Contents:

• The Art Of War / David Ryan
• Duchess Street / Kurt Kirchmeier / Frankie Wallington
• With A Whimper With A Bang / D.M. Moehrle / Paul O’Connell
• Super-size Security / A.R. Yngve
• The Dark Gospel, Part One, Tin-Man / Luke Cooper
• Yellow Warbler / Jason Sizemore / Michael Lomon
• Bernadette And The Sirens / Hannah Davey / Martin Deep
• The Litter / Katherine Patterson / James Fletcher
• Death And The Maiden, Part Two / Richard Calder
• Venus And The Birth Of Zephyrus / Sarah Wagner / Mark Bell
• The Last Flight / Silvanus Moxley
• SPOIL, Part One / Stan Nicholls / Edward R. Norden
• Hair Of The Dog / Edward Morris / Timothy Shepherd
• Firewallburn / Dave Ryan / Dennis Hopeless
• Phantom Payment / Willie Meikle / Ricky Martin
• Poppets / Mike Driver / Mark Bell
• Church Of Saturn / Alex Wilson

Lavishly packaged and sexily shiny, issue two of Murky Depths bleeds production quality. A splendid front and back cover image of a female figure in a flowing red dress, accompanied by a tripe-headed hound, in a fog enshrouded forest, leaps off the page and bites your head off (in a good way). The cover artwork is drawn in a style which is semi realistic, as opposed to a ‘cartoon’ style, and fits in well with Murky Depths‘ imagery. As well as concentrating on prose and artwork, the outward image of the magazine is being well thought about. A definite eye-grabber.

The Art Of War, written and drawn by David Ryan is a short graphic strip which shows a drawing artist initiating a ‘giving the soul away’ scenario. The artwork is great, suitably dark, portraying a gloomy room, setting the scene perfectly. The reason this doesn’t quite work is that the end plate shows a surprise ending, and should have preferably been on a new ‘turn of the page’, so the finale is seen straight away. As it is, it appears at the bottom of the last page of the two page strip - which spoils the effect somewhat.

Even so, it’s a nice little piece which still retains the suprise factor, even if dumbed down.

Duchess Street, written by Kurt Kirchmeier and arted by Frankie Wallington has a dead prostitute (a recurring theme in Murky Depths) release her inner demons. There are two possible targets for her released demons, and the resultant target makes it a nice revenge story. She also reflects on her life, which makes the story all the more interesting; she makes a decision on what she is to do next. The associated artwork is a bit vague, but for some reason, I kept going back to it; simple, yet lookable.

With A Whimper, With A Bang, written by D.M. Moehrle, with associated art by Paul O’Connell is about politicians getting the upper hand against each (what’s new, eh?), instead this time, it’s set off-Earth. It didn’t particularly grab me in any way and seemed out of place in Murky Depths. The focus of the story wasn’t interesting, but it would be nice to see what was happening at a wide-angle, as it hinted of a much larger story.

The artwork is a busy collage, the centre of which is a Chinese leader, while surrounded by Chinese people smiling and applauding. Inset there’s a picture of a toddler in a space helmet, and an older girl in a space helmet, with a cat and dog also in a space helmet. Nicely drawn, and shows a side of the story which isn’t mentioned in the prose itself. Really great.

Super-size Security, written and drawn by A.R. Yngve is set in an unsual prison. A new inmate enters the prison, and worries about being ‘new meat’. It’s a plausable story which, to be honest, is another example of a story which could be true in the future. Laws and laws aren’t they? And laws can be changed.

The artwork is simple and looks uncannily like a slightly altered picture of Greg Grunberg (Matt Parkman in Heroes). Anyway, it’s quite striking, and sets the scene nicely.

The Dark Gospel, Part One, Tin-Man, written and drawn by Luke Cooper. This is a full on graphic strip, nine pages long, and drawn in Luke’s effective layered style. With a great opening, it’s almost like the opening to a film. A quick shock, or hook, to grab the reader’s attention, then into the intro credits. As this is part one, it will be a serial of an unknown number of episodes. It’s nine pages long, so is the longest piece in this issue of Murky Depths, and this gives it breathing space. Danny Goulding is a hard ass detective who pefers to take on ’strange’ cases - hence his nickname down the precinct, Ghoul. He’s on the trail of a book which was stolen from the scene of a priest’s murder. He has a couple of unusual friends to help him find clues and leads. For instance, Holly a psychic girl with…. wings.

There’s a couple of nice twists during the episode and along with the dirty, dark art and character dialogue, makes for a powerful viewing.

Yellow Warbler, written by Jason Sizemore, with complementary artwork by Michael Lomon. The pencil, cross hatched artwork shows a figure on a cross, outside a church, with people (seems to be mainly children) watching from a distance (and pointing etc). Sitting behind a tree, is an older figure of a man. Beautifully drawn, it evokes a sense of people not quite sure what’s going on, and kind of being half interested. Seeing the artwork and the name of the story made me wonder what on earth the story could be about.

The story is set in a post-apocalyptic, yet idyllic town. Trouble starts when a ‘Shadow’ enters town. The minister encounters a crisis of faith, both from himself and from the towns people. The yellow warbler is cleverly introduced into the story, and because it’s not a main part, makes it all the more memorable. The ending itself is grotesque, which makes it all the more effective because the rest of the story is quite peaceful.

Bernadette And The Sirens, written by Hannah Davey, with artwork by Martin Deep is one of my favourites in this issue of Murky Depths. It’s set in a rural lanscape, rather similar to the previous story, only this time, they are surrounded by howling winds brought on by (apparently) the dieing of the sun. The pencil sketched artwork shows a ballet dancer twirling ribbons while in the thoes of a dance, and visualises the story well. The prose shows the immediate setting of the story well, and to me it conjoured up images of a fairy tale, which, on the face of it, seems simple, but when looked at deeper, has a moral, or at least an apparent proverbial meaning.

Back to straight, in your face, horror with The Litter. Written by Katherine Patterson A family arrives at a farm to adopt some animals after seeing a local advert. This is the kind of story which works so well because of what isn’t said in the prose. Although, after reading, it leaves some questions. Why doesn’t anyone notice people going missing? to name but one. Still, a great read, with a neat twist at the end. James Fletcher does the story justice with his dark artwork, which reminded me of Tales From The Crypt even if it does give the story away too soon.

Death And The Maiden, Part Two written and drawn by Richard Calder. OK, Calder’s work isn’t my favourite, he’s not even in my top five hundred of either artists or writers, nevertheless I always look at Calder’s work with no prejudice.

So - a boring walkthrough by a scantily clad female. Some dialogue which doesn’t make sense. Too much empty space in some of the panels. Some panels seem to not even have a real meaning and could have been chopped out without losing the continuity. The background of the interior seems to be in a different style compared to the character graphics. Having said that, Calder does well in the artwork with moving vehicles and the naked girl (particularly her breasts).

It needs to speed-up or at least get to the point. Next.

Venus And The Birth Of Zephyrus, written by Sarah Wagner with artwork by Mark Bell. A story of a security unit, which is part of a security system, covering an area of a city. It seems to show this unit gaining consciousness (or at least artificial intelligence) and self awareness. The catalyst for this is something or someone called Venus. Very vague as to be infuriating. I liked the way the unit knows it exists, and yet it carrys on, in part, as it did before it gained consciousness, thereby hiding from the powers that be. The artwork is a simple picture of the top half of a woman, with ‘computer’ writing below, which seems to indicate that this is the security unit… a bit obscure, but a nice piece of art in a stand alone context.

The first bit of poetry is The Last Flight composed by Silvanus Moxley. A readable bit of poetry about pirates and vampires, set in space. A nice read, which had me half laughing when I’d finished.

SPOIL, Part One written by Stan Nicholls with artwork by Edward R. Norden. The first part of a serial, it sets the scene well. There’s a virus going around, and it infects people who are religious, which ultimately kills. The scientific community are struggling to find a cure, or indeed, a method to how it infects. The religious community are worried about it, yet on the flipside, they are taking advantage of it.

It was originally written in 1993 and makes reference to AIDS. At the time there was crap in the news about it being a punishment from God; SPOIL is the opposite. Nicely written, with many viewpoints and characters. The associated artwork is sketchily drawn, and shows one of the main scenes of the story. Looking forward to the second installent.

Hair Of The Dog, written by Edward Morris, drawn by Timothy Shepherd, is an atmospheric story of life on the street. Morris manages to bring alive the sights, sounds and smells at ground level. Not a nice picture, especially as this is set around Christmas. A story with a lonely feeling, which has a supernatural twist at the end. The ending was neither here nor there (though it manages to change the whole context of the story), but the descriptive qualities of the text are second to none. The artwork is a great addition to the story, again evoking images of urchins on the street.

Firewallburn, written by Dave Ryan and arted by Dennis Hopeless is a strange and confusing story. I really couldn’t make out what was going on. Some kind of ‘person’ makes a journey back to see his dad, talking about Promethius and ‘FIRE!’ and such incomprehensive jibberings. As for the title of the story - no idea. Normally I wouldn’t want to second guess a story, but I’m guessing this has to do with some ancient story, set in a modern environment.

The artwork is great, a kind of dotted and mottled effect, with the use of shading giving it a shiny aspect. The last panel is an unexpected image on its own, and due to the haphazard story, makes it a totally hilarious ending, in so much as someone getting machine gunned apart is funny.

Phantom Payment, written by Willie Meikle, with artwork by Ricky Martin is one of the most readable stories in issue 2. A poor bank worker finds himself trapped in a bank’s ATM network, communicating through the audit logs. The entity inadvertently causes problems (core dumps - oh you love ‘em if you’re a ‘nix administrator) and therefore an engineer is brought in to fix the problems.

A tale of lost love in the extreme, which is made all the more dark by the way it ends - it’s a love story which ends on a high note. Loved the thick lined, scribbly, artwork.

Poppets, written by Mike Driver, with art by Mark Bell was, along with the previous story, one of the best and most memorable of this issue. A tale of someone who is constantly scared, who tries to find a meaning in things which have happened to him and to people in his life. What made this story readable was that much of the scene setting is probably real, and happening right now. Pause for thought.

Towards the end it delves into black magic, which seems almost like a cop out, but then it resurrects itself with an unexpected finale.

The clean artwork didn’t really seem to be based on the story so much. But was nice all the same.

Church Of Saturn composed by Alex Wilson is a small piece of poetry (or maybe it’s flash fiction?) which was brilliantly written, and had such a spot on ending, it makes me nearly puke in disgust at attributes which are built into the human race.

So - Issue 2. Again, it looks lovely and shiny. Some of the artwork was a bit redundant, in that either it didn’t go with the story, or it was an eye sore. Most of it through is well drawn and thus very effective. Again, a mish mash stories which range from excellent, to a bit… confused. But seeing as this is issue 2, it is still a fetus of a magazine, barely out of the starting gate, and it is not bad by any stretch of the imagination.

Overall, it shows that Murky Depths are still gunning for the top place in the prose/artwork magazine market place.

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Murky Depths: Issue Three / Review
“The Quarterly Anthology Of Graphically Dark Speculative Fiction”

Contents: Title / Author / Artist

• What’s Yours Is Mine / Pike Stephenson / Dylan Williams
• Evention / Mike Webster / Lucas Hinchley
• The Suicide Bar / Montilee Stormer /Jag Lall & Denis Pacher
• Nine-tenths Of The Law / Edward Morris / Wayne Blackhurst
• In This the Era of the Great Wilting / Jeffrey Archer-Burton / Jason Beam
• Death and the Maiden 3 / Richard Calder / Richard Calder
• Shit New World / Martin Hayes / James Cameron
• Maimed / Hazel Marcus Ong / Glen James
• SPOIL / Stan Nicholls / Johnny Lee
• The Dark Gospel 2 / Luke Cooper / Luke Cooper
• Speak Ill Of The Dead / Ian Faulkner / Mark Bell
• Zombie Diva / Glynn Barrass / Lucas Hinchley
• The Love Ship Guide to Seduction in Zero Gravity / Steve Pirie / Denis Pacher

Non Fiction:

• Sprawl and Brawl: Five Reasons Why Cyberpunk Sustains (Article) / Matt Wallace
• An Interview with Stan Nicholls

Half the fun of reading magazines from their beginning is seeing them evolve as the publisher gets feedback and ideas from people who have read it. Murky Depths is no exception.

It has kept its half size, glossy style, is a whopping 84 pages, and contains no less than nine stories, three graphic strips, three non-fiction articles and one passage of poetry. It continues its ‘Mature Content’, so lets hope it’s scary enough to warrant a trip to the underwear draw.

The front cover is drawn by Richard Calder for his graphic strip Death And The Maiden. Comprising of an image of a woman/girl, under a street lamp, on a street corner, in a pose which shows her knickers, you’ll either love it or hate it. Guess what - I hate it. Maybe it was done to be controversial - or to be an eye grabber. But how many comic stores (or books shops, news outlets etc) would put a publication with that kind of front cover on view? (I’m asking the question, I really don’t know, would they?). The artwork didn’t grab me, and it didn’t make me want to go back and look again. I actually liked the colour change of the MD logo, red and yellow made it stand out.

The first story up is actually a QA interview with Stan Nicholls, who is the author of one of the stories, SPOIL. It’s an interesting and honest interview, which I wasn’t one bit interested in, as I haven’t heard of him before. It will, nevertheless, make me keep an eye out for his work in future.

What’s Yours Is Mine, written by Pike Stephenson with art by Dylan Williams. The latter is ‘ok’, has depth, but lacks clarity and detail. Maybe the original looked more distinct, but on paper, it looks muddy.

The story is about a generic bad guy who has recently finished off some people in a most bloody way during a game of cards, and has legged it with the money, hoping to reach the border without being caught. Low and behold, he and his bike crash in a forest, in the middle of nowhere. Queue weird noises, flashlights and a bit of swearing. He’s pursued by the weird noises, which turn out to be a grotesque creature. The prose builds the anxiety quite well, but as this guy is a bad guy anyway, I wasn’t bothered if he escaped or not. The creature is described well, but it’s not explained what the creature is or where it came from. I read into it that it was a pet, rather like someone’s dog, which had gotten loose. Pretty atmospheric, and the ending has a neat twist which is, to be honest, sick.

The first graphic strip of this issue is Evention, written by Mike Webster and arted by Lucas Hinchley. This seems to fit perfectly into the ‘meaning’ of Murky Depths. Dark, unnerving, slightly chaotic, has some bare breasts, bare behind, bare bits, gun fighting and a girl who is scared.

The poem compliments the artwork and visa versa, which made me jump back and forth between the writing and the artwork. The artwork, even though quite physically dark, emphasises parts of the female, and increases the hit of the accompanying poem. It’s almost like what the artwork doesn’t show, the text does, and what the text doesn’t tell, the artwork does. A great example of the two working in harmony.

The Suicide Bar written by Montilee Stormer, and drawn by Jag Lall & Denis Pacher is another story which could have had a slightly different name so as not to give too much away prior to reading. The artwork suffices and sets the scene somewhat too much upfront. The artwork style, along with the story, reminded me a bit of 2000AD’s Future Shocks. Short, sharp and to the point.

A guy turns up in a bar, orders a nice mix of poison, and then, well, you guess. Its immediacy means it sets itself up nicely - showing a world where certain things can not only be bought, but signed and contractually sealed. It’s part horror, part SF. It’s depressing, dark and very believable.

Nine-tenths Of The Law written by Edward Morris and drawn by Wayne Blackhurst. This is a really strong piece of prose. Even though possession has been done to death, the way this tale flows is second to none, and the ideas are great, and I loved the characters. A great world build of a dangerous place, populated by believable characters. Sometimes it’s difficult to put your finger on exactly what makes a good read, but this certainly has it.

The accompanying artwork is ok. Although I’m not sure I like the style, the focus and perspective made me want to yank the ‘camera’ away from the subject and see what else was going on.

In This the Era of the Great Wilting written by Jeffrey Archer-Burton with artwork by Jason Beam is my favourite in this issue. The two page spread into artwork is amazing. Rather than being ‘comic strip’ quality, this kind of photo quality. A real woman with real emotions, gazing up into nowhere. Viewed through a smashed window, we see her holding a rose, the petals aflow in a breeeze, her hair caught in the upbreeze, with her arm resting on something. She looks at peace, but you can tell something devastating has happened. Utterly evocative and atmospheric.

The story is a post-apocalyptic narrative centering on a lonely woman. The human race has mysteriously died out. Mummified bodies are all over the place. She is lonely. Until she meets another living human being. The story is atmospheric and even though a lot if explained, there is no info dump, all explanations being done in memories, until the very end. Loved it.

I’m glad Death and the Maiden 3 written and arted by Richard Calder is, from episode 4, moving to its own self contained comic, released through The House Of Murky Depths. I still haven’t been hooked onto it and personally, I think it’s a waste of space in Murky Depths. Again, this episode suffers from not being able to grow enough due to lack of space. A nice touch was the hyper skirt - which I won’t explain so I don’t spoil it, but.. they’re interesting.

The artwork is still pretty much the same; it looks indistinct, probably suffering from being shrunk down from its original size. I did like the way he drew the females in it, and some of the ‘action’ artwork is great - a flying kick for example. Haphazard story line, not really any character building. The trouble with the strip is that I know just about the same as I did when I started reading it. Zero. And it’s not dark, it’s not gloomy, it’s not scary, it’s not even sensual and it’s not SF, it’s just.. there.

Shit New World written by Martin Hayes with artwork from James Cameron, is a short piece of prose which is a long rant on the state of the world in 2096. It’s really a comparison between the future possibilities as we argueably see it now - sex-bots, aliens, alien prostitues - to what it really is like in the future. The Paris Hilton Legacy Channel (all her best performances shown back to back), Horse Steaks, Shit Loads Of Vodka, working in a cubicle.

A satirical, funny piece which has ideas it could have expanded upon. And the artwork is quite simple, but suitably funny too.

Maimed written by Hazel Marcus Ong and drawn by Glen James is a surprise departure from the normal dark horror of Murky Depths. It is well and truly bedded in the fantasy genre. It seems to be a take on the Pied Piper Of Hamlet. A guy can play a flute pipe and lure pretty much anything with his tunes. A weird ending which left me wanting more. I also liked the artwork, which reminded me of (I believe) the old Fighting Fantasy book series.

SPOIL (part two of two) written by Stan Nicholls with artwork by Johnny Lee. Imagine a disease affects only true christian believers.. a story which shows this from different character perspectives. Medium paced, a neat idea, readable, but ultimately, not my kind of story. The artwork is ok and does its best to illustrate some of the tale.

The Dark Gospel (Part 2) arted and lettered by Luke Cooper. Interestingly, this has a text backstory to cover part one, which is a great idea for all stories/artwork spread over more than one issue (think LOST or Battlestar Galactica - ‘Previously on …’).

OK, so there’s a book called The Gospel According To Satan, and our detective has found it. It isn’t the nicest of reads and could cause the destruction of pretty much everything good, everything evil and the bits inbetween. Unfortunately, our detective reads from the book and finds a personal message from Mr. Evil himself, looking forward to a meeting.

The artwork is what makes the whole story so cool - it’s black and white, but manages to show so much. It’s drawn in Luke’s ‘trademark’ way of having ‘only’ two levels of depth. The foreground is sharp, focusing on the characters and action. The background is slightly blurry, which means the main focus is where it should be, on the characters. His use of motion blur (for expelled bullet cases for example) is spot on, and even the use of slight blurring for objects which are nearer to the viewer adds an subtle amount of depth. This is definately my kind of art.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the characters in The Dark Gospel are expanded upon in later installments - there will be more episodes.

Speak Ill Of The Dead is written by Ian Faulkner and drawn by Mark Bell is a zombie tale, set in the future, which involves sentient zombie terrorists. Eyecatching artwork which doesn’t spoil the story at all, and even the copied artwork from the first page is used as a background, rather than using space up on the story. A great read which isn’t your common or garden zombie fest.

Zombie Diva written by Glynn Barrass with artwork by Lucas Hinchley. This is the only prose in the issue which can be read as a poem. I’m not normally into poems so much (although, after reading Murky Depths for a few issue, it is growing on me), but this is a blinder: strong words create horrific visions. ‘Back to the roots’ Murky Depths. The artwork is on a par with the poem, dark and horrific, and just a little bit (a lot?) sick. It’s probably why they have the normal lights so low, and the flourescent lighting turned up in those strip clubs (so I’ve been told). Gruesome and horrific.

The Love Ship Guide to Seduction in Zero Gravity written by Steve Pirie with artwork by Denis Pacher is a light, easy, not scary or dark story, which is in contrast to the rest of this issue. A man in a mid-life crisis takes ‘not his wife’ to a orbital hotel hoping to make the earth move. Alas, all is not as it seems be. This is pure SF and as such I was more intune with it. The ending is unexpected, and with the prose being partly a ‘guide’, it makes for a nice read. The artwork is stylish, remeniscent of 60s Dan Dare, and isn’t half as X-rated (believe it or not) as Calder’s work, making it more enticing.

So, overall, Murky Depths is still on an even keel, there’s some artwork and prose which didn’t grab my attention, some is a waste of space, but some is exceptional. Looking forward to keeping up with its progress - bearing in mind that Murky Depths is still in its infancy, and that its aiming its sights higher than most publications of this kind would dare.

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Murky Depths: Issue One / Review
“The Quarterly Anthology Of Graphically Dark Speculative Fiction”

Contents:

• Death and the Maiden / Richard Calder
• Looking In, Looking Out / Gareth D. Jones
• Come To My Arms My Beamish Boy / Douglas Warrick
• Paston, Kentucky / Jonathan C. Gillespie
• The Other Woman / Chris Lynch
• 67442 / Paul Abbamondi
• Supply Ship / Kate Kelly
• State Your Name / Jon Courtenay Grimwood
• Empathy / Luke Cooper
• Snowblind / Marcie Lynn
• Cyberevenge Inc. / Eugie Foster
• Today Is Not / Michael Sellars
• I Bleed Light / Edward R. Norden
• The Quality of Mercy / Ron Shiflet
• Naught But Ash / Anne Stringer
• The Pattern Makers of Zanzibar / Lavie Tidhar

Although this is issue one of Murky Depths, it isn’t the first to be released; there is an issue zero promo, which we previously reviewed here.


Death and the Maiden written and drawn by Richard Calder is part one of a series. Because of this and the fact that space is limited, due to the nature of the publication, it simply doesn’t come across as anything special.


The black and white computer created artwork is predictably dark and the panels range from good (vehicular movement and weapons usage) to average (character representation and emotion) to crap (indistinct scenes, no atmosphere). The latter, I presume, is because the artwork was drawn larger and shrunk to fit on the page.


Even though the artwork is dark, Calder has failed to make it gritty enough. There’s too much blurring and simple blends, obscuring and damaging the original artwork, which go part way to make it a beginners Photoshop frenzy of effects.


This female ‘cat girl’ (prostitute? maiden?) is picked up by a punter, and then a zombie appears and kills said punter (with an impressive gun, I must say). The dialogue is boring at worst, but does have its humourous moments. And come on, isn’t a scantily clad sexy female in high heels, short skirt and thigh high leather boots just a bit cliched?


It remains to be seen if this art strip will improve - the vagueness of the story made the whole thing fail to capture my imagination.


Looking In, Looking Out written by Gareth D. Jones is an unorthodox piece, set across a double-page spread, read anti-clockwise in chunks of days. In centre there is a neat bit of art of a baby in front of a planet which reminded me in part of the film 2001.


Each day text is in the form of a report from an alien on his attempted communcation with humans on Earth. An easy read, which packs a not so obvious sad ending when it’s realised just what the alien is communicating with, and why communication ends.


The layout and presentation, and the diary form of the story makes it a compelling read; a truly memorable story.


Come To My Arms My Beamish Boy by Douglas Warrick is a strange, haphazard story of man named Cotton in the throes of Alzheimer’s. It reflects on his life while trying just a little too hard to show him believing his memories are being stolen. It has its moving moments, where Cotton can remember certain things, but not the most important - the face of Audrey. Towards the end, and quite predictably, more memories disappear in ‘real-time’, Cotton becomes more desperate, until he finally sees an image of Audrey ‘looking like an exclamation point’. Huh?


In tune with the magazine, it is dark, but doesn’t really seem to pull itself off - which could be a relection on the type of story I prefer.


Paston, Kentucky by Jonathan C. Gillespie is set in a world where metal stealing nanobots have been let loose on the world. They hoard metal into large structures, or hives, which tower high into the sky. It has some great imagery of these towers, great imagery of the nanobots taking metal from anywhere - fillings, bullets embedded in flesh.


A band of survivors, including one of the original designers, set out to shutdown the hives and nanobots for good. The story is quite short, but packs a lot into itself, and builds slowly to a tight, atmospheric, fast-paced ending.


Post-apocalyptic near its near best.


The second full graphic story is The Other Woman written and drawn by Chris Lynch. A guy buys flowers and some chocolates for his wife as it’s their anniversary. He goes to the cinema, buys two tickets, but he is alone while watching the film (which incidentally appears to be Metropolis, judging by the poster on the wall as he walks out).


He is then intercepted by someone who appears to be a doctor. The doctor explains to the man about his wife. I can’t really say more, or else it will spoil the story.


The artwork is what I would term old fashioned spare artwork; minimal line drawing, and it works beautifully. It goes to show that you don’t need effects upon effects to convey visual atmosphere. The story seems to be set (roughly) in the 40s or 50s, and this kind of artwork fits in just right. The timing of the panels for the unexpected twist in the final few panels is spot on.


The only issue I had with this is that there is no character build (again, because of the limited space), which means empathy for the characters might not be as high as it could have been.


It’s creepy, and something which might not be too far from the truth in a few years time (normal disclaimers apply).


With the shortest name, 67442 by Paul Abbamondi is also the shortest story in this issue. An apparent artificial man, identification number 67442, is stripped of exterior and personality. He gets a new identification as a teacher, ready to be inserted into society. It’s not clear why this is happening, or if this being is always 67442, or whether he’s improved with each birth. It’s clear he momentarily remembers his ‘previous life’ which, with new memories of being a teacher, he realises was wicked.


It’s quite good descriptively, but lacks a beginning - it really only contains a middle and partial end.


Supply Ship by Kate Kelly is a well written piece with a totally unexpected ending.


Set on a bleak, barren world, the inhabitants build a beacon from scrap so they can get a supply ship to pass and drop badly needed supplies. Kept to a tight budget of words, it is succinct while not being too short. Mainly though, it’s the twist-ending which makes the story. The associated artwork suffices and compliments the story.


State Your Name written by Jon Courtenay Grimwood. The world is falling apart, and the UN are evacuating people ‘with enough points’ using freighter ships. Those who don’t have enough points have to queue up at an ‘exit gate’ which sends them far into the future, past the next ice-age. It isn’t made clear whether people who have passage on the freighter ships will also end up in the same place as the people who go through the ‘exit gate’.


Two threads of story come together at the end with another unexpected ending, but because of the lack of knowledge of each parties destination, the story doesn’t quite work.


Again, the design dictates duplicate cropped artwork. The images are superficial, don’t add anything to the prose, and in this instance would have been better to have been smaller, and not reproduced throughout the story.


Empathy written and drawn by Luke Cooper is the third full graphical story. A father holds a gun to his daughters head, saying that she’s not his daughter. Three policemen hostage negotiators are on the scene. One of them, goes to talk to the father.


The artwork in this story is brilliant. Grey scale, atmospheric. It’s drawn in two layers, with the focus on the front layer, and the background blurred out to add emphasis to the focused layer. Great dialogue, hardcore swearing in just about each speech bubble, gun fire (but not over the top blood results) lends itself to Tarantino. Very moody.


Another great twist at the end. A twist in that it tells you everything up front, but only when read in the end scenes does its context change to something else. Stunning.


Snowblind / Marcie Lynn is three verses of poetry, with some effective, yet simple artwork. It seems to be an evocative piece on true love, with a splattering of weirdness. Though I’m no expert on poetry it did linger in my mind after I’d read it.


Cyberevenge Inc. by Eugie Foster has a self explanatory title. It possibly have been better with a more ambiguous name, maybe ‘Customer Service’, so as not to give too much away prior to the first read.


Anyway, it’s a head-on cyber blood-fest revenge story of a woman who, through pseudo-virtual reality and some hi-tech gadgets, takes revenge on her stalker in a physical way. Written so as not to give away that it’s done for real until the end, makes it easier to show the dismembering in more graphic detail. It is quite a powerful story.


Personally, I’m not into this kind of story, it’s been done too many times, and seems like violence for violence’s sake, and we’re not even privvy to the thinking behind the stalker. The pain, torture and death metered out by the woman is somewhat overblown based on the actions of the stalker (he doesn’t physically abuse her, he does it using superimposed pictures and swear words against her, and black marking her with her publishers). But then, what constitues physical vs psychological damage: they’re possibly the same.


A thought provoking read, with the kind of ending I like.


Today Is Not by Michael Sellars is about a mentally disturbed woman who has lost her family, and believes that she needs to find a saviour in bits of broken glass (for example a car window). She then tests the bits of broken glass on her shrink, whom she has locked down in her cellar. If they cut him, then they’re fake. If they don’t cut him, then they’re part of the magic she’s looking for.


Well written, but my attention wavered during the middle, only making up for it at the end. The complimentary artwork is atmospheric, and done in one of my favourite drawing medium. A charcoal / wet paint effect with a grainyness scratched into it.


I Bleed Light written and drawn by Edward R. Norden is the second installment of poetry, this time with a more emphasis on the art. Drawn in a ’scrappy’ way, it works well. The text is also written white on black, in what looks like a pen, in ‘real handwriting’, which comes across as suitable to the purpose. I’m no expert on poetry, but this is a nice read - again dark.


The Quality of Mercy by Ron Shiflet is smart story of someone who thinks they know better than everyone else. The artwork in this piece is very vague, and makes it redundant really.


A guy is born with a second sight. He is able to see how people will (graphically) die. Not pretty. Slow prose, but builds to a particular ending which I can’t work out is great (for the twist value), or just plain stupid. You decide.


Naught But Ash by Anne Stringer is a straight forward story of an old doctor who looks after people in a small town and remembers a time before the human race was split up, and large cities destroyed by ‘lights in the sky’. A whole family has been wiped out by a loner. It is investigated and the culprit found and hanged. No twist ending, but it is a macabre piece about doubting what one sees, what drives people to perform sick acts, and being unable to answer bigger questions. Quite haunting, but more of a mainstream murder story, with interesting artwork adding to the story.


The Pattern Makers of Zanzibar by Lavie Tidhar is written in a one sided correspondance between a reporter and his publisher. The reporter is investigating the slave trade in Zanzibar, and finds some unusual activity.


I found the characters a bit bland and the one sided ‘conversation’ seems slow and doesn’t fill in all the blanks. The ending was ok, but the ending shouldn’t justify the means. The artwork is nothing special, although the style of the artwork I liked (drawn in just black and white and quite bold).


So, overall? If you’ve managed to read this quite long review to the end, then you’ll already know there is a lot of substance to this issue. The design irks somewhat, because the two-page spread of art is reproduced in a cropped fashion on subsequent pages of the same story. It seems lazy. This is done on a few of the stories and is a waste of space, which could be used for more artwork or more prose.


The smaller size of the publication means it can easily be read without the pages flopping about. The quality of the paper is excellent, as is the front page artwork (though, maybe just a bit too much blue).


The main thing to remember is that Murky Depths issue 0 was pretty amazing, so it has set the bar high, and in comparing issue 0 with issue 1, issue 1 as a whole doesn’t come across as strong.


This is definitely an experimental publication, experimenting with a mixture of graphical stories, short stories and poetry. Even though some of the stories didn’t quite do it for me, I will be keeping an eye out to see how Murky Depths develops.

Join the forum discussion on this article

Illumination Extravaganza: Illumini

15 artists come together to create an extraordinary exhibition of light in an underground crypt.

Curated by Jane Webb
http://www.illuminievent.co.uk
Email: illumini@hotmail.co.uk

The Crypt, St Pancras Church
Euston Rd / Duke’s Rd, London, NW1 2BA (nearest tube Euston Station)

4th September – 17th September
Open daily 11am- 7pm Free Admission

Opening Night Thursday 4th September, 6pm – 9pm.
Free Admission.
All welcome.

ARTISTS : Mercedes Altuna, Madi Boyd, David Chalkley, Vincenzo Di Maria, Lewis Hayward, Caroline Lambard, Jayne Lloyd, Liz murfitt, Adrian Navarro, Silviu Pascalin, Suzan Swale, Matthew Swift, Andrea Tyrimos, Jane Webb and Deon Winter.

Illumini is supported by Mathmos, who will be displaying a range of their latest products also supported by Surelight Glowsafe and the Glass bar

An electrifying new exhibition with a difference, starting with a opening night on the 4th Sept, which is complimented with a full evening of free entertainment. Light shows, circus acts and performance artists, working with illumination taking place through out the crypt. This is no PV night, this is an evening where everybody is welcome, Illumini will not just showcase art it will entertain, introducing all communities that may not normally visit the arts to a different approach.

Illumini brings together a variety of artists, all sharing a passion for the subject of light. Set in the famous St Pancras crypt, these impressive pieces of artwork come to life in this desolate and unsettling environment. Come along to experience the illuminatory and dazzling effect this diverse collection of artwork has on the crypt’s dark environment.

Travel down abandoned corridors and venture into secret recesses to explore a wide variety of artwork. The pieces range from photographs and paintings depicting light, to sculptural works that literally glow; at once transforming the crypt’s murky and shadowy atmosphere like never before.

Jane says a few words:

I am a London based mixed media artist that primarily works in glass and lighting for my Commissioned work. For my mixed media installation and sculptural work, recycled computer and electronic components are assimilated. The simplicity and complexity of circuit board patterns are a strong influence along with imagery of robotics.

I graduated in Glass & Fine Art Post Grad Certificate, at Central St Martins in 2006 and had a piece on show at the Victoria and Albert Museum. I have also been sort listed for the ‘Inspire by Awards’ & ‘Pride in the House’ and the ‘Future Design Awards’ and a guest artist at the London Sci- fi film festival . My most recent project im organising and exhibiting in, called Illumini, will be an illumination extravaganza which will be held in a grade 1 listed crypt in London with 15 artists in September 08

At present my experimental sculptures and installations are influenced by technological advancements in the area of prosthetics and cybernetics. For example, the rapid human advancement in cybernetic technology, at the Southampton University “The Southampton Hand”.

Even though my art is perceived as science fiction, it is however heavily influenced by everyday science fact! After all Science fiction plays a important roll in the science of the future.
We use tools such as computers and internet which extends our visual memory and other powers beyond what our human bodies are capable of.

Initially technology was created as a time saving device and memory aids. However, we now appear to be co-dependent on them.

Is technology acting like a virus destroying our humanity and turning us into cybernetic humanoids!
Our perceptions are that technology is speed, efficiency and enhancement. The mobile phone is like a portable life support machine, the average person already looking like a cyborg with a blue tooth attachment to their ear, a digital watch strapped to their wrist and plugged into an Ipod.

It does make you wonder how close we are to becoming cyborgs already!

Well, now you can, courtesy of Hovpod Surrey. They specialise in the luxury personal leisure hovercraft.

The Hovpod is an experience you won’t ever forget. You can use it to raise your profile and attendance at a promotional or corporate event (which we all know can be boring). It’s a fun, safe and exhilirating ride which uses a mechanism of a cushion of air (AVC - Air Cushion Vehicle) which enables it to navigate almost all surfaces.

For example, it can easily rocket over grass, gravel, tarmac, ice, water, snow, sand and mud. Land/Water transition is seamlessly smooth because, of course, the Hovpod is actually always sitting on a cushion of fresh air, floating 9 inches above whatever surface is below.

Today it is often in environmentally sensitive areas that the hovercraft shines the most. It won’t damage the ground. There’s no wheels to churn up the ground and no propellors to injure any marine creatures. A good example on their site is of the Hovpod being driven over eggs; they are untouched.

Imagine the look on student’s faces when the college or school hires one for educational purposes. They certainly never had anything like that when I went!

The hovpod will not damage the ground

And the reason is simple: If you look underneath the hovercraft skirt there’s nothing but fresh air. There are no wheels to churn up the ground, and no propellors to injure any marine creatures.

Darren, the coordinator, told us, “We were invited to a black tie dinner at a local rugby club. We gave experience rides from 6:30pm to 11:30pm. We tried to leave, but kept getting getting asked to stay. The organisers even turned on the floodlights for us to fly over their rugby pitches. And what was very impressive was women in their ballgowns wanting to experience the thrill in their twos!”

The Hovpod is a fantastic addition to any event, very safe, and certainly raises the profile. Hovpod Surrey also supplies owner support and hovpod maintenance.

It isn’t a Landspeeder exactly, but it’s probably the closest you’d get to with our current technology.

Landspeed digital 3D image used with kind permission of PerspectX - see more of these 3D images, which are available as 3D environment packages.

Grant Hicks is a painter with a slight difference, he paints Cosmic Ceilings, scenes from outer space onto mainly bedroom ceilings.

Using specialist glow paint (which is actually invisible during the day) he creates stars, shooting stars, blackholes and other such images. These ceilings can only be seen in the dark. They look truly amazing as they have a 3D effect, and you feel as though you are actually looking up to the stars.

He can also do themed ceilings such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who and fantasy scenes (images of which you can see below).

He also trains people to do this for a living as self-employed ‘Startists’.

Images Of Ceilings Painted And Websites:

Cosmic Ceilings: Glowing Images Examples

Our favourite is the universe scene, as it will never go out of date; well, the universe is pretty old, and still funky.

Cosmic Ceilings: http://www.cosmic-ceiling.co.uk
Glow Painting Training Site: http://www.cosmictraining.com

It’s What They Do
Whether you need an intergalactic space transporter or Artificial Intelligence to deal with the housework, a hostile environment movie set or a product prototype, we will have or can, invent the solution for you.

It’s In Their Blood
Under the direction their creative director Don Jack, we bring together blue sky thinkers, designers, artists, model makers and imagineers in a common goal to create a whole bunch of crazy stuff that hithero did not exist. You’ll see our work on photography and film, at visitor attractions, conferences, exhibitions and in corporate and private ownership.

Fiction Becomes Fact
Their esteemed client Dr. Bruce Davis (Intelligent Compliant Engineering Limited), the inventor of a new biomimetic robot technology robot system, renowned for its intelligent sensing and organic motion, recently took delivery of a new outer skin for his second generation Vorscht, funded by NESTA, the organisation which works to increase the UK’s capacity for innovation.

The site is a bit minimalist, and to be honest, doesn’t really say exactly it is that they do, but from what I gather, they will attempt to design just about anything you want (after initial talks, of course), and then, if the idea is do-able, they’ll construct it.

And based on some of the pictures they look scifi-ish. So ask ‘em for Termi-lek or a Da-minator! Exterm-back!!! I’ll-Be-Inate!!!!

Well here’s a site, Invasion, which contains everything you need, regardless of available space, to host a successful and engaging temporary exhibition.

It can be set up in one day and the ‘loan package’ as they call it, includes spectacular exhibits, display cases, plinths, large format photography and detailed show cards.

There’s also a promotional package which includes customisable poster art, press release flyers / press ads., high quality promotional material and ‘tested bolt-on event ideas’.

You also get an Invasion magazine, Invasion photography and Invasion merchandise.

You can see some of the exhibits here and more here.

Invasion’s range includes Stormtroopers, Jawas and Darth Vader from Star Wars; Robocop; The Terminator’s Chassis and Predator prosthetics.

From reading the press’ thoughts (pdf), the children have loved it (and I bet a fair few adults too), their smiling faces a testment to how they enjoy coming face to face with real-life movie-star-props. It would make a neat surprise birthday or christmas present or a kinky honeymoon addition for any budding scifi enthusiast.

On and impluse, I did a search for old Interzone covers on google images, and came back with this site which holds most (if not all) the covers of Interzone from Issue 1 to Issue 199, which strangely enough is exactly where I started subscribing to it.

I particularly liked the way the cover changed slightly from Issue 1 to Issue 2, the total eclipse of the sun moving off centre and the colour changing. Very effective, if simplistic.

You can see how the artwork progressed, and the way in which ’sf’ is being portrayed through art is changing.

It’s also amusing to see how the Interzone logos change over the years, of which I prefer the newest. Although that’s not to say the older ones weren’t ‘cool’ in their day - they just look kind of dated now, which isn’t really true of the artwork itself, it’s stood the test of time.

My favourite is Issue 16 as it reflects the kind of stories I rate high on my list - a world which is similar to our own on the surface, but strange when examined closely.

Looking at the covers, quite a few names jump out. Most notably, J.G Ballard, Christopher Priest, Jonathan Carroll (which I never realised had written for Interzone), Ian Watson, Kim Newman, Greg Bear, Bruce Sterling,, Greg Egan, Eric Brown and William Gibson, to name but a few. Which goes to make an impressive lineup.

A great archive, which covers the covers of the world’s best, British and longest running, sf magazine, although, sadly, the names of the artists are missing.

Click here for Jane’s 2008 Illumination Illuminati Cyborg Show

Jane Webb is an artist that is influenced by science fiction and fantasy. She has a series of cybernectic humanoids (cyborgs) and some alien casted glass work in an art exhibition from 26th July - 2nd August, entitled Luminaries.

Luminaries Venue:
Et Cetra Gallery
1a Darnley Road
Hackney
London E9 6QH

Price:
Free!

Nearest Rail Station:
Hackney Central

Timings:
Monday - Friday 12am - 7pm
Saturday 10am - 6pm.

Jane has been shortlisted a couple of times this year, of which, a list is below. She currently has some work entirled Cyborg DJ on display at the V&A Museum.

Even though Jane prefers to sculpture, she has taken time out to write about her work, explaining her love for creation, science fiction and the ‘not watching properly’ of fantasy and scifi movies.

She is influenced by a lot of science fiction and futuristic imagery from movies and other artists. The strangest thing is she doesn’t watch the movie and keep with the story line, she only watches for visual simulation. She gets too easily distracted by the props, costumes and effects, having a strong interest in mechanical and robotic imagery
going back to early days of the Metropolis movie.

More recently Jane has been working on cyborgs, which have been a strong influence on her work with a combination of lighting effects. United Artists collabarated with Massive Attack to produce an art installation called Volume, If you love the green coded lights on the Matrix, you’ll love this she says. Jane is also inspired by the works of the great H. R . Giger, as seen in the Alien films.

She works in many medias but prodemantly using glass, lighting, circuit boards and recycled computer components, most of which is found on the street. She strips down the components inside anything electrical, looking for interesting parts. Little know fact: the inside of a hair dryer makes a good cyborg eye. Then depending what she is working on, these get constructed with other media and extra wiring and some type of what she calls a wow factor, like lighting with a UV or a set of LEDs spinning on a fan in sequences.

Her glass work can range from her mirror light boxes with imagery, to fused glass. She did a series of an Alien embossed tile in glass and ceramics. This was a long process of mould making and experimenting in a kiln until the desired finished result was achieved. The black tile has been acid etched to give it more depth. If you love H. R. Giger’s work you will definitely love this. She often makes them for collectors on a commission basis.

The Luminaries show coming up is a joint show with artist and photographer John Williams.

Jane Webb is a glass and illumination artist using numerous Medias. This year Jane has been short listed for Pride in the House and Inspire by awards and currently has Cyborg DJ on display in the V&A Museum. Her more recent futuristic works of cybernetic humanoids sculptures and installations combine lighting, recycled computer and electronic components which are found littering our London streets.

These items are salvaged and transformed into cyborgs.

John Williams’ Info:
John Williams creates black and white photographic works in “free-form”. He does this by folding weaving, plaiting and even crushing light-sensitive papers into life size free standing and relief sculptures. Working in three dimensions allows him to exploit the normally forbidden spaces above and below the conventional darkroom focal plane.

Re-objectifying the subject into a physical structure that can be walked around and seen through, change expression as well as casting actual shadows.

Jane Webb’s Info:

Jane’s a specialist with mirrors, with her own unique technique which leaves stunning lighted imagery of a mirror by day and transforms at night into a powerful light feature for any space, which are also included in the show.

Born in London in 1974.

Lives and works in London.

Education:
2005-2006 Postgraduate Art & Design Glass & Fine Art at Central St Martins, London.
2004-2005 LOCN creative writing City & Islington.
2003-2004 BTEC Professional studies stained glass. City & Islington.
1999-2002 City & Guilds Furniture craft and design distinction. City & Islington college.
1999-2002 LOCN woodwork level 1,2,3 . City & Islington.
1997 City & Guilds mechanics Waltham Forest College.
1993 City & Guilds professional photography 8 distinctions. Elm Park College, Stanmore.
1993 City & Guilds Starting photography 8 distinctions. Elm Park College, Stanmore.
1992 A level Art painting Mandeville.
1992 A level Art & Design Mandeville.
1990 GCSE (O level) Art & Design Grade A. Mandeville Bucks.

Exhibitions:
2007 Group Show ‘Pride In The House’ Lauderdale House Highgate
2007 Group Show ‘Inspire By Awards’ Victoria & Albert Museum
2006 Group Exhibition ‘Directions’ at Lethaby Galley Central St Martins London.
2006 Group Exhibition ‘Fourteen Women’ Cochrane Theatre London W1.
2006 Group 2nd Exhibition ‘Fourteen’ Cochrane theatre London W1
2005 Solo Exhibition Blush stoke Newington
2004 Solo Exhibition Blush Stoke Newington
2003 Group Exhibition Islington Arts Factory
2000 Solo Exhibition Central station Walthamstow.
1999 Solo Exhibition Central station Walthamstow.

Achievements:
2007 Short listed for ‘Pride In The House’ at Lauderdale House, Highgate.
2007 1 piece of work on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum
2007 Short listed for Inspired By Award
2005 3 pieces of art on loan to Blush, Stoke Newington
2001 Short listed and exhibited at Future Design Awards Business Design Centre, Islington.
2000 Donated Art work for Breast cancer Auction, raised £1200
1988 Christmas Card Short Listed And Commercially Printed.

Press:
1999 Waltham Forest guardian ‘Artist Who Takes A Reflective View Of Art’ Interview And Article with photos of her mirror work.

Commissions:
Private commissions for UK, USA and Australian residents.

Alien Nation Exhibition
Saturday 17 March 2007 - Monday 7 May 2007
Closed Mondays except Bank Holidays
Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley Street, Manchester M2 3JL
Then later at the Sainsbury Art Gallery, Norwich, October 2nd to December 9th 2007.

The official website states that the Alien Nation Exhibition:
“…explores the relationship between science fiction, race and contemporary art. Twelve contemporary international artists use science fiction and extra-terrestrial forms to explore racial difference as a metaphor for the threat of the outsider.”
“… presents the work of twelve contemporary international artists all of whom explore themes of ‘otherness’ and ‘difference’ through the language and iconography of sci-fi.”
… and “will also show a collection of original sci-fi film posters from the 1950’s to present day, … as well as extracts from contemporary and archive science fiction films…”
“… is an inIVA and ICA touring exhibition supported by the Arts Council England and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.”

Manchester Art Gallery’s classical front end connects to a contemporary rear filled with more modern exhibits. ‘Alien Nation’ caps this latter building away from the Holman Hunt, Lowry, Rossetti, Canaletto etc paintings in the classical galleries.

The exhibition is dedicated to Nigel Kneale and his Quatermass and the Pit was running silently on a TV in the media gallery of the exhibition. Black and white 50’s SF movies (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, It Came from Outer Space, The Thing) were running on other screens in that space but the soundtrack overhead was Orson Wells’ 1938 radio broadcast of H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds. Colourful pulpish posters from Forbidden Planet, The Day the Earth Stood Still and similar 50’s movies filled one wall but where was the credit for the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s pulp magazine covers that predated, and surely influenced, the movie posters?

A second gallery contained a separate darkened room that echoed with the clacking of the five projectors of a, can I say, ‘avante garde’ 16 mm ‘film installation’, plus a video installation, objects, images, and murals.

Mario Ybarra Jnr’s giant mural Brown and Proud impressed me with its busy scenes benevolently presided over by Zapata on one side and Chewbacca in opposition. The exhibition programme suggests they are seen as partners, both rebels facing powerful empires, “whether galactic or earthly”. However for me the cigar smoking ‘Chewy’ prompted thoughts of Castro. I was puzzled by the letters ‘SMS’ in the lower right corner of this mural. Maybe it was a reference to texting but I immediately thought of the Interzone cover and SF artist SMS. The mural’s main female image toted a life and (male) pride threatening AK 47. As a Jim Burns Interzone cover she would bring a host of threats to cancel subscriptions.

Kori Newkirk’s Merck, a curtain maybe 3 metres high and at least a metre wide, made from coloured ponybeads threaded on braided hair was a very effective SF image of an American small town split by a strange vertical yellow beam.

My favourite was Hew Locke’s installation Golden Horde, a bejewelled and beweaponed space fleet, its large spacecraft reminiscent of both Star Wars and the ornate howdahs of a Raja’s wedding.

As an art critic I have serious failings so here are links to reviews by those with a better pedigree:
http://marcusdruen.blogspot.com/search/label/Hackney Sorry, no useful images.

http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/london/news/ART42204.html : Good images of the exhibition but not the space fleet.

In summary the gallery is well worth a visit and, while there or in central Manchester, you might as well look in on the Alien Nation exhibition but if you know the gallery and/or live a distance from Manchester then you won’t miss a lot if you can’t get there before May 7th.

See more information on the Alien Nation Exhibition.

Ever imagined how Mars was millions of years ago when it had oceans flowing on its surface? And what about Martians? They were not green, they were … ehmm…different… And had such busy lives that life on Earth was later mostly their fault.

But that’s another story.

What about the meaning of life? Does God have a beard? Does it matter? And what does all this have to do with Area 51?

Who built the Face on Mars? Is Heaven a private club? Is life after death real? How boring is it?

Who runs the universe anyway and does this entity have weekends?

This and plenty of other stupid questions will be answered in this fantasy/scifi saga spread over a few volumes so the author can get some extra bucks, after two years making up all this stuff with watercolors, inks, acrylics and buckets of sweat.

Ziph Comics is certainly a bright, colourful and dazzling place. The comic (and site) is available in Portugese and English, with a French version coming soon. You can see the digital version of Prince Ziph, Part One online, and the printed version is available too, along with concept art and the backstory.

So, it’s a good a reason as any to spend surfing during your lunchbreak.

I’ll do a full review once I’ve bought a pair of shades…

Alien Nation
Saturday 17 March 2007 - Monday 7 May 2007
Manchester Art Gallery
Admission Free

Tues-Sun, 10pm-5pm and 10am-8pm.

17/03/07 - 07/05/07
Manchester Art Gallery
Mosley Street
Manchester M2 3JL

information: +44 161 235 8888

Laylah Ali, Hamad Butt, Ellen Gallagher & Edgar Cleijne, David Huffman, Hew Locke, Marepe, Henna Nadeem, Kori Newkirk, Yinka Shonibare MBE, Eric Wesley and Mario Ybarra Jr.

Alien Nation explores the relationship between science fiction, race and contemporary art. Twelve contemporary international artists use science fiction and extra-terrestrial forms to explore racial difference as a metaphor for the threat of the outsider. The artworks include film, sculpture, photography and multi-media installations.

Much has been written about the connection between sci-fi cinema of the 1950s and ’60s and the Cold War, where fear of invasion, communism and nuclear war was played out in films that projected the anxieties of the present onto the future. In recent years many artists have similarly used science fiction and extra-terrestrial forms as a way of exploring racial difference and as a potent metaphor for the threat of the outsider.

Alien Nation presents the work of twelve contemporary international artists all of whom explore themes of ‘otherness’ and ‘difference’ through the language and iconography of sci-fi. The witty and provocative artworks on display expose a disturbing contemporary narrative in which the media perpetuate a terror of ‘invasion’ from immigrants, asylum seekers (indeed any racial, cultural or ethnic ‘other’) and position such ‘outsiders’ as the dominant threat to both family and national stability.

Mingling fact and fiction, science and art, Alien Nation will also show a collection of original sci-fi film posters from the 1950’s to present day, courtesy of The Reel Poster Gallery, as well as extracts from contemporary and archive science fiction films as part of this unique exhibition that reveals our innermost fears and fantasies about the outsider.

Alien Nation is co-produced by the Institute of International Visual Arts (inIVA) and the Institute Of Contemporary Arts (ICA) touring exhibition supported by the Arts Council England and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

http://www.iniva.org/season/winter/project_01
http://www.manchestergalleries.org/whats-on/exhibitions/index.php?itemID=23

Also on at (may go elsewhere as well.) Not sure if Manchester and Norwich on at the same time and can’t find anything else on the web.

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Art
University of East Anglia
Norwich
NR4 7TJ UK

01/10/06 - 09/12/07
information: +44 1603 593199

Graphically Dark Speculative Fiction

As previously mentioned, Murky Depths is a brand new printed ‘zine which posits itself as something which brings together different storytelling techniques in a single magazine that will entertain its reader with its enjoyable, dark and thought-provoking fiction.

This demo issue has a mixture of graphically dark art strips, written fiction, poetry based on the artwork accompanying it - which was inspired by Richard Matheson’s ‘I Am Legend’, and one story which is a mixture of written fiction and graphical fiction.

First impressions: even though this is only sixteen pages long, it crams a whole lot in. And you have to remember that this is the promo issue, and that issue one will be around eighty pages. The pages are ‘american comic book’ size, which to me is neither here nor there, it works very well, and reminds me of Marvel and DC comics. On page sizing, as long as something printed is not too small it can’t be read, or too big it looks like you’re reading The Times, I don’t mind.

The quality of the paper is professional and it is non-glossy, which again, is perfect - it stops light reflecting off it and making it unreadable, or only readable at an angle. Binding is a couple of staples which is suitable for this small promo issue. The colour on the front and back cover is vivid and certainly stands out. I should mention the unusual front cover artwork ( By Les Edwards) which you can see in this review - it looks way better on the cover. And it is dark. And weird. And.. well, maybe not one for the kiddies.

Inside it is black and white, but don’t let this put you off. The eye catching black and white artwork (including the comic strips) throughout does well to complement the black text on white background, which again, means it’s easy on the eyes, and readable (non of this red text on a nice colour picture which looks totally unreadable).

TK-47
Spyros Verykios
With people gradually transforming into cockroaches for no apparent reason, the protagonist and his companion can only travel at certain times when TK-47 is visible (I’m trying to not to spoil the story) or risk being accosted by the coackroaches. This is quite a shocker: its dark, broody and is reflected well in the vague, shadowy artwork. The last plates in the story escalate it to a satisying climax.

The Dead Man And The Berserk
Matt Wallace
Two guys enter a club looking for their target. Using some neat gadgets, this (again) strange and dark story mixes visual horror with scifi in a short, but sweet and almost saddening story. It’s worth a read, even for the images it counjours in the mind, and also for a future scenario of ‘a man just doing his job’.

Submit Now
Lavie Tidhar
When I first saw this page I thought uh oh, what is this? Consisting of one page or fiction in the form of a browser window (Windows Internet Explorer… it should have been a Mac browser, or something drawn specifically), with the text laid out as a simple webpage. Its basically a call for submissions for people, as the world (”as you know”), will be destroyed in seven days…
It’s a particularly funny piece, and kind of rings true, in such a way that it would be possible for a suitably advanced technology to actual do what is propsed in the story.

One thing I couldn’t understand is that the url which is shown is actually some sort of shopping site… I was expecting to see the actual fiction text to be displayed. But maybe that’s just how I operate - if I see an obviously fictional url in a movie (and it looks syntactically correct) I’ll go and check it out for real.

A Time…
Art: Garry Brown
Poetry: Sylvanus Moxley

Pick a story, draw some inspired artwork from said story, ask someone else to write a poem based on the inspired artwork based on the said story. Normally, I’m not one for poetry, but this is a different angle. The artwork is based on Richard Matheson’s ‘I Am Legend’ and certainly encapsulates the feeling of the book. The poetry, likewise, leans towards the picture and comes across as quite indepth. A real neat idea.

We Want The Bandwidth
Matt Wallace
This non-fictional article outlines the changes in Podcasting over the past couple of years. It discusses the shifting emphasis from the written word, including publishers and agents, to do it yourself promotion by way of the recorded word. Podcasting is nothing new, but it is interesting to hear that certain authors have been almost disillusioned by rejection letters from publishers that they have decided to go it alone, or at least test the waters to see what happens with a new novel.
This is certainly an interesting and well written read.
Now.. where’s my microphone?

One Way Or Another
From: FutureQuake
Script: Nick Andreychuk
Art: Tim Twelves
Letters: BOLT-01
A razor edged, one page art strip which is my favourite of the lot. After reading it, it poses more questions than answers, and the twist at the end is superb. It’s not really a genre story, but it still gives you the ‘what!’ when you’ve finished it. Being only one page, it is sharp, and to the point, with nice artwork, remeniscent of older 2000AD strips.

I will certainly look forward to the first issue of Murky Depths, especially to see how it is all put together in a ‘full sized’ edition.

]]> http://scifi.uk.com/2007/01/13/murky-depths-issue-0-promo-review/feed/ http://scifi.uk.com/2006/11/20/murky-depths/ http://scifi.uk.com/2006/11/20/murky-depths/#comments Mon, 20 Nov 2006 17:58:28 +0000 Richard Hawkins http://scifi.uk.com/2006/11/20/murky-depths/ Speculative Fiction Gets An Addition

Terry Martin and his team are busy working on issue zero, the promo issue, of a new speculative fiction magazine entitled Murky Depths.

Their website has this introduction: Murky Depths is a new magazine with a difference, featuring top quality speculative fiction with sprinklings of horror and fantasy that push the boundaries of science fiction. Each story will be complimented with its own unique artwork. Alongside the straight prose will also be cutting edge graphic stories. Articles across the genres and mixed disciplines will add authority, humour and maybe a little controversy.

Terry also mentioned that it’s UK based, although half the team are over the other side of the pond, in the States. At the moment it’s print only (is this a bad thing!) and you can get more information from the Murky Depths site.

And of course, we’ll review it once it’s out.

]]> http://scifi.uk.com/2006/11/20/murky-depths/feed/ http://scifi.uk.com/2006/08/25/rogue-trooper-movie/ http://scifi.uk.com/2006/08/25/rogue-trooper-movie/#comments Fri, 25 Aug 2006 00:58:53 +0000 Richard Hawkins http://scifi.uk.com/2006/08/25/rogue-trooper-movie/ Rogue Trooper

A Genetic Infantryman (G.I.), Rogue is one of an elite regiment of biologically-engineered clone troops, created to overcome Nu Earth’s hostile atmosphere and fight, unhindered, against the brutal Nort War machine. After witnessing the betrayal and annihilation of his entire regiment at the Quartz Zone Massacre, Rogue has gone AWOL, determined to hunt down the traitor general who sent his brothers-in-arms to their deaths.

I officially announce there should be a Rogue Trooper Movie. Hollywood take notice. UK Movie Studios take notice.

]]> http://scifi.uk.com/2006/08/25/rogue-trooper-movie/feed/ http://scifi.uk.com/2006/08/24/spaceship-crashes-into-france/ http://scifi.uk.com/2006/08/24/spaceship-crashes-into-france/#comments Thu, 24 Aug 2006 01:14:11 +0000 Richard Hawkins http://scifi.uk.com/2006/08/24/spaceship-crashes-into-france/
Erm.. no idea, but it looks awesome in a Jules Verne kind of way.

]]> http://scifi.uk.com/2006/08/24/spaceship-crashes-into-france/feed/ http://scifi.uk.com/2006/08/19/eric-borchert-artwork/ http://scifi.uk.com/2006/08/19/eric-borchert-artwork/#comments Sat, 19 Aug 2006 10:21:02 +0000 Richard Hawkins http://scifi.uk.com/2006/08/19/eric-borchert-artwork/ Eric Borchert’s : Scifi / Fantasy Artwork

Eric is a freelance artist specialising in various areas including science fiction and fantasy - in various mediums.

I particularly like his ’space woman’ art, as it reminds me of the artwork to be found in pulp genre magazine of the 50s and to some extent nowerdays.

As well as genre art, there’s also contemporary art including a self portrait, various famous hollywood actors, planets and sketches.

Also, his site has recently been revamped, so it’s a lot easier to navigate.

Some of the images you will see around the site are taken directly from his site with permission.

]]> http://scifi.uk.com/2006/08/19/eric-borchert-artwork/feed/ http://scifi.uk.com/2006/06/01/archeology-of-the-future/ http://scifi.uk.com/2006/06/01/archeology-of-the-future/#comments Thu, 01 Jun 2006 22:46:06 +0000 Richard Hawkins http://scifi.uk.com/?p=170 Archeology of the Future: It’s a website about the histories and futures of British Science Fiction, with the tagline ‘digging through the past to uncover the future’.

Archeology of the Future believes that there are some things about British science fiction that set it apart from the science fiction of other countries but which are not widely known or explored today. In a series of cultural archeological excavations it uncovers and brings to light forgotten, overlooked or ignored aspects of the british contribution to the history of science fiction.

This is certainly an interesting and informative site, although at time of writing it hadn’t been updated for about a month which is a shame. Worth a look.

]]> http://scifi.uk.com/2006/06/01/archeology-of-the-future/feed/ http://scifi.uk.com/2006/05/16/the-art-of-mike-trim/ http://scifi.uk.com/2006/05/16/the-art-of-mike-trim/#comments Tue, 16 May 2006 22:10:47 +0000 Richard Hawkins http://scifi.uk.com/?p=171 The Future Was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim

Thunderbirds, War of the Worlds , Images of Sci-Fi. Artist Mike Trim Featured in NewBook Slated for July Release

“A book of Mike Trim’s design work is a thing to be treasured.” — Richard Taylor

Five-time Academy Award winner & Special Effects Director of Lord of the Rings, King Kong, Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World, and director of Weta Workshop.

In 1964, young Mike Trim answered a newspaper advertisement seeking model makers for a film production crew and embarked on an odyssey that would last for more than four decades. Beginning in the final days of Stingray, Trim went to work as a model maker and designer for Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s television series Thunderbirds, Captain Scarlet, Joe 90, The Secret Service and UFO - as well as their feature films: Thunderbirds Are GO, Thunderbird 6 and Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (aka Doppelganger).

Starting out in the model shop, Trim later became Special Effects Director Derek Meddings’ assistant in designing the fabulous futuristic architecture, vehicles, and distinctive look of the Andersons’ imaginative series. Eventually, he assumed responsibility for the majority of the design work for the series as Meddings (who won an Academy Award for his work on the 1978 film Superman) became more involved in feature films.

After contributing a single (unused) vehicle design and model to the series Space: 1999, Trim moved into freelance illustration, creating an iconic cover painting for one of the best-selling albums of all time, Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds, in 1978.

The Art Of Mike Trim. Images Of SciFi.

Celebrating more than forty years as a designer, Trim has now collaborated with author Anthony Taylor to produce a full-color collection of his works. The Future Was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim is an in-depth review of the artist’s entire career as a sci-fi designer and illustrator. Featuring hundreds of full-color and black-and-white drawings, paintings, marker comps and photos, the book offers a one-of-a-kind, up-close-and-personal view of how the artist foretells the future at the end of a paintbrush. The illustrations are annotated by Trim via his anecdotes and insights as he worked with the Andersons, Meddings and the crew of Century 21 Films, as well as his experiences as a freelance artist and his account of how the instantly recognizable cover art for The War of the Worlds LP was created. Also chronicled: his techniques and influences, unproduced and upcoming projects, and more. With chapters covering his techniques and early influences, unproduced and upcoming projects and more, The Future was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim is a fitting tribute to an artist whose work has permeated the pop culture landscape for more than forty years, and a meticulous archive of his seminal works in the field of sci-fi art and design.

The Art Of Mike Trim. Images Of SciFi.

AVAILABLE JULY 25, 2006
from Fabgearusa.com, Amazon.com, and book stores worldwide.

All Mike Trim Images Are Copyright.

# # #

The Future Was FAB: The Art of Mike Trim

By Anthony Taylor with Mike Trim

Forewords by Richard Taylor and David Tremont of Weta Workshop

Published by Hermes Press. 128 pages. Trade Paperback, 9×12 inches, $29.95

ISBN: 1932563822

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