AntiChris 2. Writer: Jojo King, Artist: Manuel Mezquita, Letters: Ken Reynolds.Insane Comics (2015)

A sharp and engaging second issue that neatly solves a number of difficult problems. When the warden at St Jude's Home for the Wayward decides to demonstrate her satanic capabilities by summoning a demon she finds out that summoning a demon is by no means the same as commanding a demon. The resulting mayhem involves zombies, a very big demon, a vampire werewolf and a group of teenagers. The results are surprising, cleverly set up and supported throughout with pitch black humour.
Any second issue faces a serious obstacle, the set up has been done and the underlying idea has been established, the second issue has to effectively deliver on the promise of the set up and, ideally, opening up story possibilities for the reader and the creative team. Jojo King has solved this problem with considerable flair and has taken a number of story risks which have paid off very well. The action in the second issue is very nicely framed and managed with a very dark humour this allows JoJo King to pile up the gore, which he does to entirely satisfactory levels, and at the same time not drown the story in blood. The humour gives the cast the room to stand out in the action and balance the horror and the cast requirements.
This is particularly important because of the nature of the cast, they are mostly well established horror staples and teenagers, managing to have this cast work effectively with stumbling into cliche is a significant task. The black humour gives all the cast a chance to be themselves as well as either a monster or a teenager, they become identifiable cast members and the whole outbreak gains weight and substance. This is a significant achievement and Jojo King deserves considerable credit for threading the needle with such smart writing. The multiple story possibilities that have been set up mean that the story can pretty much go anywhere it wants without breaking its own rules or promises to the reader.
Manuel Mezquita's art captures the balance of the story with tremendous energy and force, it does not lean too heavily on either the laughs or the violence, it switches exactly as required and can deliver both together when required. One of the outstanding pleasures of the art is the way the younger characters are drawn, they look and move like teenagers, rather worn down and battered by life teenagers at that. Given the temptation presented by a teenage female werewolf vampire delivering credible confusion and angry vulnerability along side real force in action, the scratchy lines Manuel Mezquita uses so well are a great choice to have made.
Ken Reynolds letters are subtle and telling, they delivery without ever being obvious, the sound effects are a treat.
A second issue that more than fulfills the promise of the set up, a greatly enjoyable comic.

Chief Wizard Note: This is a review copy very kindly sent by Jojo King. You can purchase AntiChris 2, and you should treat yourself to this smart comic,  at  http://www.insanecomics.com/the-insane-comics--store.html,

Bottom Liner Blues. K.C.Constantine. The Mysterious Press (1993)

A glorious book that uses the bare ghost of a crime story to explore the lives of astonishing cast in a decaying, post-industrial town in Pennsylvania. Mario Balzic is the Chief of Police in Rocksburg, Pennsylvania, a town whose decaying industrial past hang heavy over its uncertain future. On patrol due to staff shortages Mario answers a call about a woman who wants to talk to a police officer. The woman is concerned that her partner intends to violently attack another man and she wants to head off the trouble before it begins. This plot thread and the unexpected outcome are the explicit crime elements to the story and are one of the smallest elements in the book. They are not neglected by K.C. Constantine, they are savagely played out in an unexpected and deeply engaging way. It is that they are not the heart of the story in the way that might be expected.
K.C. Constantine has made a absurdly difficult story problem appear easy, with deceptive skill he has developed a cast that speak with truly individual voices and clearly articulated accents  who are never just a range on mouths on legs. They have a physical presence, subtly drawn in to anchor their talking in a real world context. Rocksburg is given the room to emerge as the broken context for the lives of the cast and the decline of the town is a force that binds them together. Nothing is said in a vacuum, the setting is as vital as the words that swirl around it.
The heart of the book is Mario Balzac and the astonishing cast that surrounds him and more importantly, the way that they talk. At one point a cast member asks the question "How do you know you are alive?" The abundant answer provided in a glorious, astonishing, and utterly compelling way is by talking, the cast talk. The cast pour out words by the yard, they reveal, hide, reveal, confuse and discover themselves and each other in an astounding torrent of talk without ever uttering a single superfluous word. Mario Balzic has a life changing conversation with his wife which never falls into mere dialogue, it is a heartfelt attempt to communicate across the wide spaces that separate us. This need to communicate, to be understood is the force behind the taking in the book. No one wants to simply be heard, they want to to be understood and recognized for who they are. Each member of the cast gets an opportunity to reveal themselves and they take it with both hands and give it the best they can. They are not babbling, they are carefully and eloquently taking the reader into their confidence and speaking up for themselves.
Everyone in the book is under increasing pressure and trying to manage it, they all choose different ways and as they collide with each other, as they attempt to explain why they are the generous and steely sympathy that K.C. Constantine has for his cast shines through all the time. No one is let off easy, actions have sharp consequences, everyone gets their chance to explain themselves.
Holding his cast  and the reader with graceful care, K.C. Constantine has written a compelling book that rings true on every page and delivers a consistently unexpected delight and pleasure.

Maidenstone 2.Chris Robertson (Writer), Scott Beveridge (Art), Andrew Kelly (Cover Art), Angie Smith (Editor). Baguette Noir Press (2015)

A very engaging and enjoyable comic with a stand out lead character. Lucy Maitland has lost her father in an accident and her brother and her mother are crumbling in the aftermath of the death. Lucy is trying to hold everyone together while coming under significant pressure from fellow pupils at school. When she meet Dylan, a friendly stranger who helps her Lucy finds that she is falling for him. As the story continues in this issue it becomes clear that Dylan is not entirely what he appears to be and Lucy's problems with the other pupils become significantly worse. Lucy's brother Jamie is becoming aware that something strange is swirling around them but is unable to express it clearly or forcefully enough to be properly heard. Lucy gets a dressmaking commission which may become the opportunity that Dylan was looking for.
This is Lucy's story and she deserves the spotlight. She is a great character, Chris Robertson has done something remarkable, written a teenager who feels like a teenager. Unfortunately most teenager characters are so buried in cliches that the reader cannot hear their heartbeat. Lucy is vital and strongly herself, she is massively distressed, confused and horrifyingly vulnerable, she is also resilient, aware and determined. Lucy engages the reader forcefully by being herself and this is what makes the story work. Lucy is increasingly in danger and the tensions exists because the reader has the opportunity to care about her. The rest of the cast are equally varied in themselves and have a strong claim on the reader. The chief bully who spearheads the trouble at school for Lucy is not given any extra dimensions, the sheer force of her attacks give her powerful and nastily credible life.
Scott Beveridge's art is a pleasure to read, it captures the atmosphere and the subtle moves of the story with force and vivid expressiveness. The gray tones of the art capture the pervasive sense of loss and anxiety that hang on everyone, the emotions are loud and sharp, anger is always just waiting to explode. The quiet time with Dylan is a relief and frightening at the same time. Each member of the cast is distinct and at the same time share strong resemblances. Nicely done to capture the sense of a small town with a strong local population that has not changed much over time as well as being Lucy's perspective.
The creators have delivered another intriguing episode in a strongly individual story with a confident and forceful style. They are taking advantage of the medium to push the story and capture the reader, making it look easy and unforced. A pleasure to read.

Chief Wizard Note: This is a review copy very kindly sent by Chris Robertson. To buy a copy of Maidenstone 2, and you should give yourself the pleasure of reading a strong, thoughtful and original comic, it can be purchased at  Forbidden Planet and Plan 9 in Aberdeen, and on our Big Cartel site. http://baguettenoirpress.bigcartel.com/ 

Gabriel. Jim Alexander (Writer), David Hill (Art), Mick Trimble (Art), Nate Pride (Letters), Jim Campbell (Letters). Planet Jimbot (2015)

A wonderfully confident and unexpected comic that neatly avoids the inherent problems that comes with the subject matter.
The Devil is Everywhere. Jim Alexander (Writer), David Hill (Art),  Nate Pride (Letters). In 2015 Glasgow is a Christian,perhaps Catholic, theocracy and Gabriel Stewart is trying to deal with the last stage of a failed marriage. At the same time something is cutting a very bloody swathe through the city and is being pursued by the Saint Templar, the the forceful arm of Church security. Gabriel and the killer cross paths and find themselves tied messily in a knot together. The story unfolds across a very cleverly splintered narrative that gives multiple views of the story that finally arrives a neatly and satisfyingly uncertain ending.
Religion, like any topic based on belief is a problem for fiction, it is either obvious or stupid depending on perspective and neither allow for creative tension which is the heartbeat of fiction. Jim Alexander has threaded this needle with craft and a very engaging element of uncertainty. The dominant church is based on certainty, it is the source of truth therefore anyone and everyone else by definition is lying. Not simply lying but actively denying the truth of the church and therefore an enemy. The enemies of the church are demons and demons need to be dealt with harshly, the Saint Templars are theretofore entirely correct in their violent and brutal actions against the enemies of the church.
The demon who is killing his way around Glasgow is sure of what he is doing, the moment that certainty is shaken is a fatal mistake. Gabriel is pretty much alone in not being sure of anything excerpt that he is still in love with his wife. It is this ambiguity that Jim Alexander uses to move past the problems of certainty and create room for engaging fiction that allow the whole cast , context and story come into life on their own terms. There is no slashing satire at the stupidity of credulous believers being lead by hypocritical and corrupt divines. Believers are granted their beliefs with all its various shades, honest brutality is still brutal. Gabriel brings the shadows to the black and white and allows the reader to read the story without feeling boxed into a settled point of view. Jim Alexander has built a story arc that bends very nicely away from reader expectations that are equally cleverly set up at the start.
David Hill's art is a pleasure to read, detailed and fluid, the cast are full of life when resting or in violent action. The cast are all delivered with telling detail, the walk on parts are given as much attention as the main cast. This gives the whole story a depth and strong presence that is really important. The action scenes where the demon is busy with killing are stunning, the demon is always horrifyingly calm while still in deadly motion. The physical details of the buildings and the clothes the cast wear are superb, they are never obvious, they are just right and give the story real physical weight and presence.
Nate Pride's lettering is so effective as to be virtually invisible, it is set up with care so it is just read naturally as part of the story, it never snags the readers attention while it is always clear and effective. A considerable achievement.
"I am the Resurrection"Jim Alexander (Writer), Mick Trimble (Art), Jim Campbell (Letters)  is a sort of epilogue to the main story and one where Jim Alexander takes an entirely logical and huge storytelling risk and resolves it with sharp humour and an very satisfying dash of optimism. A man in a Stone Roses t-shirt appears interrupts a street race, washes a prostitutes feet and gets really angry at a market and is arrested. He tell a priest a strange story and greets Gabriel Stewart. The fallout from these actions is smart, unexpected and happily optimistic.
Mick Trimble's art is friendly and engaging, the art feels full of light, there is very little shadow in the work. This is perfect for the story, it is about the place for optimism, not denying anything but dealing with it and getting on. The art has a light, subtle good humour even when the scenes turn violent, it never loses its touch. Jim Campbell's lettering is an example of how to put a lot of information into a speech bubble without making it crowded or obtrusive.
Unexpected and very engaging, Gabriel is strong comic by a very talent group of creators, a great read.
Chief Wizard Note: This is a review copy very kindly send by Jim Alexander. To buy a copy of Gabriel and you should give yourself the pleasure of reading an excellent comic by doing so, you can purchase it for £5 plus P&P at the Planet Jimbot online shop at: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/244444294/gabriel-tpb

Salvation of a Saint. Keigo Higashino (2008). Alexander O. Smith, Elye J. Alexander- Translation (2012). Abacus (2012)

Clever, engaging and hugely enjoyable locked room murder mystery. In Tokyo a man is found dead in his house, when it is established that he was poisoned the investigation lead by Detective Kusanagi find that they have a locked room mystery on their hands. The victim was alone in the house and there were no signs of a struggle or break in and the most likely suspect in a domestic murder, the wife, was in another city at the time. Kusanaagi finds himself having a complicated response to the victims wife, Ayane,  a reaction that leads another detective to enlist the aid of Professor Yukawa to see if he can provide some insight into the case. The story unfolds with great care and the reveals are cunningly staged and the possibilities of a locked room mystery are skilfully used.  The solution is credible and satisfying and happily unexpected.
Keigo Higashino has managed to solve the biggest problem with a locked room mystery with grace and flair, how to balance the requirements of plot mechanics with an engaging cast without loosing either. He manages this by credibly and thoughtfully aligning the motive and the plot mechanics so that the action is driven by the cast as they respond to the circumstances they find themselves in.
The cast are great, all of them are given the time and space to express themselves and engage the reader. Kusanagi is a competent, committed police officer who is finding an attraction  to  the victims wife creates a increasing pressure to protect her conflicting with a equally powerful duty to find the murderer. The way the conflict is managed is very smart, Kusanagi is aware of it as is his junior officer Utsumi who becomes concerned that it will undermine the investigation. In a wonderful piece of narrative control and direction it becomes an important part of the finding the thread that does finally lead to a solution.
Professor Yukawa is the way that the vital plot mechanics can be kept in view while not getting in the way of the cast. He takes a scientific interest in the case due to its apparent impossibility, his research is a clever way to establish the dimensions of the locked room mystery and close out each possible solution as it comes up without interrupting the parallel work of the investigation into the cast and context for the murder. He has information that ultimately is useless without the human element provided by the investigation.
The Japanese context is integral to the story, cast and plot mechanics and the transparent translation by Alexander O. Smith, Elye J. Alexander is vital to ensuring that details are not lost. The nuances and niceties are very important and they are all delivered without feeling clumsy or intrusive, the story flows in a very natural way.
Locked room mysteries are very tricky to deliver successfully, the solution must be credible without being too mundane, the perpetrator has to be as well disguised as the means used to kill the victim. This calls for a really strong control of the story to deliver s story that does not finally have to cheat the reader to gain the required effect. Keigo Higashino has managed it wonderfully, a great read, satisfying on every count.

Gone in Seconds. A.J. Cross. Orion Books (2012)

A very enjoyable and entertaining crime story. With the discovery of human bones in a woodland near a motorway the Unsolved Crime Unit of the West Midland Police are involved in an investigation. When the remains prove to be a teenager who had gone missing five years earlier the unit start to look at the case. The investigating office in that case now leads the UCU and that creates a problem for the team. As forensic psychologist Dr Kate Hanson and the UCU team investigate they start to realise that there may more victims and a much more difficult and dangerous situation than they had realised. The story unfolds very well, the reveals are well staged and the conclusion is unexpected and very satisfying.
The cast and context are very well developed and the pressures of the investigation, professional and personal are given time and space and add strongly to the weight and grip of the story. The cast are full of vigour and life, they engage the reader and the impact of the events are demonstrated with horrible clarity. One of the strong aspects to the story is the way that A,.J. Cross shows the long term impact of unsolved crime, in particular involving the unsolved disappearance of someone, on those left behind. The significant damage done by uncertainty and guilt are powerfully drawn, the responses are different they are all taken seriously by A.J. Cross.
The investigative team are a great cast, Dr Kate Hanson is competent, profession and very committed, as well as being enjoyable spiky and slightly abrasive. With an entirely accountable confidence in her analysis, backed by a willingness to  change her mind when faced with more information, she is slightly at odds with the restrictions imposed on the time by the requirements of police work.
A.J. Cross has rung a small but effective change on the genre favourite of the less than competent police superior officer, being career minded and possessing a strong sense of the bureaucratic  importance of budgets can make a manager less flexible and more defensive that is desirable. This is a more interesting conflict that is usually developed in the genre between a team and the management.
The plot mechanics are smart and sharp, they full range of the situation emerges slowly and the threads are cleverly misleading and snake back on themselves in a very satisfactory way. They way that they are gathered together as the pressure increases on the UCU team and the pattern linking current murders and past ones becomes clearer and finally start to become frighteningly close to home is superb.  Balancing a great plot with an engaging cast and strong sympathy for those outside of the investigation that have been nearly destroyed by the crimes this is a very enjoyable read that cleverly manages a fresh look at a serial murder story.

The Hanging. Lotte & Soren Hammer. Ebba Segerberg (Translation). Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. (2013)

A very gripping and engaging crime story with stunning plot mechanics and a great cast. Five men are found mutilated and hanging in a school assembly hall. The men have had their faces and hands removed which hinders identification which gives the investigation lead by
Detective Chief Superintendent Konrad Simonsen a significant problem to begin with. The problems become significantly more acute as the motive behind the killings become clear and a very carefully considered plan starts to bear fruit. The plot unfolds with superb timing, the reveals are very well staged and the depth and range of the plot emerges with force. The conclusion is smart, credible and satisfyingly bitter.
Lotte and Soren Hammer use the plot mechanics in a very engaging and unexpected way, the five murders are not the conclusion of something that is investigated by the police team, it is the start of something that deliberately is running alongside the investigation. This means that the investigation is constantly having to deal with new events that complicate their work and create tremendous pressure on all the members of the team. The people who are running the events leading out from the hanging are under severe pressure also, for very different reasons. The plans they are managing are hugely ambitious and need considerable concentration and work to manage, having started an avalanche they are trying to ride it.
This dual track means that there are three main groups of people involved in the events as they unfold, the police team, the people responsible for the hanging and crucially the public at large. The way that the actions and responses of all three groups overlap and interact is deeply engaging and gives the very large cast room to make an impression on the reader without the focus of the story ever being lost.
DCS Simonsen is a great character, deeply competent and determined he finds that he has a personal stake in the investigation which challenges his professional training very nicely. He is counterpointed by his ex-boss Kasper Planck, who is included in the investigation and whose semi-detachment from the police force and the investigation proves to be vitally important.
The group behind the hanging are given the room to individually emerge as characters, they share a common motivation and plan but respond to the tremendous forces they have unleashed in very different ways. They are not masterminds or super-villains, they have had the time to plan and the willingness to act and they know that the investigation will be focussed on the dead men they will have a space to implement their true plan.
The greater context is vital to the story and Lotte and Soren Hammer have managed to develop a horribly effective picture of how public opinion can be captured and directed, how this goes from mass events to much more small scale ones, all driven by the dangerous power of outrage.
With a great framework that alows them handle serious issues without ever compromising the genre requirements, this is a superb read. The translation by  Ebba Segerberg is transparent, the Danish context is clear all the time without any stumbling or word choice that would throw the reader out of the story.