The below opinions are that of the individuals who have sent them in and do not represent the collective view of the Amateur Comics Guild.
Information: Written by Phil Cuthbertson, artwork by Steven Howard. Printers by Indyplanet.
Review: Now origin issues are normally the worst to read in my opinion because 9 times out of 10 it’s slow and dull while the writer tries to show us the main core of characters. The normal fix is to stick in some cool action to speed the thing along. The writer has done an excellent job giving the reader a look at the funny, well rounded characters ; and in the case of Jessie someone you immediately like from the go. This issue is full of humour and moments you’ll recognise from your own time at school , which means you’ll get an attachment to this universe straight away. Also with Issue 1 (or should I say Level 1) out of the way you can tell this is going to kick into the manga style action in future issues , especially after seeing the reveal splash page at the end of issue 1. Dragon Groove stands out from most of the small press competition I’ve seen in the respect that this thing is in full colour and bright and alive on the pages. The artwork is very alive and has some good little touches like the dad , and how you are unable to see his face in any of the comic (Check out the picture over the fireplace). The artist does a really great job of movement and pacing with in the pages. I’m not sold on the thickness of the line work around the characters but I think that’s more of a personal taste thing as it does no damage to the artwork itself , and plenty people I’ve spoken to have liked it. All in all it was a very strong issue and I hope to see more from the Dragon Groove series.
Information: Written by Rob Dunlop, artwork by Peter Lumby and coloured by Eric Erbes. This started off as an online comic and now has grown into a number of published books. The series is published by Ablaze Media.
Review: For those new to the universe (the comic universe not the actual real life one) Tozzer is a 12 year old by who’s enrolled at a drama school in Hollywood. When a deranged film director and his psychopathic minions threaten the school, Tozzer and his mates must come to the rescue. This comic is aimed at the late teens audience with its adult humour and cutting film and sci-fi references. The print quality on these books is awesome and truly professional and kids it’s in true Technicolor to boot.The artwork in this is excellent and does a very good job at portraying the world the little bastard lives in. There’s not really much more I can say about the art apart from when they include the many famous Hollywood types in this comic they get the characters 100% right in terms of giving them a true ripping the piss feel. The writing is the strongest part of the whole thing in my opinion, it’s quick firing and witty as hell. How they get away without being sued is the biggest mystery. Especially in this volume where they is some blatant ripping of most of the Nerdboy library (Star Wars and Matrix to name a few) and if Michael Jackson’s lawyers ever read this the team best grab their passports and head for the Mexican border. I’d highly recommend this series to anyone with a big bag of weed and a wicked sense of humour.
Information: Written by Various, artwork by Various. This is the first Anthology release by Unico Comics.
Review: Seen as the first proper release from UK Indie newboys Unico Comics comes the anthology UNICO COLLECTIONS. This good sized comic (110 Pages) has a selection of small one off comics that Unico states are a taste of future full comic series that may be come available at some point. It’s interesting to see which of these small “show comics” in the book may one day make it into a fully fledged comic series. The annual itself is excellent quality with much of it being in colour which is unusual for most small press comics and being over 100 pages is good value for money. As for the work itself it covers many genres from Superheroes to Greek Gods and Corrupt Cops. All in all there is a story or artstyle to suit anyone’s needs. I highly recommend it.
Information: ‘Sign Post on the Left’ is published by 01Comics.com. Story and Artwork is by Mitch Bryd and Barry Gregory doing the digital paint. This comic can be bought from www.indyplanet.com.
Review: A quirky little number this is in both respect of story and format. For some reason they’ve decided to lay the comic as landscape instead of portrait within the normal US sized comic. The title, intro and cover are all normal landscape. Why I hear you mumble? No freaking idea but my guess is that this was once an online comic as if the pages were drawn with more length than height if you get my meaning? Or maybe they thought it looked cool. After all it does look great but anyone watching you read this thinks you’re looking at some kind of comic book centrefold. The artwork for Small Press is amazing and made all the better using Ka-Blam’s printers who for me are miles ahead from the competition. Mitch’s artwork is top notch stuff and reminds me very much of an Image title. By that I mean it looks uncomplicated at first glance but having a real look it’s very detailed and weighted. The story is a belta (Geordie slang for really good to those who don’t as well. It’s basically about a bunch of people that live in a city which is populated by actual Dinosaurs running loose. The laid back trio in this issue get attacked by a T-Rex and decide enough is enough and leave town. It’s a strange concept but works really well. It’s a cracking little comic and a really good price as well.
Information: Written and Illustrated by Comfort Love and Adam Withers. This full colour comic comes in at 36 pages.
Review: Almost Blown Away! That’s this comic is three words… oh you want more words? Fine. Uniques is something you rarely see in small press comics these days and that’s a full run on a comic series like the big boys do. Too often I’ve read a SP Comic and got really into it to find that they stopped after Issue 1. With Uniques they are running with this universe in a big way. The story itself concerns the old chestnut of superhero loses parents blah blah blah. Damn I thought, It seemed this may go down the typical route of hero/heroine loses parents and goes on revenge trip. Which is all fine and good but when I read Small Press I want to see something new and experimental. Luckily I was wrong in my assumption of this series. The twists and turns are brilliantly executed and ensures I will buying issues 2, 3, and 4 ASAP. One down side is that it’s a little wordy… by that I mean you can say what you need to say without going overboard on the dialogue but being a first issue there is a load of stuff you need to get across so this is to be expected. Artwork on the whole is great and shows some tremendous talent although one of two panels do look a little rushed but you’re talking about maybe 3 panels at most so that’s nothing but it does take the shine of a well polished piece of work. Now at the start of this review I said Almost Blown Away and the reason for this one solitary page that shows two dick characters stopping a robbery. For some reason the story turns into cliché rubbish and high level swearing then back to the main story. I’m sure there is a reason for thins but it spoiled it a bit for me. Other than that I highly recommend this comic to anyone.
