Reviews

Whores of Mensa 5

The previous four issues of this small press comic seemed to emanate from a gang. I could imagine members Mardou, Jeremy Day (formerly Jeremy Dennis) and Ellen Linder (replacing Rachel Sweet after the first issue) as a kind of convention-cruising girl gang, strutting between the trestle tables, WoM logo stitched matchingly to the back of their leather jackets.

Lone Wolf & Cub TV Series

This mustn’t be confused with the movie series. I saw one episode of this on a Channel Four Japanese night or week many years ago, and I was thrilled when I found out that these were coming out on DVD.

Echoes 1

Initial expectations: this comic is going to be pretty awful. The pitch – son discovers his father was a serial killer – didn’t promise a great deal, and the serial killer angle is so overused now that the mere mention of it induces stupor. How surprising then to discover that this is intelligently written and drawn, and is certainly one of the best comics found amongst those I’ve randomly sampled of late.

The Big Book of Barry Ween: Boy Genius

Sometimes one panel can tell you everything that makes you fall for a comic. I’ll be talking about one such moment from Great Teacher Onizuka in a feature soon, and I’ve just read another. A dear friend sent me this for Xmas, as it is a huge favourite of hers. I’d not read it at all – I’m not sure I had read any Winick at all.

Invincible Iron Man 500

In which the series undergoes the inevitable switch-over from the innocuous number of 33 to 500, as is the Mighty Marvel Trend with all the marquee names or marquee names-in-waiting, incorporating all the previous Iron Man titles along with mini-series, one-shots, and, what the hell, probably Contest Of The Champions, for the sake of a number redolent of legacy and grandiosity. We should all wear our wrinkles so well.

Lady Mechanika 1

I’d never heard of the title, creator or publishers, but when I picked it up for a look, the interior art reminded me a little of Bryan Talbot in its finishing, and the clothes and settings are steampunk, something Bryan has worked with at least a few times.

Felix’s Friends

This is an oddity. It’s a twenty-five year old work that’s seen print before in Cruse’s earlier book, Dancin’ Nekkid With the Angels. Here’s it’s reformatted, as originally intended, as though it were a children’s book, and is only available from lulu.com, a print-on-demand publisher.

FA - The Comiczine