The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

Full disclosure bit – Ben McCool is a friend of mine and has been for years – we worked together at Nostalgia & Comics Birmingham, him a mere baby, me not quite so young,  I watched him take his first steps to being a comics writer, and like so many people who have had any contact with him, I have been ridiculously drunk with him, entertained by his stories and anecdotes for many a night. Ben left these shores to take up residence in New York City and found himself and his famous good nature and excellent company making him many friends in the USA. And at some point he even became Future Mr Beat.

His eventual first publication came a while ago but it’s his latest that is really getting his name known. Which brings me to Choker, a high profile series from Image Comics with art from Ben Templesmith. The pre-press and post release press has been huge on this one and it’s reported as being a sell out before release (meaning the retailers have bought the whole print run). This is absolutely excellent news. I’m absolutely made up for Mr McCool, genuinely one of the nicest guys I know.

I haven’t got a copy of Choker yet, will do in the next couple of days. I’m expecting to enjoy it. It seems that most people’s verdict involves talking about Templesmith’s (admittedly) brilliant artwork and how McCool is evoking Warren Ellis in his writing (even this CBR review can’t help but mention Fell even if it doesn’t name Ellis). Which may be so, and the fact it looks like Ellis’ Fell thanks to Templesmith’s art doesn’t dispel the feeling. But there are two points – I’ve known Ben for years and that is how he talks, and if he’s writing in the shadow of Ellis that’s not a terrible crime – after all, Ellis’ first works are all derivative and rather Moore like. It happens.

There’s a Choker blog here, and Newsarama have a 9 page preview of Choker 1. But just for a treat – here’s a bit of it:

One final thing – McCool is his real name. Unless his family have been involved in a very long running and complex joke for many years.