THE GIRLY COMIC 6
Various
Factor Fiction (www.factorfictionpress.co.uk)
£1.50
Suddenly this is one of the best little anthologies from one of the best little publishers in England. Striking cover by Des Taylor (also featured inside), behind which lie half a dozen or so stories that could easily fit in any of your big company's titles. Special mentions to Andrew Cheverton and Justine Shaw's Wizard Of Oz-referencing 'There Was A Divorce' which is affecting and effective, and Barry Williams and Toby Ford's 'Sylvia's Path' which is cartoony and funny. Notable also is the use of computer-generated imagery in the majority of the material: what's good about this is that unlike in a lot of small-press books that lean on Photoshop and the like, the stories here are not designed to show off the effects. Instead, the computer is used as a tool in service to the story. Jolly good. Don't be put off by the 'Girly' part of the title. This is a good meaty comic which should form part of a balanced diet for all genders.
BOOK OF LISTS
Paul B. Rainey
£1.50
TELEPHONE THING
Paul B. Rainey
£2.00
(www.bookoflists.co.uk)
The exact polar opposite of The Girly Comic: a one-man show, drawn in good old-fashioned pen and ink. Possibly not to everyone's taste as Rainey's art style seems at first glance to be simple, even crude. But the more you look at it the better it gets. In Book Of Lists Rainey goes through the minutiae of his life, marking down the everyday things that happen to him and to all of us, from being overcharged in the supermarket to the frustration caused by authority figures - and in Rainey's world, nearly everybody is an authority figure. While BoL is a collection of shorts, Telephone Thing is a longer single story about a relationship between a man and a telephone sex line girl. Rainey's art in this is very strong: the tiniest of changes in a panel say as much as a full page of most comics, and the expressions on his characters' faces are overflowing with emotion. It's also the funniest thing I've read in a long long time. No, actually it's the funniest thing I've read this year and that includes anything by B.M.Bendis. Buy it, show it to somebody else, then say 'Aroooogaa!' and fall about on the floor. Buy it and keep it to yourself if you want. Just buy it.
SANCHO
Ian Whelan/Alan Nolan
20,000 Leagues (www.20000-leagues.com)
£2.50/$3.50
From County Wicklow in Ireland, this is the first of a projected line of comics from Whelan, Nolan and Derek O'Connor. Nolan's going to be pretty busy, as he's drawing all three. His art is reminiscent of Roger 'Fred The Clown' Langridge's, with the same air of exaggerated absurdity, and this covers the occasional weakness in anatomy and layout skills. I can even see traces of S. Clay Wilson and Mike McMahon, who surely haven't before been referred to in the same breath. It's still very pretty though, and the overall design - again by Nolan - is quite as good as anything you'll see anywhere else. The story may need you to concentrate a little, as it jumps about from past to present and needs you to recognise different versions of the same character at different stages of their lives. But a little effort from the reader's part isn't to be resented, is it, even in these days of spoon-fed pap? Bottom line is, this has flaws but it's still a good little number. On this showing I'm going to want to see more from 20000 Leagues. Nice logo.
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