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Murky Depths: Issue Two Review

Richard Hawkins — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 01:00:56 +0000

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

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.

Murky Depths: Issue Three Review

Richard Hawkins — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 23:58:33 +0000

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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.

Murky Depths: Issue One Review

Richard Hawkins — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 00:41:53 +0000

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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.

Ghost Rider Movie: Trivia: Interesting Facts: Nicolas Cage: Eva Mendes

Richard Hawkins — Sun, 22 Jul 2007 12:43:19 +0000

Trivia for Ghost Rider Film (2007)

Jon Voight was attached to the project at one point but dropped out.

Nicolas Cage had to have his Ghost Rider tattoo covered with make-up in order to play Johnny Blaze (Ghost Rider).

A large group of on-lookers converged on a bridge in Melbourne to watch scenes being filmed in a nearby location. Over the four days of filming at this location, the crowds grew so large that traffic was often disrupted and public transport operators reported an unusual jump in passenger traffic to the area.

Some scenes were filmed near Flinders St Station, the busiest railway station in Melbourne. Parts of the station were closed for filming, as well as minor alterations to train services being made.

Nicolas Cage’s hairpiece required three hours to apply every day.

To create the Ghost Rider’s voice, sound designer Don Davis recorded all of Nicolas Cage’s lines as the Ghost Rider, and then filtered them through three different kinds of animal growls (played backwards, covering three separate frequencies) and then played them through a mechanical volumizer, before finally giving them a fiery crackle. Director Mark Steven Johnson compared it to “a deep, demonic, mechanical lion’s roar” and says that “one thing is for sure, his voice will shake the theatre!”

Johnny Depp’ was interested in playing the title role.

Nicolas Cage’s computer generated skull was made from a three dimensional x-ray taken of his actual skull.

Both Johnny Depp and Nicolas Cage have houses in Bath, Somerset.

One of the bridges being used in Melbourne was months away from completion, so the studio paid to have tar, lines, lights etc added to the highway for filming purposes. The work was then ripped up and redone to meet Australian Safety Standards.

The flame tank chopper Johnny Blaze rides is a modern replica of the “Captain America” chopper that Peter Fonda rides in Easy Rider.

The shotgun used in the movie is a Model 1887 Winchester lever-action shotgun.

Nicolas Cage wrote sections of the script.

There is a scene in the movie where the Ghost Rider (played by Nicolas Cage), while riding through the desert, rides past a lizard on a rock. The lizard bursts into flame. This is strongly reminiscent of a similar scene from another Nicolas Cage movie, Raising Arizona. In that movie Nicolas Cage’s character has a dream where his evil side is riding through the desert on a motorcycle, and shoots a lizard off a rock by the side of the road. The camera angles are practically identical. When both Ghost Riders (Johnny Blaze and Carter Slade) ride together to San Venganza there is a scene where Blaze is riding in the foreground with Slade just behind him and slightly in front so both can be clearly seen. This scene pays homage to a painting and its late artist David Mann. The painting was entitled appropriately Ghost Rider but had nothing to do with the Marvel character.

Flamin’, Burnin’ Hot Ghost Rider Merchandise!

The Johnny Blaze video game seen in the movie is actually a game called Crusty Demons developed by UK games company “Climax”. Climax also developed the Ghost Rider video game.

The Caretaker/Carter Slade Ghost Rider character is a tribute to the original Marvel Comics Ghost Rider (now called The Phantom Rider to avoid confusion). However, the character in the comics is simply a regular human who wears a white costume and rides a white painted horse which both covered with phosphorous for a glowing effect.

Director Mark Steven Johnson actually put forward his own money so that an action sequence where Ghost Rider battles a helicopter could be made.

When Johnny and Mack are on the tour bus and Mack is watching TV, the motorcycle rider shown is Travis Pastrana.

Ghost Rider was originally planned for a summer 2006 release. However, director Mark Steven Johnson asked for more time to complete more action shots. One of these shots is the scene in which Ghost Rider battles a helicopter.

The motorcycle crash shown in the movie where the rider falls and hits his head against the front wheel of the bike is actually real. The stunt driver lost balance during the stunt and the director decided to use that action part in the movie. The rider was not hurt

During the shoot, Nicolas Cage was the guest of Ferrari at the Australian Grand Prix race.

Ghost Rider was sent to theaters under the name Costly Pact.

Ziph Comics: Mars As It Used To Be

Richard Hawkins — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 00:33:20 +0000

The Adventures Of Prince Ziph

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…

Murky Depths: Issue 0 Promo Review

Richard Hawkins — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 18:22:07 +0000

Murky Depths Promo Issue

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.

Murky Depths

Richard Hawkins — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 17:58:28 +0000

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.

Future Shocks From Rebellion 2000AD

Richard Hawkins — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 00:39:54 +0000

Shockingly Shockingly Weird

2000AD do an occasional story line which are just weird, very much like the Twilight Zone called Future Shocks or Time Twisters. It’s a place for new artists and scripters to showcase their imagination. Alan Moore has put together a compilation which will - just - weird - you - out.

One memorable one which I recollect is where a guy notices a strip of clear white paint on the roof of his house. He’s bewildered, and wonders what it’s about. No conclusion comes until maybe 15 years later. He’s finally painted his house and low and behold a strip of paint has disappeared. He vaguely remembers something which happened before…

To me these are probably the most thought out story lines, or at least the most weird and thought provoking story lines which have appeared in 2000AD.

If you like weird and thought provoking stories, then simply go get it.

Rogue Trooper: Rebellion: 2000AD: On PS2 Review

Richard Hawkins — Fri, 05 May 2006 21:48:19 +0000

Rebellion and Eidos bring us a first class, thinking persons shooter.

Rogue Trooper is drawn from the character of the British Comic 2000AD. Apparently, outside of the UK this is an almost unknown comic, so therefore the game had to come across as an entity on its own. The backstory, luckily, does include some of the ‘history’ of the character; how he and his kind were ambushed at The Quartz Zone Massacre, betrayed by one of their own Generals.

Rogue is a genetically engineered fighting machine (from test tubes), specially designed for the toxic atmosphere of Nu Earth, one of the galaxy’s most deadly war-zones. He is the only survivor of the massacre, goes A.W.O.L and sets out to hunt down the traitor general and bring him to justice. During the massacre, three of his G.I. buddies are killed, and Rogue removes their bio chips and places them in his gear. Bagman is put in his backbag, Gunnar is placed in his Gun and Helm is put in his Helmet. Their consciousness carries on, and as well as cracking bad jokes, they all play a part in helping Rogue on his vendetta.

The game follows the above ‘backstory’ and then progresses to various locations on Nu Earth. A common enemy on the planet’s surface are the Norts, humans who cannot survive on the planet’s surface without oxygen tanks.

Rogue Trooper, when presented in 2000AD was a visual comic book story. This translates very well to the digital screen and as with all aspects of the game, prior knowledge of either 2000AD or Rogue Trooper is not essential to enjoy the game.

The game is a clever third person shooter, and with your three friends still around, they become an integral part of your survival. They do crack jokes and chit chat amongst themselves, which adds to the game, but they also have skills of their own. Gunnar can be placed so as to cover an area which is remote from where you are, Bagman can be given scrap, which is picked up around the gaming area, and convert it into useful ammo or upgrades. Helm can hack terminals, to name just one skill for each friend. There are many more to discover as you make your way through Nu Earth.

One of my favourite parts of the game is with Gunnar: he aids in targetting and allows you to precision shoot the oxygen tanks of the Norts, where by smoke billows out, they run around hearing the hiss, arms in the air, before the tank ruptures and explodes.

The controls are like second nature, easily accessible; the commentary of the bio chips aids in your initial setup and ‘training’ of the various actions within the game. The game could be seen as quite easy to finish, but I found it a pleasure non the less. With the addition of online gaming, the longevity of this game is increased.

I’d recommend you getting it, then I’d say check out back issues of 2000AD.

Rogue Trooper: Rebellion: 2000AD

Richard Hawkins — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 22:42:37 +0000

I’ve just got this press release through for the up and coming game, Rogue Trooper. I’ve always been a fan of 2000AD and Rogue was one of my favourite characters. It’ll be interesting to see how it/he transfers to an interactive gaming environment. I’m hopeful in one respect, as Gordon Rennie is the script supervisor working with the development team.

ROGUE TROOPER RELEASE DATE CONFIRMED
ROGUE (NOUN : an animal of vicious character that has separated from the main herd and leads a
solitary life)

Eidos Interactive, one of the world’s leading developers and publishers of entertainment software, today confirms that ROGUE TROOPER™, a futuristic tactical action game based on the 2000 AD comic strip, will be released on April 21st on PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC in all European territories.

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.

ROGUE TROOPER™ blends intense third person action and next generation stealth, as
Rogue wreaks revenge armed with the very latest experimental weaponry. Rogue’s arsenal offers him a unique advantage over his opponents; encoded bio-chips containing the digitised personalities of his fallen comrades are implanted in his gun (Gunnar), helmet (Helm) and backpack (Bagman), each offering their full military experience at the player’s fingertips.

Rogue Trooper features intense online gameplay modes, where gamers can experience up to four-player co-operative gameplay in all new maps or two player split screen action.

For more information visit www.roguetrooper.com

About Rebellion

UK-based computer games super-developer Rebellion was established in 1991 by brothers Jason and Chris Kingsley. The most recent launch was Sniper EliteTM in September 2005 on PlayStation®2, Xbox® and PC DVD. Lauded as ‘The Gran Turismo of War games’ by the gaming press, it has built upon the collection of Rebellion owned IP’s which includes World War ZeroTM on PlayStation®2.

In June 2000 Rebellion purchased the UK sci-fi comic 2000 AD and its entire character portfolio. Rebellion’s first 2000 AD title, Judge Dredd: Dredd Vs. Death was launched in 2003 and in 2006, Rogue Trooper™ will be launched on PlayStation®2, Xbox® and PC.

About Eidos Interactive Ltd

Eidos Interactive Ltd is part of SCi Entertainment Group Plc (SEG) one of the world’s leading publishers and
developers of entertainment software. Following the acquisition of Eidos plc in May 2005, the Group has a valuable combined portfolio of intellectual property including: Tomb Raider: Legend, Hitman: Blood Money, Commandos Strike Force, Just Cause, Championship Manager, Battlestations: Midway, Urban Chaos: Riot Response and Reservoir Dogs.

For further information please contact:
Chris Glover | Head of Communications | Eidos
T: + 44 (0) 208 6363 3000 E: chrisg@eidos.co.uk

Online SciFi Radio

Richard Hawkins — Thu, 13 Oct 2005 20:14:13 +0000

Online Radio Station Geared Around Science Fiction Fans.

A new online streaming radio station for scifi fans has been set up. Entitled area 51 radio station (AF1RS) it will include all manner of content such as live outside broadcasts from large events. The next big events are the California SciFi Convention and The London Expo (broadcasting to 30,000 people). There will be SciFi roundups and music from the 70s through until the present day.

There will also be guest appearences, including John Billingsley who plays Dr. Phlox in Star Trek Enterprise. John will officially open the station at 12:00 Midday on Saturday October 22 2005 - and it will run for 24/7.

At the time or writing, the radio station is being tested from October 15th, with the golive October 22nd. Therefore, until it is actually live, there may not be a stream available. Keep coming back to check.

Click on the logo to tune into world’s first SciFi Radio Station now! It will start up a popular media streaming program such as iTunes, WinAmp or RealMedia (depending on which you have installed). You can download winamp from here.

If you have any difficulties, please let us know on the contact form.

You can see the current agenda, programmes, news and extra info on the official radio site here.

2000AD Judge Dredd Megazine 137

Richard Hawkins — Sat, 24 Sep 2005 14:14:23 +0000

The Megazine Hits 15!

So.. The Megazine is 15 years old. Time flies when you’re having fun, eh?

And to celebrate the publisher have issued this particularly nice looking issue. The cover artwork is viewable through a window in the black outer cover. I like the way there is a nod to Ray Bradbury and his novel Farenheit 451. And how it’s Judge Dredd himself who is holding issues of the Megazine to throw in the incinerator. Very tongue in cheek.

Something for collectors to note: there was an error in the original print run (Judge Dredd pages 13 and 14 duplicated; The Simping Detective missing pages 7 and 8 ). This was apparently only caught after the subscribers had been mailed with their copy.

Therefore there are some unique issues floating around, which, in the future might be hard to come across. It will be the famous 15th Year Anniversary special botched copy. Oh, and a corrected version will be sent to shops and as replacements for subscribers.

Onto the issue itself..

Contents

The Simping Detective
Fifteen /

Delvin Waugh
All Hell /

Judge Dredd
Flood’s Thirteen Episode 1 /

Non-Fiction
15 Years Creep! / Text article on the history of the Judge Dredd Megazine. First part double length.

2000AD Judge Dredd 9: Dreddline

Richard Hawkins — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 10:11:10 +0000

2000AD Judge Dredd 8: I Love Judge Dredd

Richard Hawkins — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 10:10:05 +0000

2000AD Judge Dredd 7: Get Karter!

Richard Hawkins — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 10:09:08 +0000

2000AD Judge Dredd 6: Trapped On Titan

Richard Hawkins — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 10:08:12 +0000

2000AD Judge Dredd 5: The Big Shot

Richard Hawkins — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 10:07:25 +0000

2000AD Judge Dredd 4: The Killing Zone

Richard Hawkins — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 10:06:09 +0000

2000AD Strontium Dog 3: Down To Earth

Richard Hawkins — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 10:05:00 +0000

2000AD Judge Dredd 2: Death Trap!

Richard Hawkins — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 10:03:21 +0000

“We need med wagons for the wounded and meat wagons for the dead.”

Written By David Bishop

Starring:

Toby Longworth as Judge Dredd

Clare Buckfield as Judge Amy Steel

Mark Gatiss as Judge Death

Regina Regan as Enigma Smith

Jeremy James as Control

Julia Righton as Nigella Gaiman

Liza Ross as Mrs Gunderson

This time written by James Bishop, this episode gives all it should. Judge Steel is back again, getting her fair share of airtime. Death himself is played by The League Of Gentleman’s Mark Gatiss and plays the part with obvious glee (I can’t think of anyone else who would play Death so well).

The sound design is fitting, and it’s nice to know that the production team haven’t overused sound effects just because it’s aural.

Nice to see Walter is back, the poor sod.

The tale is pretty fast paced, and the crew come to together splendidly. I liked the almost comical ending. Though - no matter how hard I try, I can never read a Judge Death story with seeing some ‘tongue in cheek’ humour there, even if it maybe shouldn’t be. I guess you have to see it as that, or else you’d cry.

Recommended.

2000AD Judge Dredd 1: Wanted Dredd Or Alive

Richard Hawkins — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 21:49:51 +0000

Dredd - “I allow every rookie one chance to foul up, you’ve just had yours.”

Written by James Swallow

Starring:

Toby Longworth as Judge Dredd

Claire Buckfield as Cadet Amy Steel

Teresa Gallagher as Chief Judge Hershey

Regina Regan as Enigma Smith

Jeremy James as Control

Stewart Alexander as Cadet Baker

This is the first release from Big Finish of an audio version of the 2000AD comic character Judge Dredd. At first I was in a state of trepidation as to whether this could be pulled off. I mean, comics and their characters are very visual, all the action is portrayed graphically. Would an attempt at converting visual phenomena into aural media be successful?

The story is based around a disease which affects Judges who use sleep machines. As Judges should be awake on the streets as much as possible, machines were devised to allow a Judge to get full sleep after only being in the machine for a few minutes; minimizing ‘downtime’. The disease may be tied in with the crime syndicate of Frendz.

I like the idea of introducing a recurring character in the form of Judge Steel, giving it an ‘epic’ feel as opposed to just some episodes which Judge Dredd just happens to be in. I also through that using the Mega City News in the form of bulletins and news flashes was a neat idea.

The sound effects and voices come off perfectly, from the jingles in the news to Dredd himself to the sound his Lawgiver makes.

For a first production, this is pulled off brilliantly; worth listening to rather than most of the banal crap you get on radio nowadays.