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.

Arthur Blackfrost. Justin V. Gray (Writer), Laura Rimaszombati (Art). 2019

A wonderfully engaging and enjoyable fairy story. Arthur Blackfrost lived with his mother in the village of Gull Harbour on the island of Yorn. It was a hard place to live, the people of Gull Harbour could harvest enough fish to liver not enough to thrive. The Blackfrost family suffered under a curse that made them isolated within the families of Gull Harbour. Arthur's father had left them and Arthur was desperate to break the curse. He does get a unexpected gift and success for him the Gull Harbour follows until disaster strikes. Arthur set out to solve the problem and he finds that there is much more going on than he had ever imagined.
Justin V. Gray writes with confidence and care, he takes the whole structure of a fairy tale deeply seriously and uses it with great effect to deliver the story. There is no ironic winking at the audience, the reader is allowed to sink into the story and enjoy if to the full.  The reveals are very well staged, the plot moves smartly and the whole story is very satisfying. The cast are very engaging, Arthur is determined, overconfident and openhearted when he should be. He is never a puppet, he is a young man trying to take control of his life and willing to do the work needed to achieve it. Arthur's mother is the classic fairy tale mother, loving and hardworking, accepting of her fate and trying to protect her family. She is never a cliche, there is a happy life to her that draws the reader to her. The citizens of Gull Harbour are a happy or miserable mob as required. The other major cast members are all given the opportunity to shine and they do, they bring the extra elements that a fairy story needs to be successful.
Laura Rimaszombati's art is jaw dropping beautiful and captures the story and the nuances with elegance and precision. The whole cast, including the walk on players, are all individual and wonderfully expressive. They interact with each other and their context naturally and ground the story in a tremendous physical sense of place. The action scenes are full of energy and force, the domestic scenes are quiet and effective. There is no sense of naturalism in the art, it is utterly fantastic, it delivers a fairy story with a flourish. The colouring is a joy, it captures and emphasises the emotional tones of the story with subtle care that bring out the concerns of the cast without shouting at the reader. The panel layouts are great, they control the pace and focus of the story in a understated way that never draws attention to the considerable craft that underlies it. The lettering is a pleasure, the differences between the narration boxes and dialogue supports the framework of a fairy story.
Arthur Blackfrost is an unmitigated pleasure to read, highly talented creators making a wonderful comic, a wish come true.

The Egg-Xas Chainsaw Massacre. Chris Allen (Writer, Colours & Letters), Juan Fleites (Art). Swampline Comics 2018

Highly enjoyable anthropomorphic parody of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A set of young chickens travelling in a minibus pick up a hitchhiker who turns out to be unsettling weird and is pushed from the van. He leaves a threatening message on the van. When the group arrive at their destination, one of them decides to explore an old house. This proves to be a fatally bad decision, followed by more fatally bad decisions from the rest of the group.
Chris Allen has managed to solve a difficult problem with considerable with and flair. The beating heart of the film is the violence committed by a deranged family, turning everyone into chickens goes a low way to removing the impact of the story by making it ridiculous. This would be funny, it would also lack the edge that the parody needs to be successful. The writing reduces the impact of the chicken cast by being deliberately aware of being a horror film parody, the well placed use of chicken jokes and a whole hearted commitment to gore. The creepiest scene in the film is barely less creepy in the comic, the writing is strong enough to support a jokes and chills.
Juan Fleites is friendly and inviting and brings the story to gory, funny life with a wonderful cast that are exactly the chicken characters that they should be. The cast are wonderfully expressive, the deranged family have the advantage as they are deranged. They get to be flamboyant and driving the action in the story. The group of victims are limited as their purpose is largely to be slaughtered. They do go to their fate with good jokes and a post Scream awareness of horror film rules. Leatherface is as iconic as he should be. The real star is the youngest member of the family, he is drawn to be very strange, just at the acceptable limits of strange, not quite frightening. His range of expressions and actions are big enough for him to emerge as much more of a character.
Chris Allen's colouring is a joy, it is bright and cheerful, it never gives a horror film sense. This gives the story a great contrast for the reader, it supports the parody and gives the gore an added boost. The lettering is quiet and never draws attention to itself. The sound effects are nicely muted, they support the action without distracting from it.
Unexpected, clever and very enjoyable The Egg-Xas Chainsaw Massacre is great fun. It is a pleasure to see talented creators making smart comics.
Chief Wizard Note: I was very kindly sent The Egg-Xas Chainsaw Massacre 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.

The Crimson Deathbringer. Sean Robins. Creativia (2019)

Hugely enjoyable and engaging space opera. Alien invasion of Earth with a twist sounds like a lot of other stories, the execution makes all the difference. Sean Robbins has the confidence to have big ideas and a huge cast as well as the craft to balance them. The narrative shifts across aliens and humans and to give each the space to engage the reader, everyone has a motive and a context and when they clash the action has weight and consequence. The plot mechanics are ruthlessly efficient, Sean Robbins pushes the story at a considerable pace and no one gets to escape unscathed. Victory for anyone is hard won and harder to maintain, everyone learns from their mistakes and has to make new ones to keep alive and in the struggle. The action is intense and beautifully staged, the reveals are cunningly timed and move the story forward with force and increasing momentum. The cast are hugely engaging, the leading characters are determined and individual, they drive the plot and are driven by the plot in a wholly satisfactory way. The walk on cast give depth and flavour to the story, Sean has a gift for very quickly introducing a character who is fully fledged in a short space, there is nothing impersonal about this conflict. Aliens and humans are given scope and motive so that the struggle between them has depth and engagement. 

Sean Robins' control of the narrative is impressive, there are a huge number of shifting viewpoints, including a first person narrative, none it is is confusing. The structure gives the room for a widespread look at the conflict and moves from the global to the specific with ease and impact. It opens the scope of the story very nicely, placing Earth in the middle of a galactic struggle naturally and effectively. You do need a high tolerance for pop culture references and jokes, they never get in the way of the story, they do not quite come off cumulatively as Sean Robbins might have intended. They hide the character who indulges in them the most a little more than they reveal him.

I do have a concern with the attrition rate in the cast. Not the fact that it is high, rather that it does not bend the story the way it should. The reader is encouraged to have an investment in some of the cast, they take up enough story space to become significant and their demise does not have the following impact that I would have expected. 

I bought this book to support a colleague, I read it because I love science fiction, I greatly enjoyed it because Sean Robbins has delivered a great story that pulls the reader into the action with tremendous skill and confidence. I strongly recommend it because the benefits of reading excellent science fiction are clinically proven to improve your joy in living. Do yourself a favour, get the benefits of first rate space opera that The Crimson Deathbringer so happily delivers.

Scapula. Doubly Dark and Deadly! Aidan Casserly (Writer & Artist). www.scapulacomic.com (2019)

A wonderful collection of comics that are very funny, unexpected and thoroughly engaging featuring Scapula-The World's Worst Villain.
Rawkum Nawkum Punks. Nazz the Nazi, leading member of Scapula's gang decides to skip work in favour of a Battle of the Bands. There is an unexpected problem, if the crowd does not approve the band are killed. Nazz has to move fast to survive.
Aidan Casserly takes a smart idea, a literal battle of the bands and executes it with increasing absurdity and urgency as the competition gets more and more dangerous for Nazz. The story moves in unexpected ways before coming to an entirely satisfactory conclusion.The art is a deep pleasure to read, he cast are given vivid life and the emotional tones of the story and the atmosphere are brought forward with care and subtle craft. The story wildly overblown and never looses its balance, the big events sit with the smaller tense moments and combine perfectly to pull in the reader.
Jemini's Copycat Counterattack. Jemini is a two headed gang leader and sworn event of Scapula. With the assistance of Dr Mira Mira who has developed cloning techniques she has risen to being a fearsome criminal. Dr Mira has conducted an experiment on Dio, a teenage relative sent to stay with her. The experiment results with Dio duplicating when they are killed, Jemini quickly sees the possibilities. Jenini overwhelms her enemies with her army of Dios until she encounters a serious problem, her own clones, none of who would be willing to share or surrender. Her solution is severely complicated by the arrival of Scapula and it unravels superbly.
Aidan Casserly has an extraordinary level of control over the story that is bursting with ideas that demand the readers time and attention and never distract or derail the momentum of the story. From the opening sequence when Dio is ruthlessly sacrificed by Dr Mira and Jemini to the final astonishing confrontation Aidan Casserly's invention never flags. The possibilities inherent in the story set up are explored with great enthusiasm, variety and humour. The story work so well because of the discipline that is carefully exercised, the ideas are all strong enough to take over the story in their own right, they all serve it and make it better. The art is friendly and inviting, the cast are individual, forceful and wholly themselves. Dio is the closest to a stereotype, a slightly dim teenager who delivers a stream of verbal non-sequiturs, increased by duplication. Dio is neither malicious nor unpleasant which means that they are ultimately likeable.
The art takes everything offered by the story and gives it wonderful form, full of life and energy, the cast are full of life and determination. The body language is as eloquent as the great jokes and set pieces are staged with great confidence and superb detail. The colouring brings out all of the detailed, tomes, nuances of the story and the art.
Dominion shows the breath and depth of Aidan Casserly's talent. A short story that could very easily have been a horrible mess manages the extremely difficult task of being funny, heartfelt, and a little touching. The art and the colouring gives the close focus of the story the required intensity to bring out the uncomfortable aspects, the humour gives the reader some welcome distance and the conclusion sidesteps nothing. What a great story.
Aidan Casserly letters his own work with subtle skill, they are clear and easy to read, enhance the story and art without ever drawing attention to themselves.
Scapula is the work of a joyously talented creator who has developed a individual creative voice that is just a pleasure to read and enjoy.