there’s the comics, a cartoon in production and a game! But that’s not why we’re here. Oh no. I’m looking at Vol 1: Invasion! It’s exactly like a Saturday morning cartoon. The Animal Kingdom, a place where humans don’t exist, is under threat of destruction by an evil menace known as Mega Fox. It is up to a small group of animal heroes, led by AK Girl, Wondervixen and Hyper Rob; a band of cunning fox superheroes, to stop Mega Fox and his robot fox army! It’s slightly cheesy, a little bit corny here and there, but you enjoy it all the more for it! It’s self aware (“Maybe I’ll show you through flashbacks sometime”), there’s monologuing and a bumbling evil lieutenant. This isn’t high brow, intelligentsia based comics, this is old school fun and frivolity comics. It’s also however, a little disjointed and can feel a bit clunky at times, but as you move into Vol 2 however it becomes a much more fluid entity, the story and dialogue become much slicker. The pacing of the whole comic seems to shift upwards a gear and Turner and his gang of artists seem to have channeled the volumes title and addressed their strengths and weaknesses. The artwork is much more stylized and less 2D and boxy. It becomes more like a cartoon, which is what the project is aiming at! After looking ahead, it goes on from strength to strength and continues on in it’s gonzo fashion! I heartily recommend it for anyone who wants to take a nostalgic look at what made Saturday mornings the best morning of the week, every week for their whole childhood!

To download it as a PDF file, click this link and follow the handy instructions!

Now, I managed to ask writer/producer Rob Turner a few questions about Reynard City and it’s inception from mad capped idea lodged in his brain lobes, to its bonkers delivery as a web comic!

Me: Firstly, which were your favorite Saturday morning cartoons and which most heavily influenced Reynard City?

Rob: I would say I was lucky in the 90′s because you had Spider-Man, the X-Men, the critically acclaimed ’92 Batman series providing the more serious cartoon style. On the other hand you had Earthworm Jim and Samurai Pizza Cats for deranged nuttiness and Ninja Turtles somewhere in the middle. I would say Reynard City is like a mash-up between those styles.

Me: So as well as the comic series, you also have a cartoon series and video game in production, is there any other media you want to try and conquer with your furocious foxes?

Rob: The very talented Juston De Cristofaro is also working on a graphic novel called A Tale of Two Worlds.

Me: If you had to choose, what’s the most fun aspect of writing Reynard City?

Rob: I like it when people think a story is going way and you throw them a twist they don’t see coming!

Me: Finally, What does the Fox say?

Rob: I’ll let AK Girl answer this one- “If I ever meet Ylvis he will say ‘Owie owie owie’ repeatedly after I say ‘STRENGTH MODE!”

TOXIC STORM #001 – 003

Writer: Adam Cheal
Artist: Renzo Rodriguez
Colorist: Mike Summers
Letterer: Mindy Lopkin
Cover Artist: Jimbo Salgado
Cover Colorist: Jimmy Kerast

After a shout-out by Inter Comics Podcaster extraordinaire Jack Chambers, we now look at Toxic Storm, a horror shocker from writer Adam Cheal and artist Renzo Rodriguez. This is a tale of revenge, murder, intrigue and killer gas that the Nazi’s would have loved to get their hands on! Like a classic B-Movie horror nasty, Cheal and Rodriguez deliver a no holds barred, blood tinged romp that Bruce Campbell would be proud to have his name attached to!

So, the premise of the whole thing is as follows, Simon Fisher is unjustly convicted and sent to the gas chamber at San Quentin prison. Using occult power, he transforms into deadly toxic gas to escape his fate. Simon embarks on a quest of revenge on those responsible for his condition. Special FBI Agent “Jack Storm” enlists the help of Simon’s former cell mate and mentor “Caleb Fontana” to track him down. Caleb has a hidden agenda and betrays Jack Storm resulting in his death. Through the power of a gemstone obtained from an ancient demon, Jack Storms body is reanimated into a terrifying and deadly alter ego. Roles are reversed as he’s the one seeking vengeance and will stop at nothing to get it!

I will say, if you’re looking for gore, brutality, naked women being cooked on sticks and the LORD OF FLESH AND PAIN, read issue 3! It is by far the goriest, most twisted episode where Cheal and Rodriguez’s story really takes off! Issue 1 & 2 build up to this point as Fontana and Storm have a show down, Fisher stares down the Lord of Flesh and Pain, a teddy bear becomes a deranged psychopath and the boundaries of taste and decency are pushed to the limits! This book has no limits and it also has a pretty good story among the blood and the gore and the tits and the blood! If you like your horror old school with a good plot and plenty of claret, then this is the horror book for you!

If you head over to Toxic Storm’s webpage you can check out all the latest news and info, and there’s also a link here so you can download issue 1 from none other than Comixology! Adam Cheal, who’s mind spewed forth Toxic Storm, was happy to answer a few questions about his twisted tale!

Me: What was the main source of inspiration for Toxic Storm?

Adam: I have always been a fan of old school 80’s horror flicks and video nasties. I grew up on these films and lived in what you may call a “house of horror”. A sanctuary where myself and other neighbourhood kids could hang out and watch the latest horror films. When I sat down and decided I wanted to write comics, I thought about what I would want to read. I wanted to push things and offer a true bare bones good old fashioned, tongue in check horror yarn.

Me: When did you start writing comics and what were your favorite types of comics when you were growing up?

Adam: I didn’t really read too many comics growing up and still don’t. I like to read mostly indie comics now as you always get something unexpected and it’s great to see the stories as intended as they are not bound by the same rules as mainstream publishers. My Comics of choice would be 2000AD, Sandman and anything by Alan Moore, the man is a goddamn genius! I was more of a “movie” kid. I guess thats why my comic book stories are a little different in composition to many other comics. I want to try and give the reader a cinematic experience and treat every book as a movie with a start, middle and end. I am not a big fan of long story arcs.

Me: Was it difficult writing a vengeful killer as your main protagonist as there’s some quite dark scenes throughout?

Adam: Not really. I really embrace my dark side and in fact, I find it much more challenging to write character that people will find likeable. I think there is a much more blurred line between good and evil and I want to explore that and get people thinking about what REALLY motivates us as human beings. We are all capable of great kindness and intolerable cruelty too. I think if more people thought about things in those terms, life is easier to accept.

Me: Once issue 4 is done, do you have any plans to take Toxic Storm any further?

Adam: I have already scripted issue five and it would ultimately depend on the success of the first story arc if it went into production. As in independent creator, you have to foot the bills and people need paying. If a book is not supported by the fans and makes no money to keep running, then its hard to justify. However, I think this book offers something a little different and I hope it gets enough of a cult following to keep making more.
There is going to be an exclusive London Super Comic Con hardcover of the book released at the LSCC in March 2014. The cover art is by Jimbo Salgado (DC, Zenescope, IDW) and will be available from the Markosia booth all weekend *although numbers are limited. I will also be there all weekend as I have another hardcover graphic novel launching with Markosia called “Terminus at Fenton’s Green”. It’s a Victorian horror book with Demons, stream trains and top hats!

DUNGEON FUN

Writer, Letterer, Gentleman of comics: Colin Bell
Illustrator: Neil Slorance

Next up is a first issue! Premiering at Thought Bubble in Leeds this year, it’s Colin Bell and Neil Slorance’s Dungeon Fun!

First impressions can be very very wrong. My first impression of Dungeon Fun was very very wrong. I thought it would be very similar to Adventure Time and The Regular Show and thus felt I had perhaps already read or seen what would be contained within it’s pages…I was wrong. I love admitting I was wrong. This book is AWESOME and by far my favorite title of the week!

Do you like Monty Python, the writings of Terry Pratchett, The Legend of Zelda games, dungeons, generally being amused, word play, visual gags, laughing and having a good time? Then buy this comic. I was laughing within ten seconds of reading. After a minute, I was shouting my fiancee over to come read it too. We read it together, giggling, laughing and generally having a good time. So thankfully I fell into their demographic.

Writer Colin Bell delivers joke after joke, either visual or through language. It is well paced, genuinely funny and worthy of greatness. Neil Slorance’s artwork is beautiful, especially charming and light in these heady days of gritty, dark toned comic art. In fact the whole tone of the comic is fun. On their publisher’s, Dogooder Comics website, they describe the story as “A subversive, comedic blend of fairy-tales and dungeon-crawling video games, DUNGEON FUN is the story of a girl raised by trolls in a moat, the sword she finds and the responsibility (and cantankerous fairy) that comes with it” and let me tell you, that description is bang on. It is all of the above and there is also much below the surface of their work which will delight many a reader. Fun is a girl raised by trolls in a moat, one day she finds a sword which is dropped into the moat she lives in. A prophecy written long ago by the man reading it to her, who subsequently finds a prophecy detailing delivery of a tasty sandwich to himself,then sends her on a quest involving fairy knights, witches curses, the Three Headed Dreadfulness “The Wurstest”, ninjas, the deadliest game of “The floor is Lava”and all the responsibility that comes with said sword. I cannot stress just how good this book is!

To top things off, Colin was gracious enough to answer some questions for me regarding Dungeon Fun.

Me: What were your major influences for Dungeon Fun? Should we expect “Your princess to be in another castle” or is it more a dungeon crawler ala World of Warcraft?

Colin: Originally when Neil and I put together our plans for Dungeon Fun, we wanted to find a middleground between Luke Pearson’s Hilda series and The Legend of Zelda videogames. So “HildaZelda” would be the high-concept pitch.
In terms of writing it, it’d be amiss of me to not mention the influences of Jeff Smith’s Bone, Ryan North, The Princess Bride, the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon… a whole bunch of stuff from all kinds of mediums. I’ve also recently realised that everything I write is informed by Viz’s Billy The Fish strip.
Really if someone in the book doesn’t say “your princess is in another castle” at some point I’m missing an open goal. There will be some dungeon crawling to be sure, but there’s a big, expansive and ill-defined world for Fun to explore, and we’ll certainly be doing that in future issues.

Me: Since you’re unleashing Dungeon Fun at Thought Bubble in Leeds, what can the comic buying public expect if they’re at the event?

Colin: A FULL ON TWO-PRONGED SALES ATTACK!

I’ll be Dungeon Funning it up on Table 2 of the Royal Armouries Hall along with my good pals Sam Read, Harry French and John Lees as they sell their respective books Exit Generation, Master Tape and And Then Emily Was Gone.
MEANWHILE Neil will be sketching and selling Dungeon Fun along with his other highly-acclaimed comics The Amateur Astronomer’s Journal, Seven Days in Berlin and Nine Lines of Metro in the New Dock Hall on table 69. (69, DUDES!) I hear Neil’s dressing up as a big ol’ dragon! But I might’ve made this up to embarrass him.

Me: Neil Slorance’s artwork gives off a very Adventure Time feel, should we expect something as mindbending as the Cartoon Network show, or is this a veil for a deep, meaningful tale of feudal life?

Colin: While it’s TOTALLY FLATTERING to be compared to Adventure Time, Neil’s style has been Neil’s style long before Finn and Jake ever hit Cartoon Network, and I’d encourage people to dig in to his earlier stuff via neilslorance.com and our previous webcomic Jonbot Vs Martha!
Will it be mindbending? Possibly. Will it be entertaining? Bet your life on it. The only deep and meaningful subtext I want people to take away from my work is “guys, comics are the f*cking best.”

Me: On dogoodercomics.co.uk you say that Dungeon Fun will appeal to fans of swordplay, humour, monsters, fun, dungeons, cuteness, epic adventure, wizards, comics, Batman. That last one comes as a bit of a curveball, does the Dark Knight play a big part in your story?

Colin: Some might suggest it’s a cynical marketing ploy. To them I say “hey guy, why not buy the book and find out? Quit being so cynical! Come on, life is for living! Carpe diem! Look behind you, a three-headed monkey!” Legally I’m probably required to say no…

I can honestly say that Dungeon Fun is the funniest comic I have ever read. It appeals perfectly to my sense of humour and I implore you all to get yourselves over to both Colin and Neil’s tables at Thoughtbubble and buy their wares! I know I will be! You will not fail to enjoy Dungeon Fun, I personally guarantee it! I also hope that Neil is dressed a dragon!

EXIT GENERATION

Writer: Sam Read
Art: Caio Oliveira
Colours/Cover Colours: Ruth Redmond
Letters/Production: Colin Bell
Cover Art: Ramon Villalobos
Editor: Adam P. Knave

Finally this week, I have another alumni of the Glasgow League of Writers (Colin Bell is a member), a secret society who’s sole mission is to seek control of the world…and it’s production of Crunchie bars… I’m kidding, they’re a collective who work together to produce excellent comics! Also like the afore mentioned Bell’s work, this book will be launched at Thought Bubble in Leeds! However, this is Sam Read’s dystopian future piece, Exit Generation! Head over to Sam’s site for any more info you’d like to gather up!

In a similar vein to storys such as Y the Last Man, The Walking Dead etc, humanity is on the brink of extinction. The worlds food supply dwindled to nought. Riots, civil unrest and a wedding took place over the months after. Humanity looked for an answer and their gaze turned to the stars! Within five years the worlds collective space agencies build huge arks capable of supporting 95% of the worlds population and they left, not without having a minor hiccup in their oxygen recyclers which proved catastrophic for all onboard the arks.The remaining 5% left on Earth were left to attempt to survive. We pick up the story 20 years later, with the child of one of the crew members of an Ark who’s mother stayed on Earth, Jack. It’s his birthday and his adoptive parents are throwing him a birthday bash with scavenged presents. After the celebration, Jack’s birthday hits a bum note, however, i don’t want to give that game away, you’ll have to see for yourself!

The one problem I have with Read’s book is the lack of explanation. Why did the world’s food supplies dwindle? How in five years were humans able to create inter-stellar ships capable of carrying 95% of the worlds populous? The population is nearly 8 billion now, so in another 15 years it could possibly be 10 billion. That’s a lot of toilets needed. However, once you look past that, as we know that comics can be flimsy in the whole “science” and “believability” aspect, what we have is a book with heart. A young man is out to save his adoptive family and ultimately what’s left of the Human Race. There’s some nice touching scenes involving Jack and his adoptive father and brother, there’s a nice depth to Read’s writing and Oliveira’s art work is reminiscent of Charlie Adlard’s work on the Walking Dead and Pia Guerra’s work on Y the Last Man, and this is a good thing as it breeds a familiarity with that type of comic. The plot, whilst not under pinned by strong science, has a lot of room for growth and Read’s writing will surely be taking it to new levels! There is a lot of story to tell still within Exit Generation’s pages so I will be keeping a very close eye as Exit, as it has a lot promise! Sam was also very kind enough to answer some questions from myself about how Exit Generation came about.

Me: What was your inspiration behind the whole idea for Exit Generation?

Sam: It’s really about finding a place in the world, finding something that you feel you have to do with your life. Stories set in a ‘post-crisis’ Earth or after an apocalyptic event are pretty common in comics, so I thought it might be interesting to see what would happen if after the strife had passed, and things actually got much better, but also how this might might become somewhat staid and dull. That’s really the heart thinking at the heart of ‘Exit Generation’; about discovering a purpose and meaning in life.

Well… that and punk music.

Me: What were your favorite comics growing up and what pushed you to write your own?

Sam: The first books I read were the likes of TinTin and old Commando comics. But it was when I started picking up Chuck Dixon’s ‘Detective Comics’ in the early 90s that I got properly hooked. I also remember reading Jim Blakie’s ‘Skizz’ sequel around that time too, and that still resonates with me today. It made me aware that comics weren’t just from the states, that Brits had a voice in the medium too.

What led me to take the plunge into trying (and I’m still only trying!) to write my own comics was meeting the Glasgow League of Writers (GLoW), a bunch of aspirant scribes up in Scotland. Everyone involved was really knowledgeable and encouraging and I lay the blame firmly at their door as to why I finally put pen to paper!

GLoW has an impressive alumni too, with the likes of Garry Mac (‘Black Leaf’, ‘Gonzo Cosmic’), Colin Bell (‘Detective Space Cat’, ‘Dungeon Fun’), John Lees (‘The Standard’, ‘And Then Emily Was Gone’), Stephen Sutherland (‘Taking Flight’, ‘Never Ending’) and many more. I just hope to justify my place alongside the rest of the group.

Me: Can you give our readers a little idea of whats next for Jack in his struggle to survive earth post mass evacuation?

Sam: Well, I obviously don’t want to give away too much before people can get the book in their hands, but I can say that Jack and Mo meet a few more interesting people on their journey, and their is a little hint to that at the very end of the first issue! But I can promise that all of us involved in ‘Exit Generation’ will be pulling out the stops to make sure the whole series is as exciting as possible, and we hope that the enthusiasm we all have for the story gets transmitted to the audience.

Me: Since you’re unleashing Exit Generation at Thoughtbubble, what can the comic community there expect to see at your table? I believe you’ll be with Colin Bell (Writer of Dungeon Fun, another book I’m reviewing) so will you be dressed as a Dragon like he’s suggest Neil Slorance will be?

Sam: Well, if Neil and Colin wish to meet the inordinately large fee I’ve quoted them to order to have me dress as a goblin bureaucrat, they have my number!

But in all seriousness, our stall at Thought Bubble (Table 2, Royal Armouries Hall; come say “Hi”!) is overloaded with excellent books. As you point out, Neil and Colin’s phenomenal ‘Dungeon Fun’ will be there, as will John Lees (http://johnleescomics.wordpress.com/) with the latest issue of his sensational ‘And Then Emily Was Gone’ and his other brilliant books, such as ‘Black Leaf’.

I’m also delighted to say that Harry French (readfrenchcomics.bigcartel), another GLoW writer, will be launching his first book ‘Master Tape’ at Thought Bubble, and having been lucky enough to have seen the completed title, I think Harry is going to turn more than a few heads with that title. It really is something quite special, so I urge everyone there to pop over and grab a copy.

So kiddos, there we go! One web comic which has plans to dominate the world, one horror comic which plans to unleash the Lord of Flesh and Pain upon us and two independent comics which will be launching at Thought Bubble, Leeds next weekend! All of the above are worth checking out as it’s very important to support indie developers and writers, as these guys could be the Alan Moore’s, the Scott Snyder’s, the J. Michael Straczynski’s of the future! Show them all some love! However, that’s now it for my Hipster Hipster Shake once again! Join me next week, I will be checking out the often over looked Spider-Man Noir  series and I’ll be joined by two very special guests, Fabrice Sapolsky and David Hine, co-writers of the series themselves, answering my questions and generally being the awesome guys they are!

Until next time…

For more comic views and reviews follow Robin on Twitter at @Hulksmash1985