Uniquemick

Terminator: Last Days [Prt 2]

2012-01-07T06:45:00.001Z

The coded signal cracked into life on Conner's desk. The translator flashed up the operation results from the operation in Scotland. Skynet was finally dead. Hitting the intercom button Conner asked for Elsy and Whitfield to come in. Both men represented the highest core of the Resistance.

"Have we heard yet" began Whitfield. He was a tall semi slender man. An artist by trade and he speciality was face sculpting. He also had a very good eye for reprogramming T800 and T850 software. A skill which earned him a high standing considering his best work was now sitting in Conner's chair. Conner had been dead for almost three years now and it couldn't have come at a worst time. The resistance was on its feet and kicking the crap back at Skynet. The moral had never been as high and in no small term Conner's international speeches over the airwaves had been a big part of that. Conner had met his maker just before the biggest operation of the whole war. The resistance had learned that Skynet was running a secret lab underground in the desert near Texas and that the main intention of this lab was time travel. Conner knew instantly that this would be the only chance to send back the 'Team' needed to ensure his own safety back in the latter half of the 20th centaury. During the mission many humans lost their lives and by pure luck they had succeeded to get Kyle Reese and two 'Uncle Bob' units as Conner used to call them into the time chambers and away to the individual time zones given by Conner before he died.

His death had been one of surprise. Skynet had managed to get a T-850 model 101 Terminator into a Resistance Forward Operating Base and for two years acted as a reprogrammed sentry working at the airfield. Its main task was to observe everything and then using a back channel report all to Skynet. It was winter when John had come to pay an inspection of the base along with General Elsy. The airfield was to be prepped as a jump off for a small operation in that region. The T-850 had rounded the corner when it came face to face with John. His internal H.U.D scanned the face that was smiling back to him.

It had been a good few years since John had seen this model of Terminator. It's funny to think the closest thing he had to a dad was one of these back when he was in his early teens. He surprised himself by allowing a small smile to creep on his face. It didn't last long as the primary programming for any Terminator kicked in. Kill John Conner.

It was Elsy who had finally stopped the T-850 with a EMP grenade but it was too late. Conner was dead, his neck snapped clean in two. The whole death was covered up so not to infect the resistance with this horrendous news and run the risk of killing moral. It was Whitfield who first game up with the idea of retro fitting a smaller T-980 model with a replica Conner.

"We can't let them all know that John's dead. The guys a fucking God to these people" he argued.

Only four or five people had known the truth regarding the switch. Conner's face and voice was the easiest bit to duplicate but his mannerisms and tactical thinking was off. That's why Conner was mostly just a voice over the airways these days with speeches written by his widow. It was agreed once the war was over the truth would be released to the population. The switch had some positives in that the Conner unit (which for all intention believed it was Conner) had managed to dictate a treaty between the humans and T1000 types, a massive boost for the war.

"The Scotland OP was a total success. Start the cogs turning on the Area 51 OP gentlemen" Conner said as he rose out of his seat. Whitfield and Elsy looked at each other with a slightly worried look.

"Time to pay the piper I guess" Elsy replied.

Both men exited the room to pass down the orders to the rest of the resistance. They acted like Conner was still in charge in case anyone saw as to keep up the pretense. As the door closed Conner quickly moved to the far corner of the room and pulled up a floorboard with ease and retrieved the encrypted communication device. His left arm stopped mimicking that of the T-980 and reverted back to the default mimetic poly-alloy form as it entered the USB port of the communicator. Within minutes the T1000's signal was uploaded to the rest of the T1000's around the globe. They're time to move was soon.

Reviews: Luftwaffe 46

2011-12-23T20:52:00.001Z

Starburst Magazine has done a review on 'Predators'. No mention of Luft46 but hey ho.

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 Drillby 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”

7/10

Predator: Mexico City

2011-11-17T20:08:00.001Z

Hi and thanks for choosing to read 'Predator: Mexico City' I hope you like it and I would encourage any reviews or comments. This is based on the 'Predator Universe' of films. This is set between the first and second film.

….. …..

PREDATOR

-Mexico City-

Miguel's body slams against the brick wall at the end of hisyard. The pain in his body quickly snakes around letting him know that whateverhas just picked him was big and very strong. He picks himself quickly up.

"Shit shit shit! What the fuck man!" He gasps ashe tries hard to get his breath.

Miguel's a member of the 'Terror Boys' gang that own a goodportion of the lower west side of Mexico City. He was sixteen when he joinedand has successfully turned his hand at any violent crime. His reputation was ofa gang banger, scared of nothing, be it a gun fight or a fist fight butwhatever this was it had him scared. He had come out of his home at aroundmidnight because it was too hot to sleep. Something moving on the garage roofhad alerted him. He drawn his old colt 45 from the back of his low slungfatigues and shouted demanding to know who was there. "Show y'self hessay!Or you'll be getting 'some of dis brah!" he had yelled referring to hispistol, He had pushed and prodded the 45. Into the humid blackness as if tostab at an invisible foe. Out of nowhere he was lifted from his feet and thrownfull length of the back yard, Slamming into the wire and timber fencing beforecollapsing into a heap, the breath snatched from his chest. Miguel was a sturdyman, well-built but whatever had just tossed him aside like a used beer bottlewas clearly something else and in a league of its own. He was now back on hisfeet with gun at the ready before he had time to fully collect his thoughts. Itwas dark but he should still be able to see who had thrown him, but no one wasin front of him. It was at this point he could see what looked like two eyesglowing in the darkness from across the yard, hovering in mid air as if from aninvisible beast. He could feel the warm run of urine down his leg as the eyesdisappeared and the clicking noise replaced it. He found himself stuck to thespot, unable to fight or run. Standing there in the black an old ghost storyhis papa used to tell him crept to the forefront of his mind chilling his soulto the core. A story about a shadow beast that would attack on the hottestnights and take the heads and skin of its victims. A glint of moonlight flashedacross the predator's blade as it swipes across Miguel's neck, it was quick, itwatched the humans head come away cleanly, the body stood for a few secondsbefore succumbing to gravity and inevitably dropping to the ground. Its firsthuman trophy skull collected, bagged and slung on its belt.

He was sweating like a pig in the heat and Grant Price wasalready sick of the weather here in Mexico. A city too warm in the summernormally was having one of their hottest months on record. Grant was an ex SASman and had been to most of the war torn sewers around the globe. He had foughtin every major UK war or conflict since 1982, it was however, the Falklands warwhere he first stood out enough for the SAS to take notice. He was only 19 atthe time but had flown through Paratrooper training. He and 3Para had beenoutstanding in their battles against the Argentinean and Grant had even managedtwo hand to hand kills at the battle of the 'Two Sisters' Mountains. By thetime the conflict was over the SAS had already ear marked him for service. Therest as they say was history. He was greeted by his CIA contact as he steppedoff the Boeing 777 at the quiet end of Mexico City's major airport.

"Commander Price I presume?" The contact smileswith that over confident know it all grin most American secret service typeshave.

"Come with me please sir and we'll transport you to theHQ".

Grant followed the man into the back of a large black SUV.He could tell it was fitted with light armour and bullet proof glass, hardlysurprising as Mexico had a well deserved reputation for kidnapping andshootings.

Fifteen minutes later and he is arriving at a compound thatwas located in a discrete warehouse in a low rent industrial part of the city.The SUV pulls up next to a small portable office. The driver indicates forGrant to get out and head inside.

"Welcome Grant, good to have you here…" Came avoice from the darkness of an open security door.

The tone was husky and thick with years of experience.

As grant stepped forward into the gloom he found himself ina security office, greeted by a white bearded mountain of a man.

"I'm General Daniels, pardon at the lack of formalityand uniform but in the 'Bug Stompers' it's strictly an undercover party".

"Bug Stompers?" Grant asks.

His reply comes from an unseen man in the next room.

"Yes the nick name the team came up with; I guess whenyou are a squad officially with no name or call sign then a nickname was boundto sprout up"

Grant recognised the voice straight away. It was his oldcommander from the SAS.

Nicolas Johns was a legend in the Regiment. He was oldschool hard as nails and even through he was kicking eighty years of age hecould probably kick the crap out of any normal solider. He was Grant's boss forsix years before he retired and just dropped off the map. Everyone had assumedthat he would walk into a job in military intelligence or something but itnever happened. There was a rumour though that kept doing the rounds that hehad went to work with the Americans on something top-secret as an advisor.

"How are you doing young man" Johns asks.

"I'm doing well sir. Good to see you again. So I takeit must have been you that put my name forward?" said Grant as he getswaved passed the checkpoint into the room.

"I've got to say it was a waste to see you drift offinto early retirement Price. When this gig came up yours was the first namethat sprung to mind" smiled Johns

"Drop your shit here and come with me" He says ashe passes a file he was holding to Grant.

Grant follows his former commander into an adjacentinterview room where he could see a large TV and DVD player set up. The onlyother distinguishable features in the room were two seats for them to use.John's motions for him to sit as he hits the play button the remote.

"I don't need to tell you that what you see here is topsecret and you don't repeat to the outside world do I son?"

"No sir"

"Good lad" Johns replies as the recording kicksinto life.

Grant thought to himself that he was used to the old cloakand dagger exploits from his service days but he didn't expect a PrivateContractor set up like this to be so secretive. The screen flickers and flashescodes and information used for archiving before whiting out and revealing anold recording of a jungle clearing with army officials in HASMAT suits appearson the widescreen TV. Grant watches as people are taking radiation readings andplant samples, the soundtrack plays out a narration voiceover that has clearlybeen added later. In the time code the bottom of the screen you see the date,it shows 7/08/1987.

"The Val Verde jungle was showing a residual radiationfall out unlike anything we have on file. Our first concern was that it wasdangerous like a nuclear fallout but it soon became apparent that it wasactually fallout from the creature's overload of its power systems…"

The images now shift to show a massive, well built man tiedto a gurney being packed into a Huey helicopter, Grant thinks maybe special opsfrom the guys load out and cheesy appearance. It always made him laugh at theseAmerican spec ops fellas with all their macho bollocks and their need to all beRambo.

The voice over continues on the tape

"Major Alan Schaeffer was the only survivor of the E.Tencounter…"

Grant tips his head and pulls an expression as mush to askif he just heard that right. He turns to look at Johns only to see his formercommander having a small chuckle at his expression, without speaking Johnspoints back at the screen to tell him to continue watching.

"…along side one other civilian who was later dealtwith in regards to the national secrets act. Although Major Schaeffer sufferedsuperficial wounds and fatigue he suffered no signs of Radiation poisoning. Butthe unique radioactive signature did stay in his system for a few weeksallowing us…"

On screen you see a lab and some scientist types working ona large electrical dish

"…to create a device that was able to track thisradiation type unique to the E.T and its technology".

The DVD is paused as Johns turns to Grant.

"I'll stop it there mate. It's all a bit to take in andto be honest I'm sure you think it's a piss take. You're a solid man Price andyou deal in facts only. So do you remember those US Rangers we came acrossduring Desert Storm?"

"Hard to forget skinned men hung from the ceilingColonel" he replies.

"You remember how we thought it was some in surgent voodooor whatever? Well watch this next bit". He presses play again.

On screen you see now the cameraman is in thick junglealongside a local guide and small Green Beret unit. He is pointing up towards adowned aircraft stuck in the trees he moves around it and then is lead away toanother clearing. What Grant sees next almost blows him off his seat insurprise. He is seeing six men hung up and completely skinned.

"Major Alan Schaeffer reported his team found someothers but must have missed these gorillas strung up. CIA local offices insouth America and Middle East began coming across reports of similar killingswithin rural areas…"

"So this 'thing' likes a suntan does it"? MumblesGrant still a little shocked at what he was seeing as the DVD is switched off.

"Yep, third world and sweaty. So…" Johns finallysays smiling "…how soon do you fancygiving ALF a kicking"? Grant stares down at the file in front of him; hiseyes are fixed of a blurred shot of a creature jumping from a rooftop in whatlooks like Egypt.

"Yes sir" He looks up "But who's paying for thisparty"?

Grant watches as John punches in the digital code to thevault. With a big swing the door comes open and facing the two men is clearlythe armoury with a meeting desk in the middle. Currently stood around it arethree men, and from the way they're carrying themselves Grant could tell theywere ex-mil like him and serious guys.

"Grant this is Kal" Johns beckons towards theclosest of the three, a man of maybe early 40's and slender but toned."He's ex French Legion".

Behind him was a massive black guy, by the looks of himAfrican. "That's Enu he's a former African army tracker".

Enu smiles and waves which Grant thought was out of placefor such a big hard looking bastard of an African. Finally he was introduced toMichaels a fellow Brit

"Hello pal, I'm Michaels you must be the SAS fellaaye"?

Grant smiled and shook his hand but didn't answer. Most ifnot all Ex Regiment guys never let it be known they were Special Forces. It wasthe professional thing to do.

After the greeting Michaels showed Grant around the armoury.Handing him a Heckler and Koch MP7 he began by saying.

"This is the main weapon handed to us mate. Tinyfucking round but leaves a massive hole in a Bastard".

With a confused look on his face Grant asked why it was sucha small round but before he could finish Kal butted in.

"It's the Bug's skin, Intel says it likes to go barechested but the 5.56 rounds don't do an awful lot. These new ones are small topierce the skin and any head armour but goes in a way to leave an exit woundsimilar to a 7.62 AK round".

Grant cocked the weapon to check it; it was small enough tokeep under a jacket while in public he thought to himself a handy trait to havefor any weapon in his line of work.

Twenty Minutes later all four Mercs where tooled up withtheir MP7's, back up pistol and as many clips as they could fit into theircivilian clothes. Underclothes armour it seems was optional. Each man had beenbriefed that the alien's weapon of choice was bladed and from various oldhunting sites over the years the thing was sharp enough to cut through mostmetals, the general thought was it was better to stay light and agile in thatcase. Commander Johns entered the room with some gusto. "Right Lads"he begins "its on, radio up and be in the SUV's in five".

In no time they were split into two teams, Grant and Kalwere in the first SUV and Enu and Michaels following in the second. In whatseemed like moments they were speeding down the motorway towards an old suburbdistrict just outside city limits. Everyone's radio crackled into life, it wasJohns back at HQ.

"Right local police reported a killing last night. Bodywas found without a head or skin. Our satellite scan of the area has picked upthe scent and we're getting a strong hit an old school in that district. We'llhave a UAV online shortly for live video feed"

The end transmission click came through but before he couldrelax Grants Radio popped back into life.

"Grant don't acknowledge you’re hearing this, it's a privateline" It was Johns "Bring them back alive son, it's why you were picked.Watch out and not just for the alien"

Then the line went dead. Grant was spooked by theseriousness of the tone in John's voice. Today was getting weirder and weirderfor him, he'd only been off the plane a few hours and all of a sudden he washunting an alien. He would have laughed it all off and went home if it wasn'tfor the fact Johns was serous, he needed no more than that, and even after allthis time if the big man said it, then its concrete. They pulled their vehiclesoff the main highway and into a suburb. This place was a cesspool from top tobottom; it was clear that a lower class of under privileged people lived here.Also given the size of the place, clearly there was something off. Hardly asoul could be seen on the street. "Probably scared they'll get skinned likethat kid" Grant said to himself.

The radio crackled "Enu here… we're going to pull aroundthe back of the school… see if we can pick up a track".

"Aye mate no problems" Grant responded

"So you guys been a team long"? asked Grantturning to Kal.

"Yes about six months my friend" Kal replied"this is onl your second bug hunt though.ThefirstwasinBrazilbutwenevermadecontactbeforeitleftorbitinitsship".

Kal didn't even look over as he said it, it was all 'matterof fact' to him, Grant almost laughed out loud at the preposterousness of whathe was hearing and the manner in which it was intended.

Kal pulled the SUV over and they both got out. Grant watchedas Kal adjusted his iPhone strapped to his wrist. On the screen was theblueprints to the abandoned school on the edge of the housing block. MP7'sraised they entered the front doors. Radio confirmation came back that Enu andMichaels were entering via the rear west entrance. The school was a singlestory primary school which was a decent size but didn't offer many places forthe alien to hide. Grant clicked the safety off and the gun torch on as theyentered the dank interior.

The Predator lay in wait at the far side of the school.Since it was its first hunt on Earth the clan elders had issued a cloaksatellite in fixed orbit allowing the hunter to get 360 scans of a mile widecircle around him at all times. It had picked up the two human vehicles comingtowards the building and the sensor array was flashing on its 'Head up Display'that these humans were armed. The plan was simple, wait cloaked and ambush thetwo humans at the rear as quietly and quickly as possible then take out twoentering the front.

Enu and Michaels entered through a window that had theboarded section pulled down. Both men slid into the empty class room.

"Christ it stinks of piss in here" WhisperedMichaels. Enu turned to give him a 'Shut your mouth and concentrate' look. Butbefore he could respond a gentle clicking noise broke the silence. They turnedtheir weapons to the door, the noise sounded like it was emanating from thehallway. Sprawled in the ceiling the Predator watched on his heat sensorthrough the thin plaster panels the two men walk towards the door. Itcalculated it would drop in the next five seconds on the trailing Human. Thehunt it would seem was on. As it readied itself to drop on the unsuspectinghuman a warning flashed up on its HUD again. The satellite was now picking upfour hovering human craft in a holding pattern just under a mile away. Sensorswere picking up that those on board the craft were heavily armed. It made nomatter as the scent of the humans were deep in it system and its hearts werepumping hard. Michaels didn't have time to react to the noise of crashingceiling and alien hitting the deck behind him filled the room. In one swiftmove the Predator de-clocked and let fly its six bladed throwing disc. It torewith ease through Michaels' skull just above his mouth and continued into theneck of Enu who was now positioned behind his now killed partner. The alien wassuitably proud of the double kill as it placed a foot on Enu's head to pull thedisc free. It decided to kill its H.U.D info and proceed to the next targets.

"Michaels come in" whispered Grant into histwo-way Motorola "Come in. Enu are you there? over". Kal gave Grant alook as if to say that this can't be good. Grant motioned for them to both outin the direction of the other half of the team. Within a minute they were atthe far south west of the school. As they slowly approached Grant was first tosee Enu's half decapitated head sticking into the hallway, the blood stillslowly moving out from the horrific wound and pooling into the floor. Theadrenaline in Grant's system was already high but now it was about to burstthrough his head. With his gun raised he stepped slowly to the room.

The Predator had managed to circumnavigate the two humansthrough an adjacent room, its plan was to attack from the rear but anotheralarm on its HUD had brought it to a halt. The scanner had picked up threehuman craft flying low in from the east. The I.D programme showed on the HUDthey were Blackhawk Helicopters, the scanner also confirmed that the craft wereall full of heavily armed humans. It considered its tactical options; it couldeasily kill the two humans but not collect any trophies in time.

Grant nodded to Kal to cover him as he moved into the room.Stepping over Enu's body he could see Michaels had been sliced by somethingbig. What the fuck is going on here? He thought to himself. The craziness ofthe situation suddenly hit him hard, 24 hours ago he didn't even know aboutaliens and now he's in a black ops group hunting them. And to make mattersworse two of his four man team is dead. Having enough he called into HQ on hisradio but was met with just static. The transmission was being hacked andsuppressed.

"Kal try your radio" Grant said turning "I thinkwe're being fu…"

But before he could finish his sentence the hallway lit upin a blue light and he watched in horror as Kal's chest explodes with a flashand smoke. The air is filled with the stench of burnt flesh and an ozone smellof electricity. Grant throws himself prone on the floor and without thinkingopens fire to the side of the door opening in the hope to catch whoever was bythe door in a lucky hit. Within a few seconds the mag is emptied and he quicklyswitches in a new magazine. He's interrupted by the side wall collapsing, forthe first time Grant got to see the enemy. It all happened in slow motion as hewatched as the 7ft alien crashed through the weak plaster wall. Its demeanourwas one of pure power and agility. All the years of training and liveoperations should have had Grant automatically raising his weapon to shoot butinstead he lay there stunned stuck to the spot, mouth wide open. The only thingthat snapped it out of him was a thick Austrian accent screaming at him frombehind at the open window.

"GET DOWN, GET THE HELL DOWN"!

It kicked him back into reality and he rolled away swiftlyand reloaded his weapon as the sound of the automatic shotgun fire filled theroom. He watched the alien get hit multiple times in the chest as its glowinggreen blood splattered up the wall. Without hesitation he opened fire himselfon full auto. Sparks and ricochets bounced off the creature when a round hitits minimal armour.

"Don't just lie there you asshole" Came the accentagain "get up, come on the choppa’s are coming" Grant turned to finda haggard looking Major Alan 'Dutch' Schaeffer screaming orders at him to leavewhile he reloads his Spaz-12 auto shotgun. He couldn't believe his eyes but didas he was told. He had just saved his life so Fuck It he thought and he doveout the open window.

A painful cough and spurt of warm blood from its mouthawakened the Predator as he found himself on his back on the floor. Theauto-medic kit on his belt had brought him around but he would need to see tohis most serious wounds soon. The display was now showing that the helicoptershad landed and the troops were fanning out towards its location. Pulling itselfto its feet it moved under cloak. It planned to head to the maintenance roomand from there into the sewer system. The targeting warning light flashed up.The orbital scanned quickly picked up a fast moving object… a missile.

Still in a state of shock Grant found himself being led awayby one arm by Dutch.

"Get up, you dumb ass Marine" Dutch growled as hedragged the Brit away.

"Cheeky twat, I was many things but not a fucking softarse Marine"

Grant pushes Dutch away from him as a high screech from thesky breaks over all the other noise. The resulting explosion and shockwave hitsthe two men and threw them to the ground. Grant picks himself up and staggersabout to regain his footing. It's in the rain of debris he notices theBlackhawk's silently land. Unlike the movies when a real explosion goes off youdon't have the ringing and seconds of silence, its just shock and Grant hasbeen around enough explosions not to be fazed, including unexpected ones likethis. The Blackhawks were of the black ops variety in that they had muffledengines and stealth adaptations all over it. It was only the most secret SealTeams in the US that used this helicopter. Grants grabbed by Dutch and pulledin to cover.

"We need to get out of here" Dutch pants coveredin debris "these guys are not your back up, come on." Both guysmanaged to get out of the area and to Dutch's parked van. Before leaving hespotted the Seal team entering the old school or at least what was left of it.The damage was consentient of a tactical bomb hit. He's seen the American's usethese before within cities in Iraq. Basically you want to take a fucker outwithout bringing the whole building down you drop one of these from miles awayfrom a F18 Super Hornet. What Grant couldn't work out was why they had used itknowing they had assets in there. Luckily for him Dutch was about to answer allhis questions. Back at the van Dutch had told Grant to drive while he directedand kept look out with his shotgun on his lap.

"Okay Mate, fuck knows who you are but I want pissing answers"Grant began.

"You already know who I am yes?" Dutch replieswhilst sending a text.

"Well I'm working with your old boss Johns. He sent me topull your team out before you got killed by either the alien or the Seal Team...take a left up here" Dutch grunted in his this manly Austrian accent.Following orders Grant pulls the van onto the freeway.

"Johns? Look pal what the hell is going on here? I'll behonest I've had a funny sort of twenty four hours and a few answers would benice, Savvy"?

Dutch's phones beeps as a text comes back in. "Your teamwas bait; your whole mission was fucking bullshit. You were sent in there to attractthe Alien and while it killed your men the Seals would kill IT with a tactical strikeand retrieve the body"

Grant should have been shocked but he wasn't. The militaryhad a long history of screwing over its fighting forces no matter which countryit was. "And what about Johns"? Grant finally replied.

"He didn't like being taking as a fool, he used me toget you all out when he found out what was going on. He couldn't say earlier asto blow his cover. There are some big players in this and Johns knows that.You're the reason you’re on the team. He knew you could keep them alive longenough for me to extract you all. Clearly not it fucking seems".

Dutch was right Grant thought. Less than five minutes ofcontact and he's lost his whole team. "And what's your fucking story mate"?

Dutch glanced at him. "Don't feel bad, one of those bastardstook out my whole team. After they rescued me, debriefed me and packed me away toa military mental hospital I was left to rot as a security risk. It was Johns thatgot me back into the game. Busted me out. You see me and him have the same ideason these Aliens".

"And that is?" Grant asks.

Dutch closes the phone and points to take the off rampahead. "We hunt and kill the bastards".

Twenty minutes later the van pulls up to an old warehouseacross town. Both men get out and walk inside. Dutch had told him that the textwas off a secure line and this was the co-ordinates for a meet. Inside it wasold and rusted, Grant wondered if a bird landed on the roof if it'll be enoughto bring to the whole thing down. Parked in the centre in a none descriptsaloon was Johns, even at this distance Grant could tell the old man was heavywith sadness. Even back in the regiment he never liked losing a man.

"Grant I'm sorry I put you through that" Johnsbegan "the plan was to have the whole team back here".

"What the fuck is going on here Sir"?

Johns leaned back against his car and lit a cigarette. "Ilearned purely by mistake that me and my team were a shell for this bug hunt, wehave been since Brazil and it's only by dumb luck we didn't all get killed backthen. We're bait, some thing to lead the bastard out while a secondary team bringsin the fire power to kill it. We were never to capture it but to take it out andthen locate its hidden spaceship. It's the tech they are after, they don't givea rat's fuck these aliens are killing humans".

Dutch interrupts "That's why I was busted out, so far I'mthe only human to have survived one of their hunts. So Grant you up for this? Youwant to help?"

Rubbing his forehead and taking steady breaths Grantsfinally answers.

"Do I bollocks. This is fucking insane and you have no realset up and now you're on the run from your own blokes, Got no need to be dead fora lost cause" and with that Grant turns to walk away. An angry Dutchwatches him leave.

"That asshole is a born warrior, he'll be back"

Johns quietly turns away and heads back to his car. Withoutlooking at Dutch he quietly says "No he won't".

** The End **

Reviews: Luftwaffe 46

2011-11-04T21:34:00.001Z

Burntweiner has done a review of Accent UK's 'Predators' which Luftwaffe46 was in. Its another brilliant review. Its a shame Luft isn't mentioned though :(

Burntweiner's website can be found HERE. This review can be found HERE and its about 47 minutes in.

Reviews: Luftwaffe 46

2011-10-19T21:41:00.004+01:00

SmallPress BigMouth has done an excellent review of 'Predators' comic.

Jump to 47 Minutes for the full 'Predators' review. Jump to 51 Minutes to hear them mention 'Luftwaffe 46' as one of their favourites and the guy really loves it. I'm so happy for me and Steve lol.

We'll done to the team at 'Accent UK' for a brilliant review.

My Comics: Luftwaffe 46 [Prt 9]

2011-09-14T21:13:00.003+01:00

Hey you! yes you! Geteverybody buy this book http://forbiddenplanet.com/76800-predators-anthology/ there can be no excuse 31% off hooooowwwaaayy its only £7 quid

Lions, Tigers, Bears, and more - Oh My! Stalk and be stalked in this suspenseful collection of tales of a predatory nature.
Wild beasts, hunters, cave girls and subtle terrors all feature in 25 self contained strips in the latest instalment of Accent UK's quality themed anthology series. Featuring established and emerging creators from around the globe.

My Comics: Luftwaffe 46 [Prt 8]

2011-09-13T19:55:00.000+01:00

Accent UK’s ‘Predators’ anthology is listed on page 224 of the August edition.

My Comics: Luftwaffe 46 [Pt 7]

2011-09-13T19:52:00.000+01:00

Great News!!

AccentUK's anthology 'Predators' is finally out and I can't wait to get my hands on the free copy and see what the whole comic looks like.

My Books: Airsoft: Merc [Prt 3]

2011-06-02T17:56:00.000+01:00

Here is another draft idea for a cover.

My Book: Airsoft: Merc [Prt 2]

2011-06-02T17:54:00.000+01:00

Well I’m full steam ahead with my new book based on the sport of Airsoft. I thought I’d post up the prologue, bare in mind it’s an early draft. Oh and i've changed the books name.

Prologue

I watched as the kid crabbed his neck, the .5 BB struck him right just above where I had intended. I was trying the get a body shot but the wind had caught the round and lifted it higher, no matter as it still counted, besides I could claim it was intended as a neck shot. I watched the lad lift his hand and shout his hit. I could see the poor sods face as he sulked off back to his base. I had been on watch now for an hour at that point and in that time I’d managed to get four confirmed kills and one cheating git who pulled back but didn’t shout his hit. Behind me the ground crunched as Garza moved in keeping himself low and hiding behind the bush I was lying in.

‘Was that another one Wedge mate’?

‘Aye pal, fifth one in the last forty minutes’

Garza checked his watch and gave me a pat on the back.

‘Okay Wedge give it five more minutes and I’ll send Smudge up to take your place. Get some chow down your next and a bit kip. I can’t image Alpha moving on us once it goes dark’.

I agreed with this assessment. If anything the five I had seen were most probably scouts sent be Alpha to locate our FOB. Since I was so well hidden they couldn’t tell which direction they had been hit and in turn the FOB’s probable location. After five minutes I could hear Smudge ninja up behind me and climb into my position. He had swapped out into his GBB Kar98 Sniper rifle. A truly lovely bit of kit compared to my trusty springer L96 even though we could hit the same distance. Within no time I was back onto the main dirt track and heading towards our digs. I tipped Jensen a nod on gate duty as I passed in.

We were coming to an end of day two in our three day Airsoft competition and this was our home for the night. Bravo’s FOB was nothing more than built up walls of tyres and ploughed earth, our tents were laid out and the Marshal’s had put up a few operation tents for the IC’s to spank themselves silly in with the host of intel maps and plans. A voice broke my concentration.

‘Evening Herr Wedge’

I turned to see Hans shooting me a smile. He was sat with the rest of his buddies, all of them German and dressed in WW2 American gear. His lot were an airsoft team from just outside Berlin called Eagle Troop and we’re in the overall Bravo group along side us Mercs.

‘Alreet big lad, how’s it hanging?’

‘Good, Good. I see you Mercs are almost done with Guard duty yes?’

‘Aye mate, Garza has sent Smudge up for the last hour then the French mob is watching our immediate boundaries.’

After shooting the sh*t with Hans I made my way through the maze of tents to the canteen tent. The smell of the BBQ had been driving me wild for an hour now and I was bloody starving. After collecting what I could only assume was a hotdog nuked from orbit I sat down in front of my tent. Not even a mouthful in and I was already being harassed by Cyprus.

‘Evening fool’

‘Hi Matey, what’s up?’ I mumbled back with a mouth full of food.

‘Garza is what’s up pal, he’s asked for you in the IC tent. Seems him and the other commanders are looking for a bit of Bad Company and you’re the new Sweetwater’.

After I had devoured the dog I was stood in the IC tent with four other guys including Hans. In front of me was Garza and Jayne the companies 2i/c’s and Reynolds, Bravo’s Commander.

‘Hello Guys’ began Reynolds, he’s warm grin backed up with body language showing he was ex British Military and knew how to lead men.

Come first light tomorrow I’ll be wanting to send out the main force to the main Target of La Rochelle. We intend to get Bravo in there early doors and hopefully stop Alpha doing the same. We can only do that by knowing their location and in turn working out the best route. That’s where you boys come in. The five of you and one Marshall will be moving out in a few hours and your mission is to locate the enemy FOB’.

He’s mad I thought to myself, moving through thick forest at night was dangerous to say the least. The chances of tripping over something and snapping an ankle were high and to be fair I just wanted to kip down and have some downtime with the lads.

‘Now I know you’ll not be happy to be out there in the dark, so you’ll be using these’

Out of a large hold all he produced five sets of night vision goggles. F*ck the lads this just got interesting. A night OP with NVG’s? Yes bloody please.

@MetroMongs

2011-05-14T17:03:00.001+01:00

I have to travel 45min on the Tyneside Metro every morning to work and then the same again to get home. In that time I come across some of the strangest people.

Follow me on Twitter @MetroMongs as I winge and bitch about these people on a daily basis.

My Book: Airsoft Warrior [Prt 1]

2011-04-06T20:41:00.002+01:00

I'm going to mix my two hobbies or writing fiction and playing Airsoft. Its a new book called 'Airsoft Warrior' and its about a new kid on the block getting into the game and working up the pecking order until him and his team go for gold at the national championship.

I've already mocked up a cover.

Reviews: Stand off at the Sutton Farm

2011-02-16T14:34:00.000Z

[Birmingham Mail] STAND OFF AT THE SUTTON FARM is the latest one-shot courtesy of Unico Comics.

Written by Michael Burness with art by David Byrne the story is derived from a new event from the past.

"This comic follows the harrowing tale of three generations of family who live on a farm who one night come face to face with visitors from another world. The only questioning now is are the Aliens friendly or foe?" said Burness.

The tale itself begins calmly enough like some long lost Ealing comedy but soon fast tracks towards becoming a paranoid nightmare.

My Comics: Rabid [Prt 3]

2011-01-20T20:17:00.000Z

Scott's website (See outside links to the left) has an early version of a Rabid comic. Click the link to read this version by Scott and Marc Olivent.

http://scottclaringbold.com/rabid/

My Comics: Rabid [Prt 2]

2011-01-19T17:44:00.003Z

Success, They love my Rabid script...

Hey Michael Love it! Some of the language might need toned though – F*CKTARDS!!!! hahahahaha that is class! I need to run this past the co-creater Marc Olivent to see what he thinks but I think it's awesome. If Marc is opposed to using RABID we'll just alter it slightly and use another character I have if that's ok with you. I have two artists looking to get started on it.

Scott goes on to say it will appear as a online comic site. I'll post images based on the script when they are done.

Awesome art taking from the Creators website

My Comics: Rabid [Pt 1]

2011-01-17T20:39:00.000Z

I’ve been lucky enough to be asked to do a 1st draft for Scott Claringbald’s comic “Rabid”. I can’t say to much now as it’s still in discussion with the creator to see if he likes my take on his work. Hopefully he will.

I’ve worked in the past with scott as Unico did one of his comics in a issue of ‘Collections’. Below is a picture he did as part of the promo.

Reviews: Strawberry Ale

2011-01-11T18:46:00.001Z

[Birmingham Mail] Written by Michael Burness and illustrated by Caroline Parkinson, this slim-line independent lasts 18 black and white pages long and comes wrapped in a colour cover.
The events all take place within the space of one summer's day wherein, as Burness explained: In a quaint English pub two men sit down and discuss humanity's past, present and possible future. Like all men the chat gets more intense between these two friends as the more they drink."

And, as becomes quite apparent, as the story unfolds: "One man is God and his friend is the Devil".
Reminiscent of the Peter Ustinov novel The Old Man and Mr Smith in terms of intent, but with added British quirkiness for good measure.

This reader found Strawberry Ale an excellent little read: seriously!

Review: Strawberry Ale

2011-01-02T10:21:00.001Z

[Small Press Reviews]
God and the devil walk into a bar... It sounds like the opening line of a joke, but it's actually the premise of Strawberry Ale, the latest offering from British indie-comic press Unico. Disguised as a pair of country gentlemen, God and Satan sit down for a pint or two (or three) of strawberry ale as they discuss the future of humanity.

We humans, it turns out, have been mucking things up on God's Green Earth, and he's none too happy about it. And, ironically, it's Satan who flies to our defense. With flourishes of Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, and Douglas Adams, Strawberry Ale offers a dry comic twist on apocalyptic anxiety.

My Comics: Strawberry Ale [Prt 5]

2010-12-26T19:48:00.001Z

We’re very happy to announce a brand new comic for 2011. ‘Strawberry Ale’ is a black comedy written by Michael Burness and illustrated by Caroline Parkinson.

“On a summers day in a quaint English pub two men sit down and discuss humanities past present and possible future. Like all men the chat gets more intense between these two friends as the more they drink. The twist? Well one man is God and his friend is the Devil”

The comic is now available to buy from our main site over at www.unicocomics.co.uk.

My Books: Zombies in India [Prt 1]

2010-11-28T15:25:00.001Z

Do you love a good Zombie story? Of Course you do! Then you'll love this zombie tale. I'm doing this with a dude called Christopher Smith.

It’s a real time story about 2 English guys who were backpacking caught up in India as it has an unexpected biological breakout and the countries borders are shut. Follow the real time status updates to see if they can get out before the government death squads catch them or even worse… the undead.

Click HERE to read it if you fancy it.

My Comics: Strawberry Ale [Pt 4]

2010-11-10T17:51:00.002Z

Oooooooooooooooooooh Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeel! Finished pages from Caroline for SA. How bloody awesome do these look.

My Comic: The Legend known as... [Prt 15]

2010-09-05T19:02:00.000+01:00

Sneak peek from issue 2 page...

My Comics: Stand off at the Sutton Farm [Prt 7]

2010-08-26T19:24:00.001+01:00

We’re are happy to announce our new comic “Stand off at the Sutton Farm”.

A normal British family of farmers are terrorised by aliens throughout the night. Their intention unknown the family are sucked into a world or terror as they try to cope with a situation that will change their lives forever.

This scif-fi horror is based on a supposed true story. The setting is moved to 1970’s UK but the tale follows the true events. ‘Stand off…” is the latest in small press comic books by Michael Burness [The legend known as…]. David Byrne [Unico Collections] shows off his art in his first ever full issue for the company. Cover colouring credit goes to Steven Howard with Dan Garrett doing lettering.

The comic is now available to buy for £3:50 for hardcopy or as a download for only £1:50

My Comics: Stand off at the Sutton Farm [Pt 6]

2010-08-03T19:59:00.000+01:00

The pages are all now lettered by Dan Garrett (See Below). So I just need to upload them to lulu and start with the cover next.

Once this is done it can go on sale and I can begin the review process.

My Comics: Stand off at the Sutton Farm [Pt 5]

2010-07-18T18:09:00.006+01:00

As I've mentioned SOATSF is based on a true story. I fond a video on youtube that explains the whole tale.

Enjoy...

My Comics: Stand Off At The Sutton Farm [Pt 4]

2010-06-29T20:29:00.007+01:00

It’s like waiting for a bus…. You wait ages for one then three come along at once.

First up is from Stand Off At Sutton Farm. My 70’s based sci-fi story based on a true story. The artwork is from Unico regular (His third comic with us don’t you know) David Bryne.

I just love his style of art and it really fits with the story. Good work that man.

My Comics: Strawberry Ale [Pt 3]

2010-06-29T20:29:00.006+01:00

Up next is some early line work from Caroline Parkinson who is working on my comic Strawberry Ale. Even at this early stage it looks amazing.

It really goes to show that the UK is full of bloody good talent that need to be doing this for a full time living and making millions.

My Comics: The Detective and the Monster [Pt 4]

2010-06-28T19:31:00.000+01:00

Phew it’s been a while since I’ve posted on here. Cogs have still been turning though and new work is on its way.

Like for example The Detective and the Monster for Accent UK’s Victoriana anthology due next year.

My script was accepted a while back now and the work was given to an artist called David Massey. He’s done Stirling work and I couldn’t be happier how it came out. I’ve seen all the pages and I think its going to rock the anthology hard.

My Comics: The Legend Known As... [Pt 14]

2010-06-09T21:56:00.000+01:00

Been a while since my last update.

Check out the Concept Images from Issue 3 from a new artist called Brett Rutter who may be Pencil/Inking the 3rd issue of TLKA.

My Comics: Deadtube [Pt 2]

2010-05-05T21:03:00.005+01:00

Cover of Accent's 2012 Zombie anthology which will have DeadTube on it.

My Comics: Luftwaffe 46 [Pt 6]

2010-05-05T21:02:00.001+01:00

Cover of Accent's 2011 Predators anthology which will have Luftwaffe-46 in it.

My Comics:The Detective and the Monster [Pt 3]

2010-05-05T21:00:00.001+01:00

Cover of Accent's 2011 Victorian anthology which show The Detective and the Monster.

Convention News: P.R.E.S.S 2010

2010-04-17T13:11:00.000+01:00

Well we had a good little day at this new con. It wasn't just comics there but poets, novel writers and crafts people. It as a lush day and a really good venue. Thanks to the organisers and we'll see you next time.

My Comics: The Legend Known As... [Pt 13]

2010-04-09T18:39:00.001+01:00

Caroline has been steaming through the pages and I’ve decided to show off two new preview pages from second issue.

Anyway enjoy the art is all there glory.

P.S. I may have some exciting news regarding issue 3 coming up soon.

Reviews: The legend known as... & Collections

2010-03-24T19:00:00.000Z

Nexus has done a review on both #1The legend known as… and Collections: The Annual. Their online magazine can de downloaded for free and the reviews are (TLKA:1) on page 58 and (C:TA) page 63. The download link is on below.

http://www.selfpubmag.com/start.htm

There are a few mistakes in the Jim review where they have credited a different writer when it should have been me :( and he's called us Grim Crew instead of Unico Comics. But he did score me a great 4 out of 5.

There is a good few positive shot outs in here for Reapers and Why Jack was never found. I'm very happy about this :)

P.R.E.S.S 2010

2010-03-02T18:04:00.001Z

We’ll be starting our convention season in April at the P.R.E.S.S Event at Northumbria Centre in Washington (but please keep an eye on their Blog, follow them on Twitter or join them on Facebook)

On sale at our humble little table (With Prices) will be…

Anthologies
£6:00    Collections: The Annual

Comic Series
£3:00    The Legend Known as…
£3:00    Borderliners: Ceremony of Innocence

Books
£5:00    Short Tales
£3:00    Mr Meowinkins
£3:00    Project: Last Man

Like I say see the blog before this one for more details on this event and we’ll see some of you there I hope so come over and say hello to me or Steven.

My Comics: Strawberry Ale [Pt 2]

2010-02-27T11:23:00.002Z

Caroline has sent over this week the full draft comic for Strawberry Ale and also some concept images for the two main characters of God and Satan.

Check out below for page 1 & 2 and the concepts for God & Satan. I’ve got to admit I’m really looking forward to this one as I think it will be an exceptional comic and very original as well.

My Comics: Collections-The Annual [Pt 4]

2010-02-18T19:53:00.001Z

Hypergeek have done a small press release on Collections: The Annual. You can read it by hitting the link below.

http://www.hypergeek.ca/2010/02/unico-comics-announces-collections-the-annual.html

My Comics: Collections - The Annual [Pt 3]

2010-02-13T11:33:00.002Z

The print copy of Collections – The Annual came this week and I have to say it looks absolutely amazing.

The print quality is second to none. So much so my wife actually thought it was from my normal comic collections.

I’ve added the link to the website on my shop section where you can get the paperback or PDF version.

My Comics: The Legend Known As... [Pt 12]

2010-02-09T19:57:00.004Z

As you may have heard in the last blog Caroline Parkinson of ‘The Exiles Daughter’ fame is going to take over the full colouring duties for the second issue of The Legend Known As… Below you can see her test page she has submitted and I’m sure you’ll agree it looks bloody brilliant.

My Comics: Loads of them!!

2010-02-09T19:41:00.002Z

We’ve had an excellent turn out for new artists to join Unico and we’ve managed to get four brand new comics commissioned. And a new colourist (Caroline Parkinson) to make sure we get issue 2 of The Legend Known As… out this side of hell freezing over or Katie Price retiring from the media spotlight… which ever comes first. The new comics due for a 2011 release are as follows and out of the four three are mine

Strawberry Ale > Genre: Comedy/Drama. Artist: Caroline Parkinson.

Stand off at Sutton farm > Genre: Sci-Fi. Artist: David Byrne.

“This science fiction, horror about a normal family who during one warm autumn night suffer a terrifying experience that turns their world up side down when their quiet farm is approached by alien visitors. This comic is loosely based an a supposedly true story from the late 70’s in America where the Kelly Family have a horrible close encounter of the third kind”

Our Heroes Fall > Genre: Action/Drama. Artist: Jag Lall.

“Set in an alternative present the British government has outlawed private Super Heroes. Our story follows the daughter of one such hero after her father is murdered. As she investigates she comes across a conspiracy of greed and underground ‘Masks’ trying to help the best they can. A former sidekick herself Rachael needs to find her answers anyway she can”.

My Comics: Collections - The Annual [Pt 2]

2010-02-06T10:19:00.000Z

Collections: The Annual is now ready to buy from this website. If you visit the collections sub-page you can see a preview of the book and buy a hard copy for £6.00 or a PDF version for £1.50.

I just want to say thank you to every single person over the years who has wrote, illustrated and reviewed the comics over the years, I’d also like to thank the admin team who have helped edit it and proof read it and make sure that we all have one hell of a comic to put out. Thank you also to the people who have bought Collections over the years and we hoped you have enjoyed them.

We’ve made some good friends over this book and got some great artists and writers onboard full time because of it. So once again thank you and I hope this 15 page graphic novel sells well as your work deserves to be seen by as many people as possible.

Review: Unico Collections - The Annual

2010-01-27T18:33:00.002Z

[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]

2010-01-18T17:54:00.002Z

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]

2010-01-17T11:14:00.001Z

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...

2010-01-14T18:17:00.002Z

[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...

2010-01-11T21:08:00.001Z

[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]

2010-01-06T18:53:00.000Z

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.

My Books: Hellion, Altered Faith and Cabin

2009-11-27T11:15:00.001Z

My work with Unico is moving into Novels now and below are a few i hope to have done for 2010.

Unnamed Novel
Giving us a move more into novels and teh such like comes an anthology of short stories by Michael Burness and Paul Burns and any other writer who cares to add to it. It'll be novel format and any genre the writer cares to write about.

Altered Faith
Another Novel intended for 2010 this book by Michael Burness iss set in an alternative universe Britain where after WW1 angels descended from Heaven to rule over us. The story begins 80 years after that happened and the main character is a Reaper called Joseph Burnett (a reaper is an armed federal official for the English chapter of the Angels Church whose job is to hunt down demons that have leaked through from Hell) who’s lost his faith in the Angels after he had his own brother crucified. Joseph becomes a target after uncovering a conspiracy by the angels who have in fact been growing the demons to scare the public into following them. Faith has a tech-noir feel to it and shares a lot in common with 1950 detective stories with a Hitchcock twist.

Hellion
The second full novel by Michael Burness is set all over the globe and the genre is Supernatural/Action. The story follows a nurse called Amy Milne who gets caught up in a 2000 year old war between dead aliens and dead humans who posses living human soles. One wants the destruction of the human race and the other are trying to save it and Amy holds a small key to bring that about in this epic British scifi tale.

My Comics: The Detective & The Monster [Pt 2]

2009-11-16T18:04:00.001Z

David Massey who is doing my Victoriana comic for Accent Uk has sent me the draft comic. I must say I’m very happy with what I see and it's going to look amazing.

Below is a page from his draft comic.

My Comics: Doomwatch

2009-11-15T21:12:00.001Z

Brian Gorman who did the artwork for my comic Reapers for the Unico Collections has been asked to act in a series of short films based on the 1970s sci-fi show 'Doomwatch'. He will be playing Adam Quist, the son of the original lead character (Spencer Quist). Check out www.doomwatch.org for more information.

In addition he’s been asked to do a special promotional comic strip for it and has asked mel to letter it. Congratulations on the gig Brian and wish you all the best.

My Comics: Collections - The Annual

2009-11-09T20:34:00.002Z

Jag Lall has sent in one the two new comics for Collection – The Annual. This comic wrote by me called “Why Jack was never found” is a spin on the Jack the Ripper tale.

As you can see Jag has done an amazing job on this comic and has really caught the mood need for this story.

My Books: Project Last Man

2009-11-08T19:30:00.000Z

We’ve been in contact with a American based company interested in running our ‘Project: Last man’ science fiction book. The company in question is called ‘Cyber Publishing’ who are a new internet-based company located in the heart of New York City.
They publish monthly online magazines, paperback novels, audio books (using digital voice technology), and digital features/movies. Please visit their website at www.CyberPublishing.org.

"The work I saw was good. I really enjoyed everyone's work"

..and also about how they work.

"There is no cost for you to have the work published, you are the copyright holder of the work ( eg. content ) We pay for everything , and are the publisher of record ( for that particular edition ; you can afterwards have your work published else where; re issue it with someone else ) . We only publish 100 copies ( and promotional copies as needed ) you will receive 30 copies ( and a specified number of promotional copies ) for your own use or distribution. We currently sell the digital books for 10usd . The percentage the author gets for an individual sale is 30% of gross (approx . 3usd ) .
We will be publishing new titles and will open up our online book store ( via albris books ) this coming Winter season. Again copyright registeration, US library of congress cataloging ( PNC # ) , ISBN and digital book production is covered by us."

Things are moving ahead nicely with Cyber Publishing and our sci-fi novel Project: Last Man. The introduction to the story will be animated and spoke by the main character. As you can see Steven has done an awesome job in regards to the main character.

My Comics: Collections - The Annual [Pt 1]

2009-10-08T21:01:00.005+01:00

I'll let you know that sales from both our website and conventions of our ‘Unico Collections’ anthology have been well below what we hoped, even with the excellent reviews we’ve been getting. Because of this, we have decided to take two steps. The first is to cancel the anthology series making Issue 3 the last and concentrate on our series stuff. The second is to do a big final annual that has all of the issues in one big well packaged graphic novel. This will also include all new comics as extras. The new comics we have so far are…

Quick Shock
Script – Paul Burns. Art – Natalie Baird

Why Jack was never found
Script Michael Burness. Art – Jag Lall

To save costs we’re doing this one in B&W but using a new printers that will get us a very high quality book at a good price. We hope to sell the annual for around the £5 mark. The thinking is that people will want to buy a bigger anthology (containing 20+ comics) instead of smaller cheaper issues with 3-4 stories in each. This way we keep all your work in use and people get to see it. We will continue to sell the issues as normal because we still have stock and they also contain the colour versions of some comics.

However, once they are sold we will not re-stock on the single issues of ‘Collections’ and just concentrate of the Annual which will go on sale for the start of the 2010 season. But this doesn’t mean that these single issues won’t be available to buy elsewhere. They can still be bought from Lulu.com and Indyplanet.com as POD’s. It just means we won’t get stock in to sell at the conventions and our own website.

In the mean time I've been messing aroiund with some cover ideas.

Reviews: Unico Collection - THREE

2009-09-28T18:56:00.001+01:00

I've had a review of Collections 3 published by Hypergeek.org.

* The Son

The Son is a pretty high-octane action story, about a business man who is the son of Satan, and a vigilante, who with this knowledge, is out to destroy him. The whole strip, is pretty much one huge fight scene! That isn’t necessarily a bad thing though, because the action is nicely choreographed, and there are lots of cool intense moments, like when the vigilante leaps off a building onto a moving limousine, and stabs it in the engine, causing it to burst into flames.

While the story is essentially a huge fight scene, David Wallace, manages to throw in several surprising twists to keep things interesting. The artwork by Mark Nevins is pretty colorful and chunky, with slightly lose lines and thick inks, and really suits the story perfectly.

* Say Goodbye to Hollywood

This story starts with a military helicopter moving through the night, with the caption “5 minutes from what was Hollywood California.” On board we find a troop of soldiers at combat readiness, and we follow the interiour monologue of a hardened soldier, who has lost everything that he holds near and dear and now only wants vengeance. As the story progresses we learn of the soldiers’ mission in Hollywood, and that they are to eradicate the “Vermin”, who as it turns out, are zombies!

This was a pretty dark and compelling tale, but I really felt like there should be more, as it felt like it stopped right what the story was only just beginning. The artwork by Steven Howard was absolutely amazing, and Cutherberson’s colours were also top quality.

I hope to see more of this one!

* Reapers

The concept of this story is that at the end of WWI, demons began terrorizing the world, and so angels also appeared to guide us out of the darkness. Demon hunters are now a part of everyday life, and are dispatched to deal with outbreaks of zombies, vampires, werewolves, and that sort of thing. In this story we follow two such detectives, as they head to a block of council flats to investigate a suspected vampire. If you thought your Mondays were back, wait till you see how theirs turns out!

This story had a pretty interesting concept, with a good strong script by Michael Burness, and had a pretty fulfilling dark ending. The artwork by Brian Gorman was very dark and intense, matching the mood of the story, but the one thing I wasn’t keen on is that it felt like a lot of photo references were used for peoples faces, which gave the characters some odd looking expressions. I’ve never been to keen on that look.

* The Exile’s Daughter

The Exile’s daughter takes the form of a traditional Japanese tale. When her father is exiled foe offending the emperor, a young girl leaves the city in search of him. After many days of searching, one night she comes upon a group of priests planning to sacrifice a young girl to a sea serpent that dwells in the waters near a small fishing village. If the beast is not appeased at least once a year, it causes catastrophic storms in revenge, that drown many of the fishermen. Unable to find her father, she decides that she has nothing left to live for, and so takes the young girl’s place, only asking that she is given a spear to defend herself. Can she survive the dreaded sea serpent?

This tale had a great script, and gorgeous artwork, and had a wonderfully magical feeling to it.

* ReEarth

This is a story about two boys who find a secret cave in the hills and decide to go inside to explore… big mistake! The cave has stayed secret for so long for a good reason, and the dark forces within do not plan to let the boys walk free.

This was a decent tale, but I found the storytelling to be a little unclear at times. The artwork was pretty nice though, especially all the arcane hellboy-esque imagery.

* The Woodsman

This one is a classic tale of a couple that are out walking in the woods one dark night, when the man tells the woman a spooky horror story, that just happens to be the terrible truth. In this case it is the tale of a murderous woodman, who when burned at the stake swears that he and his undead victims will return to take revenge on the living…

It’s a cliched plot, but that’s half the fun really! Burnell pulls it off well, with good pacing, and lots of suspense that keeps you wondering when… it’ll… finally… happen! The story also has pretty artwork by Mark Bell, with particularly impressive colouring The burning hoot prints in the road are especially nice!

Summary
Unico Collections #3 was really strong anthology that showcases many bright new talents in the UK small press comic industry. I give it my highest recommendation. In my opinion the standout stories would have to be The Son, Say Goodbye to Hollywood, and The Exile’s Daughter. However, your tastes may vary from mine, which is the beauty of an anthology, there is something for everyone!

This Week.... So, So very wrong

2009-09-14T18:32:00.001+01:00

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

My Comics: Luftwaffe 46 [Pt 5]

2009-08-23T19:24:00.001+01:00

My comic called ‘Luftwaffe 46’ has finally been finished and it looks amazing. Kudos to Steven Howard for all the good work he has done.

It’s now been sent off to Dave West at Accent UK for their 2010 Anthology called “Predators”.

But because of this I’m not allowed to show a page until it goes on sale :( But he did comment "This looks and reads wonderfully"

This Week... 1943

2009-08-14T17:58:00.001+01:00

I’ve become somewhat obsessed with Battlefield 1943 on the 360. Especially the tactical side of things so I’ve wrote down what I think is the best tactic to take the flags and win the war.

SQUAD SETUP:
I’ll come at this from the view point of being in a squad of four with my mates. First, we spread our fighting force which is normally three Riflemen and one Submachine Gunner. The rifles are the overall best weapons I think, good at distance and close up and if you mix in the SMG with support then you can be quite the fighting force. The reason we have a SMG in the group is for two reasons, 1) letting off a full clip towards the enemy means they keep their heads down so your mates can flank and kill the target. 2) The rocket launcher option which allows you to take out any tank that rolls in the middle of a battle. Make sure you get around its arse and let a rocket fly, it should go down with one shot. Some like to play two Rifles, one SMG and a Sniper but personally I find the sniper redundant.

The trick to BF:43 is to either defend a base or attack a base. Getting killed on the way is doing no one any good and the reason why you lose your flags is because everyone runs to the nearest flag and then on again leaving the base undefended. I think its best to take a base depending on its location you use your 3R & 1SMG set up. Don’t worry about snipers as loads from your overall team will spawn as Snipers. For uou and your four man squad the role is simple… attacked and defend as a team. It is because of this attitude that our squad is always ‘Top Squad’ with four of our guys in the ‘Top 5’ players.

FLAG ATTACK:
This really depends on which flag on which island you are taking but the following can be used for all. On the start screen pick your squad and let only one person spawn. If they time it right they can use an aeroplane and take off. That person should fly straight to the furthest flag and bail out, once he hits the ground the rest of you spawn on him and capture the flag. Using this tactic means your four man team can travel a great distance in no time at all. Now automatically the rest of your blue team will take the Flags closest meaning that you can capture a majority of flags in no time. The chances are that the one you just used will be the first one the red team will happen upon which means you dig in an hold them off for as long as you can as you’ll have a lot on you.

If your mid game and lose a flag and need to retake it then the best thing to do is move as a line with your SMG laying down short suppressive fire with one of the rifles laying in a few grenades while the other two flank and take out who they can. This is the hard part because until that flag turns white then the red team that you just killed will probably spawn on you. Make sure you are spread out watching each other’s flanks.

FLAG DEFENCE:
The aim of the game is to keep majority flags and kill as many of the enemy as possible. For me as long as you take and hold three flags then that is good enough. A lot of people think you need to take four or five flags but the truth is this will over stretch you and you will probably end up losing most of not all of the flags in a quick succession.

I say take your three and then hold them, let the enemy come to you, as a defender you will always have the advantage. Each map has what I call its flank flags, forward flag, and VIP Flag. The VIP is normally the one with the Bomber Bunker on it. If you are good bringing the steel rain then you can demolish most of the enemy buildings leaving no cover. The flank Flags are those that if you take you can keep a strategic hold over the whole map. For example on Wake Island if you hold the ‘Airfield’ ‘Beach’ and ‘Signal Village’ it means you filter the majority of the enemy from only one direction meaning it’s easier to defend against. If in this scenario you lost the ‘Signal Village’ then the red team can spawn to the left and right of you meaning that your forces are split on two fronts. Finally, you come to the forward flags, these are the flags that see the most action and will probably swap hands the most in a match. If you can hold both the Flank Flags and the VIP then defend, you will be a cert to win.

Wake Island:
Flank Flag – Signal Village and Beach.
VIP Flag – Airfield
Forward Flag – Airfield

Iwo Jima:
Flank Flag – Fishing Village & Lighthouse
VIP Flag – The Mount
Forward Flag – Fishing Village

Guadalcanal:
Flank Flag – Fuel Dump & Bombing Base (sorry forgot its name)
VIP Flag – Ridge
Forward Flag – Ridge

My Comics: Fracture [Pt 4]

2009-08-09T20:53:00.003+01:00

With ‘Fracture’ ahead of schedule it means I can show a fully finished page from the comic. This is a more mature comic by myself with a darker more adult orientated artwork from Mark Bell.

As you can see form the page below it’s not really one for the kids.

Reviews: The legend known as...

2009-08-06T18:56:00.001+01:00

[From Hypergeek] I really enjoyed 'The Legend Known As...' I get sent quite a few comics for review from small companies, and you never quite know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised with this one though. The concept is really quite riveting, in that it features a post apocalyptic superhero story, told from the perspective of the humans they helped, and legends that built up around them. That's pretty damn high-concept, something that can be quite risky for a smaller title, but Burness and Howard manage to pull it off flawlessly! This is in part due to Burness' excellent storytelling skills, plotting, and dialogue. The idea of having the story told in retrospect from people who bore witness to these legendary characters is a stroke of genius, and gives the story a really human quality, making it very character driven. This works in the stories favour, because how many comics have you read about masked vigilantes running around and kicking ass? Lots! This story is more about the creation of a legend than just the good guys beating the bad guys.

I was really surprised with the slickness of the artwork on this book. It looks like Steven Howard has put lots of heart and soul into his work. The scenes which are set it the 'now' of the older Tom are absolutely beautiful, and that opening shot of Tom looking out at the setting sun is really quite breathtaking in it's level of detail, and the use of colours on the water and clouds has a wonderful effect. The scenes in the 'past' of the post-apocalyptic city are also really well done. He changes up the style a little bit, throwing in some different drawing techniques, and uses a much more subdued colour palette, all of which helps to make the city look like a grim, hellish, industrial nightmare! Being a character driven piece, it's always good to have well drawn characters as well as scenery, and Howard does a great job of this. Particularly good, is his use of expression to help convey emotion. A lot of the story is told in exposition, so this comes in quite important.

'The Legend Know As...' is a really wonderful little book that took me quite by surprise. This was a really well produced comic with a fascinating story and absolutely amazing artwork. I will definitely be checking out the rest of this miniseries, and I recommend that you do too. Epico have a great title here that could really make a name for them!

My Comics: The legend known as... [Pt11]

2009-08-06T18:52:00.002+01:00

With production of ‘Fracture’ and the second issue of ‘The legend known as…’ in full swing, we are starting to get pages back from the artist team working on both. First up today is a page from the #2 T.L.K.A. It is a page showing one of the main characters which was pencilled by Steven Howard, Inked by Adam Whitfield (I think. It could be Mark Bell) and coloured by Johnney Iley.

Looks great I think you will agree. As soon as I have a finished page from Fracture, I will stick that up next.

This Week... Timeline

2009-08-03T18:01:00.004+01:00

I sat for five minuets today (no idea why) to go through the time line of my Unico comic series that are either in production or not picked up yet by an artist. I’ve always worked towards making a Unico Universe similar to the Marvel one where all off my comics are connected in one way or another no matter the genre or type of story.

I’ve added the alternative universe stories as well. However, they do not include my ‘Collections’ comics.

Star Trek: Borg's Origin [Final]

2009-07-22T18:10:00.002+01:00

The final part of Borg’s Origin is online now.

A plan has no been agreed upon were the USS Barak will take on the child survivors of the Talus-Qual race. The Prototype gate that they hid has only enough power to send one ship back to the Alpha Quadrant. The only thing standing between them and the hidden gate is a Borg outpost with a new type of Borg ship.

Star Trek: Borg’s Origin @ Fanfiction.net

Star Trek: Borg's Origin [Pt 7]

2009-07-10T17:36:00.003+01:00

The penultimate episode of Borg's Origin has gone up online.

The Barak meets up with six refugee ships. The race aboard is the Talus-Qual and they are the last of the free species in this part of space, they explain the situation of the invasion by an enemy called The Borg. The same race which has plans to invade the Alpha Quadrant.

Star Trek: Borg's Origin @ Fanfiction.net

Star Trek: Borg's Origin [Pt 6]

2009-07-09T18:15:00.003+01:00

Chapter 6 has gone up now and can now be read online.

With the Delta quadrant gate now destroyed and the USS Barack left alone in an uncharted part of space 70,000 light-years away form their own home. They have tracked the signal to a planet savaged by Nuclear War and now six unknown ships are speeding towards them on an intercept course.

Star Trek: Borg’s Origin @ Fanfiction.net

Console Wars: Episode 13

2009-07-09T17:52:00.000+01:00

Star Trek: Borg's Origin [Pt 5]

2009-07-08T17:50:00.002+01:00

Part five of my ongoing Star trek series has gone online. Click the link below to see the new chapter.

“After Commander Tilko takes a small group of his Marines aboard the Q’Nar it becomes obvious that a few of the enemy aliens have taken over. General T’Lang sacrifices his life to destroy his ship and Tilko and the others escape back to the USS Barak. Now a mysterious signal has just downloaded to the Gate and started a self-destruct that could trap them in the Delta quadrant forever”.

Star Trek: Borg’s Origin @ Fanfiction.net

This Week… My fan fiction stuff

2009-07-08T17:46:00.002+01:00

I’m starting to get reviews from readers for my fan fiction work.

Final Fight:
Review 1: “I loved this fic! I have always wanted to see some people from TOS (the original series) fight the Borg”.

Review 2: “yeah man liked this, nice... SPOILER - I take it that is an early version of the Borg yeah”?

Borg’s Origin:
Review 1: “This is great! The thing I don't understand is the Xendi marine leader. What's up with that? Anyways, keep it up”.

I’m really chuffed that people are liking my work. The site also shows how many people are reading the stuff so far from June 27th until July 8th:-

Star Trek: Final Fight
Hits: 61

Terminator: Last Days
Hits: 35

Star Trek: Borg’s Origin
Hits: 50

Console Wars: Episode 12

2009-07-07T18:28:00.001+01:00

Star Trek: Borg's Origins [Pt 4]

2009-07-07T17:55:00.003+01:00

The fourth part of my ongoing fan fiction has gone up.

“Having found the actual alien ship that attacked the Klingon Empire and Federation four months ago they discover It has been destroyed in a battle on the other side of the conduit. Further investigation led to the USS Barak beaming onboard what they thought were survivors. After a brief, skirmish the USS Barak is confronted by an infected Klingon ship.”

Star Trek: Borg’s Origin @ Fanfiction.net

Console Wars: Episode 11

2009-07-03T18:35:00.001+01:00

Star Trek: Borg Origin [Pt 3]

2009-07-03T18:32:00.001+01:00

Part 3 of my on going 23rd Century Borg story has gone up online.

“With the mission set and the conduit open the USS Barak and the Klingon destroyer Q’Nar travel to an unknown destination to find the alien ship that had caused so much devastation four months ago”.

Star Trek: Borg Origin @ Fanfiction.net

Star Trek: Borg Origin [Pt 2]

2009-07-02T18:25:00.006+01:00

The 2nd Chapter to my Borg Origin story has gone up online. Read it here at:

“Admiral Morrow has asked Captain Thelev to volunteer for a mission to rescue the Starfleet officers that were abducted at the battle of 36764. Thelev has been ordered to Deep Space 3 to take charge of his new vessel and crew”.

Star Trek: Borg Origin @ Fanfiction.Net

Console Wars: Episode 10

2009-07-02T18:22:00.003+01:00

Star Trek: Borg Origin [Pt 1]

2009-07-01T19:03:00.003+01:00

I’ve started a new series on Fanfiction.com. This is a follow up to ‘Final Fight’ but unlike that one shot this will be broken down and the whole story will go up in chapters each week.

“Captain Thelev has been giving a top-secret mission to track down the mysterious alien attack ship and rescue the 200+ Starfleet prisoners”.

You can read the story here: Star Trek – Borg Origin @ Fanfiction.net

Love Sucks: That Question!

2009-07-01T19:02:00.002+01:00

Star Trek: Final Fight

2009-06-30T20:40:00.005+01:00

I’ve had to get this Star Trek story out of my head as it’s been buzzing around for ages. So I found this fan fiction site and posted it on there.

Have a read if it’s your bag…

Star Trek - Final fight @ Fanfiction.net

Reviews: The Legend Known as...

2009-06-29T18:07:00.001+01:00

[From Hypergeek.com]

I really enjoyed 'The Legend Known As...' I get sent quite a few comics for review from small companies, and you never quite know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised with this one though. The concept is really quite riveting, in that it features a post apocalyptic superhero story, told from the perspective of the humans they helped, and legends that built up around them. That's pretty damn high-concept, something that can be quite risky for a smaller title, but Burness and Howard manage to pull it off flawlessly! This is in part due to Burness' excellent storytelling skills, plotting, and dialogue. The idea of having the story told in retrospect from people who bore witness to these legendary characters is a stroke of genius, and gives the story a really human quality, making it very character driven. This works in the stories favour, because how many comics have you read about masked vigilantes running around and kicking ass? Lots! This story is more about the creation of a legend than just the good guys beating the bad guys.

I was really surprised with the slickness of the artwork on this book. It looks like Steven Howard has put lots of heart and soul into his work. The scenes which are set it the 'now' of the older Tom are absolutely beautiful, and that opening shot of Tom looking out at the setting sun is really quite breathtaking in it's level of detail, and the use of colours on the water and clouds has a wonderful effect. The scenes in the 'past' of the post-apocalyptic city are also really well done. He changes up the style a little bit, throwing in some different drawing techniques, and uses a much more subdued colour palette, all of which helps to make the city look like a grim, hellish, industrial nightmare! Being a character driven piece, it's always good to have well drawn characters as well as scenery, and Howard does a great job of this. Particularly good, is his use of expression to help convey emotion. A lot of the story is told in exposition, so this comes in quite important.

'The Legend Know As...' is a really wonderful little book that took me quite by surprise. This was a really well produced comic with a fascinating story and absolutely amazing artwork. I will definitely be checking out the rest of this miniseries, and I recommend that you do too. Epico have a great title here that could really make a name for them!

Love Sucks: That Guy

2009-06-29T18:03:00.003+01:00

Terminator: Last Days [Pt 1]

2009-06-23T17:52:00.004+01:00

Picture was taken from: ArtisAllan

Copyright is owned by Warner Bros. No profit has been made off this fan fiction. This is set during the final days of the future war between Skynet and Humanity. This first part has been re-edited so the story can continue instead of being a one off. I hope you enjoy it all.

PART ONE

Dr Simms looked out of the open door of the ancient Sea King helicopter as it flew in formation alongside another two Helicopters. One was an equally old Merlin helicopter and the third a Chinook. He watched as the Scottish countryside swished past beneath him at a mere sixty foot beneath him. Simms was a technician with the resistance. His main expertise was in the cracking of Skynet encryption codes reprogramming of the 800's series Terminators.

Right now, there were a number of reasons why he was feeling nervous. He wasn't sure if he was going to be sick or just piss himself. The first reason was the seventy-year-old helicopter he was travelling in. The second was the fact he was heading in as part of the final wave at attacks on Skynet's last stronghold within the United Kingdom. Skynet had been pushed back so far that the war was in its final days. With the help of their new allies, the global resistance was on the brink of finally defeating the machine menace. This would bring Simms to the third reason as to why he was nervous. Sitting in front of him was one of the resistances 'new' allies, a T-1000 liquid Terminator. Moreover, this one was not reprogrammed but instead it was there out of its own choice. At least with a reprogrammed T-800's Simms felt at least half safe around them. It sat there in its humanoid default form facing Simms. It's shiny reflective surface bouncing back the red light of the helicopter interior lighting. Its head smoothly moving around taking in its surroundings and the people within the Helicopter. It had been quite since boarding the Sea King with his team.

"Do I make you nervous Dr Simms" it finally asked.

"Do I need to really answer that"? Simms said quietly without looking at it.

"No. it would seem obvious that I do" it replied.

The T-1000 returned to looking at the Scottish landscape passing by below.

Inside the Helicopter were three other members of Simms's team. With the exception of himself the rest were all soldiers, Hicks was the squad leader, a 24-year-old woman originally from France. Next to her was Marshall who was the explosives expert and part time medic and finally there was Smithy who was a regular grunt but most probably the one with the most intelligence out of the squad if not the biggest philosopher.

"We're approaching Skynet's base now". The T-1000 commented as it withdrew its head back into the Helicopter. The team turned to look out of the pilot's window to see the target. Skynet's last European stronghold. Even from this distance, you could see the huge fires and smoke drifting high up into the atmosphere. Word had reached them that the initial attack had gone to plan and now it was their turn.

The Sea King came to rest in the park at the foot of Edinburgh Castle. Skynet had moved its Western European server farm into the castle itself and set up heavy defences, which at this moment were fighting hard to hold the resistance back but failing.

"Right lads" Hicks said as she exited the helicopter "Gather around".

The team stands around Hicks as the transport takes off. They can see it getting a few light laser hits as it pulls away form the castle. The gunfire had come from a T-850 sanitary who in turn is taken out by a resistance sniper using an ancient fifty-calibre sniper rifle.

"Sectors eight through twelve have been breached. We move into the east wall server room, do our magic and beat feet before it goes boom. Understood"?

The order is giving for Marshall, Smithy and the T-1000 to take point and make there way into the castle. Hicks and Simms would bring up the rear. Simms task in all this was to retrieve a number of tactical data including weather patterns for the last 10 years. Since Skynet ran ninety percent of the satellites during that period then this would be the only opportunity to get that information. The team worked their way up the side walkways and keeping clear of the heavily guarded central courtyards. The battle was still raging on the other side of the castle grounds but things were much quieter on their path.

Simms could see the downed endo-skeletons of 800 and 700 series bots that where killed by the early advancing squads from the first wave. There was even a refitted T1 at one point, its armour riddled with sixty-watt laser rounds. There was of course the fair share of human bodies. Resistance fighters who have giving their lives in the fight for humanity against the none stop devastation brought on since the first nuke landed all those years ago.

The T-1000 raises its arm to stop the squad. A heavily damaged triple eight comes limping over to them. On its arm, it is wearing the red banner of the resistance. Simm's could barely make out what it was saying because its vocal matrix had clearly been damaged in battle. Nevertheless, the T-1000 relayed the message back to Hicks and her team.

"He said the area is cleared, and to proceed to basement level west wall".

'He Said' Simms thought to himself. He always thought how weird the T-1000's referred to the S.M.A.L's (Solid Mass Artificial Life forms) as he's or she's like they were alive. Saying that it was weird that he had started to think of the T-1000's as anything different from just liquid robots.

The alliance between humans and T-1000's had only been going for six months or so. However, in that short time they had accomplished so much. With base after base being, destroyed, Skynet was spread thinner and thinner for resources and units. The big swing that changed the face of the war was the downing of the communication network Skynet had used to jump its conscious around the globe in seconds to command its troops. With that network down, Skynet had become trapped in its own UK network and with this battle it become only a matter of time before the artificial intelligence was killed.

They entered the massive server room and the temperature instantly dropped. Resistance soldiers who had been giving the task of holding this position from enemy counter attack were standing around stamping their feet and rubbing their hands to keep warm.

"Right Dr Simms. You and the tin man here start your work." Hicks orders.

"Mimetic Poly-Alloy, not Tin" the liquid robot replies.

"Yeah… not much for the humour are you"? Hick's mumbles as she walks away.

Simms takes out his hand built laptop and plugs it directly into the T-1000 which in turn plugs its fingers into the server port on one of the many computer servers. The T-1000 was there to do the job of repelling Skynet's electronic defences and allowing Simms to download the needed info and whatever he can find in there.

Smithy had sat back and watched the Dr and T-1000 work. He wondered if Skynet was capable of getting irony. Man had created Skynet and in turn, Skynet had destroyed man. Skynet had then created the T-1000 who it would seem would play a big part in the destruction of Skynet itself. The T-1000 robots were the cutting edge of Skynet's technology. Unlike the S.M.A.L's they didn't use chips or circuitry but instead a mostly unknown technology that it captured from top secret labs in Japan. It had been thought that Skynet downloaded its own conscious into each one. This of course was its first mistake. Over a short time, the T-1000's began to think for themselves and argue against Skynet's own doctrine. They had worked out that humanity could never come back from this but the Skynet army could pose a threat to their own freedom. With only fifty-eight ever constructed they all agreed to rebel and assist the humans in the downfall of their creator. Smithy would laugh at the irony himself if it were not for the fact every time he tried he would cough up blood. Like so many of his colleagues in the resistance and civilian quarters, he was dying. However, it was not the war or malnutrition killing him but Radioactive fall out. Cancer was his killer.

Simms had broken the final firewall quicker than he could imagine. Right now, he was in the heart of Skynet's satellite data. With the T1000 playing interference he began the download to the mass of information onto the hard-drive on his computer. The data rolled in quicker than his eyes could keep up. Within fifteen minutes they were done and Marshall was setting up the mini nuke to detonate the site. The bomb consisted of six hydrogen power cells taking from damaged T-800's. The explosion would be enough to level the place and end the war. With Skynet gone all HK's and ground troops left would reset to 'stand alone' and without any incoming orders or strategic intelligence would prove easier for resistance fighters to take down.

With the bomb set, they made their way down to the park for evacuation. The general order had went out and all troops had been ordered to retreat. Skynet's troops would hold the area it was believed and not counter attack. For all Skynet had known the humans would of just retreated, because of the T1000 Skynet had know idea the Resistance had been in the server room or what little surprise they had left. They boarded the number of trucks waiting and drove off. Within minutes they were out of firing range with no sign of enemy troops in pursuit.

Ten miles away they could see the castle go up in a bright white light with the mushroom cloud forming shortly afterwards. Simms turns to the T-1000.

"Well how do you feel? You've just killed your creator." He asks

The chrome humanoid didn't even turn to look at him as it replied. "Probably the same as Skynet did as he watched five billion humans burn up on judgement day".

Simm's didn't know wither to be horrified at this or not. Working with A.I for as long as he had he shouldn't still be surprised at the attachment of emotions from the Machines. The robot whom has stayed in its default form throughout brgan to speak again.

"Regarding the data Dr Simms you needed from Skynet, I had a chance to process it between Skynets attempts to trace me while I was connected. The weather pattern suggests that one hundred percent of the Earth's surface is indeed saturated with radioactivity". Simm's head immediately dropped.

"shit" He mumbles to himself.

The robot continued "Skynet had predicted that you had no more than ten years left before the last human died of cancer".

Simms had promised he wouldn't cry and god knows he was trying hard not to right now. He quickly became aware of the silence in the truck with the rest of the troops. He could hear the yells of joy and congratulations from the other vehicles but not his. His truck had heard what the T-1000 had said. It dawned on them all that they had won the battle but at the end of the day Skynet would win the war. The end of all Humanity.

Hicks adresses the T-1000. "Well it seems your lot have inherited the Earth. If you ask me… you're fucking welcome to it".

The liquid teammate leans forward. In its blank silver, face a human face appears and smiles.

Simms thought that maybe the liquids would do a better job than man would. Maybe they can bring the planet back to its natural healthy state in a few thousand years.

"Christ" he says to himself "you couldn't do a worse job than us".

Love Sucks: Stupid Question

2009-06-23T17:50:00.001+01:00

Star Trek: Final Days

2009-06-19T19:17:00.005+01:00

All copyright to any Star Trek characters and other stuff is ownedby Paramount etc. I don't own any of this of and don't make any money out ofit. Some of the characters are original though but hey, if you like them thenyou use them in your own fan fiction no problem.

I hope you enjoy it and please leave me a review if you wish.

The year is 2293 and James T Kirk is stood in his ceremonialStarfleet uniform looking out of one of the many observation decks located onStarbase 215. The man is in a sombre mood as he thinks back on his son, David.Outside the observation window, the Enterprise sits docked in the internalshipyard and she is all powered down. Small shuttlecrafts are dotted around hersupporting the crews that are repairing any exterior damage after herengagement at Khitoma. Kirk takes a final sip from his champagne glass as theswoosh of the automatic door opens behind him.

"Any particularreason why you're hiding in here"?

Doctor McCoy and Mr Spock walk up next to Kirk. Jim does not turnto look at them but instead keeps his sad glare on his ship. Bones gives him awarm smile as he senses his friends' sadness.

"You know it is thecaptain's right to stick around at these dull parties and bore everyone withtheir stories".

Kirk turns to face his old friends.

"It's a decommissionceremony Bones. We're here to celebrate the decommission of a part of mylife".

Bones takes a swig of his own champagne, thinks for a moment andthen as he speaks it makes Kirk give a smile.

"God damn it Jim youcan really suck the life out a party".

Spock raises his eyebrow at the illogical thought that this moodis solely down to his captain and friend having to walk away from Enterprisefor the last time.

"It seems illogicalto weep for a ship".

McCoy turns to him and with a scowl Spock has seen so many timesover the years and says.

"Good God man. Are you completely devoid of any kind of soulyou green blooded elf"?

Jim puts his empty glass onto the nearby table and turns back tothe giant window.

"Seems such a wastethat she is being patched up just to be retired to the Memory Alpha ship museum".

The three friends turn to leave the deck and return to the partythrown in honour of the famous flagship. As they leave Spock turns to Jim.

"You think you aretaking it bad captain. I hear they had to prise Scotty off the bulkhead byforce".

Kirk and Bones are laughing at Spock's comment as they exit. Asthey are about to leave Kirk turns to look at the ship over his shoulder. Hegives a loving smile and what was once his home for so many years.

"Gods speed oldfriend".

An elderly and quite portly Andorian Captain called Thelev iswalking the corridors of Enterprise on his way to the bridge. Thelev has beengiven the honour of being the very last captain of Enterprise. His job is totake the ship to get it downgraded and ready for its new home. His chiefengineer runs up to join him. She is a Trill woman in her early fifties butstill very attractive for her age.

"How was the partylast night? Some of us were working till 0300 hours of course"

The captain looks at her, his head heavy with a hangover. It neversurprises him how full of life she is even at the ungodly hour of the morning.

"It went well, but Iswear Lenara it'sthe last time I get talked into a drinking contest with Pavel Chekhov".

She gives a cheeky grin as they continue towards the turbolift.

"You're getting oldCaptain, you don't have the ability of an young Andorian anymore".

The captain smiles as he pushes the button for the lift.

"Any more back chatlike that and I'll stick you in the brig".

Lenara laughs as she watches Thelev get in the lift. She passeshim her electronic clipboard that contains the final repair report on the ship.

"Oh is that so? Ican't see my husband liking that very much".

The captain takes the clipboard and throws Lenara a wink as thedoors begin the shut.

"God job I am yourhusband then isn't it?"

The doors open onto the bridge and Thelev walks out. Since it isjust a Skeleton crew the stations are not all manned. The crew is one he hasworked with for a few years now. They are mostly made up of cadets on one-yearfleet experience duties from Starfleet academy or fully qualified crew who areclose to retirement. The latter is the case of Thelev, the man is only eightmonths from retirement and looking forward to moving back to Andoria. Lenaraisn't overly thrilled to join him as she was never one for the cold in any ofher life cycles.

The captain eases himself into his seat and has a look around thebridge. Hey has always liked this class of ship and before today has only hadthe pleasure to captain a Constitution once before.

"Report MrRyker".

Ryker is a human cadet only into his first three months of on thejob training. A competent pilot but still a little green around the gills butThelev trusts him all the same. Saying that he is still keeping an eye on thisyoung human as he's never flown a Constitution class outside of a simulator.

"Repairs were allcompleted last night Captain. We're ready to ship out on your order".

You see the captain lean over to hit the communication button onhis chair arm.

"Thank you ensign,Bridge to Engineering".

The speaker crackles into life, and the voice of his wife andchief engineer can be heard.

"Engineering herecaptain".

"Report".

Lenara is stood inside Engineering at a communication console. Theengine room is a buzz of lights and humming noises. Her team is seen monitoringconsoles and making final adjustments.

"All ready Captain.The last of the work crews have left so we're ready if you are".

Back in the bridge, Thelev gives a nod towards Ryker as he shutsoff the com link.

"Helm, take us out.One quarter impulse".

The docking clamps and walkways begin to retract away for the sideof the ship. Her thrusters gently power up and manoeuvre the Enterprise awayform the sidewall. Reaching maximum distance the main impulse engines hum intolife and start the ship on her move out of the dock. The giant internal hulldoors start their slow slide to open and Enterprise eases through the gap. TheFrench communication's ensign swings on his chair to face his captain. Thelevwasn't a big fan of his, the ensign in his opinion was lazy and not whatstarfleet was looking for. He would make sure his end of tour report wouldreflect as much.

"Captain Thelev I'mreceiving a communication from the dock commander. It seems that we havesomeone outside waiting to say goodbye. It's USS Excelsiorand we are beinghailed".

Captain Thelev orders to have it put up on screen. They aregreeted by the image of a smiling Captain Hikaru Sulu.

"Captain Thelev. Icouldn't leave without seeing her in flight one last time".

Thelev had a few dealings with Sulu in the past and when they havemet in passing they have always enjoyed each others company. He had a lot ofrespect for Sulu what with his time with Jim Kirk but also as the man in thebig seat of the Excelsior.

"Don't worry captainI'll make sure not to scratch her".

"ha-ha-ha I know youwill Thelev. Take care of hershe's been through a lot".

The screen cuts off and is replaced by the image of the Excelsiorturning away and jumping to warp.

"Set course Mr.Ryker. Maximum warp".

Yes she had been through a lot but even now he couldn't resistputting Enterprise into the wind and giving her the full beans. After all thiswould be her final run. After leaving Mars and her warp engines removed shewould make the final journey to earth under impulse. He was sure Lenarawouldn't mind him pushing the engines like this. After all, it was a simpleenough mission.

A few hours into the mission Lenara had managed to convince herhusband that it would be a better idea to drop back to warp six. DisappointedlyThelev had agreed as he was hoping to make the run to the Utopian ship yards inrecord time. Sat in his ready room he is making his first log as the captain onthe Enterprise.

"Captains log. We'retwo hours out of Starbase 215 and on course for Utopia Planitia shipyards onMars. My heart is heavy for this final mission of a ship with so much historyon it that…"

The rumble of his stomach stops him mid sentence. The captain shutof his recording device and decides that he should probably force a latebreakfast down his throat. It may even help with the hangover his was fighting.Arriving in the canteen he first notices his wife sat having a sandwich, thesecond thing to hit his is the smell of food. His stomach turns at the thoughtof food so he decides too only have a cup of coffee and sits down next toLenara. The canteen is mostly empty with a few of the lower deck crews grabbinga quick bite to eat.

"So did you get tosee all of the tweaks in engineering"?

Lenara swallows her food and wipes her mouth with a napkin.

"Montgomery Scott,isa genius. At least eighty percent of the modifications should be updated onto theremaining Constitution class ships if you ask me".

Her husband takes a sip of his coffee and rests his forehead inhis free hand.

"Doubtful they wouldever do that. With Enterprise to mothballed it leaves only three of the sameclass in use. The Excelsior class is the backbone of the federation now".

Pulling a face Lenara replies to his comment.

"Yuk. Horriblebloody ship that. It always makes me think of a fat elephant when I look atone".

Thelev chuckles as he finishes his coffee off.

"Well I wouldn't sayno if they gave me one".

Lenara throws her napkin at him in a mock huff, it lands on hishead. The captain does not attempt to remove it such is his hangover and justleaves it there.

"Bet you would sinceyou know I'm not qualified to work on Excelsior ships. So if they give you oneyou couldn't work with your wonderful wife anymore".

Thelev gives out a laugh as he finally pulls the napkin off hishead and swings back on his chair legs.

"Always with thesilver lining. Ha Ha Ha"!

His attention is drawn to the speaker system as he hears thecommunication ensign's voice click into life and requests the captain come tothe bridge as soon as possible. Thelev says goodbye to his wife and walks outto find the nearest turbo lift. He enters the bridge and turns to the ensignwho is patiently waiting for him.

"Sir it's a prioritymessage from Starfleet. It's addressed to all ships in the quadrant".

Thelev has a concerned look on his face as he lowers himself intothe captain's chair. He gives the order to put it onscreen. He knows that afleet wide message can only mean bad news.

"On Screenensign"

The Captain and his senior members of the skeleton crew are allsat in the make shift meeting room in the Enterprises senior dinning room.Thelev looks serous as he is standing at the head of the table and he addressesthe other four officers.

"A short time ago, Ireceived a priority transmission from Admiral Morrow at Starfleet Command. Theyhave asked for every available ship to meet at these co-ordinates".

The captain turns and hits a button on his remote and a videoscreen comes on showing a star map. Ryker sticks his hand in the air.

"Captain isn't thatthe Neutral Zone on the Klingon border"?

Thelev puts the remote back on the table and takes his seat as hereplies to his helmsman.

"Correct. Starfleetintelligence have informed us that of 0800 hours this morning the Klingon fleethave engaged an unknown alien ship within their own space".

Waves of concerned looks pass the table between the departmentheads. Lenara speaks up first.

"What and theKlingon's have asked for help? I'm assuming there is a twist we're missing hereCaptain".

Thelev hits the remote again and the screen kicks up a new imageof the alien ship. The ship isn't as elegant as most ships seen in the alphaquadrant but instead looks like a mass of green glowing energy conduits andtightly packed grey piping. The overall shape is one of a perfect rectangle.

"No official wordhas come from the Klingons asking for assistance and yes there is a twist.These are long range scans of the alien ship. It's a hell of a size has anenergy signature we've never seen before".

Lt Harper gets out of his seat and has a closer look at thetactical data on the video screen.

"Weapons"?

Lt Harp'ar had been with the captain for five years now and wasthe only member of his crew to have seen actual combat. The weapons questionwas not of a surprise to Thelev, as the tactical officer always seemed to be upfor a fight.

"The alien weaponswere cutting through the Klingon shields as if they are not even there. Earlyestimates show that they have lost a quarter of their fleet in thatsector".

The captain watched the shocked reaction of the others as theylook at each other. He breaks the silence within the room.

"The alien ship ison a direct course for Earth. It jumps to warp ten every forty-seven minutesthen drops out after an hour. It seems the Klingons have at least damaged itswarp capabilities. They predict in two hours the ship will drop at theco-ordinates provided. Starfleet want to deliver the killing blow and stop thisship before it does God knows what in Earth space".

You see Thelev stand from his seat. The rest follow his lead asthey see the briefing is coming to an end. The captain leans forward onto thetable. He has that look in his eyes that means he is all business.

"Starfleet knowwe're in no condition to fight but they want us there none the less. Our taskis to provide support and be responsible for evacuating severely damaged shipsand pass the wounded to the medical frigates that will be unable to getinbetween the fighting".

After the department heads returned to their locations the shipscrew who are all apprised of the situation burst into life. Their main aim tomake sure the Enterprise is in top condition for the battle. As they near theircompletion of duties, the speaker system on the ship kicks into life.

"This is yourcaptain speaking. We're not there to stop this thing but to save lives. Yeswe're only a skeleton crew but I've worked with you all for so long that I knowyou can do this. In ten minutes we will be along side the medical frigate USSUnico. She will beam over extra medical staff and supplies".

A short time later, the Miranda class USS Unico is in formationwith the Enterprise with both ships only a matter of minutes away from theco-ordinates. They have slowed to Warp four to ensure a complete safe transportof all supplies and personnel. On the bridge Thelev is updated by Ensign Johns.

"Medical suppliesand staff have finished being beamed aboard captain".

"Ryker increase ourspeed to warp nine".

The internal communication light flashes on the captains chair.Hitting the receive button the speaker spits out the voice of the new headdoctor from the Unico.

"Sickbay to bridge,we're all set down here captain."

Sickbay is alive with people running about getting everythingready. On the comms is Dr Phlox speaking to the captain. Thelev's voice comes backto answer his new medical officer.

"Thank you Dr Phloxand welcome aboard. We're behind schedule and the battle has already started.So we'll be taking injured onboard straight away".

"UnderstoodCaptain".

Back in the bridge Ryker shouts out to his captain that they areat the co-ordinates. Thelev orders him to drop them to impulse and put up thebattle on the main view screen. They are met by a horrific view of the battlealready in full swing. They can see all the other different classes of Federationship attacking the alien ship. Ships are blown apart and debris is everywhere.Ships are firing phasers and torpedoes on the massive enemy ship.

Even without his detailed scans, Thelev could tell the Federationwas losing against this single enemy and losing badly at that.

The Enterprise skilfully manoeuvres through the debris and carnageof battle. The area is alight with weapons fire from both sides. Thelev isquickly reading the incoming tactical data with regards the enemy ship. He'sastounded to find that it is able to adapt to the frequency changes of thedifferent federation phaser types. Sensors were also picking up that the enemywarp engines are regenerating on their own. He knows if this ship can jump towarp it can be at Earth in no time. The deck is shaking hard as a shock wavecomes from an exploding saucer section from a nearby hit ship.

"Mr Ryker. Hard toport"!

"Aye Captain"!

From his tactical console sat next to Ryker Harp'ar spins on hisseat to address his Captain.

"Sir it's theLexington. She's been hit. Warp core has been breached".

"Helm, get us inthere, maximum impulse".

TheEnterprise swings towards the crippled Excelsior classLexington. The Lexington has took bad damage and is venting plasma from itsstarboard warp engine. It is still firing some phasers to the enemy ship. Thecaptain shouts out his orders.

"Transporter roomtwo, begin emergency beam out of the Lexington".

Turning to Lt Harp'ar the captain gives another order as the shipshakes and electrical relays blow out behind him.

"Focus phasers onthe enemy weapon banks that are targeting the Lexington and us".

The green energy of an alien phaser shot hits the enterprise inthe engineering section. The engine room explodes and crew members are beingthrown to their deaths. As the ship buckles and a groans under the attack. Ainjured Lenara gets to a communication console.

"Medical emergencyin Engineering. Medical teams please respond".

Back on the bridge things are not much better. Ensign Johns andCaptain Thelev are in the middle of fighting an electrical fire at the sciencestation. Harp'ar shouts out his update report.

"Transporters at eighty percent captain. We are forty secondsaway from completing beam out".

His captain returns his report with a fresh set of orders.

"Take phasers offline. Transfer power to transporters and structural integrity".

"Captain"?

"They're no goodanyway against the alien ship anyway. Best off using the power elsewhere.

The Lexington starts to yaw to face the alien ship its thrusterscoming back online. An incoming transmission comes through to the captain'schair.

"Sir this is Transporter room two. The Lexington's bridge hasput up a disruption field; I cannot beam off their captain. He's still onthere".

Now facing the alien ship and missing a good portion of it'ssaucer section you see the Lexington start a ramming run on the alien ship.

"It's the captainsir… he's taking the ship in. Warp Core about to erupt"!

Thelev who is now back in the captains chair leans forward, hishands gripping the side as he shouts his order knowing that if he doesn't actfast the Enterprise could be taking out with the Lexington.

"Helm, get us out ofhere NOW"!

The Enterprise climbs away the Lexington's warp core explodes asit hits the alien ship. You see the Enterprise vibrate and buckle as the shockwave hits them. The crew are thrown around like toys as power fails all aroundthe ship. Thelev picks himself up off the floor as the emergency generatorskick in.

"Report LtHarp'ar"

"External sensorsare off line. By the looks of it we have multiple hull breaches on decks A toE".

Thelev staggers to Ensign Johns who is slumped in his seat andbleeding from his head. The captain checks his pulse and quickly finds theyoung ensign is dead. He hits the communication button.

"Bridge toengineering, come in".

"Lenara herecaptain, all primary and secondary systems offline, we're crippled on backuppower only".

"I need my sensorsback up Chief, I need to know what is going on out there".

Lenara hits a number of buttons on a console and begins a hardrestart of the short distance sensors. She breaths a sigh of relief and itcomes online. Back in the bridge, Thelev is over Ryker's shoulder looking atthe data coming in. There is no sign of the alien ship but only the semicrippled Federation fleet. The blue glow of a transporter lights up the bridge.It's the first office of the USS Unico and medical team.

"Sir we're hear tohelp and begin transport of your crew and patients to our ship. It's overcaptain, the alien ship has warped away".

Twenty-four hours later and Captain Thelev is sat in a hugebriefing room on the station Deep Space Three. He is there with other star shipcaptains and commanders waiting for the debriefing to start. He feels a hand onhis shoulder from the seats behind. He turns to find Captain Sulu smiling backto him.

"Good to see youagain Captain Thelev".

"You too Sulu"

"I hear you savedthe lives of everyone on the Lexington"

"Well everyone butthe Captain it would seem".

Thelev eyes grow sad and the thought of the crew he had lost inthe battle. They had all served with amazing courage and he would see thatevery one of them would receive a commendation from Starfleet for thereactions. It could have been worse he thought, he had only lost three crewmenand thank the gods his wife was relatively unhurt. With the salvage ofEnterprise from the battlefield the ship would still after a few months ofrepairs be able to become that museum piece on Earth.

The lights dim as Admiral Morrow takes the stage. Behind him thehuge screen shows a detailed tactical display of the enemy ship. Thelev hadfound out from the Unico's captain that after the warp breach the alien shiphad jumped away using some sort of Transwarp conduit that the fleet was unableto follow. Whoever this race was Thelev knew that this ship of theirs was justtesting the defences of each race.

It was clear that the Federation would meet these aliens again andnext time they'd be ready for them.

The End.

My Comics: Fracture [Pt 3]

2009-06-19T18:18:00.002+01:00

Below is another panel example from the upcoming one shot Fracture.

Love Sucks: Quickie

2009-06-03T19:21:00.002+01:00

Console Wars: Episode 9

2009-05-30T19:43:00.001+01:00

Love Sucks: One Wish

2009-05-22T19:46:00.002+01:00

Sponsor Me!!!

2009-05-20T18:54:00.003+01:00

Hi all,

I will will be doing an 150 ft abseil off the Newcastle City Council Tower in aid of Cash for Kids. Under the name of Three Birds and a Bloke, we will be setting off at 12:50 on Saturday 23rd May, if anyone wants to come down and cheer or jeer us on. Whether you can be there or not, we would appreciate any donations to the cause.

If anyone would like to sponsor us for our abseil (and please do!), you can either do so in person if you are on site, or via our justgiving page HERE

We also currently have a spare spot open for anyone who would like it - a girl would be preferred to keep the team name intact, but anyone secure enough to be called a bird is more than welcome!

Cheers!
Marie, Michael and Zarah

Console Wars: Episode 8

2009-05-18T18:34:00.001+01:00

This Week... I'm the dude from Goldeneye

2009-05-15T17:51:00.001+01:00

On the 23rd May in the year of our Lord 2009 I'm be doing a charity absail. It's for a Metro Radio Kids charity.

Love Sucks: Not this month

2009-05-14T18:07:00.002+01:00

My Comics: The Woodsman [Pt 5]‏

2009-05-14T18:04:00.001+01:00

I’ve received today a fully finished page for the up coming Unico Collections story called ‘The Woodsman’. The six page comic is drawn by Mark Bell who is also doing my ‘Fracture’ One Shot.

Below is page three and I think you’ll agree it looks brilliant.

Console Wars: Episode 7

2009-05-12T18:42:00.002+01:00

Bristol's SPexpo 2009

2009-05-12T18:38:00.004+01:00

The Small Press Expo (SPexpo) held in Bristol this year saw Unico Comics sell there goods for the first time. We would have all been nervous if it wasn’t for the fact we were still all hung-over from the night before.

The venue was a little different from previous years and all the small pressers were located in the hotel over the road from the main event in the Ramada Hotel. I have to say it was a nice little venue and plenty of room and not the hell pit of heat the normal venue is. It was nice to see everyone else and what they are up to work wise. The level of work was amazing from the other comic publishers. It makes you proud to be part of the small press scene when you see the quality of work being put out there.

We had a very successful day and could not be happier. We sold copies of both Borderliners and Uncle Tickle and we’re stocked that The legend known as… went down very well indeed and got plenty of attention and outsold everything else we had on the table. We learnt a lot of positive things from our first con and will look at how we present our goods for the next one to make us even better.

We’d like to thank Fallen Angel Media for hosting the show this year and to all the great people we met and new friends we made like Willy MJ and his wife who do the remarkable eekeemoo. Also a big thank you to all the people who bought our comics… we hope you enjoy them.

My Comics: The legend known as... [Pt 11]

2009-05-06T18:42:00.001+01:00

Happy days!! The printers has delivered the copies of The Legend Known As… and it looks bloody brilliant.

The comic can be bought from the unico comics website now at the paypal widget at the side. It’s only £3 including postage and packaging.

Lets see how it sells at Bristol this weekend.

Love Sucks: Never Answer

2009-05-05T20:25:00.002+01:00

My Comics: Fracture [Pt 2]

2009-04-30T19:21:00.005+01:00

Now back last year I submitted a comic called Fracture to Accent Comics UK for their Blessed and Cursed series (Side note: Their one shot called Whatever happened to the worlds fastest man looks awesome).

Anyway long story short it got knocked back because it was a little on the dark side for them. Fair enough I thought and it was stuck on the back burner.

That was until Unico’s newest artist Mark Bell had a read and said he loved the script.

The images on this page are the first inked panels of the comic. They look great and I can’t see more from him. The comic is a 22 page greyscale and defiantly for more mature readers. It follows the tragic tale of Mark Whitfield and the secret that resides in him.

My Comics: Unico Collections [Pt 23]

2009-04-30T19:08:00.001+01:00

Unico Comics is starting up looking for artists and writers for the new issue of Unico Collections – FOUR.

I’ve submitted some new scripts and I’m lucky to have had one of my scripts picked by Jag Lall. Jag worked on the comic Uncle Tickle that unico prints and sells.

The script he picked is called Why Jack Was Never Found. It was first wrote for Accent UK’s Victoriana anthology but then found its way into the Collections pile. The story is about a time travelling journalist who’s job it is to document events in the past that were left unsolved. I’ll not say more than that right now so not to spoil the story.

Console Wars: Episode 6

2009-04-30T19:07:00.002+01:00

My Comics: Unico Collections [Pt 22]

2009-04-30T19:06:00.001+01:00

The Woodsman story that is being made by Mark Bell is almost finished now and I’ve been lucky to see some pictures early. The stuff looks awesome.

As soon as I have a completed page I’ll stick it up on the blog. The comic itself will be going into

Love Sucks: I'm Fine

2009-04-30T19:04:00.002+01:00