Review: Fruit Machine Part 1 / Created by: Mimi (aka Evelyn Hewett) / Release date: Out Now 

Art student Jason Fellows is confident, egotistical and about to fall completely in love with Sheridan Chapman. Originally published as a webcomic, this is one title that’s light on plot but positively oozes style, boasting massively expressive character designs with equally flamboyant wardrobes.

I am NOT Fruit Machine’s target audience, but this in no way detracts from the fact that I know talent when I see it. Highly influenced by Ai Yazawa, Mimi has created an intimate college world in which a popular boy can forget a long string of girlfriends and fall head-over-heels in love with the new boy in class. There’s no angst or drama here, no soul-searching or discrimination yet, so there is no way to interpret Fruit Machine as anything other than a whimsical homage to some of the classic tropes from Shojo and Yaoi, but to criticise these elements would be missing the point. Male on male relationships exist in manga predominantly as a way for young women to read about and explore relationships in a non-threatening manner, and that’s exactly what Fruit Machine is. There’s nothing sordid here, no angst raining on anybody’s parade, just an exuberant enthusiasm for the characters and some heavily stylised art. The use of colour is reserved but energetic; the use of screen-tones garish but totally in keeping with the concept and generally the whole book is remarkably polished.

My only complaints would be that the characters tend to dominate each page, often at the expense of background, and I think that Mimi would benefit in general from pulling the camera back a little. Not a lot happens in Part 1 of Fruit Machine but hopefully in time the plot will develop and as Mimi gets to know her characters a little better their exploits will become more ambitious.

Overall Fruit Machine is a classy book, populated by effortlessly cool characters that live in a world of optimism and light. Teenage girls are going to get a kick out of Fruit Machine, and do you know who used to spend a LOT of money in Travelling Man on a Saturday afternoons when I worked there? Teenage girls! Comics in the US and UK are no longer the sole dominion of an ageing population of men and Fruit Machine is leading the charge to bring comics to a new generation of readers.

Review: The Indifference Engine / Written by: Cy Dethan / Art by: Rob Carey / Published by: Markosia Enterprises Ltd / Release Date: Out Now

“My name is Alan Blake. I’ve got no resources, no skills and no friends. But if I were you, I’d be the very last person on Earth I’d want coming after me . . .”

The Indifference Engine is the latest offering from Markosia Enterprises, a publishing company specialising in sequential storytelling for well-known properties like King Kong and Starship Troopers. It is written by Cy Dethan, and art provided by the talented Rob Carey.

To start, The Indifference Engine is a unique spin on alternative universes and multiple versions of the same character. In this case, Alan Blake, a twenty something loser, who’s only skill is his ability to listen well to others. People tend to offload their problems with Alan. They feel better about themselves, while he continues his miserable, dreary existence. However, all that is about to change when Alan responds to a job advertisement. He soon discovers an organisation completely staffed by alternative variants of himself. And if that wasn’t mind-blowing enough, his alternatives are at war with, um, themselves, or at least variants of themselves in some form or other – it can all get a little confusing.

It seems – spoiler alert: close your eyes, put your fingers in your ears and go La La La – that The Indifference Engine is a vast supercomputer built to study Alzheimer’s disease, but when activated by a technician – called unsurprisingly, Alan Blake – it instead shattered reality and sent the machine barking mad. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of new worlds sprang into existence, all with their variant of Alan Blake, in some form or other. Cue the need for much hilarity, lashings of violence, and the odd superpower or two.

Cy Dethan drives the story along well enough with a flair for drama and action as needed. When coupled with the easy style of Rob Carey’s art, The Indifference Engine makes for an enjoyable read.

Dethan doesn’t shy away from gore and violence when he needs to, and the graphic novel is littered with battles and bodily dismemberment. But his real strength is in his characterisation, because in a book that is populated by almost completely the same character it takes a deft hand to make each one original enough to stand out. And in this regard, The Indifference Engine is a complete success.

Cy Dethan writes with a dry wit and places a number of amusing scenes to offset the strangeness of the story. There’s an interesting encounter with a mugger fairly early on that doesn’t quite go the expected way – at least for the mugger anyway.

The Indifference Engine is original, witty, and plain good fun. A must for any comic book fan.

Review: Predators / Written by: Various / Illustrated by: Various / Published by: Accent UK / Release Date: Out Now

Predators is the most recent of Accent UK’s annual anthologies and it should come as no surprise that you get a massive amount of comics for your money in this themed collection containing contributions from writers and artists at all different stages in their careers. I found that many of the contributors took the theme dishearteningly literally, but when Predators is good it is dazzling and a complete validation of the format.

Featuring a staggering 35 stories Predators is a hefty black-and-white book featuring a wide array of creative teams. The standout best story in the anthology is A Good Day, written by Steve White and illustrated by James McKay, in which a weakened dinosaur struggles for survival during the dry season. Beset by parasites and adversaries, this powerful creature battles for survival and fights to assert his relevance in a completely ruthless world. The confident illustrations are entirely pencilled without inks and are nothing less than breathtaking, hinting at the potential of this creative team to create a graphic novel like nothing that you’ve ever experienced. Other stories like Always Chased by Martin Fisher and Javier O. Reyes are less triumphantly successful, standing out for the original plot and distinctive visuals but never quite reaching the potential of the sci-fi premise. Just Like You by Lee Robson and Bryan Coyle is almost-great, with an assured and clean line-work that would be the envy of most working artists and an excellent idea for a serial killer addressing the reader that doesn’t have the emotional hook that it would need to have stood out as the best strip in the anthology. I’d suggest that the author reads Hubert Selby Jr’s The Demon to get a feel for the kind of character motivation that would really give this short strip the legs to support a series or graphic novel.

The Evil One by Kev Mullins takes a predictable tour through the food chain but begins with an inspiring account of a caribou’s struggle to survive, an element that could easily have supported the full strip. The Drill by Morgan Pielli and Jon-Mikel Gates is an absolutely pitch-perfect account of a group of schoolchildren hiding from a kaiju battle and is probably the strip that most appealed to my warped sensibilities. And We’ll Lick The Platter Clean by Natalie Sandells features a great play on an old poem and some incredibly accomplished pencils but suffers by comparison to a dearth of similar material. There’s a Z-Girl & the 4 Tigers strip by Jeff Marsick and Kirk Manley that’s clearly the work of a team ready to sell their comics to a wide audience, boasting a style that would fit well at 2000 AD and a subject reminiscent of DC’s Frankenstein, Agent of SHADE series. The final strip, Skin Deep by Mo Ali and Andy Bloor is probably the one to get most excited about, because the story is great, Bloor’s at the height of his game and the two have plans to collaborate again on something big in 2012.

Overall the anthology starts slowly and takes time to pick up steam. There are a lot of strips included of questionable value and I would hypothetically rather pay less for a leaner book of a higher quality, but Accent UK have given first starts to so many big figures in the UK comics industry that you can hardly blame them for adopting a generous stance towards first-time contributors. When subject and creative team complement one another there are some terrific strips and occasionally the predator-angle leads to moments that hint at a completely new kind of comic. Whatever qualms I might have about the weaker strips are more than compensated for by the good and perhaps it says most about Predators when I confess that my first thoughts after reading the book were “I want to be in the next one”.

Review: The Wolfmen & Fall of the Wolfmen / Written by: Dave West / Illustrated by: Andy Bloor / Published by: Accent UK / Release Date: Out Now

Career criminal Grey thinks of himself as a big fish in a small pond.  His chance to prove himself manifests in the form of an invitation from criminal gang The Wolfmen, a group of terrifying and ruthless individuals known for their daring heists. This hard boiled noir quickly plunges into horror territory to amp up the body-count and take the crime caper into original territory that ends badly for all concerned.

Are Accent UK the most underrated British comics publisher? The jury is still out on that one, but Accent UK just might be offering better value for money than all of their competition. There’s enough content in the £3 first volume of The Wolfmen that if it were prose I’d call it a novella, at a price comparable to what you’d pay for last week’s useless Batman spin-off. Narratively Dave West has a strong hook for the story and he maintains a consistent voice throughout, never quite reaching Parker-like levels of meanness but creating a compelling cast of characters nonetheless. Andy Bloor’s art is endlessly fascinating because he’s been talking online recently about a crisis of confidence in his ability, but proportions are literally the only thing that ever let the panels down. The stark, chiaroscuro palette forces discipline on his artwork and Bloor relishes the task, creating bold, powerful characters that live in wonderful twilight worlds. Each brick and grain of wood is tangible and real, each face expressive and alive, with some inspired compositions and a real sense that on each page we see every important aspect of the world, that nothing is left out and that everything is deliberate.

Fall is the second part of the Wolfmen trilogy and as such it raises the stakes, expands the cast and ends on a note of dreary inevitability. The growth of the team in terms of artwork and plotting was so notable between the first and second books that now I can’t wait to read Last of the Wolfmen and I will definitely be watching out for future collaborations between West and Bloor. The Wolfmen and Fall of the Wolfmen represent the best of British horror-noir, populated by a cast of sad, misanthropic characters acting against a gangland backdrop of fierce violence where the difference between men and monsters is superficial at best. Be ready for The Fall of the Wolfmen and everything that follows it.

Review: Nelson / Edited by: Rob Davis, Woodrow Phoenix / Written by: Various / Illustrated by: Various / Published by: Blank Slate Books / Release Date: Out Now

Nelson tells the brilliant life story of Nel Baker, from her birth in 1968 through to July 2011. It concentrates on one single day of her life from every year and follows her ups and downs as she attempts to come to terms with the death of her twin, strives to break the norm and follow her heart.

This is only a small part of the beauty of Nelson. This graphic novel is truly unique as it has been created by 54 of the UK’s top comic book artists, each of them giving their unique style to a year in Nel’s life. This idea was the brain child of Rob Davis, who was so impressed by the talent at last year’s Leeds based comic book festival ‘Thought Bubble’, that he was inspired to bring as many as he could together to make this amazing graphic novel.

One of the things I personally adored about the graphic novel is how many huge historical and cultural events have been packed into this one girl’s life. Without becoming the basis of the novel, it manages to include the moon landing, 9/11 and the bringing down of the Berlin wall, just to name a few (I also especially enjoyed the comparison of The Spice Girls to the four horseman of the Apocalypse).

You may wonder how a graphic novel’s story progresses and if it manages to flow when the visuals and artists styles are constantly changing. This is another testament to the talent of the artists and editors involved, that the characters and the story don’t even begin to waver. You follow Nel through weird kid at school stage, grumpy to wannabe anarchist teenager and up to that point where you are expected to know what you want from life. I think everyone can relate to the stages and situations that arise and although you may be stunned by each different artist’s style, it never detracts from the story itself.

As I am sure you can tell already, I adored Nelson. The characters, the styles and the idea itself are all great. What’s even better? All the proceeds from the first 4,000 copies go the charity Shelter. If I had to recommend one graphic novel for gifting this season, this would most definitely be it. An absolute indie masterpiece. 

Review: Peabody & D’Gorath #1 / Created by: M D Penman / Published by: SLG. / Release date: Out Now 

Peabody & D’Gorath reads like Lewis Trondheim working in the SLG house-style, following the adventures of a pair of antiquated monsters in the late 1800s as they fight to defend Queen and Country from paranormal forces. 

There are hints of Mignola’s Hellboy and BPRD in here but with a distinctly British voice, leading to idiotic cultists, mind-controlled Frost Giants and some thoroughly civilised dialogue before the end of the world is nigh. The first issue ends on a cliff-hanger and it isn’t clear yet what direction the series will take, but all of the ingredients are in place for this to become a great comic.

At San Diego Comic Con SLG also gave out a code to download a teaser strip, The San Diego Aperitif, which delves a little deeper into why Remington Peabody is now a walking skeleton and hints at the demonic powers of Clancy D’Gorath. This can now be read for free here, at the tumblr account of colourist Andrew Tunney.

Peabody & D’Gorath was originally created as an entry to the Zuda comics competition in late 2009, before that particular branch of DC webcomics folded in 2010. It’s great to see the products of DC’s experiment bearing fruit, even at a time when SLG are now focussing on digital comics. With talking skeletons, elder gods, an appreciation for the absurd and a Victorian supernatural world to explore there’s a lot to like in Peabody & D’Gorath and hopefully as the series progresses we’ll see the development of a wider cast of characters to bring these pages to life. Issue #1 is a vast improvement on some of the prototypes for Peabody & D’Gorath that can be found on the creator’s website, and if the series continues to improve at this rate then we could be looking at something pretty special.

Peabody & D’Gorath #1 is available to download free here.

Review: Girl and Boy / Created by: Andrew Tunney / Available digitally from www.andrewtunney.com

Set in Manchester, England, this creator-owned one shot charts the relationship of two young lovers; one called Girl, the other called Boy.  Creator Andrew Tunney describes his work as youth focused and street driven, and those are the exact qualities that elevate Girl and Boy high above the competition, creating something fresh and exciting like you’ve never read before.

Girl and Boy signals the arrival of a Manchester-based comic creator ready to compete at a global level.  Andrew Tunney has created a comic that says more in its painfully short 28 pages than many people achieve in a career.  Imagine if Jim Mahfood and Joshua Middleton both enlisted at UDON Entertainment and were tasked with reinventing superheroes for the hip-hop generation, Girl and Boy might be the result.

Tunney tells the tale of an effortlessly cool young couple that make the city their playground in a whirlwind of spray-paints, champagne and secret identities.  The story is suggested for mature readers and however stylishly the subject is portrayed this is a comic grounded by believable relationships and emotional honesty.  Unlike the majority of Marvel and DC’s output Girl and Boy is gender-neutral territory and should appeal to anybody that remembers how it feels to be young and in love (or lust!).  My only complaint about this comic is that it feels too brief and fleeting.  It tells a complete story and sums up everything that you need to know about Girl and Boy’s world but the standard of work here is on a par with some of the biggest names in the comics industry.  I don’t want to wait to see what sort of a career Andrew Tunney makes for himself, I want to head out to a comic store to pick up a stack of his graphic novels.

Head over to Tunney’s website to buy the digital version of Girl and Boy and see for yourself what I’m so excited about.  You’ll hate him when it’s over but isn’t that the greatest compliment that we could give?

Review: Sandcastle / Writer: Pierre Oscar Levy / Illustrated By: Frederick Peeters/ Translated By: Nora Mahony/ Publisher: SelfMadeHero / Release Date: Out Now

A group of strangers gather in a secluded bay to enjoy a sunny day by the sea, but find that forces beyond their comprehension compel them to stay there, isolated and trapped with each other. I’m reluctant to reveal more about the plot than is necessary, because plot here is incidental to character-study and meditations on our mortality.  Sandcastle is an intimate science-fiction tinged with melancholy, a distinctly European take on a concept that would have been right at home in The Twilight Zone.  The lone Kabyle man dismissed by alpha-males on the beach as an Arab and instantly used as a scapegoat brought to mind Camus’ L’Étranger, though that might just be my brain clutching for cultural straws of comparison! Sexuality is never glamorized in Sandcastle and on this level it reminded me subtly of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, though perhaps Daniel Clowes’ David Boring might be closer to Sandcastle in terms of themes and characterization.

The binding of the hardcover edition of Sandcastle that I read was beautiful, afforded the same level of respect that IDW are so well-known for, and overall I found the reading experience to be a great introduction to a European tradition about which I know very little. If French bookstores are full of bande dessinée like this then it’s little wonder that they have such a thriving market for comics. My only regret about reading Sandcastle is that now SelfMadeHero’s translated works will be vying for space on my shelves with American superheroes and Shonen Jump manga!

Sandcastle will not be for everyone; there are no easy answers given for the situation that the protagonists are placed in, the characters have a high mortality rate and their believability renders them ugly and obtuse as often as they are lively and compelling. With that disclaimer you’ll find a lot to love in Sandcastle and a mature tone that we experience so rarely in English-language comics. Why not take a break from Technicolor violence and high-school romance for a reading experience that will leave you thinking for weeks to come?

Simon Wyatt mines at the rich vein of Welsh folklore to deliver a gripping coming-of-age tale of a boy caught up in the magical history of Wales. Life was same-old, same-old for orphaned boy Ben Ellis living in Bryn Boncath – a paternal fondness for his “bampi” (grandfather), a fear of his bullying uncle and a crush on the new girl in the street. The 13-year-old’s carefree head is filled with bampi’s stories of folklore – like how the Welsh dragon rose up to stop an invasion – but fantasy bleeds into reality when mythical creatures are spotted around the close-knit community.

The strangeness stems from the past and precedes the footsteps of the villain “Cracky” Caradog, who has his eye set on Ben, chosen to be the protector of nature.

Told in the past tense of an autobiographical letter, don’t expect all the answers – including the mystery of the eye-catching title – to be revealed in this first volume.

There are plenty of questions asked to grip you for the next instalment, but enough answered to further the plot. It comes across as a more innocent variant of Gary Spencer Millidge’s Strangehaven.

The black-and-white art is gorgeous, its charcoal quality perfectly suited to the subject matter and setting, feeling earthy and organic. Lettering duties by Nic Wilkinson are also due credit. Sound effects are shaped to match the art of spiralling crows or the tumble of a thrown dagger. Most importantly, it is all legible and clean – the biggest hurdle in stories told through the slant of handwritten letters which can sometimes be too much of a strain to read.

Wyatt’s work was last seen by Starburst as part of a collaboration anthology by Welsh comic creators called 10thology. The partnership continues, in part, with a brief cameo from Jamie Lambert and David Clifford’s Dexter’s Half Dozen during a dragon hunt.

Unbelievable is a rare, gorgeous find in the world of independent comics and clearly a labour of love for Wyatt who has sweated over every panel on top of crafting an engaging story before summoning the drive to see it published. At times whimsical and innocent, at others innovative in its art, Unbelievable is worth your money.

Unbelievable: The Man Who Ate Daffodils is out now from Markosia Enterprises Ltd

Writing young characters must be a difficult thing to pull off. Take the world of television for example. Pretty much any series based around the lives of teenagers feature actors in their thirties, are written by men in their fifties, and are aimed almost exclusively at pre-teen children. Worst of all, they always feel so out of touch and lack any kind of relevancy aside from misplaced references to outdated music that its characters wouldn’t listen to in their worst nightmares. As for characters in their twenties, or more? They may as well not even exist.

Even with what would appear to be an embittered and cynical perspective, I glanced over the synopsis for Brian Wood and Ryan Kelly’s The New York Five with nothing but hope that somebody could pull this off properly. The cover looked cool enough, the characters too, looked cool enough, and thankfully it fulfilled my wishes at every page turn, and stands as one of the best comics I’ve read all year.

Following on from 2008‘s New York Four, the story follows the lives of four college students heading in to their second semester at NYU, taking part in a video-therapy project and enjoying every second of their new lives as they settle in to their first apartment in one of the coolest areas of New York City. Of course, nothing stays perfect for long, and the group soon start to realise that life can throw some unexpected obstacles in the way of the even the most ideal situations.

It’s hard to articulate just how vibrant and real the book feels. Wood and Kelly create a mesmerising and consuming vision of New York that features a wealth of real life locations and landmarks. Side notes are littered throughout describing each hangout with deep personal affection from the writer, and while a touch clichéd, it remains truthful for anyone who has lived in or even visited the area. It’s a hard place to get out of your system, and Wood makes sure that the characters know and feel it at every step, just like the reader. It lives and breathes, and changes everybody.

In terms of art, Kelly’s black and white pages are gorgeously rendered, with a sense of vitality and expression that is rarely seen. Characters show pitch perfect reactions, and emote with subtlety. Special praise must be given for the visual aspects of the character design – the girls look beautiful, but aren’t grotesque fantasy dolls. I particularly appreciated the attention to detail in the outfit designs, each one a perfect example of real world looks and styles, without becoming self-conscious or trying too hard. They feel effortlessly cool, which is really the only kind.

It’s all very low key, but tightly constructed within its own small boundaries. Personal truths and identities become more important than epic overarching plots, and it makes for a fast paced and intriguing read from start to finish. Despite being a direct follow-up, The New York Five needs no prior introduction with its cast thanks to a succinct recap page and its strength of commitment to telling a well paced and balanced story with an ensemble of identifiable characters.

While “slice-of-life” storytelling can often become a recipe for a downbeat and soullessly dreary experience, The New York Five manages to remain engaging despite the realistic nature of each of the girl’s individual problems. While they vary in scale, each characters issues are played out in a moving and realistic way, and it’s hard not to root for them even when their moves may not be the smartest. It’s refreshing to see a group of young women written so well, and so believably. Of course, it’s easy for us as adults to look at the book and suggest certain characters “Just get over it”, but its family issues and boy trouble plot points are written with such a deft touch, that it’s impossible to resist.

If only the rest of the entertainment world could do young adult fiction as perfectly as this.

The New York Five is available now from Titan Books