Category Archives: Comic Reviews

Aliens, Comic Reviews

ALiENS: WHAT IF…? (CARTER BURKE SURViVED)

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On 21st December 1992 my 15th birthday came to an end with Aliens on TV. Initially, I’d sat down to watch it with my mum because Sigourney Weaver was in it and I was a Ghostbusters fan, but we were both quickly drawn in. I’ve scoured the TV schedules on my birthday every year since but there’s never been a movie to match it. Now, 34 years later, and for the third year in a row since my mum passed away, I’ll mark that night with what has become one of my traditional Christmas watches.

Paul Reiser played Carter Burke, the company man we were led to believe was a decent guy. Paul’s performance is so likeable that the slow reveal of his true intentions made for compelling viewing. I grew up watching Paul on the sitcom My Two Dads and his famous “This is not my…” line from the Beverly Hills Cop movies was very quotable back in school. Decades later, on October 2024 he appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers , a show I watch every day over breakfast.

A few minutes in I was thrilled to hear the two of them discuss a new Aliens: What If…? comic from Marvel with the premise of telling a story following Burke if he had survived the movie. Paul collaborated with his son and there are some funny stories in the interview about that aspect of the project. You can also see some of the covers and Paul’s general reaction to the idea and what he thought of working on it.

The actual scripts are by Hans Rodionoff (Man-Thing, Damage Control) and Adam F. Goldberg (The Goldbergs TV show, the movies The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz and How to Train Your Dragon), Giui Vilanova (The A-Team, Dark Shadows, The Punisher) is the artist, Yen Nitro (Venom, Catpool & Mousepool, Predator Vs Spider-Man) the colourist, Clayton Cowles (Adventureman, Shang-Chi, Thor) the letterer and Phil Noto (Batgirl, Grendel, G.I. Joe) the cover artist.

However, as well as their input on the idea and plot, the scripts would also be sent back to Paul and his son Leon to add to or edit the character’s speech to make sure it flowed in his natural voice, and to add in some comedy. In hindsight this works really well. It doesn’t take away from it being an Aliens horror tale but it can also be very funny. It’s easily the funniest Aliens comic you’re ever likely to read thanks to Burke’s reactions to the ever-worsening situation around him.

There’s a famous deleted scene from the movie which involved Ripley discovering Burke in the Alien nest, trapped in the walls. He tells her he can feel one growing inside him and begs her to help. She simply hands him a grenade and moves on. It was cut because director James Cameron realised that Burke would still have had the face hugger on his head by this point so it didn’t make sense. However, you can still see the scene in the comics adaptation, Newt’s Tale, in #7 of the 90s UK Aliens comic (coincidentally enough the first Christmas issue).

What If…? begins by replaying his last moments in the film but he isn’t killed as we assumed from his final seconds. Instead he’s captured, but unlike the deleted scene the face hugger doesn’t get a chance to attach itself. Instead, the explosion set off by Vasquez and Gorman rocks through the ventilation shafts and shatters the alien resin holding Burke captive. We then see him hiding in the shadows of the final scenes of the film, witnessing it all play out. The opening scene from Alien³ even gets a look in.

In the aftermath, Weyland-Yutani sees him as the perfect fall guy so the company declares that their wish to capture aliens for biological weapons research was all his idea. We catch up with him decades later as the boss of an all-but-forgotten mining planet with a workforce that hates him, his estranged daughter Brie who hates him and soon Yutani’s son Hiro, who hates him.

Burke has a plan to redeem his name, mend things with Brie and get off the godforsaken rock. Of course, the plan involves a xenomorph. You’d think he’d have learned his lesson, if not from his own experiences then from all the movies! (I jest.) As it turns out, his wife has been cryofrozen to stop her cancer from advancing any further and alien DNA holds the answer to create a medical panacea.

We know from previous Aliens comic strips in the 90s that their slime contains potential medical applications and a recreational drug. Although, the modern Marvel comics are ignoring all of those strips so whether this is still true in the Alien universe anymore I’m not sure. His synth Cygnus (who hates him) secures an alien egg after decades in space and Burke is ready to make his move. Apart from having this character back from the dead it all sounds oh so familiar.

After watching the movies and reading Dark Horse International’s 90s Aliens comic this just feels like more of the same. The key human beat that’s different is the link between the predictable plot and Zoe, Burke’s wife. While he does have a larger plan to clear his name and get his revenge on the company, the story has a heart at its centre and a surprisingly emotional thread for Burke and his family.

We sympathise while at the same time wanting to scream at him for making the same mistake every single human has ever made in the Alien franchise, that of thinking they can control any outcome that involves the creatures. If the descendants of Dr Ian Malcolm existed in the Alien universe they’d be very, very busy.

I’ve spent most of this review summing up the creation of this mini-series and the storyline. Have I left enough room to sum up my opinions? The thing is, I can pretty much do so by telling you about one specific moment. Or rather, moments, plural. At one point they capture the face hugger only for them to lose hold of it and watch it escape through a vent into the larger mining area. Then it happens again, and again.

It’s presented as a recurring joke about the ineptitude of Burke. His reaction to it continually happening is certainly funny. But, no matter how much I might have giggled at what he says, the fact it keeps happening just gets repetitive. After a while it stops feeling like a recurring joke and more like lazy plotting. With several throwbacks that copy moments and dialogue from the movie that feeling doesn’t really go away.

For the first while in the movie we liked the character of Burke. (We were also used to Paul playing likeable characters.) In the end though, we all loved to hate him. Here, the reader’s feelings for him go in the opposite direction, which I’ll admit is clever. By the end we’re back to liking him again despite everything he tried (and caused) in the film. Paul’s input is clear. Burke has great comic timing, feels like a fully developed character, is fallible and we believe he has atoned so his comedy really lands.

But unfortunately all of this potential is tied to a storyline that does nothing new. Burke himself feels like the only original element, which is ironic given he’s an already established character. Apart from his reactions everything that happens around him is wholly predictable. As such, when it all ends it’s strange that the only memorable thing in an Aliens horror tale is the humour.

It’s great humour though and really benefits from the unique way in which this was written. It’s a shame the comic team couldn’t come up with something just as unique for Paul to collaborate on. If you can grab the five issues (or the collected graphic novel) for cheap somewhere I’d recommend it as an interesting concept, for the central character and for Paul’s input. The ending is also left open, so there’s always hope that we’ll see more from Burke in a story that’ll do him justice.

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Beano, Comic Reviews

BEANO #954: A GiFT OF AN iSSUE

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Seven months later I’m finally back reading a classic issue of The Beano, this time from 1960. First up though, let me address something. This issue has a cover date of 29th October with a scheduled release day of every Thursday, despite the 29th having been a Friday. But if I told you the actual release date was Wednesday 26th October 1960 you might think I was wrong. Given the amount of people who tried to “correct” me about the previous three issues on socials I have to take a moment to explain.

British weekly humour comics were often dated for the Saturday after publication day and would be available the working day before the day written on the cover. Don’t believe me? Well, this comes straight from Lew Stringer, a bigger authority on British humour comics you’d be hard pressed to find. Of course, it doesn’t help that publishers (including DC Thomson) often celebrate anniversaries on the cover dates. But yep, all of my dates are correct, and with that let’s get stuck in.

I was never a fan of Biffo the Bear, drawn above by Dudley D. Watkins. I never really understood the appeal. He never did anything bear-like, he was just an ordinary, rather bland character to my young eyes and I ended up avoiding his strips in my friends’ Beano Books. The cover to #954 doesn’t change my opinion. Thankfully, David Law’s Dennis the Menace is on the very next page. However, what about that ending! For the most part the strip is fun old-fashioned Dennis fare, but he gets the slipper because his dad misheard him?! Beating your son when he did nothing wrong and you just weren’t listening? Wow, okay then!

Sadly, there’s no Halloween content in this issue despite us being so close to the holiday but it still marked an important part in Beano’s life. Harry Crammond had recently come on board as editor and the look and style of the comic was freshened up, becoming much more like that which my friends grew up with in the 80s. For example, the logo now has the famous Beano colours. There’s more familiarity with The Three Bears on the next page.

Drawn by the incredible Leo Baxendale I remember these characters well, even though I never personally bought the comic as a kid. They started out in Little Plum, their popularity leading to their own strip. Little Plum is in here too but its stereotypes are quite painful to read today so I’ve included the bears instead. Besides, their page is also much funnier! Always looking for their next Slap-Up Feed™, this is the perfect example of the lengths they’d go to every week. Still, the art is the star.

The comic had only recently increased to 16 pages after the war so a price hike was necessary and to ease the pain free gifts returned for the first time in several years. Normally used as a way of increasing slowing winter sales (thanks to the expense of Christmas), it’s the reason this issue was chosen for the box set. Strangely, there’s no indication of what the gift actually was, either in the comic or the bookazine. One thorough search online later and I found out it was one of a series of Clickitty Clickers.

Basically, they were bits of metal with drawings of characters on them that made an annoying clicking sound when pressed together. I could see plenty of these being purposely misplaced by many parents. You can check out the others available with other copies of this issue at the British Comics & Story Paper Index (where the images of the gifts above are from).

Another character we meet for the first time in this blog series is a favourite of mine in the modern Beano, Minnie the Minx. The undisputed (in my eyes anyway) star of the Christmas Specials given her history with Santa, here she’s also drawn by Leo. The story could be seen as somewhat Halloween’y I guess, even if the wonderfully drawn monstrous faces are awkwardly squeezed into the story in ways that don’t really make a lot of sense.

Speaking of Minnie and Santa, this year’s Christmas Special has already plopped through my letterbox and I’m using all of my will power to leave it be! I’m sure neither Minnie nor the comic will let us down this year. Back to our classic issue for now and Beano still had some adventure stories within its pages, albeit in picture-panel format rather than prose. Although, they seem to be showing their age more than ever.

The Ting-A-Ling Taylors is essentially a White Saviour tale of a British family (and their fire engine, weirdly) rescuing African wildlife when the locals prove unable to do so for some reason, despite having lived there for generations. It’s also telling that everyone in the family is given a name in this episode except for Mrs Taylor, who is only known as “his wife”. Next up, The Danger Man is such a clichéd 60s square-jawed hero I initially thought it was a spoof, but the Martian and his kids risk life and limb to rescue a cat from a burning skyscraper so you can call me a fan.

The Ting-A-Ling Taylors by Terry Patrick
The Danger Man by Michael Darling
The Great Flood of London by David Sutherland
Lord Snooty by Dudley D. Watkins

The Great Flood of London tells the tale of a family living inside the famous clock tower beside the Big Ben bell, scavenging for food in half-sunken ships and shops beneath the surface. It’s difficult to judge it by one chapter of an ongoing adventure, but while it’s interesting it doesn’t do much apart from detail their everyday lives. Not the most adventurous of adventures, this one.

Lord Snooty and his pals are still here and this issue’s strip is notable for including Professor Screwtop, who modern kids might recognise as the father of Rubi, another highlight of my yearly Christmas reads. The issue also contains The Bash Street Kids, Wonder Boy and Colonel Crackpot’s Circus, but my final highlight couldn’t be anything other than the strip on the back page.

The instantly recognisable art of Ken Reid (who OiNK Blog readers will know from Faceache in The Big Comic Book) is behind the chaotic Jonah. His lifelong dream is to be a bonafide sailor but, in a career where symbols of bad luck were treated very seriously, having every ship sink after he stepped on board is nothing short of a curse. Here, he sees a way around this by playing a role in a film that just happens to be filmed on a boat.

At the very end you can just about make out Jonah being thrown back on board and the next issue saw his attempts to integrate himself with the same crew as the strip often ran scenarios over several weeks rather than resetting each time. I remember Jonah from the 80s so I’m assuming he’ll be in the following issues in this set, but whether he’ll still be drawn by Ken… well, I can only hope. (Please, no spoilers, I want to find out for myself, that’s the whole point of the blog after all.)

Deciding to cover these eight issues on their original release dates means we’ve eight months to wait until the next one, #1768. It marked the creation of the Dennis and Gnasher Fan Club. So make sure you come back on Wednesday 2nd June 2027 as we relive 1976, the year of the first supercomputer, the release of Breakout in arcades and Carrie in cinemas, Jimmy Carter, the first craft to land on Mars, the discovery of the megamouth shark, Mrs. Warsaw-pact’s (from OiNK #10) namesake and that heat wave the news kept banging on about this summer.

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Comic Reviews, The Sleeze Brothers

THE SLEEZE BROTHERS: SOME LiKE iT FRESH

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The inept detective brothers El’ Ape and Deadbeat Sleeze are chasing a man with a thumb for a head through the streets of The Big Apple when they literally stumble upon the Cosmos Father’s men killing some air traders who’d hiked their prices up. Running for their lives, the Sleezes end up in the Shuttle Port and (again, accidentally) wind up in the ladies. Five minutes later they’ve nicked wigs and clothes, applied some lippy and are making their escape from the goons. And we’re off!

Oh, how I’ve missed these two. The Sleeze Brothers: Some Like It Fresh was published by Marvel’s Epic Comics imprint in the States rather than the UK, with Transformers colourist Nel Yomtov their new editor. The rest of the regular creative team return for this final edition of their own comic, with co-creators John Carnell and Andy Lanning writing and pencilling respectively, Stephen Baskerville inking, Steve White colouring and Helen Stone lettering. There’s no clear release date online with various sources stating different months of 1991, so I’ve decided to cover it somewhere in the middle of 2026, 35 years after its release.

The title refers to clean air, something of a rare commodity in this future Earth city and a key point in the first issue of their UK monthly two years prior. In fact, the city is so polluted and fresh air so rare it’s traded by nefarious cartels in sniffer bottles like portable SodaStreams, and there are morality groups and politicians calling for its banishment. A complete prohibition is the goal of the PRATS, the Planetary Reform Air Temperance Society, a group of Mary Whitehouse-esque Daily Mail-reading (possibly) women who our two lads happen to be disguised as.

Within a handful of pages the scene switches to a massive space cruiser called the Overlook (a second horror movie hotel location for the series and, alongside the title of the issue, the umpteenth movie reference in general) where the PRATS and the rival gangs are all having meetings. The Sleezes can’t even escape properly! There’s a funny moment when the robotic bellboy elaborates on all of the luxuries the hotel contains, only for the brothers to be told none of this applies to them as the PRATS don’t believe in such things and they end up in a rat-infested hole.

You see, they haven’t only dressed up as women, but as key speakers for the PRATS! Although, given what comes out of their mouths you get the impression they’re not even trying to put on voices, which just makes the whole scenario even more absurd and funny. Also the fact that anyone who has met them before sees through their disguises straight away. Called upon to give his speech El Ape, in complete desperation for something to say and not blow his cover, ends up saying the air suppliers should be nuked, resulting in chants of “burn the supply” and “kill their children” from the supposed do-gooders!

Vanity Case also returns, hired by a PRAT to investigate wigs that disappear at night only to return each morning. Vanity is just one of the brilliantly-named cast members here. The sole male PRAT is called Dr. Masticator, the angry and disgusting police chief Pigheadski’s first name is revealed to be Elmo, the Cosmos Father’s number two is Angelo Tagelitelly, J. Edgar Hairdryer mades a welcome return, as does President Sinartra and Mr Big’s first name is Ronnie, because of course it is!

Accidentally disposing of Pigheadski’s undercover cop, El’ Ape is recruited to take on the role of the never-seen-before Mr Big, meaning the opposing groups are after him for different reasons, what with one side setting up Mr Big to be killed. It’s a classic Sleeze Brothers tale that continues to escalate more and more out of control, and with the strip lasting a lengthy 48 pages this gets more chaotic than any story before it, which is saying something.

Innuendos abound too. I remember reading the first issue in 1989 when I was only 11 and, while I knew it was naughty in places and I kept some of the images hidden from my parents, most of the more adult jokes just went over my head. I could see the same happening here for younger readers. I’d have loved this as a kid and wouldn’t have really thought of anything as unsuitable, although now I can see it was definitely for more mature readers. This page featuring Sinartra and his tank-like lower body being one such example.

There are plenty of running jokes too, such as the miniature ninjas hired to take out Mr Big (El’ Ape in this case). Each one fails spectacularly. It’s not from lack of trying though. It’s certainly not from any outsmarting of them on the part of the brothers either. Rather, each one falls foul of Ape’s complete lack of awareness for anything other than what’s directly in front of him. Seeing each assassination attempt fall apart by accident made me roar every time.

The brothers end up having two cases to solve which only sets things up for twice the amount of failure. They’re not doing it to be altruistic, it’s because if they don’t help Pigheadski he won’t drop the charges they were accused of in their regular comic and El’ Ape wants to date Vanity so they decide to help her too. He dresses up as Mr Big to meet with the Cosmos Father who wishes to make amends (an obvious trap) and Deadbeat dons the wig again to solve the other case.

Of course, this is The Sleeze Brothers so we just know these two separate mysteries are really one and the same. As if the comic wasn’t already hilarious, this is when it really kicks off! Mr Big is released from prison and makes his way to the Overlook. The air dealers are filling the PRATS’ wigs with air to smuggle it to Earth. The head PRAT is in on it and she sneaks off from their meeting to rendezvous with the crooks.

Everything is already set for a brilliant finale when it’s revealed that the cops are listening in on the meeting through an ear piece on El’ Ape. Not only that, they have a trigger phrase he should recite if he gets into trouble and they can burst in and take everyone out, which coincidentally just so happens to be the exact same trigger phrase the gang will use when it’s time to take out Mr Big (or rather, El’ Ape). We know chaos is coming but nothing could prepare me for how this issue ended.

After an air container gets ruptured in the action, the sweet fresh O₂ leaks out and we get an excellent Sleeze Brothers equivalent of the ending of every gangster film ever. It’s not a mass shoot out, it’s a mass love-in instead, with everyone happy and laughing and loving life, high on fresh air. The fact this very reaction is seen as illicit in this future world, as a dangerous out of control drugs high, sums up the perfectly crafted idiocy at the heart of this series.

But despite the large scale of the ending it’s the littler moments that’ll live on in my head long after the comic is returned to my shelves. As with the original series it’s these moments that caught me unawares, the gags that made me grin from ear to ear and chuckle like I was 11 all over again. These made for the most unforgettable panels. Just two such examples are below, the second of which in particular nearly made me choke on my cuppa because I’ve just started a weekly rewatch of the RoboCop TV series again, so this really hit the spot!

Some Like It Fresh can easily be picked it up for a few quid on eBay. If you see it, grab it! Printed on high quality paper the art truly shines, the script is punchy, there are laugh-out-loud moments on every single page and at more than double the length of one of the monthly stories you’ll be laughing a lot. Seriously, a whole lot. We’re still not finished with the brothers Sleeze on the blog, either.

Go and check out the original introductory post to see my whole Sleeze Brothers collection and you should spot three publications I haven’t showed you yet. Since they cover a span of over a decade I’ll not be reviewing them in real time! Instead, watch out for all three next year. Not only that, there’s a special cameo they made that I’ll also be sharing as an extra. So thankfully there’s more mayhem to come from the pair and I for one cannot wait.

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Comic Reviews, OiNK Contributors

SHAKESPEARE COMiC: KEV F’S MASTERCLASSiCS

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So OiNK cartoonist Kev F Sutherland’s Kickstarter was a success and now his Shakespeare Comic is out there in the wild. A large-format, 32-page colour comic with samples of seven adaptations of some of William Shakespeare’s most-loved works. First impressions are good. It’s bright, it’s colourful, looks like a lot of fun and all printed on great quality paper, belying the fact it’ll only cost you four quid. The cover certainly catches the attention, right?

The cynical reviewer or social media commentator might see this as a marketing ploy, each strip a sample of one of Kev’s graphic novels. They’re only a few pages long and will suddenly just stop, but Kev has been very clear all along that this comic was going to be a sampler. Instead of trying to decide which one of his Shakespeare books you’ll buy first, you can spend a little less and try them all out in one neat little package. So did I come away wanting to read more?

“The story so far: Punk rocker Joe Hamlet learns his dad was killed by his Uncle Claud, he’s just mistakenly stabbed Ophelia’s dad, Polonius,
and no one’s taking it well…”

Hamlet Prince of Denmark Street

The first thing I noticed was that the art style is looser than Kev’s more detailed work in OiNK, in the full-colour strips anyway. There are two that were originally published in black and white (now coloured) which are a bit more like what I was expecting. That’s not to say his other strips aren’t fun. They took a bit of getting used to but once I did I appreciated how the style lent itself more to the fast and frenetic retellings of these classic tales. The amount of story he can fit into four pages testament to this.

For example, I really enjoyed Romeo and Juliet. Kev takes some of the well known lines from the play, ones that’ll be easily understood by kids and intersperses them with modern language for a laugh. These also sum up bigger chunks of the classic text, speeding up the story. I’ll admit I’ve not read much Shakespeare so a lot of this is new to me, so I think any child who might be reading these in school will get a bigger kick out of them. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy them, I really did, I just know those familiar with the plays will get more of the knowing nods and spoof moments than I did. 

I particularly chuckled at Midsummer Night’s Dream Team, which sets the play in a heist movie. The four-page sample here doesn’t really reflect that aspect of the graphic novel but it does have a classic movie nightclub vibe to it which I loved. The back and forth between the characters using classic prose and those that don’t is the best use of this comedic style in the whole comic. The way Boots pharmacy and a “nookie room” are slipped in here really did make me laugh!

The way some of the Shakespearean-type characters’ facial expressions react to these modern interpretations are fantastic and it’s also one of the best-looking strips (it’s one of those more detailed black and white ones with new punchy colour). The use of the nightclub setting also allows Kev to have people singing along to songs, the lyrics of which are classic verses from the play. Put all of this together and it’s probably the best example of what Kev is doing with this series of graphic novels and it’d be top of my list to purchase as a result.

Two brand new books are also sampled, namely King Lear and Twelfth Thing, which retells Twefth Night as another movie trope, the monster flick. Although, the sample used doesn’t actually include any monsters, strangely enough. This does make for a funny line at the end though, when it plugs the book so that you can “read the bits with monsters in”. Rounding things off are comic versions of Hamlet, Macbeth and Richard The Third, a funny character who you’d swear was an original Kev F creation! 

I have to say it was a bit of a shock to see the word “pished” and a couple of characters smoking in a children’s comic. Saying that, given the original material this is based on I doubt it would appeal to primary school kids. But for those young teens beginning to read Shakespeare in English class this could be just the tonic they need to make it through the sometimes heavy text. It could also help them more easily understand the original stories, so they could end up enjoying the plays more than they otherwise would have.

One lovely addition here is actually an advert. Kev teaches comics masterclasses across the UK and Ireland, something you’ll often see him promoting on his socials. The advert he’s produced for these is a funny strip in its own right (and looks a lot more like Kev’s OiNK work into the bargain), but more than that it shows you just how fantastic these classes could be for the kids at your own child’s school. I wish I’d had something like these when I was young. I’ve included the page here because I think they sound wonderful.

Shakespeare Comic is available now from Kev’s online shop for only £4 plus postage. It’s just about as original a comic as you’re likely to read and I’m positive that if any of your children are reading Shakespeare at school they’ll find a lot to love in Kev’s books, never mind the positive effect they could have on their learning. This way, they can also try them all out first.

To finish on, a personal highlight from the comic. On the inside back cover (and also included as an A3 poster) is a map of the UK showing where each of the main characters from the plays were based. Also included (in roughly the right spots) are Kev’s illustrations of the Kickstarter backers and, well…

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THE GiFT: A PRESENT FROM DAVY FRANCiS

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The Gift is exactly what it says on the tin, an absolute gift of a wee comic that’ll simultaneously have you roaring with laughter while pulling on your heart strings. As you’d expect coming from Davy Francis (Greedy Gorb, Doctor Madstarkraving, Cowpat County) it’s as unique a comic as you’re likely to find. Even its creation was very ‘Davy’.

A few months back I was having coffee with Davy and Peter Duncan of Belfast’s Sector 13 Comics when Davy pulled out a selection of random little bits of paper of various types and sizes. On each was drawn one panel of a story. He’d been randomly drawing each image whenever the mood took him on whatever he had to hand. What I saw that day was brilliant and deserved to be seen by others.

Peter was of the same opinion and had the means to make it happen. Sector 13 originally began by creating and publishing the entertaining 2000AD-inspired Sector 13 comic. In recent years they’ve branched out into publishing comics by other local writers and artists. Their latest release is Davy’s The Gift, which comes in a small square format in keeping with his original sketches.

It was released during the Enniskillen Comic Fest and there was something of an embargo on story or even character details beforehand as no one wanted to give anything away before its publication. Hence why I’ve waited until now to review it for the OiNK Blog, so that I can give you a few details in this review, although I’ll make sure not to spoil anything for you.

Part of the joy of this comic is not knowing anything about it beforehand, but that could make for a somewhat bland review. So what can I tell you? It involves a Bruce Wayne/Batman-type character called Dwayne Castle, who lives in a castle. His alter ego is… The Rook. Along with his Alfred-like butler friend the set up is a very funny take on the original Batman legend but it goes much farther than that.

How it develops is the part I don’t want to tell you about because it’s the whole point of the comic. It’s strange to be highly recommending something when I can’t mention the main plot point. What I can tell you is how funny it is. Any fan of Davy’s from OiNK or any of the other publications he’s appeared in over the years will instantly take to this, whether you’re a Batman or superhero fan or not. Thankfully, Sector 13 haven’t tidied the images up too much so you can still see the different types and shapes of paper Davy used, giving it the feel of him sharing each one with you personally and an insight into his crazy cartoonist mind.

Davy’s inimitable style shines all the more here, possibly because he was originally only drawing these for his own amusement. As such, you can feel the love that went into each image and when you read the dedication to his late dad at the beginning you’ll understand why. Having read this dedication you’ll then feel a lump build up in your throat as you read the second half of the tale, the half I’m not going to discuss.

Well, I say ”read”, but this is a silent comedy. There are some of Davy’s trademark background gags like shop signs etc., but other than those this is without speech or narrative captions. Each image takes up a full page and acts like a snapshot of a particular part in the lives of the two men at the centre of the story. Some spoofs of DC comics and scenarios from well known aspects of Batman’s life act as funny little pages in their own right, but it’s the overall story that makes this worth every penny.

I really can’t recommend this enough. Now, £7.00 might sound like a lot for a silent comic, especially since every page has just the one panel, but at 52 pages there are a lot of images here to savour. That’s the way to read Davy’s comic, taking your time to enjoy each individual drawing, laughing along with the gags and allowing yourself to get emotionally invested as it develops beyond what you thought it would be when you ordered it from Sector 13’s website.

Which you really must do. You won’t want to miss out on the experience of this one.

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Comic Reviews, Wildcat

TURBO JONES: A WiLDCAT GRAPHiC NOVEL

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It’s been a long time coming, 37 years in fact, but finally I’m going to find out how Wildcat’s Turbo Jones strip ends, thanks to the first of Rebellion’s graphic novel collections. Containing all of Turbo’s strips from the entire Wildcat series, including the Winter and Holiday Specials, it’s the strips from the merge with Eagle that I haven’t read yet. As such, I was a bit disappointed to find out on the contents page the character didn’t last long in that comic. Oh well, let’s dig in to what’s here.

A word of warning, I’m looking at these as classic strips just like the rest of Wildcat, so while this is a review of a book on sale it could contain some spoilers if you’re thinking of buying it and would prefer to go in fresh. After an introduction by Wildcat’s creator-editor Barrie Tomlinson, the preview issue and all 12 Turbo Jones strips from the regular comic, we get to Eagle and Wildcat and the conclusion to the Trial of Death Turbo had been forced into at the end of his own comic.

After the big build up the trial itself only lasts one issue before Turbo and Robo spot the Arglon army moving towards Borovia. Seeing a way back in with his former allies, Turbo assembles the army before promptly kills a dissenter! Then the rest just fall in line. What? Throughout Wildcat, Turbo was always quick to anger and get into a fight. Some leader of the human race, right? He was always taught the error of his ways though, but not here. It doesn’t feel right when I think back to Wildcat and the stories it told, the characters and situations it involved, and the morals it portrayed for the kids.

Then the battle-to-end-all-battles is hyped on one page as a fight that will be taught to successive generations, before it gets wrapped up after one page. Even more incredulously, after this one defeat the entire Great Ark council of talking skeletal heads just self-destructs. So no answers about who they were or their history. Nothing. After such great pacing, world building and storytelling in Wildcat this feels very rushed, which is all the more frustrating since I never bought the merged comic and have waited all these years for this!

As our heroes leave to return to the ship they crash land. Again. In what feels like a tacked-on two-part story they meet the Sens Protens, a race of psychic aliens who Turbo instantly distrusts and even gets into fist fights with. But it’s actually a funny little tale, from beginning as it does with Turbo and Robo about to be sacrificed by the aliens, to them becoming best friends within a few pages. However, just as it feels like it’s getting going it ends. Again. The problem is that Wildcat was meant to contain long-form storytelling. There were no individual tales as such in each of the main strips. Instead, they were designed to be never-ending, naturally moving from one scenario to the next. I loved that about it. But of course this simply wouldn’t work in Eagle.

There were four main character strips in Wildcat plus the anthologies, the Wildcat Completes. There was only room for two at a time in Eagle, and the little panel at the end of the above story tells the reader Loner’s story would restart the following week. It’s painfully obvious Turbo’s was curtailed to make room for other strips in a shared environment. Then there’s another two-part tale which ends with news of Joe Alien returning, so Turbo was clearly also used to fill some gaps between strips in Eagle. 

It’s a shame, because the character development for Turbo was excellent in Wildcat, yet here it has to stop in order to get the stories told quickly and out of the way. As such, he’s back to being the person he was at the beginning, including shouting constantly at poor old Robo, their developing friendship in Wildcat all but forgotten. Robo also never stops calling him ‘Master’ despite protestations, which I’ll admit does lead to some laughs when Turbo tells him off for it at the most inopportune of moments.

There’s a scene where Turbo is furious when an alien kills a human upon meeting because it deemed them unimportant. Bit of a cheek getting angry about that considering his own actions when meeting some of the more imaginatively designed alien characters! Speaking of designs, the art is as superb as always. Ian Kennedy gets top artist billing despite only drawing the first two strips (however he did design all of the main characters and the Wildcat itself). Vanyo is our most prolific artist here and their monsters are as imaginative as always. I’m sure these would’ve thrilled Eagle readers just as they did for me in Wildcat back then.

There are a few one-shot stories for Turbo as well. Some are a bit like the Wildcat Completes, however whereas those were satisfying and told a complete (clue is in the name) tale with a proper beginning, middle and end, these Turbo Jones stories feel frustratingly short. One introduces two species of fish-like aliens with what seems like really interesting origins, and in another a full-scale intergalactic war forms the background to the story, but both of these are just dropped, never to be heard about again. Were these ideas of Barrie’s he was originally going to flesh out in Wildcat later on?

There are other genuinely funny moments, such as when we see Robo trying to calm a terrified Turbo. As it turns out, this heroic, chisel-chinned leader of humans who takes no nonsense from any alien monster is terrified of the dentist. The final Eagle tale then shows just how horrible humans can be and questions whether we deserve to settle on another planet at all. It’s something Wildcat often considered in its stories. This tale seems to mirror the real world even today and the hateful minds of far too many people. Thankfully, the more enlightened version of Turbo Jones is on hand to make them see sense. In his own way, naturally.

I’ve loved rereading the Turbo strips from Wildcat again, it’s just frustrating how the epic nature of that comic had to be so obviously cut short because of the limited space and time available in the comic it merged into. If anything, the stories I’ve finally read now for the first time only confirm just how different Wildcat was, and just how original its style of storytelling was compared to the more episodic nature of its contemporaries. However, I still look forward to seeing how Loner’s story pans out in the second graphic novel. He proved very popular with Eagle readers and hung around for a lot longer as a result (his book is somewhat thicker than Turbo’s). 

For now, volume one ends with the strips from the Wildcat specials and a selection of covers and pin ups featuring characters from the Turbo Jones strip. Unfortunately, the gorgeous cover for #1 by Ian isn’t included. Parts of it are used for the book’s cover but it still would’ve been nice to see it in full colour alongside the rest. That kind of sums up the continuation of the story after Wildcat’s premature end. What’s here is good but it could’ve been so much more, reaffirming my belief that the end of Wildcat was one of the cruelest cancellations in comics history.

You can purchase both Wildcat volumes at the Rebellion online shop.

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Aliens, Comic Reviews

ALiENS #22: GAME OVER, MAN. GAME OVER!

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This Duncan Fegredo (Crisis, Hellboy, Lucifer) cover takes me back to travelling through Scotland on a train during an Easter holiday as a teenager. I’d flicked through a close friend’s issues before but this was the first Aliens I owned. I’d never read anything like it and I loved every page, even if I was a bit lost in the continuing stories at times. It’d be the only one I’d read until 2024 because it was also the last before its publisher, Dark Horse International went bust.

While Jurassic Park would get a reprieve and return after a few months under the Manga imprint (at least for a little while), DHI’s flagship title wasn’t so lucky and #23 would never appear. As you can see from the editorial it must’ve happened quickly because it’s business as usual. With hindsight, there’s even a somewhat unfortunate opening sentence from Dick Hansom, standing in for regular editor Cefn Ridout for the month.

Despite previous promises, Crusade hasn’t returned so we remain two parts away from the end, Colonial Marines has been with us since #9 and we’re still several months of issues away from wrapping that up, and there’s a new eight-part UK strip from Ian Edginton (Batman: No Man’s Land, The War of the Worlds, The Terminator) and wonderful Transformers artist (also Judge Dredd, Hellblazer) Will Simpson. Nice to see Northern Ireland get a wee mention, too. Although I was mistaken back in #9‘s review when my ageing memory told me this last issue also had a prose story!

Rogue gets 13-pages to spread its wings yet very little of consequence happens, but that’s only a complaint in the context of this being the final issue. Normally, I’d be praising it for the characters it establishes really well here, particularly the two female pilots. But knowing this is all we’ll get does affect things, which is unfair on the strip I know, but it can’t be helped.

One thing I really don’t like isn’t unique to Rogue, it’s across the whole Alien comics franchise (and the fourth film, Resurrection) and it’s how the aliens are now seen as a commodity. Yes, I know the company is always after them for their biological weapons potential but in a lot of the strips that’s already been successfully accomplished. They’re even milked (for want of a better term) for a recreational drug, reducing these supposedly terrifying monsters to cattle.

The best stories have been those that remember how the aliens are meant to be seen, in my eyes anyway. The human politicking, the nature of human greed and the associated social commentary are some of my favourite aspects of the Alien series, I just think it can be done without desensitising us to the xenomorphs. In fact, Rogue begins with a narration that explains humanity have forgotten we were once the prey instead of the predator, but it only acts to remind me of my above points.

One such boss, Ernst Kleist has sent Marines to recover an alien and berates them when one is killed, despite the fact it had ripped one of them apart! Will’s art, coloured by Robbie Busch (Babylon 5, Black Panther, Huntress) is great and pilots Zajer and Deegan are enjoyable. I assume they’ll end up fighting for their lives at some point as the main characters. For now, their banter is enjoyable while they bring a man called Mr. Kray to meet Kleist, although there’s no indication yet as to why. However, he does describe his trip with them as “enlightening” to Kleist, who just looks down his nose at the pair.

There’s definitely potential here. If you’ve read the full story (or indeed, any of the unfinished tales here) please don’t tell me what happens, I intend to finish them someday. After this there’s a competition to be a Colonial Marine at Alien War, despite the criticisms the comic had levelled at it. Then it’s on to our final slice of contemporary sci-fi news. I’ve enjoyed Dave Hughes’ Motion Trackers and my trips back to the mid-90s, the latest releases and the predictions for the then-future. Here, the Aliens toys do look fun but the column even states these are for kids so you have to wonder why they existed when the films were all ’18’-certificates.

That ‘Pixelvision’ short isn’t some cool retro-styled computer graphic film, despite its name and the fact it prominently features a computer game. It was a children’s film camera manufactured by Fisher Price, believe it or not. Director Michael Almereyda’s short documentary-of-sorts is on his website, although don’t expect to be too thrilled by it and prepare to struggle to hear what the two boys are saying. Frustratingly, you’ll want the camera to sit still while showing clips from the Alien³ game instead of all the stylistic shaking.

Colonial Marines starts a new chapter and it’s all change for the creative team. For the UK comic this is part 14 of what was meant to be a 24-part series and isn’t it typical that one of the best episodes of the whole thing so far arrives in the final issue. Writing, layouts and inks are by Paul Guinan, pencils by Tony Akins, colouring by Pamela Rambo (Preacher, Star Wars, Y: The Last Man) and lettering by Clem Robins. 

There are some great new characters here. I’m simply loving all of the robots who bring much needed levity to the comic. The art is a huge step up too and the human characters are once again easily identifiable so things are easier to follow. But why did they have to do the dirty to Billy? He could’ve been a star! These new robots and the synth are part of Beliveau’s secret group hiding out on a dirt ball orbiting the planet, where he’s stashed a secret supply of his company’s weapons for the inevitable fight ahead.

So, I thought he was the obvious mysterious bad guy to begin with but I couldn’t be happier to have been proven wrong. I love well-written misdirection. Marine Chen’s addiction to the alien jelly almost causes more disaster but I was less interested in that than the introduction of this hideout and its wonderful array of new additions. Like Rogue before it, this is about establishing characters and a scenario more than moving the plot forward.

But it still had me gripped thanks to this mechanical ragtag team and I’m gutted I won’t see them develop further. The overall Colonial Marines story had gone a bit stale in my opinion, possibly from the lack of an overall guiding hand (as I detailed last time) but this has reignited my interest again, just in time for us to say goodbye. I won’t forgive them for Billy, though.

The last Technical Readout is for those big-ass guns used in the movie that had to be attached to their users by a hip mechanism, then it’s time to move on to our final strip of the read through, the still-confusingly titled Aliens: Alien. Just eight pages but there are some great moments here. The hunting party keep failing to track the alien properly but for the readers its presence is always felt in neat little panels like this one below. You can also see what I meant last time about how Vickie Williams’ lettering hints at an alien tongue.

The teenager sees the men gruesomely taken out one-by-one, and even when they do manage to spear the monster they’re unaware of what its body contains. He tries to save his mentor by dragging him across the desert, desperate for somewhere to hide in the barren landscape. While the xenomorph retreats to heal, they come across a strange, alien (to them) structure in which they take shelter. But this sanctuary has more to it. In the morning he steps outside and, while he doesn’t realise it, we can see it’s a crashed spaceship. We also see a broken sleep chamber and the source of the xenomorph, which he remains blissfully unaware of.

This moment is a classic bit of Alien atmosphere. Things end when he spots a human in their full space gear, face obscured, making their way back. With a “To be concluded next issue” adding to my frustration, this neat this tale leads us into a four-page interview with no less than Bishop himself, Lance Henriksen. When I bought these comics for the read through I thought the cover was familiar, but it was the inclusion of this interview that confirmed this was the issue I’d bought as a teenager.

It’s a fascinating read, although it does annoy me somewhat that Dave Hughes concludes Alien³ didn’t work when he’s been happy to promote it in the comic and even work on the spin-off mini-series. I’m saddened that Lance didn’t like the film and I wonder what he’d have thought of the special edition released later, which also confirmed the Bishop cameo mystery. I’ve a funny memory of this article. Back in 1994 I was disappointed his role in the Super Mario Bros movie wasn’t mentioned anywhere, but seeing as how his cameo in that amounted to one line and about ten seconds of screen time I can understand why.

While I remember my surprise at seeing Bishop pop up briefly in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, I’d forgotten all about him being in The Terminator until I saw it for the first time in years a few weeks ago on TV. There are a multitude of roles that sound interesting here, as well as some truly awful schlock horror. I’m intrigued with the idea of what The Terminator could’ve been like with him in the title role, although of course I think Arnie’s depiction is perfect.

Lance states the audience’s familiarity with him playing villains kept them on their toes with Aliens, but I think he’s selling himself short. That was the first film I saw him in and how he played the role did that anyway. I agree completely with him about that scene with Hudson, too. With the gift of hindsight of what he later directed (including the restoration of his original Alien³ vision), leaving David Fincher out of the great directors list doesn’t seem fair. It’s an interesting interview nevertheless, before we round things off with Bug Hunt and the Checklist.

As with Star Wars and Dracula before it, Total Carnage bit the dust after ten issues, and after we had to miss out on the AvP strip so it could print it instead! Gotta say Alex Impey’s complaint about “scrubby little sound effects or speech” ruining the strips is… a unique opinion. The Checklist shows us what might’ve been with #23. Crusade, Rogue developments and the conclusion of the teen alien’s story. Even a Chris Halls cover! Damn. Then, just to confuse things further the next page rounds the final issue off with subscription offers for all of DHI’s freshly canned range.

I have mixed emotions about the end of Aliens. It’s always disappointing when a comic just ends with no proper conclusion, even more so when it’s an anthology. All-in-all it’s been a fun ride. Nothing truly scary but plenty of atmospheric moments. The stories didn’t always hit the spot, but when they did they really did and the good definitely outweighed the bad. It ended because the publisher itself imploded, so its premature end shouldn’t reflect on its quality.

As it stands, Dark Horse International’s UK Aliens comic wasn’t just a flagship title for the publisher, for me it stands as a flagship for the UK comics scene of the 90s. Big, bold, brash, adult, gripping and, despite its limited subject matter, hugely varied. I’m so happy I finally got to read it all. I just wish teenage me hadn’t missed out. He’d have been thrilled with it!

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Beano, Comic Reviews

BEANO #452: AN iCON iS BORN

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Three months and six years after our last entry comes our third edition of Beano (or, THE Beano as it was called) from DC Thomson’s 80th Anniversary Box Set. It’s another lovely reproduction, the paper feels authentic and the printing once again could easily fool us into thinking we’re reading an original. There was also a big improvement on the title banner by this stage in the comic’s life; there was no need to be disgusted by Big Eggo as the new mascot. He wasn’t inside though. So who was?

It’s another 12-page issue (the World War II paper shortages still in effect) and as a result the overall make up of the issue feels vey different, even compared to the classic issues we’ve seen so far. There are less than five pages of comic strip here, the rest are made up of picture-panel and prose stories. This meant the kids still had plenty to read inside such a small comic and it was back to a weekly schedule after alternating with The Dandy during the war.

Dudley D. Watkins’ Biffo the Bear kicks things off and I’ll admit I can take him or leave him. Reading friends’ Beano books or issues as a kid I was never that enamoured with him, so I don’t have any particular memories of his strips. They must’ve been a bit forgettable for young me despite being one of the comic’s mainstays. He was the cover star from his introduction in #327 in 1948 all the way until #1677 in 1974 when he was dethroned by a certain character who makes his debut in this very issue.

Yep, this was the week readers were introduced to Dennis the Menace, drawn by David Law and developed by him and the comic’s chief sub-editor Ian Chisholm, in this fun little strip I originally read in the 50th anniversary book. While I do prefer the modern Dennis and the more sophisticated humour (obviously such things change over time) I did laugh at the quick transition between the 4th and 5th panels above! Of course, we now know this Dennis is our modern day Dennis’ dad in the current Beano, which is a nice touch. A quaint start for a true comics megastar.

The Granny Green story (now drawn by Gordon Ramsbottom) yet again reintroduces the whole premise as if this was Jimmy’s first time dressing up as his fictional relative, while confusingly also acknowledging he’d done so loads. It’s probably meant to play out as a repetitive gag the children reading are in on, knowing full well what’s going to eventually happen. I can imagine the kids of the day cheering him on to dress up, but today it reads like the exact same story from #1 dragged out over a page-and-a-half.

Noel Fielding’s hilarious TV series The Completely Made Up Adventures of Dick Turpin may have spoiled me somewhat for comical tales about that particular historical figure, but in 1951 I’m sure Fred Sturrock’s The Hungry Little Goodwins provided plenty of smiles. Strangely, the picture-panel stories of this series that ran throughout 1951 were adaptations of earlier prose stories from just a couple of years previous.

Always hungry, the kids’ appetites were insatiable and it was always up to Turpin to get them out of whatever situation their rumbly tummies got them into. It does go rather dark in this issue with its workhouse and all that but it’s still fun and as unique a serial as you’re ever likely to find. On the back cover is a character I remember from reading friends’ copies back at school, and from about three months ago in #272.

This was Pansy Potter’s second series in The Beano, running from 1949 to 1955, with “in Wonderland” replacing “the Strong-Man’s Daughter” as the sub-title. She was now taking up the whole rear cover on her own, such was her popularity. Somehow stepping into a wishing well into Wonderland, Pansy found herself surround by characters from nursery rhymes. Bit random.

Pansy Potter was the first series to be printed in full colour on the back page

Drawn by James Clark by this stage, it might sound like a rather random set up but it hit all the right notes for the readers. All the proof you need of how well received it was is the fact this was the series the comic decided would be the first strip to be printed in full colour on the back page, as mentioned when we last met Pansy.

Elsewhere, Lord Snooty and His Pals are still in the same format (and still on the same page) and Tommy’s Clockwork Town is the unbelievable prose serial of a boy with a full clockwork town and its residents flat-packed in a lorry ready to be deployed in minutes. Jimmy and his Magic Patch picture-panel stories came to an end and the details of that exciting news on the cover amounts to no more than two separate sentences accompanying two stories inside.

Pansy may have finished the issue but I want to finish the review by nipping back to page two and Bill Holroyd’s Have-A-Go Joe. Judging by this one strip alone, Joe seems like someone who was up for anything and the more ridiculous and dangerous the better. There’s got to be an easier why to make a living. That guy he’s working for could also do with some heath and safety in the workplace training if this is how he tests bullet-proof vests. Joe would last for just over 100 issues before disappearing, then appear briefly in The Beano Cinema before returning much later in 1997!

Next time, we’ll jump forward to the ‘Year of Africa’, 1960 and the time of the first laser, the 50th star on the American flag, Cassius Clay winning gold at the Olympics, the iconic photo of Che Guevara, the Civil Rights Act, the opening of the Bluebell Railway and the premiere of The Flintstones. The inclusion of the next issue in the box set celebrates free gifts and, finally, there’s an increase in page count. So, more to read, review and (hopefully) laugh at in The Beano #954 on Monday 26th October 2026.

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BRiCKMAN #2: SMACK-YOU-iN-THE-FACE FANTASTiC

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Finally Brickman #2 is here. After the brilliant first edition of collected strips from the character’s past I’ve been eagerly awaiting this (the middle issue of a three-issue mini-series) and it comes with four extra pages, a Combat Colin strip and even some extra features. Taken from the pages of Lew Stringer’s own Yampy Tales comic and the Brickman Begins book, the 27 pages of strips are again packed with enough gags to fill multiple issues.

It may be reprints but the new cover brings things bang up to date, especially that “moron cap” on one idiot’s head. Little gags like this are hidden away on every page throughout, and where the first issue aimed its social commentary jokes at Thatcher’s 80s Britain, here 90s culture is very much in the crosshairs. As a teenager of the 90s I was much more aware of the world around me and so a lot of these gags were even funnier to me than the previous issue’s.

We kick things off with a four-page Combat Colin serial from Transformers and it’s one of the most memorable of his entire run. Anyone who read the comic at the time will remember Colin and Semi-Automatic Steve ending up in a very Portmeirion-esque village along with a large collection of heroes and villains. Lew is a huge fan of the original The Prisoner TV series and this works as both a spoof and a love letter to it. It’s also how I was first introduced to Brickman as an 11-year-old reader.

It wasn’t until decades later I found out he wasn’t just a funny creation for this one Combat Colin strip. The main bulk of this issue sees Brickman returning to Guffon City after his adventure with Colin and Steve brought him out of retirement. But it’s been many years since he revealed his identity and left and his return sees a somewhat different city, filled with crime. But this is a Lew Stringer comic and the abundant crime problem isn’t anything like you’d expect, as you can see.

Anyone who has seen the Christian Bale Batman trilogy will know how hated the hero was when he returned and here, many years before those films Brickman (aka Loose Brayne) is met with hatred and fear, even from Commissioner Moron. We also get a funny recap of the character’s origin story without rehashed gags and with cameos from Colin and Steve, which are always going to be funny!

Lew takes plenty of opportunities to poke at the conventions of superhero stories, with a particular slant towards the already silly 60s Batman, as seen here in The Mad Cobbler’s overly elaborate and very slow, tedious death trap. As per usual, nothing is safe from Lew’s satirical pen. Sidekicks, last-minute escapes, villain reveals and of course comic book violence are all ripe for the Brickman treatment.

While there is a “Mature Readers” label on the cover there’s nothing overly inappropriate for slightly younger readers out there if you wish to share the laughs with your kids. As Lew explains in the editorial, “Although the story doesn’t quite venture into Viz territory, it is aimed at an adult readrship”. That adult audience will most likely get the most from it, but it’s also an excellent introduction to slightly more grown up humour for any teen readers out there.

Just like when I reviewed the previous issue I don’t want to give away too much. Some of my favourite moments are so good I’m gagging to share them with you because I just know they’d convince you to rush out and buy this. (Or, since this is 2026, rush to Lew’s online shop and click on it.) But if I did that I’d ruin the surprises and it’s the sudden jokes that come right of nowhere that happen to be my favourites.

So I guess you’ll just have to trust me. The panel below did make me laugh out loud though, particularly that 90s cultural reference. You might need to explain the occasional moment like this to your teenagers but for those of us who were around at the time the comic also succeeds in taking you right back with its gentle ribbing and/or outright mockery. So, despite never having read the bulk of this before it still made me feel like a kid again with the surprising amount of reminiscing I did about that rather strange decade.

The ending is also well thought out and turns an evil scheme on its head in an original, funny way, and for a moment I wished that things in today’s world could be fixed just as easily and enjoyably. There are also a couple of special features, the one about fanzines in the 1970s being my favourite because it took me back to the 90s again, to a time when I was creating a monthly fanzine on my Commodore 64 computer. Lew’s good times reminding me of my own.

All-in-all I’ve giggled, I’ve guffawed and I’ve finished the comic with a huge smile on my face. Does that sound good to you? It should, and you can get your own grubby little mitts on Brickman #2 for just £5.00 plus p&p via Lew’s own KoFi shop. While there, don’t forget to sign up for regular updates via his KoFi blog too. One more issue to go then and with promises of more colour and even brand new material, it sounds like Brickman #3 will be even better! What are you waiting for? Go and get caught up now.

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Aliens, Comic Reviews

ALiENS #21: FOUR MORE WEEKS AND OUT

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This month’s cover by Ilya (Ed Hillyer – Crisis, Manga Mania, Jean Genii) isn’t one of my favourites I have to say. It feels unfinished but his style certainly has its fans and so it’s just not for me I guess. It represents the final part of Salvation, even if the headlines make it look like it’s for Colonial Marines. There’s also a feature about H.R. Giger in this issue, so let’s get stuck in and see what we think.

I can’t believe it! With hindsight we know the next issue will be the last, so for Crusade to take a month off is devastating, meaning it definitely won’t be completed in time. The strip may have started off poorly but it’s become a real treat these last six months or so. Let’s hope we at least get some closure next time. It’s funny to read about the readers writing in requesting the comic change to a weekly schedule too.

We just didn’t consider the amount of work that went into our comics and always wanted more of them. I personally never looked at the date my next issue of the monthly Jurassic Park was due because then it’d feel like forever, instead I just let its arrival in the shop surprise me. The response here also reminds me of OiNK’s co-editor Tony Husband and how he felt that comic’s transition to a weekly (from a fortnightly) sucked the fun out of it for him. I do get the irony of this topic coming up in the penultimate issue of Aliens, too.

Dave Gibbon’s Salvation finale is first up with a huge 16-page chunk of the issue, and as Selkirk fights for his life atop the crashed spaceship the ground caves in and he finds himself dangling in front of a nightmare. There are bodies of the crew and the local creatures everywhere with holes in their chests but somehow he’s able to creep into the escape pod and meet back up with Dean. I said last time there was something more about her and I was right, she’s an artificial person (as Bishop would say).

In a shocking turn of events, Selkirk’s prejudices come to the fore and he tortures her for information, all while his internal monologue preys to his Christian god about how he’s doing good. Mike Mignola’s bold, shadowy art adds to the horror of this moment. Yes, she’s a synth but it’s gruesome stuff! Then, when he gets what he needs he simply kills her. He’s a twisted character and it’s a bleak strip because of this. Selkirk’s hatred for synths makes him blind to the fact that without Dean’s programming to save human life he’d be dead by now too. It’s compulsive reading! I find myself hoping more and more he gets his comeuppance.

Basically, the military wants the aliens wiped out but the company wants its bioweapons. This planet had one land mass and a species that reproduced quickly, so perfect for the company, the ship used to deliver the aliens whether the crew survived or not. Selkirk concludes it’s the company, not the aliens, that has been sent by satan and he takes it upon himself to be a martyr for Christianity, to self-destruct the ship and wipe out the entire land mass and all sentient life.

Wiping out all life not like him, seeing non-Christians as inferior, killing someone he liked when he finds out they were different to him, all while going “god’s work” is a scary enough conclusion until we get to the last page. Seeing this huge ship with its even bigger cross traversing the universe and bringing their god’s word to alien worlds is a more terrifying conclusion than anything I’ve read in this comic to date.

The next story is called Alien. Which isn’t confusing at all, is it? Seriously, Aliens: Alien is the name of a new short tale (will we see it conclude next issue?) written by John Arcudi (Barb Wire, The Mask, BPRD), drawn by Paul Mendoza (Tensor Matrix, Rage Across Las Vegas, Dark Horse Comics) and lettered by Vickie Williams (The Web, Star Wars Legends, Spider-Man 2099). Given the name of the original film couldn’t they have thought of another title for this? Very strange.

Set on an alien planet in a small village where the men are in charge and the women are subservient (yawn, how original), their individual face paint markings indicate they’ve made kills during their hunts for food. A teen is the star of this strip and he’s not allowed to join the hunts yet, but while the ‘big, powerful men, ug, ug, ug’ are out on a hunt an alien attacks the village and kills a family, leaving the boy as the only witness.

In fact, the alien has attacked every time the men have been on a hunt recently but there have been no male witnesses until now, so the boy is ordered to join them the next night. They’re going to find and kill the alien. That’s it for this part so there’s not much of a story to sink two jaws into yet, but the art and lettering make up for this. I particularly like Paul’s xenomorph and Vickie’s lettering in speech balloons (you’ll see them next month) which suggests everything is being spoken in an alien tongue and translated for us mere humans.

The H.R. Giger feature is actually written by horror writer and creator of Hellraiser and Candyman, Clive Barker. Initially I thought this was a hell of a coup for the comic, so it’s almost criminal how it’s presented on the page. The choice of background and text colours makes it difficult to read, in particular the first page is almost unreadable. Then there’s the admission at the end that it’s actually an introduction from an already released book, so not the coup I thought it was.

It’s more of an essay on general fantasy art rather than Giger (which makes it a strange introduction to a Giger book) and Clive rightly criticises the “pseudo-sophisticated” rubbish that people often use to write about art and how Giger doesn’t need that kind of review. Yet this reads just like that at times! It’s a bit of a disappointment overall, however I’m intrigued by the image of what looks like a female alien, as it’s very similar to the mysterious female the current Alien comic from Marvel have in their stories. Clearly they went back to the original inspiration.

The last strip this month is the next part of Colonial Marines, an epically-long tale when cut up into chunks for this comic, and one I’ve known from the off we wouldn’t get to the end of because I remembered reading a chapter of it in the final issue, the only one I owned as a kid. Back then I didn’t know anything about the characters but today I’ve been following them from the beginning and so I can’t help feeling somewhat betrayed by the main character, Lt. Henry.

Basically, he’s turned into a bit of a bastard. He doesn’t care at all about helping any of the innocent people he and his team’s actions have hurt by thinking they could outwit the aliens. He also doesn’t care about said team placing their lives on the line for him, as he’s placed explosives in their necks while they were in cryogenic sleep! So now, if they don’t follow his brutish orders he can threaten to detonate them! What?!

What happened to the fun character we got introduced to months ago, the character that’s meant to be someone we care about? Now I’m hoping he gets implanted! The story has changed writers a couple of times and perhaps this is part of the problem. There doesn’t seem to have been any coordination between them to ensure continuity, or any kind of long form plan or overall writer to steer this particular ship.

The new mission is to rid Alpha Tech of the bug men who have infiltrated the company, Beliveau not being a villain after all but someone trying to do the same thing from within. But subtlety is no longer an option. Things don’t get off to a great start when their captured bug man deals some alien jelly to the pilot of their space cruiser, deliberately overdosing him. High as a kite, instead of coming into orbit to collect the team he ends up getting too close and burns the whole thing up on reentry, the bug man sacrificing himself for his cause.

What’s so frustrating is how this started off so well way back in #9 and Henry was the main reason. I’m all for character development and when dealing with the aliens of course people are going to come undone somewhat. But Colonial Marines now feels like a collection of different stories with completely different characters, like each writer wanted to write something else. Such a shame it’s all come crashing down towards the end. No pun intended.

The Technical Readout is nothing to write home about this month, being a simple drawing of the comms panel of the Armoured Personnel Carrier and a lot of bland text, so the final highlight of the issue is a page reporting on the release of the Terminator 2: Judgement Day Special Edition on Laserdisc. Back then I used to lap up details like this about restored deleted scenes etc., but today I much prefer to find out for myself by watching the movies instead, like I did with the superb Alien³ Special Edition.

I have to laugh at the “Why bother with video?” comment. VHS would continue to dominate for a long time after this and even made advances in picture and sound quality. It only eventually gave way when DVD took off. The extortionately-priced Laserdisc could only dream of such success. Saying that, remember this was 1994 and as such we’ll forgive Terry Jones here. After all, who am I to judge when I went all-in on the supposed new entertainment standard, 3DO around the same time?

Oh now I’m reminiscing… how I loved those 3DO machines!

Ahem, anyway, a quick glance of the comics checklist on the letters page confirms Crusade will return next month for its penultimate chapter. Noooo! So close! Oh well, I’ll get back into my 90s head space and try to forget #22 will be the final issue until it’s all over. It feels like no time at all since I kicked off this real time read through, I can’t quite believe we’ve been on this ride together for over 20 months. Just the one terrifying (hopefully) trip to go on Tuesday 24th March 2026.

iSSUE 20 < > iSSUE 22

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