Review: Unico Collections - The Annual

[Marc Schuster]

As someone who's had occasion to dabble in the sequential graphic arts (a.k.a. comic books), I really appreciate what Unico Comics, in conjunction with the  Amateur Comics Guild, was doing when they published their Collections series: providing a venue for aspiring comic book artists and writers in a world where bigger publishers wouldn't normally give a newcomer the time of day. Though the series ceased publication after three issues, a good deal of the work that Unico published under the Collections moniker bears a second look, which is why I'm glad they've decided to anthologize all three issues in a single volume due early this year.

Take, for example, "Cobweb the Pig," a short piece by writer/artist Ben Edge that was featured in the first issue of Collections. Here, a series of childlike drawings reminiscent of Matt Groening's work on Life in Hell nicely complements an allegedly true tale about a boy, his pig, and the tattoo gun that brings them together. By way of contrast, "A Day in September," featured in issue two and sensitively illustrated by Mark Bell, offers a somber take on the events and significance of September 11, 2001. Finally, two pieces in issue three stand out for their color and energy. The first, "The Son" looks and reads like an installment of Bill Amend's Foxtrot on crack; imagine Jason Fox growing up to be an assassin who can stop a limousine in its tracks by stabbing it with a hunting knife, and you'll have a good idea of what this one's about. Then there's "The Exile's Daughter" by Caroline Parkinson, who is perhaps the only comic book artist I'm aware of whose use of Japanese imagery is not limited to reproducing manga-style cartoon characters. In this piece, Parkinson uses a style that is more akin to Meiji art than to its latter-day cousin to deliver a story of myth and magic set "over a thousand years ago."

Scattered among all of these pieces are new interpretations and reinventions of the standard fare we tend to associate with the comics genre as a whole: superhero origins, crime stories, science fiction adventures, and tales of horror. In some ways, I'm reminded by the old Tales to Astonish comic books from Marvel, but the fact that all of the work in Collections is produced by newcomers gives the series a sense of jouissance that the former may have lacked. These are comics written and drawn for the sheer love of the form--a fact that shows on every page.

My Comic: Stand of at the Sutton Farm [Pt 2]

David has already started on the work for this comic. First job is to come up with the Draft Comic. Basically is just coming up with a really basic (even if it’s just stick men) version of the full comic with basic lettering of the script. It’s just for the artist to work out their panels  but also for the writer to see the visuals (even just basic ones) along side the script so I know that the pacing, dialogue works etc. When we’re both happy with the Draft Comic then you can just begin work  on the main thing.

Below you can see Page 1 & 2 is Draft form.

My Comic: Stand of at the Sutton Farm [Pt 1]

I'm very happy to say that i have a new comic for Unico's 2011 line called Stand off at the Sutton Farm.

This comic marks the start of the 22 page one shots in black and white for Unico. This science fiction, horror comic is based on a true story of a normal American family who during one warm autumn night suffer a terrifying experience that turns their world up side down. BUt I've adapted the story for a Uk setting and buffed it up a little.

The artists on this comic is David Byrne and this will mark his third collaboration with me after working on my ‘Crash’ short comic for #1 Collections and then having meletter his ‘ReEarth’ short for #3 Collections

Review: #1 The Legend Known As...

[small press big mouth ] We’ve  had another good review for #1 The Legend Known As… Check it out on their podcast  which you can find HERE.

We’re mentioned about 16 minutes 40 seconds into it.

Review: #1 The Legend Known As...

[Small Press Reviews] When I think of British comics set in a post-apocalyptic world, I tend to imagine the likes of Judge Dredd and Halo Jones, seminal titles in the 2000 AD sci-fi series in which violence and greed are the only constants in a consumer purgatory gone hopelssly mad. But with the millennial milestone having come and gone, ushering the Western world into a state not unlike that depicted in the above-mentioned titles, dreaming of such futures has lost some of its lighthearted and playful (if antagonistic) charm. Minus the ray guns and body armor, we're more or less living in the 2000 AD universe, and it isn't as much fun as Dredd and Jones promised it would be. Actually, it's kind of crummy. Maybe that's why Unico Comics' The Legend Known As... by Michael Burness and Steven Howard telescopes us out of our current gloom and into what might be best termed as a post-post apocalyptic world.

Despite the dull gray cityscape depicted on its cover, the comic opens in the relative brightness of an idyllic seaside community that looks more Lord of the Rings than Judge Dredd--the Shire as opposed to Mega-City One. Yet the narrative quickly shifts into flashback as its denizens recall a time not too long ago when the world was in chaos and criminals of every variety ruled the streets. Thus it's from somewhat of a remove that we get the story of the Crimson Arrow, the book's eponymous "Legend." That is, Burness and Howard are projecting a future that looks back on a past that is, roughly, our world (minus law and order, plus an environmental disaster or two -- in other words, the world we're on the brink of slipping into at this very moment!) and placing a much needed hero in our collective midst. In so doing, they bring a degree of optimism to the world of post-apocalyptic comics that the 2000 AD universe may have lacked: the future is bleak, The Legend Known As... seems to say, but the future of the future isn't so bad.

Throughout the book, Burness and Howard prove themselves as masters of contrast: darkness and light, hopelessness and hope, industry and agriculture, even rain and sunshine are the poles that hold the narrative together. Howard's art, moreover, is evocative in some instances of Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, and, in other instances, his bleak urban landscapes evoke the Gotham of David Mazucelli's work on Batman comics. Likewise, the book's themes are reminiscent of the work of Gaiman and comic book legend Alan Moore, particularly given its focus not just on the adventures of the "legend known as" the Crimson Arrow but on how this legend (and, by extension, legends in general) came to assume legend status. In this sense, it's also an intelligent book that taps into the current zeitgeist of investigating the very nature of heroes and how they fit into our culture. In other words, The Legend Known As... isn't just about a hero; like recent film adaptations of Batman, Spider-Man, and Moore's Watchmen, it's about where heroes come from, why we need them, and where we'd be without them. Which is to say that The Legend Known As... is about hoping for hope in an otherwise hopeless world.

My Comics: Quick Shock [Pt 1]

The last comic has now arrived from Natalie Baird for Collections – The Annual. She was working on Paul Burn’s Quick Shock. Because of an issue in her private life Natalie has has asked me to do the Lettering for it as she will not have the time to do this herself. I’ve tried a new style so hopefully I can do the comic justice and not let Paul or Natalie down.

Have a look above at a finished preview page.