Tomorrow Stories HB

Posted: Friday, March 1
By: Craig Lemon

(Collecting issues one through six)

Writer: Alan Moore
Artists: see below

Publisher: ABC/Titan Books


It's a truism that anthologies just do not sell in comics form. Witness the demise of (amongst others) Dark Horse Presents, Oni Double Feature, Double Image, Marvel Comics Presents, Action Comics Weekly….and now, or so it is rumoured, Tomorrow Stories. Which is almost incredible in a way, as how can a book coupling the name of one of the world's premier comics writers with five talented and renowned artists possibly fail? Simple, state the books will be published monthly, then make it quarterly in practice. Make the stories humour stories rather than the 2000AD style "twist in the tale" features (because humour doesn't sell either, right?). Don't allow any strip to continue from issue to issue. And stop the finest one after just four issues.

How important each of these factors is can now be determined with the release of the hardback collection of the first six issues. Now you don't have to worry about solicitation dates, or late delivery, each 24 page issue is here in one smart, hard-wearing edition, with four bonus pinup pages at the back.

The first thing you need to take in account when reading this book, is that it is supposed to be a humour book - it's played for laughs through and through, so don't go in expecting the Twilight Zone or you'll be severely disappointed. Secondly, the book is formatted quite badly - it's section off by issue (containing three or four shorts) rather than by feature. So instead of having the four Jack B Quick episodes run in succession, you have to root through the book should you want to read the lot in one go. Tut tut.

Jack B. Quick is drawn by Kevin Nowlan, and just pips Greyshirt for me for favourite feature. It features a highly intelligent, highly precocious kid, who's disregard for the laws of physics is as astounding as his parents' acceptance of his experiments. Each of the four stories here is a classic.

Greyshirt, art by Rick Veitch, is an out-and-out Spirit rip-off. From the merging of the text into the pictures, from the strange panel layouts specific to each story to the dialogue, this is the closest Tomorrow Stories comes to having twists in the tale, and they are always interesting, always an experience.

Cobweb, with Melinda Gebbie, is rather more hit-and-miss. The undercurrent of sexual tension between Cobweb and her driver tends to become far too overt when subtlety is called for, but fortunately each tale offers something unique which rescues them from complete disasterdom.

First American, art by Jim Baikie, does absolutely nothing for me. It's an out-and-out humour tale that, to my mind, fails far more than it succeeded, which is pretty much the death-knell for a humour strip.

Similarly the late replacement for Jack, Splash Brannigan, with Hilary Barta, just doesn't hang together. The art fits the storytelling style extremely well, but I just don't care for the story at all, just not funny.

So, of the four main features one doesn't really work, one is reasonably good, and the other two are genius and excellent. Maybe a slight reservation over the price - after all, if you don't like one-quarter of the book that decreases the value for money considerably in hardback format, but if you don't have the original six issues, this is still a formidable collection.