Dear Mr. Murray. Letters to a Gentleman Publisher. David McClay (Editor). John Murray (2018)

Writers relationships with their publishers have frequently been fraught with tension and dislike. One English writer proposed at toast to Napoleon at a dinner, when England was at war with France lead by Napoleon, saying "He executed a publisher". This charming and onderfully engaging book shows that different relationships are also possible. Plenty of room for complaining, room for friendship as well. John Murray founded his publishing firm in 1768 in London and it remained a family firm for seven generations The leters are drawn from the John Murray Archive  and elswhere.
Maria Rundell wrote A new System of Domestic Cookery in 1805 and it became one of the most successful cookery books in the nineteenth-century, Maria Rundell wrote to John Murray in 1805 to congragulate him on his marriage and took the opportunity to complain about printing errors in the second edition. The letter is an mix offriendly congratulations, heartfelt complaints aboput errors in the edition and the thought it might damage prospects for a third edition and family news. it shows that the writer and the publisher had more than a business relationship, no matter how important the busines was to both.
Lady Caroline Lamb had n affair with Byron which affected her deeply. In 1813 she sent a letter to John Murray, pretending to bte Byron to get a portrait miniture of Byron the poet had gived to to Mr Murry for safekeeping. Mr murry sent the minitaure as requested and later founf from Brron that the letter had been a forgery.
Benjamin D'Israeli , aged twenry-one wasa sent to Scotland to get the the support of Walter Scott and his son-in-law John Gibson Lockhart for a newspaper he was trying to launch. Understanding the need to be careful with the information Benjamin D'Israeli managed to disguise hois news so effectively that they were completely mysterious to John Murray.
Kathleen Hale was a lithographer wo illustrated several books and leters to John Murray. Her death in childbirth lead to her husband sending the following heartbreaking postcard, "John dear, This postcard is to let you know that Hamish arrived this morning but my darling left me this afternoon suddenly. Bless you for always being so sweet to her"
The letters from the Irish travel writer Dervela Murphy to John Murrary are among the last to mark the personal relationship between a publisher and a writer. Publishers became more corporate and the room for such relationships has vanished.
This is a delightful book, David McClay probvodes sufficent context for each letter for it to be fully enjoyed without ever drowning in detail. The selection id wide ranging and thoughtful. The changing styles of letter writing is one of the many pleasures of the book.

Goosebusters. Chris Allen (Writer, Letters & Colours), Juan Fleites (Art). Swampline Comics (2018)

A smart and funny parody of Ghostbusters. A ghostly outbreak at the public Library interrupts Dr Beaker Peckman's hitting on a student and starts the search for paranormal activity by Dr Eggon Sprckler, Dr Laymond Stance and Dr Peckman. The story starts as it means to continue by taking key scenes from the film and using  fowl based jokes.
Chris Allen manages the difficult task of spoofing a film that was already a long way to spoofing itself. As much as carefully compressing the story so that it fits comfortably into a single issue comic, he has managed to preserve the character of the original human cast. The essential story is followed and all of the highlights are delivered. Chris Allen is not afraid to be a bit meta as the cast uses the fact of being in a comic to excellent effect, it does not break the story and give the project a nice extra push.
The film rested heavily on Bil Murray and the comic captures his charachter's spirit and some of his key line from the film. This gives the comic, as it did with the filnm, a necessary sarcastic heart that pulls in the reader. The climactic confromtation is really well staged.
Juan Fleites art is friendly and a pleasure to read. The cast are not copied from the film, they are clearly animated by the human cast and that makes the story and the jokes work. The cast are given vivid energy and life. The action is great fun, the slimimg at the hotel is great and the version of the agent of destruction is both funny and actually a threath.
Chris Allen's bright colours are exactly suited to the story, they support the comedy atsmophere and  bring out the details of the art.The sound effects are big and bold, they add the necessary crackle to the action.
Goosebusters takes a funny film and makes it a funny comic on its own terms.
Chief Wizard Note:This is a review copy I was very kindly sent by Kim Roberts at Swampline Comics. It can be purchased from https://www.swamplinecomics.com/shop, you really should give yourself the pleasure of a good fun comic, a sure way to a happier life
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The Nomad No. 1 Bill Stoddard (Writer), Stan Yak (Artist), Robert Nugent (Colours), Dave Sharpe (Letters), Ed Lavalle (Designer). Vulture Comics (2019)

Very engaging and enjoyable dystopian science comic. After The Altering, worldwide event that destroyed nature, unleashed monsters and left humans to survive, the battle for survival is relentless. On the edge of the Hotspot, the Vultures, an outlaw motorcycle gang have a significant problem. A new power player has disrupted their supply agreement and they have decided to attack his train to get what they need. The assault does not go well and the consequences are ferocious.
Any first issue for an series has a lot of work to do in a very short space and The Nomad 1 manages to do it all and make it look easy. The context is briefly set up and then expanded in action as the assault on the train gives a chance to give vivid details about the state of the world and introduce some of the cast.
Bill Stoddard writes with wonderful confidence and economy, the story moves very fast without ever being rushed. There is enough detail and time taken with the cast to make sure that the cliffhanger confrontation has impact.The cast have tremendous energy and a vivid life about them, the struggle to survive is hard and they are determined. The problems the human cast face are genuinely life threatening, the fight is going to be a bitter and engaging one.
The design of the Altered world is pitch perfect, the story is partly an updated classic western, robbing a moving train, a lone storekeeper and a man coming in from a desert. The motorbikes replace horses seamlessly and it gives the story a nice familiarity. When the residents of the Hotspot are introduced  a equally classic science fiction framing is used to great affect. The creatures are suitably monstrous, the leader is  clearly a force to be reckoned with. The confrontation between they two elements is handled beautifully, both merge perfectly to create a tremendous outcome.
Stan Yak's art is superb, he delivers ferocious action, close up hand to hand combat managed by smart panel placement and organization, big reveals and quiet moments with equal conviction. The cast fit into their context and move through it with natural ease, the mix of humans and monsters never seems out of scale or awkward, both are clearly inhabiting the same space.
Robert Nugent's colours are a joy, they capture the western and the science fiction undertones of the story with ease and held bind everything together when they clash. The colours bring out the subtle details of the writing and the art, they give the emotional context of the story a chance to be heard without ever stopping the action.
Dave Sharpe's lettering is a pleasure to read, the narration boxes are framed smartly, the dialogue is shaped to the character of the cast.
Nomad 1 succeeds as a first issue, it introduces the reader to an engaging story and finishes on a compelling cliffhanger. What a fun read.

Ducky. Kim Roberts (Writer), Pramit Santra (Art), Chris Allen (Colours & Letters), Swampline Comics 2018

A very enjoyable re-working of the Chucky horror film with a cast of ducks and hens. When a serial rapist is trapped, deserted by his accomplice and fatally wounded by the police he does not die quietly. A widowed mother buys a doll for her son from a peddler and trouble and lashings of gore follow from there. Exactly as it should do.
Kim Roberts has nicely avoided playing the story for laughs, it needs a serious intent to come off. The change of cast and the very smart compression of the story into a comic refreshes the story nicely and gives it a happily grim edge. The plot is good fun and the story makes the most of it, it solves the perennial problem in horror, people acting stupidly in order to get into trouble. The child and an evil doll give every adult an opportunity to be disbelieving and credible at the same time.
Pramit Santra's art is great, the cast are very expressive and suitably humorous at the same time. He carries the need to be humours, a cast of barnyard fowl is always going to be ridiculous, at the same time they are given weight and intent. The art captures the writing to give Ducky in particular a tremendous energy and nasty life, he is threatening and unpleasant no matter what he looks like. The rest of the cast move out of their stereotypes to be individual and that gives the story more weight and impact. No one is an anonymous victim, they have a chance to be someone and their encounters with Ducky develop into real confrontations.
Chris Allen's colours give the context, action and in particular the gore force and impact. The colours pick out the details of the story and add greatly to the atmosphere of the story. The lettering is unobtrusive and natural to read in the panels, the low key sound effects work a treat
Ducky takes a ridiculous idea , makes it more ridiculous and finishes with an good fun horror story, impressive work by very talented creators.
Chief Wizard Note:This is a review copy I was very kindly sent by Kim Roberts at Swampline Comics. It can be purchased from https://www.swamplinecomics.com/shop, you really should give yourself the pleasure of a smart comic, a sure path to sparking joy.