Who's Who in the CBU 2009

Name: Regie Rigby

Regie is a strange, almost ethereal creature. Who can plumb the hidden mysteries of his dark and murky past - a past which contains a terrible secret. A secret that taught him that with great power comes great responsibility, that criminals are a cowardly superstitious lot and just who exactly knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men.

By day, he assumes the appearance of a mild mannered teacher, bringing the joy of literature and the English Language to classes of enthralled and enthusiastic students. But by night?

By night he goes home and writes lesson plans. Sorry. That's as interesting as he gets. Really.

The rumours about rooftop struggles with underworld uberfiends, the gossip about the hidden cave filled with hi-tec equipment and the suggestion that his car might be fitted with turbo lasers are all nonsense.

When he's not teaching he reads comics. Sometimes he combines the two activities. When he's not doing that he's either playing computer games or asleep.

Unrelated incidents...

By Regie Rigby

It’s another of those “bitty” columns this week – the sort that are born of the fact that I have loads of stuff to talk about and most if it is time sensitive, so hold onto something solid folks – here we go!

Item 1: Dead Again.
A while ago you might remember my mentioning a vampiric graphic novel penned by CB’s own Barb and Park called Half Dead. It came out, and then vanished in a puff of publishing problems. Now it’s back. It’s in this month’s Previews, and what’s more, it’s certified “cool”.

This is a good thing, because it is.

I mean, what more do you want? Military conspiracies, secret occult stuff, and of course, Vampires! I love vampires! They are the coolest of all the monsters!

There’s no way I’m spoilering this for you, because I insist that you go and order it right now. It’s a rollicking story, and the art is lovely - Jimmy Bott contributes delicate lines and convincing expressions making the whole package a visceral ride. Go get it – but not yet, because there’s a lot more to tell you about right now!


Item 2: Putting for an Eagle
Lord alone knows what I’m going to call the next item I do on The Eagle Awards. I’ve been through “Eagle Squadron”, “Eagle Eyed” and a whole bunch of others. I’m running out of bad puns!

Still, that doesn’t alter the fact that voting for the 2007 Eagle Awards has been open for a while.

As ever, it’s a mixed list, with some names I didn’t expect to see, and a couple I’m both surprised and disappointed not to see. Comics Bulletin isn’t up for an award this year, but he, we’ve already won one and it isn’t nice to stop everyone else getting a look-in, is it? Our own Tony Lee is up for “Best Newcomer Writer” though. A slightly odd category to find him in from my point of view, I have to say – I’ve been a fan of his for ages as you know, but hey, I guess he’s not been “mainstream” long, so it’s not that much of a surprise.

Hope Falls, the book that might well come to be regarded as his breakthrough project (something that is appropriate in all sorts of ways) is also up in the “Favourite Colour Comicbook – British” category, up against Starship Troopers, also from Markosia, the British Kid’s version of Spectacular Spider-Man and of course, both 2000AD and The Megazine, which seem to have taken up residence in this category over the years. That’s a tough group, and they’d all be worthy winners, although I can’t quite get excited about Spectacular Spider-Man*.

I’m disappointed not to see Dan Boultwood, who provided the art for Hope Falls in one of the art categories. On a personal note, I would’ve liked to have seen what has genuinely been my favourite limited series from 2007 in with a shout of three awards, and Dan’s a good bloke with an individual style that I feel deserves a bit of recognition. But there you go – at least all the artists who are on the list are good artists in my estimation.

There were – for the first time ever – a couple of categories I didn’t feel I could vote for, because I didn’t rate the work of any of the names who made it through the nomination process. And no – I’m not telling you who they are, you never know when I might want to work with one of them…

Oh, and incidentally, while I’m clearly keen to big up my mates, I also have no intention of suggesting who you should vote for. That’s up to you. For the record, the only categories I feel really strongly about are Tony’s, and I hope he wins both because he’s a mate and I genuinely have enjoyed his stuff more than the others on the list**, and the best Graphic Novel, where I’ll be moved to violence if Bryan Talbot’s Alice in Sunderland doesn’t win.

While I have preferences in most of the other categories, well, they all have at least a couple of deserving candidates to offer.

So. Go vote. Make your voice heard, and give the comics and creators you’ve enjoyed a little credit. You know they deserve it.


Item 3: A Mega Cover-up
I’ve been meaning to talk properly about this for some time, and it’s probably a bit late now, but better late than never, right?

I have mentioned Tharg’s latest compilation of Thrill-Power Mega City Undercover before, but I didn’t go into detail. You see, a shiny CD Rom containing the whole book in .pdf format arrived from Tharg’s finest publicity Droid for my reviewing pleasure just before the circumstances that took the column offline for six weeks kicked in, and reading stuff for review really wasn’t at the top of my to-do list after that. It got a cursory glance, but not the sort of attention it so richly deserves.

It’s re-print material of course, and I’d read it before. The first part of the book is taken up by the misadventures of Lenny Zero, a guy who really wants to be a good man, but who is caught between the Judges, the criminals, and the woman he loves – a woman he really should never have looked twice at, because Lenny is a Judge, a member of the “Wally Squad” who might just have gone a little too far undercover. And if it’s a bad idea for a Judge to fall in love, it’s an even worse idea for a Judge to fall for the kind of woman his lover turns out to be…

I’d thought that this was a great, hard edged tale the first time I read it. It works even better when read in one go. Andy Diggle’s writing is as good as you’d expect, with sparse but effective dialogue and more pace and wit than you can shake a daystick at. The art, from the grit filled pen of Jock (this was their first collaboration, and I still think one of their best) compliments the script to create a super-cool whole that snarls at you, but with a wink and a twinkle in its eye.

The second part of the book is occupied by Aimee Nixon, star of the series Low Life. Aimee’s Wally Squad too, based in the despair ridden, crime infested pit that is the lower levels of the Big Meg. It’s fine to say that the city’s tower blocks reach high into the sky, if you don’t have to live at the city bottom, where the light somehow never quite reaches.

Such a place attracts a special kind of person, and it needs a special kind of Judge to police it. Aimee Nixon is one such Judge, and there’s some bad bad stuff going down that could threaten her life, her mission, and everyone she works with. This is a much darker tale than Lenny Zero, with a very different tone. Zero is in the tradition of Miami Vice – sharp, slick, and ultra cool. Low Life is more Get Carter. It’s seedier, less refined, and just plain dirty.

The script, by Rob Williams is just as sharp, but has a harder, grimier, grittier edge. The art, provided by the heavy but organic pens of Henry Flint and Simon Coleby is, again, the perfect compliment to the script and again, the total package is as close to perfect as you could possibly want to get.

Whoever edited this book together deserves a bloody medal. What you have here is a collection so balanced it’s almost Zen. Lenny Zero and Low Life compliment each other perfectly, and yet also contrast sharply. It’s a perfect mix, and a book I enjoyed immensely. I don’t do star ratings or anything, but if I did, this would be six out of five. There is, honestly, nothing about this book that isn’t brilliant.

Just buy it.















*But it is of course one of the comics that brings new young readers to the medium, and deserves it’s place for that reason.

**Although Simon Spurrier ran him pretty close – Gutsville is fabulous and I jealously guard my signed copies of #1 and #2, however much I’ve just buggered my chances of getting the rest of ‘em autographed…