So, it's here at last, the eighth issue of Moore's anthology comic, after passing through the DC de-fanging process, and is it worth the wait? Well, it depends. The problem with anthology comics in general is well-known, whom are you trying to appeal to? You're not hitting short story fans, as most 22-page comics are effectively just short stories anyway. Serialisation is fine, provided you publish more frequently than monthly (or bi-monthly as Tomorrow Stories has turned into). The third alternative is short humour features - the theory being, if you don't find one funny, there will be another along in a moment.
The problem with Tomorrow Stories is that all the stories pretty much read the same, with the exception of Grey Shirt. And they all read the same from issue to issue. Let's have a look at the four features in this issue individually.
First up is "The First American and U.S.Angel" with Jim Baikie. This time it's a spoof of fly-on-the-wall documentaries, with TV cameras following the titular heroes around on a typical day, with Moore providing commentary on there being so many fly-on-the-wall programmes around, they'll eventually run out of space. The twist at the end is nice, but the situations the First American and U.S.Angel find themselves in are pretty much same-as, same-as.
"Splash Brannigan" is next, with Hilary Barta on art duties. Splash is an ink-based superhero, this issue he's at a comics convention - now, there's an extensive number of cameos and excellent background details that make this a worthwhile read, even though the main story (Splash fighting with Testostor the Terrible - don't ask) is pretty awful (denouement aside - using the death of Gary Groth to resolve a battle is well worth a read!). Forget the main story, enjoy the backgrounds!
Melinda Gebbie is the collaborator on "Cobweb", this time in the style of newspaper strips - you know the form, three horizontal panels in black-and-white, plus the full-colour Sunday strip. The story, such as it is, has Cobweb and her assistant, Clarice, in the jungle, encountering four or five different groups of characters, all of whom seem to want to get them naked. Not much fun, I'm afraid.
Finally we have the jewel in the crown, and, ironically, the only strip likely to be removed from the book when Rick Veitch leaves after issue #12 - "Greyshirt". Starting off as a discourse on the nature of thoughts, which looks to be influenced by Veitch's own Rare Bit Fiends book, it soon changes into a crime story before you get the first indication of a twist in the tale about two-thirds of the way in. Excellent story, DC really need to work out a way of keeping Veitch on this book to propel it successfully into its second year.
