Top comics artist Sean Phillips will be paying to the Glasgow Forbidden Planet International on Wednesday 25th January (Burns Night, as it happens, bring your own haggis) from 5 to 7pm, signing copies of his very tasty looking new creator-owned collaboration with Ed Brubaker, Fatale, the firt issue of which comes out from Image in January, so take advantage of this opportunity to meet one of our top creators just as his new series hits the racks.

Above, the cover of Prophet #1 from Image, 1993, by Rob Liefeld.

Below, the cover (by Marion Churchland) and the first few pages of Prophet issue 21 by writer Simon Roy and artist Brandon Graham.

You couldn’t possibly get further apart if you tried could you? Best description is Graham’s: “Fucking future space Conan ish”

Graham writes about the series here, but essentially it’s a completely new start, focusing on the hard sci-fi of the concept, all part of the Image 20 years celebration of 2012. Haven’t heard much about Image’s 2012 plans (or maybe haven’t been paying much attention?), but this is definitely a step in the right direction. Wonder if there’s more planned like this? I do hope so.

Well, Rian Hughes has been trailing this one for a while with various postings on his Facebook, but finally Tales From Beyond Science has a release date.

It will be on release from Image Comics on December 21st 2011. Late Christmas pressie anyone?

Tales is a pulp sci-fi collection with stories written by Mark Millar, Alan McKenzie and John Smith, and all drawn by Hughes. Eight different stories, one oversized hardcover collecting the weird X-Files meets Tharg strip from 2000AD of ’92-’94:

The Thought Bubble convention & festival is bigger than ever this year, taking place across a week in November with a bigger 2-day, 2-venue convention on 19th & 20th November.

They’ve already completely sold out all of their exhibitor slots (300 of them) and have a very, very impressive guest list. No word on the events yet, but it will be coming soon, and will no doubt be equally impressive.

But one very new thing was announced this week, and (I think) it’s a first for a UK convention. Taken from the latest Image Comics solicitations (on CBR):

THOUGHT BUBBLE ANTHOLOGY #1
story ANDY DIGGLE, STUART GORDON & ANTONY JOHNSTON
art CHARLIE ADLARD, DUNCAN FEGREDO & D’ISRAELI
cover BECKY CLOONAN
NOVEMBER 9
Top names come together to celebrate Thought Bubble’s fifth year with an anthology of new short comics. This collection will also print the winners of the first ever Northern Sequential Art Competition. All profits from this comic will go to the charity Banardos.

Yes, a Thought Bubble comic, released in time for the convention itself. That is a major, major coup. There have been convention comics before, but have there been any published by one of the bigger publishers?

Mudman – coming from Image Comics in November….

Well, on the downside, this pushes back any possibility of more of his brilliant Kane series. And what it means for the continuing Weird World Of Jack Staff we’ve yet to find out. But any new work from Grist is a thing to be trumpeted. From the Image press release:

“This is my ‘Back to Basics’ superhero comic,” explained Grist. “It’s not about alien menaces or cosmic powers (though they may pop up once in a while); it’s all about growing up and finding your way in the world, and how the decisions that you make can affect others. In a way, it’s probably the most autobiographical comic I’ve ever done. But with added mud.”

In MUDMAN #1, the new school year is just beginning, and it isn’t starting off well for teenager Owen Craig. His day just keeps going from bad to worse: He gets run over, he gets detention, and then he learns his father has actually been taken hostage by armed bank robbers. But that’s only the beginning of his problems. Now his body appears to be turning into mud!

(Via Newsarama)

(page from Bulletproof Coffin, by and (c) David Hine and Shaky Kane, published Image)

On the racks today and just how fabulously cosmic does this look: Joe Casey and Tom Scioli’s Godland Celestial Edition Volume 2 from Image.

Image Comics

Chew was one of those books that got an awful lot of buzzy press as soon as it appeared, and I finally tentatively approached it expecting something lightweight and relatively throw-away, but I have to say I was surprised, and rather impressed at how enjoyable it was.

Essentially it’s just a standard superhero crime thriller done with a little funny and with one very interesting original twist that fuelled all of the early buzz around the comic. And through the five issues that make up this first volume Layman writes like a demon, spinning as much as he possibly can out of that interesting and original concept. It works very, very well, but I still have the sneaking suspicion that it’s going to run out of steam at some point.

The big twist is the superpower of the lead character, although superpower may be an exaggeration – Tony Chu is a “Cibopathic”, which means he gets psychic impressions from anything he eats……

(Meet Tony Chu (Chew … geddit?), a cop, a cibopath, and eater of a lot of beets. From Chew Volume 1: Taster’s Choice, published Image Comics)

In five issues Tony Chu graduates from run of the mill cop with a habit of making incredible break-throughs on hard to solve cases to the premier member of an elite team of agents on the FDA payroll. The FDA being the US Food And Drug Administration, one of the most powerful and maybe the strangest government organisations around ever since 23 million Americans died from bird flu (allegedly – there’s mounting evidence that this is just one more big cover up by the government – although for what possible reason we have no idea – yet).

Cops like Tony Chu find themselves staking out chicken dealers, and it’s here that Chu first encounters the FDA after a stakeout goes bad, his partner ends up in hospital and Chu is about to get kicked off the force – after all, how do you explain that you’re discovered eating a recently deceased serial killer to your bosses? The truth wont go down well – “I had to eat the deceased, so I could use my freakish powers to find out the names of the 13 girls the deceased had killed so I could do the right thing and give their families some closure”. No, that just isn’t going to work.

Luckily for Chu, that’s the moment that fellow cibopath and FDA agent Mason Savoy steps in to bring  him onboard as an FDA agent. From here Chu’s life gets very, very strange and dangerous indeed. His new boss hates him and his freakish powers, the new job means having to eat some really, really nasty stuff and Mason Savoy is a little too mysterious to be true.

(Chu and his mysterious mentor in the FDA; Agent Savoy Mason, busy convincing Chu that the job means having to do some rather unpalatable things. From Chew Volume 1: Taster’s Choice, published Image Comics)

Guillory’s artwork is a perfect fit for the light, cop thriller with a side of comedy and more than a hint of buddy movie in the relationship between Chu and Savoy (think Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in Men In Black and you’re in the right area). The art’s light, fast, mildly exaggerated cartoon style stuff (the nearest modern equivalent would be Gabriel Ba on Umbrella Academy), but it’s really impressive considering this is Guillory’s first pro job.

The high concept of Chew, the Cibopathic thing, is the one really original twist in Chew. And Layman milks it for all he can, but milks it bloody well, throwing in everything he can possibly think of to keep the interest high; boss from hell, serial killers, Russian vampires, love interest for Chu with an equally strange foodie power – five issues of this just raced by, all funny crime procedural meets X-Files with a cannibalistic twist.

Chew might falter with later issues (Michael, our latest reviewer, and someone more able to keep up with these things issue by issue as they hit the comic shop shelves, commented that he thinks it’s on the way downhill) but on the strength of this first collection I’ll be looking out for collection 2 to discover where Layman takes it.

Seen via Ellis: New series from Image by Brit vets David Hine and the magnificent Shaky Kane that starts this June.

Previews here. Flikr sideshow here. Could have picked any of the images out but here’s one bit of brilliance that leaped out:

by Ben McCool and Ben Templesmith

Image Comics

Choker – a detective story in a very Blade Runner-esque setting with plenty of science fiction, horror and some very, very dark comedy thrown in for good measure.  This book comes to you from newcomer Ben McCool and the already well-established Ben Templesmith. What we see in this issue is the story of an ex-cop turned private detective living a life he’s not particularly happy with being offered one more chance to get back to the job he thinks he deserves. This is a story that has been seen many times before but rarely in such a brilliant way.

McCool’s foul language and disgusting descriptions do not hide the fact that he’s an excellent writer. With writing that flows effortlessly and pushes the story forwards at a perfect pace his flowing dialogue could compete with the likes of Brian Michael Bendis.

Choker will no doubt draw comparisons with Fell due to the art and McCool’s style of writing but it’s funnier, darker and (hopefully) comes out on time and doesn’t just disappear from the face of the Earth. Yes, McCool might write like Ellis but more the on-form Ellis of Planetary, Desolation Jones, Fell and so on and not the stuff that generally just pours out of that big brain of his that Avatar puts into print. A name like Ellis’ is a license to print money in the comic book industry and if Ben carries on like this he could be on track to building the same sort of reputation.

The second Ben on Choker is a certain well-known artist by the name of Mr. Ben Templesmith. Now if you like his style, then you’ll struggle to find a piece of work that isn’t incredible. With Choker each panel looks like one of his signature covers and would look fantastic framed on anybody’s wall.  Using a mix of vivid colours in addition to his usual dark palette he brings Shotgun City and its characters to life, and sets the tone of the book perfectly.

This first issue is a must buy, a great introduction for what will hopefully be just the first of many Choker tales.  McCool has a bright future ahead of him and Templesmith continues on track with the brilliant career he has carved himself out as one of the industry’s leading artists in the alternative sector.

Michael Gee

Choker 1 and 2 might still be available, (second prints of both have been rush released) and the rest of the issues are here.