Themed anthologies are in my opinion difficult to pull off. You have to have a strong theme otherwise you run the risk of filling the pages with stories that aren’t very strong. The Fitzroy has a strong theme or really a strong concept and setting. The idea behind this anthology is that it’s 1950’s Britain and a poisonous gas has spread everywhere making it a bit apocalyptic outside. Each creative team takes that setting and crafts their own tale. Some humorous, some grim, but all of them different.
Since there’s only six stories and they’re not very long I will only talk about two of them that I enjoyed so that I don’t spoil the one-shot. The first to talk about is a story about two men on a hot air balloon trying to illegally immigrate out of the country. Immigration is illegal due to the poisonous gas and all, but these two gents are giving it their best show. It doesn’t have any dialogue, but we see that the balloon is dropping and each time they’re forced to get rid of more and more of their supplies. The ending is amusing. The art does all the heavy lifting obviously and it’s an interesting style. It’s a little cartoonish, but there’s something charming about the artwork.
The next tale I would like to mention is called “DIG” and is about a door to door salesman that’s selling cleaning goods. He gets invited into an old lady’s home and the husband kind of shakes him down. There’s a twist here as well, but it’s pretty good. I really enjoyed the art for this one as it looked like comics from the era in which the stories take place.
Overall the stories are all enjoyable and more in line with dark comedy now that I think about it more. I did really enjoy the letters that bookend the book as they are humorous and especially the first letter sets the tone for what’s to follow. This is definitely an idea that could provide more stories and hopefully there will be future editions of the anthology. If you like anthologies, then this is definitely one to check out.
[button btn_url="" btn_color="teal" btn_size="large" btn_style="default" btn_outlined="no" link_target="blank" link_rel="" icon_left="" icon_right=""]Score: 4/5[/button]
The Fitzroy Writers: Various Artists: Various Publisher: Dead Canary Comics Price: £2.49–£4.99 Format: TPB; Print Website
The pacing in this issue takes two different approaches. One is from Dredd’s point of view who is diving into the bottoms of the block, and the other one is from the girls who are trying to figure out what they will do next while outside. The contrast in the pacing works to raise the tension onto what’s happening to the feral girls in Dredd’s absence.
There’s nothing here that’s very original. Extraordinary student going to an average school is nothing new; it’s the classic fish out of water scenario and it’s been done a lot in manga and American comics as well. The only flip in the script is that usually with manga we’re following an ordinary student dealing with the extraordinary student. The convenient writing comes into play when we find out that Mikage’s new master is connected to her old master. It’s a huge stretch of the imagination for her to have stumbled upon the one man in all of Japan that was connected to her former master.
Now before I go too far and proclaim there's nothing funny about Power Lines, I have to address one particularly special moment for me: there’s a tier about halfway through the book that shows all four guys winding through the neighbourhood making their tags, with no dialogue on the page but the bold lettered lyrics of Swisha T winding down the panels. Now who’s Swisha T you ask? Well, long before Drake and The Weeknd came to be there was a god-awful Canadian hip-hop crew called Swollen Members (I totally had their CD). Swollen Members was co-founded by a guy named Madchild (a very poor, poor man’s ‘Canadian version’ of Slim Shady) and it was Madchild who in turn helped launch Swisha T’s music career. Now I make a point of drawing this out because I hope it illustrates just how fucking crazy it is that Jimmie Robinson would have the lyrics of a D-List-White-Canadian hip-hop artist in his comic book! How the hell did Robinson even hear of him - I live in the same Province and I had never even heard of him? I have to believe it’s a joke but I don’t get the punchline? Or who knows, maybe Jimmie Robinson is just a Swisha fan?
That is very refreshing issue for the series. Some readers might miss the cheeky nature the series has had since starting the third volume, but it’s a necessary step for the series to stay fresh and continue to tell new stories. Otherwise it’s just Zombie Tramp visits “insert city” and kills some assholes and moves on. Fun for a while, but that’s kind of all this series has been for the most part and it’s gotten dull.
Jughead is an enjoyable character to read because he never holds back how he’s feeling and even if he doesn’t say it verbally his expression says it all. The dialogue here is really strong and has the type of dialect you’d expect from a group of teenagers. It’s fun and filled with witty one-liners. Not only are the interactions between Jughead and the gang fun they provide nostalgia to the high school days when high school was the only thing I had to worry about.
Daniel begins making a journal of art school which is essentially the book we’re reading. What’s interesting is that he presents this to the class in more than one occasion and he’s constantly viewed as being negative and judgmental just for presenting how people are. He doesn’t sugarcoat himself though, but he is our window of normal in an otherwise stained glassed world of weird.
One of the first things to notice in opening pages is the nostalgic draw of Zach Howard’s art rendering – it’s extremely reminiscent of early Kevin Eastman and it helps to give the book not only an authentic feel but texture as well. Howard manages to encapsulate the rigidity/thick defined outlining of Eastman’s trademark style, while at the same time adding his own interpretations to the characters which tend to be much more descriptive– most notably in Splinter. The emotion that Zach Howard is able to convey through Splinter’s eyes is nothing short of astounding: his fears, his reluctance and most powerfully his heartbreak are all clearly communicated without any need for words or dialogue. This rare circumstance allows the reader to see Splinter occupying the role of the grieving father; not the master/instructor. He is so often depicted as the stoic teacher that it can be easy to forget just how much he does truly love his children. Howard captures this perfectly and it's one of the most genuine moments in the book.
Volume five, aptly titled 'The Last Supper', sees the various factions react to the fall of Texas and the firing of the first shots in a much larger war. Driven to desperation by a hostile Endless Nation, President Lavay sends her trusted aide as a lamb to slaughter, not realizing that a third party is involved. Meanwhile the endless nation itself prepares for war as it struggles to come to find common ground between technology and magic. Chamberlain makes his first major misstep in a failed assassination attempt (which encompasses a truly perfect silent issue). And friends old and new are invited to a meeting brokered by a monstrous enemy.
The reason is because of the Deep Sea King who has come to take over the land and stop all the polluting and basically to establish that he and the sea folk are better than us humans. He’s very flamboyant with his presentation and look, but there is something menacing and evil about his design. If Aquaman had a Joker style character, it would be the Deep Sea King… also that’s a great idea someone get that over to DC stat!
As has been par for the course with this series thus far, the writing in Four Eyes: Hearts of Fire #3 is exceptionally affecting on nearly every level of plot. Now, while my concern for Four Eyes’ wellbeing may admittedly be like the feels one experiences when a dog or some other innocent creature is threatened on film, I am genuinely worried for the mental state of Enrico; more than I can remember of any comic book character in quite some time.
Ha! Like I would actually tell you that. Sure I could give you a couple, but that’s not the point. Cavolo isn’t telling you definitively that these are 101 artists you have to listen to, but rather his 101 artists to listen to. It’s almost a click bait title because admittedly, it’s why I read it. I wanted to know. It’s an interesting window into someone else’s musical taste, but as Cavolo says, it’s interesting to see how many artists overlap between people. It’s like a Venn diagram in a weird way.
Jared serves a couple of functions for this story and they’re all pretty self-aware of each role. He’s a character on a hero’s journey which he even straight up says to his wife, Meryl, citing it from the Joseph Campbell mono-myth structure. But he’s also a character that drives the ‘inside baseball’ of Max Bemis’s references to the comic book industry--each path Jared can take in his life can stand in for Bemis struggling with reconciling what type of story he wants to tell and if can make it an original one while honoring various influences. At various points Jared can choose to forgo responsibility and crush his enemies and hear the lamentations of the women with his new buddy Killstrike. A regressive existence that screams of childhood fantasy escapism or he could go follow his father into what basically sounds like a ‘90s Vertigo book complete with mysticism and mature self-serious undertones--all in an attempt to avoid facing his reality of trying to be a good parent and husband for his family. To reference a song title from Max Bemis’s day job as the frontman of the band Say Anything, ‘It’s a metaphor fool’. Bemis fully admits within the story that he’s working his own shit out with this character and so the fantasy he’s writing becomes meta for his own life while Jared lives through an also meta examination of his own fictional existence in turn. It’s this kind of perspective that can result in an uphill battle for this story to come out without winding up its own ass in wink-nod references. As in there are literally moments where the reader is winked at from the page, but considering that it’s Killstrike who basically lives a Deadpool-like existence of self-awareness and fourth wall breaking, it’s not as irritating as it could be if all the characters made a regular habit of it.