Tag Archives: John Carnell

Comic Reviews, The Sleeze Brothers

THE SLEEZE BROTHERS #2: ViSiON PROFESSiONALS

Leave a comment

Between the 80’s 3D movie craze and the 90’s fascination with labelling videogames as “interactive movies”, this second edition of Marvel UK’s (under their Epic imprint) The Sleeze Brothers feels perfectly of its time. Written by John Carnell, it’s also perfectly timed for this blog too, given the other classic comic I reviewed the second issue of just six days ago.

The creative team all return this issue. Co-creator Andy Lanning is pencilling, Stephen Baskerville is inking, Steve White is colouring, Bambos Georgiou is lettering and Richard Starkings is editing. With this being a pre-determined mini-series of six issues I’m assuming the whole of the original team will be present and correct for the remaining issues. I certainly hope so. So, on to that opening page and by coincidence it pastiches the movie last week’s comic review was based on.

In a nutshell, the Nexus Infinity Broadcasting network (whose ‘N.I.B.’ logo design is a lot like the Men In Black movie logo, even though this comic came first) is run by The Reverend Smiler While, a man whose grin could give The Joker a run for his money. He’s selling the latest in TV tech, a system that allows the viewer to be completely surrounded by their programmes.

But this isn’t just all-encompassing video, there’s something much more dangerous at play here that makes it the perfect idea for an out-there Sleeze Brothers plot. We get to see the scale of the outfit in question when Smiler hires the brothers and they head to the N.I.B. headquarters in all of its 80s futurism glory. There’s even an Orson Welles-spoof character inside. As a fan of his movies and of course his War of the Worlds radio broadcast, and after the Aliens opener, was this issue made specifically for me?!

The faceless board members are perfect too. But all is not well. It appears Orsum Wurlds isn’t the fantastic creator he thinks he is. In fact, it appears he’s taken more credit than he was due. Is this a take on the behind-the-scenes controversy over the writing of Citizen Kane? Perhaps, but this goes further and has the original creator of the Reel-to-Real technology (a brilliant name) steal the master tape and use it in place of the one selected for broadcast.

The reel is full of test films that produce somewhat severe end results, showing how dangerous the tech is, it’s something N.I.B. want kept secret. Having just experienced a demo of the new Apple Vision Pro in my local Belfast store this comic suddenly feels decades ahead of its time. Although I doubt Tim Cook would want people to experience their immersive videos to this degree. So, after the very rich customers set up their Dalek-like devices, our first family settle down to watch a classic sci-fi flick.

After Star Wars, another family find themselves and their couch on thin ice between Bambi and Thumper with predictable results and then a customer experiences an underwater documentary and finds themselves in deep water… and unable to breathe. Our inept detectives’ case has evolved from theft to multiple homicides and as they make their way through the network’s headquarters the two-pig-headed chief of police spots them and calls out in a way that shocked me, with a sudden use of the ‘r’-word.

Okay, so this was written 35 years ago, a time when unfortunately the weight and real meaning of that word could be brushed aside for the sake of a name-calling joke. However, there’s only so much that can be brushed aside with “it was a different time” and yes, attitudes have thankfully changed for the better, but even in the 80s I remember being taught it was an abusive term and never acceptable. Perhaps for some people it was still a joke term separate from the hateful meaning. I’ll just have to believe that and continue with the rest of the issue. I know there’s simply no way it was meant in any other way by John, or by Marvel UK.

As per usual the brothers getting to the bottom of a case is more down to luck than any sort of detective work. Our thief overhears them interviewing Orsum Worlds, mistakenly thinks they’re on his tail and comes to the conclusion that he’ll just have to get rid of them before they do. He simply calls them up and gives them a meeting time and place which is clearly a trap. But it gives El’ Ape a chance to look good in front of Deadbeat in this funny bit above.

Heading to the research lab at midnight they find themselves in the spotlight, quite literally as Baird (our thief) blinds them with a studio light and starts shooting at them. El’ Ape’s pleading on his knees doesn’t help matters and neither does the dim-witted cleaning assistant who thinks they’re filming a cops and robbers film and decides to get comfy in the control booth, accidentally activating the Reel-to-Real system with all three of the others inside it!

Cue a selection of cameos in what I’m assuming are some of John’s favourites, beginning with Indiana Jones and Tom & Jerry. In the former they just about escape getting crushed by the famous boulder before almost dying at the hands of Baird and some local tribespeople. Then the machine (under the weight of the cleaner’s elbows as he leans in to see what will happen next) turns them into cartoons.

Just as Michael Jordan found out in Space Jam in the next decade, being in a cartoon means your body can be contorted into all sorts of shapes without breaking a single bone. After being flattened with a frying pan by a somewhat creepy version of Tom it’s almost curtains for them again until the master tape whirrs into action once more, then they find themselves stuck to a wall in a rather familiar fashion. And in front of some rather familiar eggs.

So we find ourselves back where we began. Normally I’m not a fan of stories that have an exciting opening, like it’s the starting point of an equally exciting story, only for it to go back in time to see how we got to that stage instead. But this is one of those rare occasions where I haven’t minded it and I’ve enjoyed the ride for the most part, eagerly anticipating this moment returning.

So how are they going to get out of this situation? The Aliens movie plays out for longer than the others so it appears our gormless cleaner isn’t going to be of any accidental help this time. But as they duck for cover underneath a floor grill it becomes clear this is going to play out like the conclusion of the film, so I really should’ve been a Sigourney Weaver-shaped cameo coming.

Well, okay, not exactly playing out like the film. I definitely laughed at that. So with Baird reduced to a puddle in real life too the case is officially closed. But what of the technology? That master tape may not have been the one meant for broadcast but it showed how dangerous the system is, and all in the name of profit. The issue ends with a news bulletin wrapping everything up and successfully placing none of the blame on the network, all before the issue comes to an end with a quick commercial break (below).

I do love this ending. It’s deliciously dark after what has been an even funnier issue than last time. The Sleeze Brothers themselves are more part of an ensemble rather than the stars of the show but it works, the balance between comedy, commentary and character perfectly balanced. It shows these six issues have the potential to produce six very different stories and keep everything fresh and funny until the very end.

We’ll see if I’m right on Monday 26th August 2024 when the review for The Sleeze Brothers #3 hits the blog.

iSSUE ONE < > iSSUE THREE

THE SLEEZE BROTHERS MENU

Comic Reviews, The Sleeze Brothers

THE SLEEZE BROTHERS #1: A BREATH OF (BOTTLED) FRESH AiR

Leave a comment

I can remember the day I bought this issue of Marvel UK’s (under the Epic Comics imprint) new monthly, The Sleeze Brothers. Sitting in my Aunt May’s house with my mum certain images were seared onto my retinas, in particular the strip’s title spread you’ll see further below. It’s been months since the brothers popped up in Doctor Who Magazine, so just how will they translate to full 22-page stories? Incredibly well is the answer to that.

The editorial is ‘written’ by a stereotypical Huggy Bear-type called Papa Beatbox, some form of MC who gives us a sort of origin story for El’ Ape and Deadbeat. Discarded test tube babies, Beatbox raised them as if they were his own and, despite their gruff, selfish, greedy exteriors they apparently have insides of pure gold. We’ll see about that. 

I didn’t realise Dan Abnett (Knights of Pendragon, Nova, Sinister Dexter) was associate editor until now. As I list those credited with working on The Sleeze Brothers I won’t be mentioning The Real Ghostbusters after their individual names. Just take it for granted that whoever I mention also worked on that comic unless I say otherwise! This was the main reason I loved this issue so much as a kid and why I’ve been really looking forward to it on the blog, because that aforementioned comic was such a childhood favourite.

Only a few pages in and the art team have definitely nailed it

So anyway, on to our strip which is called Nice ’n’ Sleazy. Written by John Carnell (Doctor Who, DC’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy comic) and pencilled by Andy Lanning (Digitek, Nova, Death’s Head II), they also created these characters. Inks are by Dave Hine (Zoids, Mambo, X-Men), colours are by Steve White (Xenozoic Tales, Transformers, editor on Visionaries, Havoc and Death’s Head), letters are by Bambos Georgiou (Slimer, co-creator of Speakeasy and Aces Weekly) and it’s all edited by Richard Starkings (Death’s Head, Dragon’s Claws, Elephantmen) who designed the comic’s logo and chatted with me in the introductory post about the comic’s creation and the Epic label.

After the plethora of artists behind the Doctor Who strip, the comic settles into its art style and I’m loving it from the very first page. This future world is so intricately designed by Andy, and he and Dave are an excellent partnership in bringing out all of the fun details, with Steve’s bright and often gaudy colours really making the pages pop more than anything I’ve read on the blog so far. Only a few pages in and the art team have definitely nailed it. What about the plot?

It’s a simple story but it’s the first issue so it’s main purpose is to introduce the main characters and the world in which they inhabit, with all of its grime, corruption, many and varied alien life forms and the comedic ineptitude of everyone (and everything – we see a police robot forget its directives mid-arrest) that make up the Earth of the future. The Sleeze Brothers actually get involved by accident here, when Finkelly lets a key witness against the Cosmos Father escape and, backed into a corner by his goons, he spots a flyer for the brothers’ detective agency (which doubles as the front cover) and pretends like he knows them.

We then get to meet up with El’ Ape and Deadbeat as they bust in on a husband partaking in some very extracurricular activity. This is the spread I mentioned above and I think you’ll be able to see why it was so memorable to my young eyes! I love the little details here too, such as El’ Ape’s pin badges, the fact we see the photo Deadbeat takes sliding out of the camera and even the husband’s surprised look reflected in El’ Ape’s sunglasses.

Thinking this proves that being private detectives is paying off, El’ Ape’s excitement is cooled when Deadbeat reminds him how much the camera, film and skeleton keys cost, then their last few remaining notes are ripped from his hands by their landlord. Deadbeat is sure they’re not going to earn enough in this line of work but El’ Ape is optimistic and says something always turns up “in these types of stories”. Is this a hint that they’re acknowledging being inside a comic? Even if it’s not, it’s funny.

Back in their office we meet Doris, their receptionist. Well, sort of. You see, she’s a computer and, despite this being set in the far future, Doris is an antiquated desktop complete with cassette deck, so completely unable to move about and do much of a receptionist’s job. She’s just one example of the insane characters John and Andy come up with throughout the issue.

Finkelly hires them to find his twin brother, showing them a picture of the runaway witness and obviously they look nothing like each other. “He parts his hair on a different side to me”, explains Finkelly. This and a suitcase full of cash is enough to convince the Sleezes the case is legit, despite Doris calling them out on it. Yes, these two aren’t exactly the sharpest, just in case you missed their misadventure with the Doctor.

In a scene that reminds me of a funny page in #5 of Death’s Head they start asking around and run into a whole bunch of weird and wacky folk, giving Andy a chance to draw up a variety of inhabitants of the city. This page should give you some indication of the imagination on show throughout the comic and this is only the beginning. Unsurprisingly, asking random strangers doesn’t work out. Without any other ideas they head off to Wong’s Air Bar.

The Air Bar plays up to our legitimate worries of climate change, hypothesising that in the future fresh air is such a luxury it’s bottled up inside pressurised bottles and sold like beer. Not that alcohol is in short supply either, El’ Ape throwing about the cash from their suitcase as if they’ve already solved the case. When the photo accidentally falls out the bar’s proprietor is able to point them in the right direction at last (after some eyes-down-the-barrel-of-a-gun persuasion).

I have to say I laughed at this panel above. The city is very much a spoof of Judge Dredd’s MegaCity One. As well as the so-called “undercover C.O.P.S.” (neither undercover nor decent cops) the brothers’ car is just a Volkswagon Beetle with hovercraft piping instead of wheels, delivery trucks use the same configuration and on other pages we see regular electrical sockets and other contemporary technology, giving it a lovely feel of a future world poking fun at the depictions of the future seen in 80s movies of the day.

The biggest thing that’s purposely out of place for me are public phone boxes (and not a mobile in sight). Here, Deadbeat explains all the technological security these have in order to stop tampering, theft, fee dodging etc., all of which he bypasses by simply sticking a bit of chewing gum on one of its parts. “Oldest trick in the book”, he says. Placing a call to several delivery companies for the building housing their target (that uncanny resemblance to a frog above), it’s bombarded with trucks which keeps the police occupied. The two-headed chief calls for phone line repairmen, who of course end up being the brothers in disguise. It’s a ridiculously convoluted plan and I love it. Although, they’re quickly caught by one of those inept RoboCops.

So that’s two oldest tricks in the book. The ludicrousness of this future world is what has delighted me the most. I had it in my head that the world itself would be more like that in Death’s Head, with some background gags and funny social commentary but for the most part it would play the straight guy to the main characters’ comedy. But in fact the inept duo, one being a loud mouth reactionary and one quiet and thoughtful, are actually the closest we get to normality. And that’s saying something!

Through a chase involving a comedy of errors our detectives catch up with the witness. Not that they know he’s a witness. Cornered and terrified, he whimpers at the end of a back alley while El’ Ape and Deadwood approach. El’ Ape grins. Deadwood is stoney faced as per usual. He clicks open his briefcase and it looks like a professional hit to the defenceless victim, until we see what Deadbeat was reaching for. What happens next over a double-page spread at the end of our story perfectly sums up the humour of the comic.

It’s been a wild and crazy ride and this is only the first issue. You’d be hard pushed to find a comic with a premiere issue that works as perfectly as this one. It feels like a fully developed comic, as if this were the sixth or so issue in its run. Of course, with a predetermined length of only six issues John and Andy had to hit the ground running. They’ve sprinted! Every page is packed full of fun, every gag lands, the leads feel fully formed and the world in which they inhabit is just as big a character as they are.

Let’s hope the remaining issues over the course of the rest of this year live up to the exceptionally high standard this premiere has laid out. It’s also got me thinking about finally finishing off my collection of The Real Ghostbusters to enjoy more of John’s and Andy’s work after this read through is finished. For now I’ll look forward to whatever they have in store for The Sleeze Brothers #2, which will be reviewed right here on the blog on Monday 29th July 2024.

DOCTOR WHO MAGAZiNE 147 < > iSSUE TWO

THE SLEEZE BROTHERS MENU

Comic Reviews, The Sleeze Brothers

DOCTOR WHO MAGAZiNE #147: REMEMBRANCE OF THE SLEEZE

Leave a comment

Between the original publication dates of the previous issue of Doctor Who Magazine covered on the blog (#135, as part of the Death’s Head read through) and this one I’d finally discovered the TV series for myself. I’d grown up in a house where older siblings would have watched Tom Baker in the role so I was always aware of it and certain aspects such as the Daleks, the TARDIS etc., but it wasn’t until I saw those aforementioned meanies splashed across media outlets in 1988 that I decided to give it a go for myself. I’ve watched ever since.

I’ll get back to that below when I take a look at some other parts of this issue, but the reason it’s here on the OiNK Blog is because of those two cheeky Blues Brothers-esque characters peering out from behind the cover. After months of that teaser advert The Sleeze Brothers finally made their strip debut here and, according to Richard Starkings (Sleeze Brothers’ editor) this very well could be the only time creator-owned characters made the cover of DWM! This magazine’s editor (and friend of the blog) John Freeman concurs. John was the mag’s designer in the previous issue we looked at so he’s had a promotion since.

On the contents page you can see how the strip in introduced with its “plethora of artists” and that is indeed the case, with no less than five of Marvel UK’s finest bringing the characters to readers for the first time. Before we move on to the main event though, I couldn’t help but spot that little bit of optimism in the editorial about Doctor Who’s potential upswing in fortunes over the year ahead. Within the year the show would actually be cancelled.

So let’s get stuck into the first (mis-)adventure for El’ Ape and Deadbeat. As you can see from this first page we’ve got a who’s-who of Marvel UK talent responsible for the eight-page strip. John Carnell and Andy Lanning are the creators and alongside Andy on art duties are John Higgins, Kev Hopgood, Dougie Braithwaite and Dave Harwood. A greater selection of pencillers and inkers from my childhood (especially The Real Ghostbusters) would be hard to find. Then add in Slimer’s main artist Bambos Georgiou and this screams “classic” before I’ve even read one panel.

My first encounter with the brothers was with #1 of their own comic and only now, decades later, I’ve got my hands on this strip. Having only ever read #1, and not having done so since 1989, reading this prelude years after the fact doesn’t matter. My memory is so rubbish everything I knew about their comic is gone so this reads just as intended, as a fun little build-up to the chaos (hopefully) to come.

The Meddling Monk’s chameleon circuit hasn’t been damaged and his ship turns into a futuristic outside loo

We arrive on Earth on an undisclosed future date and catch a tantalising glimpse of the world the upcoming comic will have as its setting, which I’m hoping we’ll see a lot more of if this first page is anything to go by. TV series villain the Meddling Monk has landed to interfere in the upcoming election but the Seventh Doctor (Sylvester McCoy) isn’t far behind. Brilliantly, unlike the Doc’s TARDIS, the Monk’s chameleon circuit hasn’t been damaged and his ship still tries to disguise itself within its surroundings, turning into a futuristic outside loo.

The Doctor is in hot pursuit though and after damaging the brothers’ car the Monk flies off again before he can put his plan into action. But El’Ape isn’t having it, he needs his insurance details! Putting a gun to the Doctor’s head he tells him to “Follow that TARDIS!”, which is the name of the strip. Locking on to the other TARDIS the first stop is Tunguska, Siberia on 30th June 1908.

If you know your history you may have heard of the Tunguska Event, an explosion caused by a meteor air burst. Basically, an asteroid entered our atmosphere and exploded above the surface of the planet, the resulting burst of super hot air producing what many originally thought was the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. Ridiculous conspiracies grew up around the event and many fictional stories have laid claim to fantastical reasons behind it, this being one such tale.

The explosion (I love the “Kabooooomski!”) flattened over 2000 square kilometres of forest but thankfully there were no officially reported deaths, although some reports have indicated two people may have perished (presented here as survivors with their clothes burnt off their bodies and singed hair in Looney Tunes fashion). The Meddling Monk makes his way to three key historic events in total and each time El’ Ape’s attempts to catch him result in an origin story for said event.

While this is generally a zany comedy strip, I’m no longer sure about the next bit of the story.

That’s right, they end up on board the ill-fated maiden voyage of a certain ship built just down the road from my house. Now to be fair back in 1989 the wreckage of Titanic had only been found four years previous by Bob Ballard and it was popping up everywhere in popular fiction, but the movie which highlighted the tragedy of the lives lost was still eight years away. (The museum here in Belfast that I’ve visited countless times was still 23 years away!) But with hindsight, with much more knowledge today of the sinking and the human cost, this feels in particularly bad taste nowadays.

I know that was never the intention, I hope I’ve made that clear, but I review all of the comics on the blog as I find them today. Convinced the Monk’s TARDIS has disguised itself as a giant iceberg up ahead (no, really) El’ Ape takes control and goes full ahead to ram him and hopefully sink his TARDIS and capture him. The sequence finishes with the silhouette of the ship going down, a few lifeboats of survivors being all that’s left of life on board and the sound effect of the TARDIS.

Not only does this not sit well with me but I just don’t think the Doctor would ever have allowed it to happen. The Tunguska Event is one thing, in this version it just singed a couple of people. Then the final event in the strip involves the Bermuda Triangle as Flight 19 (each time period brought to the page by a different artistic team really works a treat) is accidentally taken through time. But we know the Titanic saw the deaths of over 1,500 people. That’s not something for the Doctor to basically think, ‘Whoops, better get out of here before I’m caught’!

Throughout the strip Deadbeat has his nose in a book which he seems to be getting more and more engrossed by as the story goes on. On the last page we see he wasn’t ignoring what was happening around him, in fact each time he was trying to stop his brother from causing these bad things to happen, almost as if he knew what consequences their actions were going to have. As the story draws to a close the Doctor kicks the brothers out of his TARDIS and takes off with the captured Monk, then Deadbeat throws his book away and we finally see what he was reading all along.

Okay, so exactly why was the sinking of the Titanic in a book about ‘Unexplained Mysteries and Disasters’? Anyway, despite the passage of time and the acquiring of much Titanic knowledge (it’s become a fascination of mine this past decade or so) resulting in one part of this strip taking on a whole new meaning, I can appreciate when it was written and that I probably would’ve just found it daft at the time. However, The Sleeze Brothers themselves have definitely made an impression.

They may not be much more than a spot of comic relief, and the whole story could be summed up that way as well, but they’re really fun comic relief. Despite essentially no information on who they are or why they guest starred in this Doctor Who strip (if you didn’t know their own comic was on the way), they still come across as well defined characters, as clear individuals with potential depth. As a tease for what’s to come it’s made me impatient for their premiere issue.

Right now though, I want to take a quick dive into one particular subject in the rest of this issue of Doctor Who Magazine.

The last time I showed a strip from DWM I also included what was a brief mention of an up and coming Doctor Who story called Remembrance of the Daleks. It would be part of the 25th series’ anniversary celebrations and the first appearance of his longest-surviving enemies for the Seventh Doctor. Because of this, marketing went into overdrive and the Daleks were everywhere. The hype pulled me right in and I can remember sitting down to watch part one of that story in my bedroom.

I was amazed by it. It seemed like a completely different show to the one I’d seen my older siblings watch years before. Several months after its transmission this issue published an episode guide for the season, an interview with the story’s writer and plenty of discussion about what still remains (36 years later) one of my very favourite stories from the show. While it’s a bit cheeky to say the eight-page episode guide is “free” on the cover (in reality the issue was only four more pages than normal), it does contain that lovely opening page above on glossy paper.

It’s less of an episode guide and more of a list of things that were left out from the final production, but it stills bring back happy memories of the four weeks it was on and the anticipation for the next part after each belter of a cliffhanger. Much more in-depth is the four-page interview with writer Ben Aaronovitch. Given this was his first commissioned strip for the show it’s a hell of an ambitious first foray into the world of the Doctor.

There are some interesting nuggets of information there such as the fact there was meant to be more of a focus on the whole “more than just a Time Lord” thing, which reminds me of the recent Timeless Child story that also injected some much needed mystery back into the character, and which I’m excited to see play out in future seasons. Also, when Ben mentions that ‘Masters of the Universe’ thing, it’s a reference to Dalek flying gun platforms based on something similar in the awful He-Man film from 1987. BBC budgets being what they were, this was changed to the Special Weapons Dalek, a fan favourite design to this day. 

Elsewhere, a writer by the name of David J. Howe is adamant that Remembrance has to have been set in an alternative universe because it simply doesn’t gel with his own conclusions about the Doctor’s past from previous series. This sounds an awful lot like certain ‘fans’ online in recent years and in a piece by Gary Russell about the story The Greatest Show in the Galaxy it appears certain types aren’t confined to the modern era and social media (check out that middle paragraph).

Finally, on the back page is an advert for the William Tell graphic novel. This collected together the unpublished strips created for a new fortnightly comic that was cancelled before it had even launched (advertised in Marvel UK comics the previous year). With that, it’s time to wrap up this jaunt back to 1989 aboard the TARDIS and look forward to the first issue of The Sleeze Brothers proper.

As I’ve said previously I only ever read the first issue of their comic at the time and haven’t since 1989, yet the way they acted in this tiny tease of a strip feels so familiar to me. The idea of full-length, full-colour strips on a monthly basis with these two as the stars is almost too much excitement to contain for another three months! But that’s what I must do because the review of #1 of The Sleeze Brothers won’t be here until Monday 24th June 2024.

GO TO iSSUE ONE

THE SLEEZE BROTHERS MENU

Comic Introductions, The Sleeze Brothers

THE SLEEZE BROTHERS: iN REAL TiME

Leave a comment

This advertisement seemed to take up permanent residence in many of the comics I collected at the time. Even though the first issue of The Sleeze Brothers wasn’t released until June 1989 this teaser saw print from the end of 1988 onwards, and since it appeared in weekly comics (for me in the pages of Transformers and The Real Ghostbusters) we saw it a lot!

With no information to go on apart from a ‘Blues Brothers’ feeling to it I remember eventually thinking, “Alright, enough! Just tell us what this is all about!”. However, it worked. At the end of June the aforementioned comics ran their regular Mighty Marvel Checklist and finally there it was, the big promotion in the range for that week was for the first issue of a comic I’d almost given up on ever appearing (like the William Tell fortnightly the year before).

As you can see it was always intended as a six-issue series, which the comic’s editor Richard Starkings confirmed when I spoke with him recently. What struck me the most as a kid were the two names mentioned in the credits, ‘Carnell’ and ‘Lanning’, namely writer John Carnell and artist Andy Lanning whose work I was loving on a regular basis in the Ghostbusters comic. I was sold and that week my pocket money went on the premiere issue.

I have a distinct memory of being in my Aunt May’s house (who I’ve mentioned before on the blog) and giggling away at the antics of El’ Ape and Deadbeat, the distinctly offbeat story, their awfulness at any form of actual detective work and the gorgeously drawn future world in which they lived. I’m really looking forward to rereading #1 for the first time since 1989. This cover is already bringing back some very happy memories.

At the time it confused me as to why it didn’t have the usual Marvel box in the top corner, but now I know better. Epic Comics was an imprint of Marvel, run by editor Archie Goodwin in the States before crossing over here. It began life as a creator-owned anthology comic called Epic Illustrated (a mini-series revival of which would star The Sleeze Brothers after their comic finished). Commissioned by Richard, The Sleeze Brothers were originally to be a Marvel series before Archie proposed keeping it creator-owned under Epic.

“The Sleeze Brothers was almost impossibly difficult to get approved,” Richard tells me. “All of those books (Dragon’s Claws and Death’s Head) were new territory for Marvel UK. I had launched The Real Ghostbusters very successfully and had earned a lot of trust with my bosses, Jenny O’Connor [Managing Editor] and Robert Sutherland [Managing Director], and all I wanted to do was original material, which was considered very expensive. Sleeze maybe sold 30-60,000 and considered a flop then. It would be a massive success today.”

As a child, The Sleeze Brothers was one of those comics I was destined to read only one issue of

A second comic strip advert (by John and Andy) was created closer to the release of the first issue. Below you can see it taken from the back cover of Death’s Head #5 from March 1989 (well before launch!), although I don’t remember seeing it in my own comics until I’d already got my hands on #1 for myself. These strip ads were a regular occurrence around this time, Richard learning from creating The Real Ghostbusters comic that they could tell a story in one page. We’ve already seen examples of these on the blog for Dragon’s Claws, Death’s Head, Transformers, Doctor Who Magazine and even Flintstones and Friends.

As a child, The Sleeze Brothers was one of those comics I was destined to read only one issue of. As I’ve mentioned before I was allowed a certain amount of comics on order at the newsagents at any one time, and my list was full. So the Brothers were purchased with pocket money and, like Death’s Head before them, I just never got around to buying any more, my money going on a huge variety of comics from week-to-week and I had a short attention span. Hey, I was young!

“Come on, it was a Blues Brothers rip-off!”

Richard Starkings, editor

El’ Ape and Deadbeat Sleeze are clearly modelled on Jake and Elwood from The Blues Brothers and just like the movie they have very distinct characteristics. El’ Ape is the short loudmouth, the forthright and in-charge brother of the investigative duo. He’s street smart, though somewhat lacking in any other form of smarts. The taller Deadbeat is the quieter brother who may not say an awful lot but who makes up for this with his ability to see things more logically.

Richard tells of a time when he wanted to reprint the series. “I wanted to recolour and reissue Sleeze through Image but then publisher Erik Larsen wasn’t interested. He thought it was a Blues Brothers rip-off. Which is was! Although Andy always protested that it was based on his cousins. Which it was! But come on, it was a Blues Brothers rip-off.”

The series ran for its originally proposed six monthly issues (although there was a larger gap between the fifth and sixth), one special and a back up strip in an issue of Richard’s Elephantmen. Thanks to our conversation I also found out there was a prologue. “We recoloured and re-lettered the prologue which was originally to run in Marvel Comics Presents as Death’s Head had previously,” says Richard. “But when Tom DeFalco [Marvel UK Editor-in-Chief] heard it had an Epic contract he nixed it, so I think it only ran in the trade.”

As you can see above I’ve now added said trade to my collection to round things off and we’re ready to go. As per usual I’m sticking with the format of this blog and reviewing each issue on the dates of their original releases. Online there doesn’t seem to be any consistency in those dates with most websites simply guessing from the months on the covers, but I’ve gone back to the source to find out for sure. I’ve flicked through all of the Transformers and The Real Ghostbusters comics from 1989 and checked all of the Mighty Marvel Checklists to ensure each issue is reviewed on the date lucky readers actually got their mitts on them.

But what about that Doctor Who Magazine popping its head above the collection there?

The only creator-owned characters to make the cover of Doctor Who Magazine according to Richard, The Sleeze Brothers made their debut in a strip called Follow That Tardis in #147, which you can see highlights of in the first Sleeze Brothers review on the OiNK Blog on Saturday 16th March 2024. I’ve had all the issues (apart from the trade) on my shelves for a few years now, since just before starting this blog in April 2021 in fact. It’s been a long, long wait but I never gave in to temptation.

So join me in eight days when the most insane Marvel UK series and the blog’s latest real time read through finally begins.

GO TO DOCTOR WHO MAGAZiNE 147

THE SLEEZE BROTHERS MENU

Comic Reviews, Dragon's Claws

DRAGON’S CLAWS #2: COLOUR ME iMPRESSED

Leave a comment

It’s been a long time coming but Dragon’s Claws’ sophomore issue is finally here. After spending the first couple of years on the blog covering fortnightly and weekly comics (the one exception being the short-lived Visionaries right at the beginning of the blog) it’s strange to find myself in a position where, at the time of writing this, both Dragon’s Claws and even the site’s namesake comic OiNK are monthly. I’ve gotten so used to what came before that the four-week wait between issues feels so long!

Could this have been an attributing factor to Marvel UK’s new range of US-sized comics not being the success they may have deserved to be? British comics were often more frequent, and if any did become monthly you always knew that meant they wouldn’t be lasting much longer. Things would change a lot in the 90s of course when most comics became monthly but sales figures also declined drastically across the board at that time. A month was a very long time to wait for us back then, especially when computer and videogames were now grabbing our attention.

If last month’s debut felt like a typical yet very enjoyable 80s action flick, this feels like it could actually be the second half of that movie. The threat of The Evil Dead teased in the premiere issue’s opening pages comes full force this time around. The opening pages once again see that Game team take on a trained group of fighters, this time at a weapon’s depository that was apparently built to withstand an entire army. Over the course of these first seven pages they decimate the defence and make off with the weapons.

What I particularly like here is just how very ‘English’ The Evil Dead are, especially their leader Slaughterhouse. Shouting “Orf with their heads” before two soldiers get brutally decapitated, tutting when others put up a fight, using drawn out proper grammar and such words as “splendid” while all around is death and destruction. Believe it or not, there’s even a funny moment used to lighten the dark opening when they win their battle and dead bodies are strewn everywhere.

There’s something of note right off the bat with this issue’s story. The government is referred to as that of ‘Greater Britain’. Now for any readers of an international flavour who may not be aware, ‘Great Britain’ as we know it today is made up of England, Scotland and Wales. I live in Northern Ireland and that’s part of ‘The United Kingdom (UK) of Great Britain and Northern Ireland’. Northern Ireland is separate from ‘Great Britain’, a mistake many make. The fact the Dragon’s Claws comic refers to the government of Britain rather than the UK makes me think we’ve scarpered and rejoined Ireland away from the dystopia of the land within which The Game is set. Thank goodness! But anyway, I digress.

The one surviving soldier is taken to N.U.R.S.E. where Dragon, his team and the already irritating Deller (he’s meant to be irritating) are assigned their first mission by Stenson to kill The Evil Dead, as if they were nothing more than an irritant rather than murderers. The order is given in such a blasé way it’s clear N.U.R.S.E. care not for those they’ve hired. They give the orders and the foot soldiers must obey. This results in Dragon losing his temper because as far as his was concerned his team were independents, going out into Britain to clear up the mess of the government’s Game on their own. But Stenson has them over a barrel, he knows their lives felt meaningless without The Game and they back down.

“Mercy – you let your father’s business go bankrupt while you chased vendettas”

Stenson

We find out a little more about the various members of Dragon’s Claws here after last issue concentrated almost solely on Dragon. The most interesting one for me is Mercy, the sole woman of the team. Since they withdrew from The Game she’s used all the money from her father’s business to chase after those lawbreakers who had enough money to stop any potential repercussions from occurring. In the current climate we find ourselves in I do hope we find out more about her time doing that, it’s quite topical after all. (There’s also something very ‘Knight Rider‘ about that, a show where the hero chased after “criminals who operate above the law”.)

Dragon takes off and over the next couple of pages we see him back at his farm, now a desolate, abandoned wreck after the battle with the Wildcats last time. It’s these little quieter moments that have made these first two issues for me. It would’ve been very easy to have action from cover to cover but in such a fantastical set up these scenes ground our characters, the result being we believe in them, and care for them and the outcome of the story more. His family haven’t returned and then Scavenger turns up to warn him Deller has pulled rank and taken the team out in search of The Evil Dead.

Dragons Claws were opponents worthy of his skills, now he sees them as mere government lackeys

Deller is desperate to be the hero, the leader responsible for bringing them in or killing them, obsessed with personal glory. Of course, we can immediately see where this kind of character will end up leading the team, and that’s into immediate danger. The team’s protestations and attempts to quell his blood lust and self-importance fall on deaf ears. Seeing the lion-like Feral feasting on a dead body out in the open Deller immediately gives chase into an enclosed area, the Claws trying to stop him but it’s too late. Of course it’s a trap.

Another little moment here is the area this is taking place in is referred to as ‘The ‘Pool’. Clearly meaning Liverpool, it’s an area Steel stays away from because it’s known as The Evil Dead’s home, somewhere they know like the backs of their hands and would obviously have the advantage. One-by-one this advantage see the Claws fall. Captured, Slaughterhouse is more disappointed than angry. Dragons Claws were opponents worthy of his skills, now he sees them as mere government lackeys.

As you can see Dragon appears at the last moment, saving Deller’s life. He’s no stranger to having an advantage himself and as the Grim Reaper-esque Kronos sneaks up behind him Feral notices Dragon has no scent. He’s a hologram and there’s a pressure pad just behind it, which Kronos steps on, instantly exploding. The other members of The Evil Dead are Hex, a circus showman with poisonous darts and hypnotising eyes and Death Nell, Slaughterhouse’s other half who appears to have had some kind of romantic history with Steel!

Anyway, the battle we’ve been building up to is rather short and sweet but no less entertaining and ultimately satisfying. On one page Slaughterhouse’s order to kill the Claws falls on deaf ears, or rather dead ears. Scavenger, a master of stealth if last issue’s cameo and the fact he was able to sneak up on Dragon on his farm are anything to go by, has quietly severed his team mates’ bindings (without even them knowing how), meaning Steel can surprise Nell in a moment that initially confused me. Initially, I questioned why he didn’t just hit her earlier? It hadn’t been clear from previous panels they’d had their hands tied behind their backs until Mercy’s explanation made me go back and check.

Dragon is sniping from scaffolding on top of a very tall building nearby and as Slaughterhouse lunges at him he’s apparently taken by surprise, getting scraped by huge nails and kicked in the head in the process. But like the hologram there’s a bit of clever misdirection here on Dragon’s part. Riling Slaughterhouse up until his anger takes over and he leaps through the air, Dragon doesn’t dodge out of the way or put up a fight, instead grabbing Slaughterhouse and letting his momentum push them both over the edge.

Special mention must be made of Steve White’s colouring. It’s glorious!

Then, as we turn to the final page we can see he’d actually tied his ankle to the building, stopping him as Slaughterhouse falls to his apparent doom.  Of course with a team made up of such characters as The Evil Dead, and with hints in the story that they may actually be dead already, there’s no sign of his body. As for Feral, it looks like Scavenger made a meal out of dealing with him! Their leader and his girlfriend may be the only ones to have survived now that Dragon’s Claws have been sanctioned to kill.

Written by Simon Furman and enthusiastically brought to the page by Geoff Senior, with editor Richard Starkings on lettering (under the pseudonym ‘Zed’), special mention must be made of Steve White‘s colouring. It’s glorious! His work on Transformers was always exemplary but this surpasses even that. His backgrounds are atmospheric, shading can be subtle in places like faces and in-your-face in others. It’s big, brash and bold in the very best possible way. (Check out his colour work for Xenozoic Tales in an issue of Jurassic Park too!) This is a collection of creative people that could give Dragon’s Claws a run for their money in the teamwork stakes.

Strangely one of the Marvel UK adverts in this issue is for the comic the reader was actually holding. Weird. There’s also a humour strip, a constant in most of the publisher’s action titles. The Reverend P. Gunn’s debut last issue wasn’t great but this one is funny and the art is great fun. Along with Richard and Steve, writer John Carnell and artist Andy Lanning were well known to me at the time from The Real Ghostbusters and this is a perfect outlet for their bizarre sense of humour that I loved so much in the licenced comic. Would further strips have been funny or more like last month’s? Who knows? This was also Gunn’s final appearance!

So yes, Dragon’s Claws has produced another dynamite issue. It feels very much like the second part of last issue’s introduction and I am perfectly fine with that. I want to find out so much more about these characters already and I know there’s the real potential here for that to happen while not skimping on the action, thanks to Simon’s writing. If I’d known about the comic at the time these first two issues would’ve had me hooked and placing a regular order at my newsagent. Today I’m hooked and you can look forward to regular coverage, the next bit of which will be the review for #3 on Sunday 13th August 2023.

iSSUE ONE < > iSSUE THREE

DRAGON’S CLAWS MENU