The Borrower (John McNaughton) – Anyone expecting ‘Henry II’ (“After Henry”?) is in for a shock. This is totally different in style and tone, resembling ‘The Hidden’ more than anything, with bits of ‘Re-Animator’ as well. An alien, exiled to Earth in human form, wanders round taking people’s heads (hence the title) and using them for it’s own, to the perplexment of policewoman Rae Dawn Chong. She has another problem too, a rapist she caught has escaped and is out for revenge. There’s the crux: the film is almost two different ones joined at the hip, and the strands always seem disparate. Although only normal length, it also feels about 20 minutes too long as the alien wanders rounds without doing much. Still, Antonio “Huggy Bear” Fargas makes a delightful wino! 6/10.

Cyrano de Bergerac (Jean-Paul Rappeneau) – Curious how both Gerard Depardieu’s best known roles have been deformed, tragic heroes at the mercy of other people. If anything, Depardieu’s even better here than he was in ‘Jean de Florette’, and the first half of CdB is sheer magic, almost a one-man show as the character is established as a cross between Robin Williams and Indiana Jones, helping his cousin to woo a girl, whom he desperately loves himself. However, squint beyond Depardieu’s dazzling performance and the rest of the cast look distinctly average, and the film grinds gently to a near-halt by the end. Definite contender for performance of the year to date though. 8/10.

Deathstalker: Match of Titans (Howard Cohen) – Don’t confuse this with ‘Deathstalker’, or ‘Deathstalker II: Clash of the Titans’, as according to the end credits this is ‘Deathstalker 4: The Darkest Hour’. Now we’ve got that out of the way, I can tell you that the movie itself is astonishingly naff. Whatever happened to real sword and sorcery, with blood and bosoms? Rick Hall, the hero from the first movie, has returned to the role, and he brings a similar self-effacing humour to it as John Terlesky did in number 2. This helps a bit, as do the warrior women also competing in a tournament at a castle where the plot unfolds (the usual: evil princess and magic). And while it might be hard to dislike a film with an exchange like “A toast!”. “No, just some coffee…”, this movie almost manages to make you do it. 5/10.

Edward Scissorhands (Tim Burton) – The modified version of the 20th Century Fox logo which opens this film promises a magical, weird experience and Burton finally delivers in spades what’s been visible in flashes through the rest of his career, It’s one of the most beautiful films I’ve seen, right up there with ‘Legend’, and quite restores my faith in Hollywood. Johnny Depp, to my surprise. is very good in the title role, a Quasimodo/Frankenstein type with shears instead of hands, rescued by an Avon lady from his castle home. He then takes up topiary and hairdressing, although things go wrong when he’s led astray by the girl he loves (Winona Ryder, finally hitting puberty at 18 and filling out nicely!). The first half is generally comic, with most attempts at subtlety sharply cut off by amusing but annoying humour. Complemented by Danny Elfman’s score, the second part cuts the comedy and is superb, containing perfect moments such as Edward’s sculpting of an ice angel which sent a shiver down my spine. The story-telling isn’t faultless – important elements are thrown in almost casually – but everything else, right down to the set design, is nearly without flaw. 9/10.

Film Gore (various) – A vaguely interesting but largely pointless collection of film clips, hosted by the cultish but rather boring Elvira. The films are variously gory but yawn inducingly dull (Blood Feast), ungory but nasty and even scary (Texas Chainsaw), gory and effective (Driller Killer), totally ungory and totally boring (Dr.Jekyll’s Dungeon of Doom) and a bit gory but barely interesting (Astrozombies). Put together by Ken Dixon, who later followed this with ‘Zombiethon’ (containing the same Astrozombies footage and music), this was one of the first compilation tapes in America, soon to be followed by ‘Best of Sex and Violence’ and other cut ‘n’ paste videos. Elvira is far from being a highlight – she constantly interrupts the clips offering offensively unfunny jokes, remarks and puns. Load in, press play and keep your finger ready for fast forwards. (AM)

Hamlet (Franco Zeffirelli) – I must be one of the few people who’d have gone to see this even without Mad Mel, Helena Bonham-Carter (Britain’s answer to Winona Ryder?) being sufficient justification. Having said that, Mel’s not a bad Lethal Hamlet, especially when he goes into Shakespearean Psycho mode. the first twenty minutes or so are almost incomprehensible as you struggle to find the verbs in iambic pentameter verse but as you get used to it, it becomes a tense thriller. Mel’s backed up well by a good cast, notably Ian Holm and (naturally) HB-C, who looks about 12, sounds about 25 and goes insane, singing to herself. It all builds to an effective climax before everyone dies (damn, I’ve given away the plot – I was slightly worried the studio execs might have insisted on a happy ending!), While it’s no classic interpretation, half the play vanishing in a struggle to get a realistic running-time, it’s a lot better than it could have been. 7/10.

In Broad Daylight (James Sadwith) – Supposedly based on fact, this film neatly reverses the “one vigilante against a million scum” theme, by having an entire town take on one redneck after his assault on a shopkeeper seems to be going unpunished by the law, thanks to legal legerdemain. This provides 80 or so minutes of highly effective menace, courtesy of Brian Dennehy as the villain, definitely not the sort of guy you’d want to meet down any alley, dark or otherwise. That’s really about it; a long, slow-burning fuse, with more a whimper than a bang at the end. Such is the price of docudrama, since the same can probably be said for most of real life itself (even when transformed into cinema). Still, Dennehy delivers enough frisson to carry the film as a whole, even if it all feels not unlike a TV movie, albeit a grimy, well-done one. 8/10.

The Hard Way (John Badham) – Yet another buddy-buddy cop movie, except this time, one cop is really an actor, Nick Lang, pretending to be a cop to prepare for a part. This spoilt brat is played by Michael J.Fox – you will not be surprised to hear he is quite good at this. However, the REAL cop is James Woods and you will not be surprised to hear he is VERY good, combining manic tension, hyperactivity and self-doubt as he searches for the Party Crasher, a serial killer who calls the cops before each murder. He’s taken off the case to babysit Lang – does this stop him? You will not be surprised, etc, etc. This predictability runs through the movie but the joy to be had watching Woods struggling to call Fox “Susan” more than makes up for this. Keep an eye out for one glaring continuity error – the finale takes place on an enormous billboard head, whose eyes move when seen in close-up but in long-shot they’re embarrassingly static… 7/10.

A Hazard of Hearts (John Hough) – Avoiding the usual TC film accompaniment of a can of Guinness, a box of choccies was considered more appropriate for this Babs Cartland inspired melodrama. Taken in the right spirit, it’s fun – a thoroughly evil villain (James Fox) menacing poor orphaned heiress (and part-time gambling stake) Helena Bonham-Carter, Gareth Hunt as a highwayman for very little reason and Diana Rigg spitting poison and chewing scenery, some time before “Mother Love”. Though not quite Gothic enough (it needed a “Gone, and never called me Mother!” scene) and with some stultifyingly inept performances – we won’t mention names – it wasn’t as sugary as I expected given the author and any sick feeling can be blamed on an overdose of Milk Tray. Pass the soft centres. 8/10.

Mermaids (Richard Benjamin) – Every so often a film appears that confounds all expectations. On the other hand, this is exactly how I expected it to be, ruined by the plastic surgery disaster called Cher. Too much rhinoplasty means she has no alternative but to look down her nose as if the rest of the characters smelt funny. A shame, as you CAN empathise with them, whether it’s Bob Hoskins as a Jewish shoe-salesman or Winona as the daughter who wants to be a nun, but whose hormones aren’t listening (another shower scene & on-screen loss of virginity for her). She wanders round with eyes like saucers (this, I can cope with!) and gets pleasantly more screen time than her billing would suggest. The soundtrack is hideous 60’s crap, the only redeeming feature being that Cher’s “Shoop Shoop Song” is played over the end credits so you can avoid it. Two off for Cher, 6/10.

The Most Dangerous Woman Alive (Christian Marnham) – Such a title promises a fair amount of sleaze, and certainly this isn’t short on female flesh. It’s also more subversive than you might expect: a female Army cadet is raped by her C.O. and, after he’s acquitted by a court-martial, she recruits other women-with-grudges, and starts extracting her revenge on those she regards as responsible. Marete van Kamp plays her with the right degree of insanity, and Robert Lipton gets bonus points for cool as the covert operations man sent to investigate the disappearances. While there’s the usual cliches such as the bad girl who isn’t really, and the last half an hour is totally predictable, overall, it’s a pleasant surprise. 7/10.

Night of the Living Dead (Tom Savini) – If you liked the original, you’ll probably hate this remake but I’m not really a fan of Romero’s first zombie pic – a milestone film that looks badly dated and cheap now – so found this fun. Savini drags NotLD into the 80’s: not quite the 90’s, but significantly further on. The original plot needs no description, and is almost exactly reproduced, though tweaked (especially towards the end) to keep your interest going. ‘Barbara’ is beefed up to almost Sigourney Weaver standard and the gore is too, though it’s well short of ‘Dawn’ or ‘Day’. About the only change that I felt didn’t help was the removal of 95% of the TV scenes, which for me were one of the original’s strong points. 7/10.

Vigilante (William Lustig) – Surprisingly decent movie from the man behind the ultra-sleazy ‘Maniac’, here Lustig restrains himself well to good effect, avoiding both excessive sadism and glorification of the vigilante squad, led by Fred Williamson, who are the main characters. They gain a recruit in the husband of a woman attacked by a gang, after the leader gets a minimal sentence, but he discovers that violence has two sides. Good, believable acting from the cast (including the late Joe Spinelli) and Lustig, much like Abel Ferrara, has an eye for the grimier side of urban life. 8/10.

Only room for a few letters this issue. Probably a good job too, as I’m beginning to suspect this is really the “Penthouse” letters column…

Stephen Cremin, Croydon – “You mentioned expeditions to watch oriental girls in short rubber skirts. Where abouts in London can you go for a high babe count outside Chinatown?…How about a list of venues in TC10 to back up your Oriental focus? Or an organised TC Babe Watch – it could lead to a good follow-up article with photographs and short interviews”

C’mon, do you really think I’m going to let you know all the best zones? As it is, the ’…” was a tip for Manchester which I’m keeping to myself! ,

Greg Smith, Milton Keynes – “Given your apparent obsession with Winona Ryder, I figured I’d let you know that she appeared as Debbie Gibson with Mojo Nixon in his video for “Debbie Gibson is pregnant with my two-headed love child’ wherein they apparently wrestled in a giant vat of red jelly! So if you have any connection and know where to get hold of a copy…”

Had he not supplied documentary evidence, this would be appearing under “bizarre but imaginative fantasies”. So, can anyone help? And before I forget (like I have the past two issues!), Dan Pydynkowski, an American TCer, is looking for info on Janet Agren. Send any data to me and I’ll pass it on.

Jason Parker, Fockbury – “Don’t think I didn’t catch that snipe in the Grim Prairie tales’ review. Now I know that reality takes on a different perspective but my faculty seems to have borne up better than yours. As I remember it, | was waking you up, purely as a favour. [What does this ’selective editing’ button do?]…Jenny Agutter…two gherkins…pre-pubescent…McDonalds…soft- ‘ fleshed”

Ah. I see. Useful. Now, let’s enter The Reality Zone.

Brian Bower, Preston – “I have every sympathy with William Kilfeather’s views on the rip-off merchants of the Fanzine World…whilst criticizing the con-men, I would like to take the opportunity to praise the editor of one mag. I saw an ad for an American ’zine that had brought out a Hong Kong special so I wrote asking if it was possible to obtain a copy. He not only sent me a complimentary copy of the special, but also a copy of his regular mag. If you ever have a little space in your mag review column to sing the praises of Tim Paxton, it would perhaps balance the scales somewhat”.

Sentiments with which I heartily concur: for every swindler there’s a saint. To finish on, though, what better than some anonymous abuse. See if you can guess which ‘zine was being referred to in this quote:

“XXX does have an egotistical air about it. After reading a few issues, you can almost feel the editor’s head pulsating as it increases in size…”

Trick or Treat, run by Alun Fairburn, sells (mail-order only) ex-rental and other videos cheap, imports foreign ’zines and deals in all manner of genre stuff (he may be the only person with back issues of TC to sell!). I’ve bought a fair amount of things from there so can recommend it.

So where can you get all this Oriental stuff from? Well, for the Hong Kong action pics, the Jackie Chan Fan Club is the best source of information. They publish Eastern Heroes, an excellent bi-monthly publication with news, reviews and articles on all Hong Kong films, not just Jackie’s ones (they also sell video-tapes, albeit at rather a high price!). For anime, If you’re looking for merchandise i.e. books, magazines, cels from ’Akira’ (I suggest using someone else’s credit card for them!), then try the Sheffield Space Centre. They do mail-order, so send a couple of stamps and ask for a catalogue.

To the ’zines – here seems as good a place to mention Anime UK 4-6 (22/20/24 A4, £6/six issues), since this ’zine is easily THE place to contact other fans and learn about Japanes animation. The people who run it, Helen and Steve (the Lovely Angels of British fandom?) are always willing to help new fans.

One ’zine I got a flyer for but haven’t seen is Twisted Souls – issue 1 promises film reviews and articles on John Waters, necrophilia and “the sound of horror”. No idea of price or size yet. Subterrene 6 (30 A4, 50p) is almost 100% reviews, mostly but not exclusively horror films: editor Anthony digs up a lot of obscure stuff you won’t find elsewhere, as well as covering the classics. Pretty Poison 1-3 (20 A4, £1) worships vids, drugs and rock ’n’ roll, reviewing films, music and illicit pharmaceuticals (#3 has ecstacy getting a big thumbs down). Odd and obscure movies get most of the space in a fast, loose and cool style.

The most interesting thing for me in Samhain 27 (40 A4, 1.75) was, you’ll not be surprised to hear, the Winona Ryder piece, despite qualms about what Britain’s leading horror-zine is doing! Coming soon, a Julia Roberts interview? Pah, jealousy will get me NOWHERE! Speaking of lust, scraping in on the deadline is Nora K 4 (44 A4, 1.50?), Steve Rag’s latest review of the activities of everyone’s favourite jailbait. Reviews, more droolworthy pictures and even a Traci Lords Trivia quiz. Creeping Unknown 18 (40 A5, 95p) looks distressingly cool, with new DTP technology making it easier to read. What’s still the same is the chatty, informal feel as Nick, Cath & Lino seek out all that’s best (& worst), on film and video. ’

Dementia 13 (52 A4, 1.75) reaches it’s 6th issue, and has a couple of real good stories in it – one best described as ’A Clockwork Vampire’ and another, “Omadhaun’s Ink”, that might push the boundaries of taste for some. Critical Wave 21 (32 A4, £1.50) also deals with fiction, but it’s SF rather than horror and is mostly articles ABOUT the subject. Not for the novice, it’s well-produced and seems to know what it’s talking about. The Wild Places 2 (36 A5, £2) is a Fortean-ish ’zine with articles on corn circles, the extreme Christian press, alien conspiracies and spiritualism. Sceptical without being cynical, I enjoyed it.

Actions of Rebirth (20 A4, £1) is from Greece, but is (thankfully!) in English. It crams in more words per inch than most ’zines, on subjects ranging from the far Right to band interviews plus film & music reviews. Black 8 (20 A4, 60p) is from Sweden and is ALMOST in English! Definitely a zine I like getting, as Mikael and friends rant about Swedish TV and review art-house stuff like “Seduced at a party by mother-in-law”! ,

Gore Gazette 104 (10 A4, $1.50?) has a cover the shade of yellow seen only near nuclear plants. This issue has April Fool’s humour, with phone calls to people like Tobe Hooper. Puerile, childish & funny. Congratulations to Michael Gingold for following GG to 3 figures with Scareaphanalia 100 (14 A5, $1), which proves Americans ARE capable of writing proper English! Subhuman 18 (16 A5, $2) is almost like an trans-Atlantic ’Sheer Filth’ in content. perhaps not so sleazy, with the highlight being a scary piece on seeing someone you know in a pomo film.

Mortal Remains (20 A4, $3) has a clear, open layout that’s highly legible, and articles on David Lynch, the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors and films that the editor reckons deserve a second chance. Monster 57-58 (16 A5, $1) continues Tim Paxton’s love affair with creature features, though occasionally other things slither in. The man who really loves the films he writes about. Best new issue this time round is Brutarian 1 (72 A4, 2.50). Startlingly entertaining and well produced, it’s wide range of subject matter makes it look like a glossy American version of TC (that IS a compliment!). I got may copy through Trick or Treat (see above).

A typical page of Factsheet Five 42 (136 A4, $5) might have a ’zine for interracial couples, a gay literary quarterly, the self-explanatory Kansas City Flying Disk Club Newsletter and a “bioregional journal of ecology, economy and living in harmony with the earth”. Vital reading for the weird at heart. Generation X (24 A4, 75p) is aiming to do the same task in Britain, cataloguing everything from records to ’zines, with articles to vary the tone.

• Actions of Rebirth: Bill, Apostolopolou 51, Halanori 15231, Athens, Greece.
• Anime UK: Helen McCarthy, 147 Francis Rd, Leyton, LONDON, E10 6NT.
• Black: Mikael Bomark, ASPV.28, 14141 Huddinge, Sweden. )
• Creeping Unknown: Nick Cairns, c/o 33 Maltby Rd, Mansfield, Notts NG18 3BN.
• Critical Wave: Martin Tudor, 845 Alum Rock Road, Ward End, Birmingham, B8 2AG
• Dementia 13: Pam Creais, 17, Pinewood Avenue, Sidcup, Kent, DA15 8BB.
• Generation X: 1 South View, Main Street, Mexborough, S.Yorks, S64 ONE.
• Gore Gazette: c/o Sullivan, 469 Hazel St., Clifton, NJ 07011, USA.
• Jackie Chan Fan Club: Eastern Heroes, PO Box 409, London, SE18 3DW.
• Monster: Tim Paxton, MPO Box 67, Oberlin, OH 44074-0067, USA.
• Mortal Remains: Kevin V.Lewis, 1835 Centre City Pkwy, #145, Escondido, CA.92025, USA
• Nora K: Steve Rag, 118 High Street, Eastleigh, Hants, SO5 5LR.
• Pretty Poison: Gary Gittings, c/o 307, Bloxwich Road, Leamore, Walsall, WS2 7BD.
• Samhain: 77 Exeter Road. Topsham, Exeter, Devon, EX3 OLX.
• Scareaphanaiia: Michael Gingold, PO Box 489, Murray Hill Station, New York, NY 10156-0489, USA.
• Sheffield Space Centre:33 The Wicker, Sheffield, S3 8HS.
• Subhuman: PO Box 53735, Lafayette, LA. 70505-3735, USA.
• Subterrene: Anthony Coward, 6 Daleside Ave, Pudsey, Leeds, LS28 6HD
• Trick or Treat: 69 Pontamman Road, Ammanford, Dyfed, SA18 2HT.
• Twisted Souls: Lorraine Sinnott, Flat 0/1, 35 Summertown Rd, Ibrox, Glasgow, G51 2QA.
• The Wild Places: Kevin McLure, 42 Victoria Rd, Mount Charles, St.Austell, Cornwall PL25 4QD.

Welcome back. In the time since the last issue, two-thirds of the TC household popped to France for a silly weekend (unfortunately, our dear editor was transportless at the time & thus unable to join us… hence a trip to the Anime-con in California was deemed necessary in an attempt to tear him briefly away from TC). Plenty of silliness & alcohol was had by all, but that has nothing to do with comics, so I’ll skip it.

What is relevant, is that the newsagent at St. Malo ferry terminus had various “comics” available… including L’Echo Des Savanes, and several BD adultes (BD are Bandes Dessines, French comics… just in case you didn’t know!!). L’Echo is a bit like an adult version of Deadline – included in the issue I picked up were: Manara’s Declic 2; a variation on the old ‘Thirty-six and you still believe in fairies” joke (fully illustrated of course); articles on virtual reality, the history of the bikini, Meet The Feebles, Antoines “Rapido” De Caunes, & the current choice bimbettes (Samantha Janus, Winona Ryder, Naomi Watts & Lisa Matthew); a “readers’-wives” striptease; a slice of Paul Gillon’s The Survivor; and an article on motorway pile-ups. Not bad, eh?

T’other purchase was a pressy for the Ed – a copy of Video 7, possibly the finest video magazine in the world. Again French, this covered Lova Moor; Emmanuelle Beart; the latest cute American actresses (Lara Flynn Boyle, Uma Thurman, our Winona, Courteney Cox, Kelly Lynch, Robin Wright & Robin Givens); plus loads of film reviews (induding a Cahier X section, dealing purely with the latest porn releases… and judging by the adverts, there are plenty of those). To return to the wingeing of last issue, why isn’t good stuff like this allowed over here.

Beyond that comic-wise, I was stunned to hear of a shop over here that had a couple of BD Adultes in. On further investigation, these turned out to be Le Declic & Nouvelles Coquines, both by Manara, and all that should be expected of Manara’s work (see last issue for further details…). The first of these two is Click!, if you manage to find it over here ever, and is fun, sexy & every-so-slightly warped; I couldn’t say what the other is (maybe Shorts ?) but it’s cute & probably even better if you understand French, & hence the plot (aside: this is merely a humourous quip, as Manara’s plots are not overly complex… then again, maybe they’ve just lost something in the translation). Anyway, onto the stuff our editor expects…

Personally, I’ve only really been “into” comics for about four years… okay, so when I was a kid, I read Dandy, Beano et al, then was there at the start of 2000AD, but for about a seven year gap, I bought nigh on zero comics. Since my recent return to comics though, I’ve noticed various changes come about (maybe changes in perception, but I’d like to think it’s really the comic-buying public & publishers that have caused it). The middle-ground between the mainstream comic megaliths & the underground comics has blurred greatly, with the independent publishers forming a more & more important slice of the marketplace. Companies such as Now!, Dark Horse, Innovation, and a whole load of smaller fish are producing challenging, interesting, different comics for mature readers (not “adult”…. mature) – maybe it’s often without the professional gloss that the DC & Marvel big-boys have, but since when were TC readers bothered by minor details like that! Anyway, of the 23 comics I’d been considering reviewing in here, 19 were from indie-land so I’ll dub this an indie-scene SFC (even though Jim was willing to let me off topic-free this time) and set off into that strange and wonderful place.

(Cue theme from the Twilight Zone).

So.. what’s to say ? Well, the Indies have one major opportunity that the Marvel/DC “universes” lack – the freedom to experiment. There are very few rules to which the independents must adhere, and those are basically only there to ensure sales. There’re the nice-art-shame-about-the-story sort, the nice-story-shame-about-the-art sort, the shame-about-the-art-shame-about-the-story sort (a.k.a. “crap” or “supporting budding artists”), and the dunno-what-it-is-but-I-like-it brand. The most immediately grabbing ones are (fairly obviously) those with the art. There is some stunning art out there, and it ranges through the whole spectrum of styles. A lot of indies are black-and-white, but colour is creeping in gradually – as more comics get sold, more companies can break out of the monochrome mold (or should that be mould… never can tell). So, time to name some indies…

Well, I guess I can start with Fringe (Caliber Press, currently on issue 6), a personal favourite with a completely off-the-wall cyberpunk-meets-Wile-E-Coyote sort of attitude. The artwork is fairly minimalist B-&-W, the story concerns: a group of folks (principally Fringe himself and a Nun-like character going by the name of Chernobyll Red) who can alter other folk’s perception of reality; a totalitarian set of bosses; and lots of bouncy balls (seriously). Fringe is anti-establishment, CR is most definitely part of the establishment. Personally I’m not really sure what’s going on, but it’s fun, nicely drawn & written… so give it a go.

Next… Airwaves (again, Caliber, issue 4 just out). More totalitarian governments, more minimalist artwork, this time with music as an interesting aside. In Airwaves, the future of muzak is realized as the masses are kept anaesthetized by the all-pervading dross (bit like THX 1138, but not so antiseptic!), so it’s up to Jon Pure & his rock-band (aided by Paisley a Radio DJ less-than-loved by the authorities, punx and so forth) to beat the bad-guys. So far it’s just really getting going – but so far, so (very) good.

Now for a few at once… Cry For Dawn (A true indie… from Cry for Dawn publications, issue 5 (Spring 1991) just out on British shores), DHP a.k.a. Dark Horse Presents (Not surprisingly from Dark Horse, up to issue 53 these days), and Cheval Noir (Again, from DH, heading for issue 22 Stateside). So, what connects them? Well, they’re all B’n’W anthology sort of titles… DHP & Cheval Noir are very similar in style – half a dozen unrelated strips, generally across a few issues per storyline – the main difference being that CN is European based rather than being States based. DHP has lately included Sin City (Frank Miller’s latest, both written & drawn by him), Homicide (a police thriller style strip) and The Aerialist, a tale by Matt Wagner [Father of Mage & Grendel] set in a homosexual, drug-taking future where the main sport involves hanging off blimps by bungee cords (the exact details of the sport are a little vague…). All good stuff, and definitely worth a peek (or two).

Cry For Dawn is somewhat different. This is a horror anthology, initially based around Michael Linsner’s artwork with a few writers to keep him busy, but which has broadened its scope to include other artists (issue 4 was a bit of a let-down as it severely lacked Linsner bits apart from the cover). The stories have been completed in single issues, generally 3 stories per issue. Great artwork, some really creepy tales, a sense of humour, and you can even get Cry For Dawn T-Shirts (something on the list of to-be-sought’s for the California trip!!).

Other black and whites include assorted manga: Justy was an eight parter about psychic space-cops; Venus Wars is a current series about war between conflicting cities (on Venus of course), which features lots of big, weird battle-bikes; Golgo 13 is about a highly-skilled assassin and his “jobs” (actually this has been coloured in the Anglicized edition, but the black and white original stuff looks a load better!); then there’s Silent Moebius, a sort of female oriental ghost busters with the traditional oriental style ghosts slap-bang in the centre of the city. Also manga-wise, Akira and Outlanders (two of the best bits around) are currently heading to a close, but Akira is being reprinted in “bookshelf” format (three 64 page issues per bookshelf wolume) and also in one of the new Marvel mags (Meltdown ?). Area 88 (which stopped coming out about a year ago over here) is meant to be getting going again around year-end, so that should be worth a look (there’s a U.N. Squadron arcade game around in which you take on the role of an A88 character and earn money to equip your plane… tasteless in its own little way, but great fun!!).

The majority of the manga that’s in English has crept out of the Dark Horse and Viz – not UK Viz, American Viz – stables, plus bits from Epic (the not-part-of-our-universe-but-we-want-to-print-it part of Marvel). However, other companies have lately been spreading into the manga department – including Innovation, a company probably best known for their painted adaptations of modem novels, who have started producing 3×3 Eyes over here… about a vampiric 3-eyed schoolgirl who wants to be human (and it’s a lot more worthwhile than that makes it sound!).

Principal among the Innovation stock is probably The Vampire Lestat, a nicely-adapted, prettily-painted adaptation of the second of “the current three volumes in Anne Rice’s vampire chronicles. Currently heading for issue 12 (of 12!) it’s due to appear in a single 300+ page volume fairly soon. Just out last week (or that’s when I first saw it) is issue one of Interview With The Vampire, the book that precedes Vampire Lestat (odd publishing sequence you may think, but the Vampire Chronicles do actually improve as they go on!), it’s the first of another 12 part series. Coming soon is Queen of the Damned (the third book, again split into 12 issues) and The Master Of Rampling Gate, a one-off of one of Anne Rice’s shorter vampire tales. Other Innovation bits include: a 4 issue adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s The Colour Of Magic (recently finished); a couple of Elm Street style bits; and recently painted adaptations of Piers Anthony’s On A Pale Horse and Gene Wolfe’s The Shadow Of The Torturer have been started.

“Coming soon” includes a limited series version of Psycho and a 76 page “graphic novel” of Phantom of the Opera. Innovation stuff has so far been remarkably faithful to the originals but there can be quite a wait between issues (this is fairly common among all comic companies, Marvel & DC included, especially if the artwork is high quality… however, the Vampire Lestat series got me hooked enough to go out & buy the novels to read in the wait (and I still bought the comics as well!!)).

Dragon Chiang vaguely continues the oriental theme, but is actually about a Chinese-American who drives a truck through post-apocalypse America. A mere one-off, this is a nicely told tale in traditional Mad Max loss-of-humanity-through-war style. Nice stuff all the same. Other current nasty-future style stuff is predominantly Terminator based (Surprise! Surprise!) including: the Marvel comics adaptation of T2 (a three issue series, all three issues of which are around already); the Dark Horse Terminator One-Shot (another must-buy for Matt Wagner fans); and a new four-issue Dark Horse Terminator series (“Secondary Objectives“) about what happened when Arnie missed Sarah Connor.

I keep mentioning Matt Wagner, so I guess this is an appropriate time to mention my love of Grendel, earlier Wagner and very nicely done too. It concerns a demon-spirit (“Grendel”) that possesses a mask and spear, and anyone who wears them… at least I think that’s the basic line. However, this isn’t a mindless-violence-until-exorcised style demon, this one is anti-establishment (why do I like anti-establishment comics…), anarchic and generally a crazy guy to have around. The Grendel series goes from roughly “now” to the distant future, where the Church has taken over the world, and Grendel is a sort of cult-religion figure that the Church wants to stamp out. Unfortunately, I’m currently suffering gaps all through my Grendels, and don’t have about the last ten, so details as to what’s really going on are lacking (maybe I’ll pick up the rest in America… they must have them there).

Another marvellous creation of MW’s is Mage, sort of a King-Arthur-meets-the-little-green-men tale, collected in three volumes and a must-buy for anyone who thinks Frank Miller & Dark Knight redefined the comic-book hero (he just took the nice indie style and showed it was commercially viable to the big boys).

More oldies now!! Rust tells of a horribly disfigured man trying to maintain his humanity and protect his friends (vaguely like the Concrete stuff, but painted rather than line drawings and with fewer green-ities!!). Shatter’s, an early cyberpunk comic with computer generated art from the man who brought the world MacPlaymate (an icon-driven interactive sex game for the Apple Macintosh, featuring a prone figure, draggable dildoes, marvellous (if sick!) graphics, and assorted sound effects). Note that Shatter’s art is somewhat earlier than Digital Justice, and it shows in the size of the printed dots… God’s Hammer covers the tale of an ordinary guy from the future whisked off into adventures beyond his understanding. This has nice fine pen-and-ink stuff, ’tis good.

The Crow is another Caliber title, telling of a man who turns psycho-vigilante to avenge the murderers/rapists who killed his girlfriend. Very nice story, definitely nice art, dedicated to Ian Curtis, and a marvellous picture of a man who has just slipped over the edge… the rights to this are apparently now in the hands of Dark Horse, so there’s still a chance of an anthology version of this – buy it if you see it!!

Well, that’s definitely most of what I had littered around to cover, and if I’m not careful there’ll be no room for any pictures (not that they’re really much use in a marvel like TC), so this is me signing off. Now, back to the newsroom.