Thursday 22 February 2024

Obscure Comic of the Month - Coal Face

Obscure Comic of the Month is a column where I take a look at a comic or series that hasn't really been talked about. This covers independent comics, zines, weird spin-offs, webcomics and more.

-----------------------------------------------

Coal Face - The Devil in the Smoke by Jay Gunn - MoonAlp Books 2023



Contains 'Miner' Spoilers


There's always been a somewhat oversimplified framing of the 1980s miners strikes as a simplified David vs Goliath story in popular culture, but it's easy to forget that things were much more complicated. Even more so when it comes to the legacy of those strikes and the industry they were connected to.

The book I'm looking at today isn't a comic pre-se, though it did start life as one, and ultimately it's final form as an illustrated prose story is close enough as far as I'm concerned. It's my column and I can do what I like. Written and illustrated video game developer and National Coal Board work-experiencer Jay Gunn, who uses his own past and family history as a jumping off point into this period fable of teenager Tony Gray's maybe real, maybe imagined, adventure into the ancient cursed history of his town's local and currently be-striked coal mine.

Gunn weaves a great deal of tendrils throughout the tale, having Tony not just have to deal with the local strife and uncertainty around the strike, but also, and not limited to, his parent's broken marrage, health problems caused by local pollution, class divides, family expectations and his desire for a future in programming video games.

From these themes weave out the fantastical. From the vampire-esque Fancy Man representing corporate (and personal) greed, to Maybell The Wooden Girl speaking for the blighted rural areas, to the dragon Coal Face itself becoming the nexus of pain from which radiates from the coal industry, long term respiratory problems and premature death.



Gunn plays with a lot of threads and does so pretty effectively for a story that isn't all that long. It's works for the most part given the ambiguity of the fantastical elements, which may be no more real than dreams or part of Tony's imagination, especially given that he is seen working on a video game with a story that exactly mirrors the adventures he is supposedly experiencing for real. This allows Gunn to frame these fantastical elements as a child's rationalisation of the difficult reality surrounding the pit closures.

Whereby the striking workers through noble cause can give in to their worst impulses, it is easier for someone like Tony, who lost his grandfather to the pit and saw his parents ripped apart by idealogical divide, to rationalise the whole thing as the schemes of a legendary beast that can poison the mind as easily as it can poison the body.

In that respect, you might expect that Gunn is going for easy answers here, but in fact he is doing quite the opposite. All through the story Tony shows little desire to follow his father and grandfather into the mining industry, clearly not having the temperament or the physical health to do so, yet he is treated with suspicion and destain for wanting to seek a future in video games. Likewise, Tony's lower class upbringing is mocked by those more well off who never have to worry about work like coal mining, and Tony is tempted away from class solidarity with the promise of luxuries and frivolity.



I love the intricacies and difficulties that Gunn explores here. I'm no stranger to striking myself, and have little sympathy for scabbery, but even I'm not so foolish as to think people slot into easy roles. My town is a former mining town. I have family member who have died due to the health problems their work down the pit left them with. There are constant promises of re-opening the coal mines, and despite the fact that we are in desperate need of more jobs, I absolutely do not want to see that industry return to blight this town.

If I have one criticism of the story, it's that this attempt at showing the shades of gray comes with the risk of walking away from this story with anti-union sentiment. Of course, Gunn makes it pretty explicitly clear that the true villain of the story is the pursuit of capital, but we do unfortunately live in a world where folks will ignore the moral of a story if it doesn't suit them.

However, I've only talked about the text of the story so far, when there is so much more to it with the art. Gunn's illustrations bring to life an already enthralling story, with a vibrancy and texture. The characters are animated and believable, the blighted landscapes drawing you in and cementing you into a specific place and time. The fantastical elements have an otherworldly, uncanny feel to them that emphasises the ambiguity of how much of what Tony is experiencing is entirely from his imagination.



The story's other big subplot, that of Tony wanting to get into programming, is emphasised and reinforced through the illustrations also. The stark, primitive visuals of the Atari days glow in neon green, feeling almost pre-historic by today's standards. This adds to the feeling that Tony's character is no weak and frightened fool, as even just through the visuals we can understand the skill it would have taken to programme a video game in those days. Tony might not want to go down the pit, but that doesn't mean he lacks willpower.

The visuals and the text work in tandem to create a tale that feels very simple and easy to digest in it's delivery but that contains a history with great depth beneath. The story closes with a bittersweet ending. The monster defeated, but Tony's personal strife continues, as he is left still finding his way in the world where he has to try and show solidarity for a line of work he knows is doomed to closure. The story does not let you off with any easy answers, and doesn't sugar coat that the world is not so easily fixed.

Coal Face is a finely executed all-ages tale that creates a perfect snapshot in time to emphasize that while heroes and monsters exist in both fiction and reality, it's only in fiction that these distinctions are so easily spotted. Right now, as it was in the 80s, being a hero is not as easy as simply picking up a controller, and defeating monsters can't be done with simple button presses.

----------------------------------------------

Jack Harvey 2024. Coal Face (c) 2023 Jason Wilson. Images used under Fair Use.

Thursday 18 January 2024

Jack's January Update!


Hello all. It's the start of the year once again which means we're currently stuck in the doldrums of the post festive deflation. So what better time to steel ourselves for the coming months with a look ahead at the good stuff in store. For me, it's going to be a busy year. Here's a few thing you might want to keep an eye out for.

- My final Sea of Spheres short story, Choose Your Weapons wisely, has now been posted in full, and can be read here. Updates for it are not yet complete, however, as Windlass is still cooking up some final artwork for the starting chapter, which should be coming soon.

- The magnetic Brian McCray is currently working on the artwork for a four page comic script of mine. I'm super excited to see the final piece and if you're a fan of my writing I think you'll get a particular kick out of this one. Watch this space.

- I'm currently working on a secret project with Turbomiracle. This may or may not happen, depending on how things pan out, but It's an idea with legs, and will no doubt see the light of day in the long run if it doesn't happen this year. You can see a sneaky peek at some blueprints for this up above.

- With all that in mind, writing will be taking a bit of a back seat this year as I move some pieces from here to there on some more physical projects. Information will be here as it comes through, but Obscure Comic of the Month will still continue as normal.


I'm always looking to pencil myself in to as many convention appearances as I can, and this year is no different. While I've had to deal with some moved dates and cancellations, so far I can confirm three as being set in stone.

- Whitehaven Mini Con is back on February 24th for it's third year and a second at the Civic Hall. Always really happy to see this convention do well, and I'll be there showing my full support. Also, I'll have an extra table selling second hand graphic novels and books for low low prices, if you fancy taking a peek.

- I'll be returning to the 6th April Sheffield Comic and Film Fair at the Showroom Cinema, which I had a fantastic time at last year. For such a small venue it managed to see a turnover of varied and interesting people, and I'm eager to jump back out there to reconnect with those audiences.

- For October 11th - 13th I'll be attending FantasyCon at the Chester Hotel. This one I'm particularly looking forwards to, as a lot of my prose writing tends not to do a lot of action at comic conventions, so an event more dedicated to fiction writing will hopefully be a good chance for my more wordy works to find an untapped audience.


I hopefully will have more conventions lined up as the year goes on, as well as some podcast appearances and whatnot as things tic over. As ever I'll be posting critical updates here, but you can find more off the cuff comments, rambles and doodles over on Twitter, Bluesky, Tumblr and Deviantart.


Happy New Year and Stay Cool

Thursday 11 January 2024

Obscure Comic of the Month - 20th Century Men

Obscure Comic of the Month is a column where I take a look at a comic or series that hasn't really been talked about. This covers independent comics, zines, weird spin-offs, webcomics and more.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

20th Century Men by Deniz Camp and Stipan Morian - Image Comics 2023



Contains Mild Spoilers


I wasn't expecting to write about 20th Century Men for this column. I had already seen quite a bit of buzz about it within the general comics community and expected that it would explode into the mainstream as soon as the series had hit critical mass. Instead, however, it doesn't appear to have reached the wider audience I was expecting it to. So, here I am, doing my part to try and evangelise a comic that far more people really should have heard about.

20th Century Men is, in short, a riff on Alan Moore's Watchmen. The story takes place in an alternate cold war where super-science and adventuring heroes turned the tide of history and their legacy causes a chain of events that dooms us all. The twist this time is that it's the Soviet Union who got the immortal supergod this time around and it is through communist eyes we experience most of the story.



If that makes it sound like 20th Century Men is a simple 'what if' then stay with me a little longer, because while Camp displays the Watchmen influence pretty proudly it is very much not trying to do a simple palate swap. The Dr Manhattan analogue only plays a minor role in the plot, more homage than anything, while the main crux of the story is centred around Platonov, a sort of analogue Iron Man if Tony Stark was a communist and also a Warhammer 40'000 Space Marine Terminator. While Watchmen was a murder mystery, with most action taking place in flashback, 20th Century Men is set during the Soviet expansion into Afghanistan, and the blood soaked conflict is very much front and centre.

The chosen perspective is definitely an interesting one, giving the Soviets a somewhat sympathetic point of view during a conflict that pop culture has frequently painted them the villains of. Depicted far more villainously in this story is US foreign policy, embodied by President Goode, part Captain America, part Lex Luthor, part Gary Busey, an institution and character more interested in proving their superiority as opposed to a utopian ideal.



Still, while not apparent at first, it quickly is made clear that it is Afghanistan itself that is the true protagonist of the story. The so-called 'Graveyard of Empires,' home to people deserving of life just as much as their American and Soviet counterparts, yet treated as little more than pawns by those who see themselves as the 'true' civilisation. It is at this point the meaning of the title becomes clear, and that it is the 'civilised' world's failure to treat Afghanistan as anything other than a tile on a game board to be fought over that has condemned us to the doom in which we now find ourselves.

The comic is blisteringly harsh in that regard. A real road to hell paved with good and not so good intentions. The line "A million of us dead and millions more to come because you couldn't imagine a civilisation without flush toilets," is particularly scathing and will probably stay with me for the rest of my life. Camp aims high with what he wants to do with this comic, and frankly, he hits every target he shoots for. 20th Century Men is a comic that left me with literal chills and made me ask things about myself that I'd rather not ask.



Which brings me on to Stipan Morian's art. It feels like the ultimate combination of 1990's Vertigo at it's best with the contemporary grit of current generation 2000ad all wrapped up slickly to the kind of standard Image comics is known for these days. Simultaneously retro and modern, Morian has to tackle a lot over the course of this comic, from blood soaked battlefields to utopian communist farmland to sleazy boardrooms and the dusty streets of Afghan villages that feel more real than real. Morian slips between the majesty of a techno-future past that never was and the grime between our fingernails of a tragic present that probably is.

That 20th Century Men hasn't become one of our seminal texts already is unconscionable but also probably unsurprising. As a Watchmen riff it already finds itself in the company of a billion other superhero comic deconstructions that we have seen in the years since. As a condemnation of the western world it covers subjects that one can easily find all too popular YouTube know-nothings arguing about for hours on end. In a lot of ways 20th Century Men has become lost in the shuffle, struggling to find a niche in areas already stuffed to the gills with diluted and far inferior products.



So here I go, ranting about it in the humble way as best I can and trying to sell it to my motley collection of followers. 20th Century Men is a monumental piece of work. You can feel the sheer force of will from Camp, Morian and letterist Aditya Bidikar bringing it to life. It should be a shoe in for every 1001 Comics to Read Before you die list and frankly if I don't see it enter on the 2024 edition I'll 'insert humorous self-deprecating action here.'

There's probably a billion other things I could string out to try and convince you to read it, but I dunno, I guess I'm just hoping my words can burst out of the page even a fraction as strongly as they do in 20th Century Men. Even holding the book in my hands feels like I'm carrying the weight of the world within it. It's a tome that almost refuses to be ignored as our civilisation spirals once more towards it's darkest impulses.

It's a good comic you should read it.


--------------------------------------------------------


Jack Harvey 2024. 20th Century Men (c) 2023 Deniz Campbell, Stjepan Mihaljevic, and Aditya Bidikar. Images used under Fair Use.

Monday 11 December 2023

Sea of Spheres - Choose Your Weapons Wisely


 

All things come to an end, which is why it's bittersweet for me to bring you the final (for now) story in my Sea of Spheres series. So far we've seen stories from the point of view of those within the various factions and societies across the elevated sea, but in this final tale we get to witness it from the perspective of an outsider

With amazing art once again by Windlass, I bring you the conclusive Choose Your Weapons Wisely.

Grigda Longstride has been running and fighting for a long time, first from her home world of magic and myths, then from the gothic city of Haemoheim, besieged by war machines and fighter jets. As Grigda seeks to cut and run once more, a chance encounter leads her to travel to the mysterious and physics-defying Sea of Spheres, where everything she though she knew about survival would quickly be put to the test.

(more info below)

Wednesday 6 December 2023

Obscure Comic of the Month - Squire

Obscure Comic of the Month is a column where I take a look at a comic or series that hasn't really been talked about. This covers independent comics, zines, weird spin-offs, webcomics and more.

----------------------------------------------

Squire by Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas - 2022 Quill Tree Books



Contains Spoilers


There's been a topic of conversation floating around recently putting forth the idea that stories with a 'message' are somehow compromised by their decision to prioritise some kind of 'personal opinion' over the 'telling of the story.' Now, anyone who has at least paid half attention to what they were told in literature class can tell you how silly of an idea that this is, but it is increasingly depressing to see how many people are parroting such nonsense.

The idea that 'the story' and 'the message' are two separate entities that can clash makes about as much sense as implying that 'the mechanics' and 'the movement' of a vehicle have no impact on each other. While, yes, it is possible for stories to tell broader tales with no great high minded purpose, even something as simple as 'this is funny' or 'this is exciting' still constitutes a 'message' and intent.

Really, I shouldn't have to waste my time going over this, but I felt it a particularly pertinent point to begin on given I'm about to cover Sara Alfageeh and Nadia Shammas' Squire, a fun, simple adventure story with a capital M message.



Squire tells the story of Aiza, a young girl who lives on the fringes of the Bayt-Sajji empire and a member of the Ornu people, a colonised minority within the empire. As an Ornu, Aiza is a second-class citizen and is forced to hide her identity due to being treated as a potential insurrectionist, guilty until proven innocent. Aiza seeks to become a squire and later knight within the empire's ranks in the hopes of gaining full citizenship and proving to the greater populace that her people can be loyal subjects.

Aiza's attempts, however, soon prove to be in vain, as no matter how hard she tries she realises that she alone cannot gain acceptance for her people within the eye of an empire that calls for blind obedience. That no matter how far she goes to try and show that the Ornu can assimilate her masters will be more than happy to demand she take up arms against her own people.

Reading that short plot description you can see already that Squire is no entirely constructed fictional world, as if such a thing could exist. There are probably more than a dozen historical and contemporary conflicts that you could map Aiza's dilemma on to. Given that Alfageeh and Shammas come from Jordanian and Palestinian backgrounds, respectively, you can probably reason out yourself what history the story has been inspired by.



If all this is making Squire sound like a dour treatise on the nature of colonialism then fear not, because it's quite the opposite. The story is light, breezy and fun, with optimistic but well rounded characters. The story falls pretty heavily on the idealistic side, a much needed take given our current propensity for cynicism right now. It's a rip roaring adventure full of excitement and heart. You could easily consume it in one sitting, cover to cover.

Alfageeh's artwork brings a magnetic, animated style to the proceedings. There's a feeling of constant motion to the panels that emphasises Aiza's energy and optimism. As she refuses to be beaten down by the world, refuses to give up, we believe it because of the energy and dynamism Alfageeh give to her movements. Add to that the use of several real world locations as inspiration for settings of the comic, and it almost feels as through the panels are moving in front of us.

This is not to say that Squire takes it's own subject matter lightly, however. As mentioned, Shammas has put great deal of intent into the words and world in which we see this plot through. By choosing to set the story within a constructed, fictional conflict, the story takes on a more universal context. The injustices that Aiza faces mirror a great many injustices across the world, and her refusal to back down and be beaten into cynicism has likewise a universal appeal.



As Squire's story continues, we get drawn further into not only the empire's crimes, but also their justifications, and the apparatus in which evil is done and is continued to be done, sometimes by the most well intentioned of people. While the story concludes into a neat and tidy ending, it does not leave the reader with the suggestion that the evils of the world are so easily defeated through a single sword fight. Aiza's story may be over (for now) but her fight is far from done. Yet in spite of such insurmountable odds, her refusal to give up is a victory in and of itself.

Squire is a solid, fun, exciting and at times intense and emotional story that is wrapped entirely around it's message and it is all the stronger for it. Taking out the real world subtext of the story would be like taking the engine out of a car and expecting it to still go. It's a damn shame that we're still having silly arguments about how stories are 'ruined' by 'messages,' but I take heart in knowing that we have works such as Squire to prove that such an attitude is balderdash.

------------------------------------------------------

Jack Harvey 2023. Squire (c) 2022 Nadia Shammas and Sara Alfageeh. Images used under Fair Use.

Sunday 26 November 2023

How COPRA Redefines the Sincerest Form of Flattery - An Obscure Comic of the Month Special Edition.

This column normally takes a look at obscure comics. For every every sixth month, instead of taking a look at a comic that nobody talks about, this special edition will take a look at a comic I feel not enough people talk about.

------------------------------------------

COPRA by Michel Fiffe 2012 - Present



Contains minor Spoilers

If you've been into comics for a reasonable amount of time, especially superhero comics, then discovering a story that involves thinly veiled versions of pre-existing characters will come across as nothing new. Heck, it's common knowledge by now that Watchmen, considered by many to be the Citizen Kane of comic books, was originally conceived as involving a bunch of Charlton Comics characters that had been recently acquired by DC before Alan Moore decided to change them in order to tell a more definitive, daring story.

Still, the act of 'poaching' characters from other publishing lines and altering them just enough not to trigger a copyright case is, if not looked down upon, certainly considered less artistically valid than creating a cast of unique characters from whole cloth. In instances where the duplication is more blatant, then the more people view the writer's legitimacy as suspect (See basically anything Rob Liefeld created for his Extreme Comics line.)



In this regard it is somewhat difficult to explain why COPRA is one of the most fantastic, unique and creative comics out there, because, gun to my head, if I had to explain it in one sentence it would be "Suicide Squad with the serial numbers filed off." And to be fair Fiffe has no interest in disguising these inspirations. The story follows a top secret government taskforce led by a stern, stout black woman who's only different from Amanda Waller because she's called Sonia Stone. Deadshot, Deathstroke, Vixen and more, the line that Fiffe is willing to walk at times feels almost arbitrary.

Of course this is all in service on one singular goal; to write the greatest Suicide Squad story that DC Comics would never allow him to write. Unburdened by corporate oversight, publisher targets and the cyclical nature of comic book continuity, Fiffe is limited by only his own imagination, and folks, let him take you down because we're going to...

1987 was the year that John Ostrander's run on Suicide Squad began, and is considered by many to be the definitive take on the characters and setting. Hailed at the time for being dark and uncompromising, and willing to kill off it's characters permanently at a moment's notice, it's a formula that many later revivals have tried and failed to replicate, not least because the series has become somewhat of a Harley Quinn side comic in recent years. DC's own editorial mandates have ensured that the kind of environment that might produce such a comic might never be seen again.



And so, stepping from the shadows like a nebulous government agent, came Michel Fiffe, a renegade who answered to nobody, seeking only to bring back that feeling of John Ostrander's comic from 1984. If you were expecting a simple homage, however, you'd be dead wrong. As dead as many of the unfortunate characters in this very comic.

While COPRA lifts the premise and many of the characters from Suicide Squad this is no simple homage. It is clear from the get go that this universe is much grittier, much bleaker, and much more surreal than that of the mainstream DC line. If I had to compare it to another comic, it actually feels more like Grant Morrison's Doom Patrol at times than Ostrander's Suicide Squad.

The very first story involves the shard of ancient power being fought over with an eccentric mass of brain in a jar called Dy Dy and it only gets stranger from there. What I find really interesting about the comic is how it reinterprets the fundamentals of the superhero shared universe into something more frightening and unknowable. Fiffe doesn't just pull characters from the Suicide Squad but also brings in a Dr Strange-like character. Unlike in Marvel Comics, however, where no matter how dangerous the magic we know the good doctor will survive, the magic Vincent deals with constantly feels more threatening and malevolent given that we know his survival isn't guaranteed.



Additionally, a form of Apokolyps and the mythology of Kirby's New Gods is likewise reinterpreted as a strange and unsettling dimension whose inhabitants are utterly confused and out of their depth once stranded on Earth. Fiffs' take on a superhero universe feels so utterly unique in what it decides to explore, to the degree where I'm not really sure it's accurate to say it actually does takes place in a superhero universe, given the lack of many of its more traditional archetypes. Superpowered universe might be more accurate.

The idea of being surrounded by mystical and para-natural forces that could change an individual's biology at a moment's notice is treated as nothing less than harrowing. The fact that multiple crime syndicates and enemy government forces are made up of unkillable agents and mind controlling parasites is shown as being as horrific as you can imagine. The fact that the forces of good have to resort to the most repulsive methods to hold the world together shows us clearly that they are barely the forces of 'good' at all.

So COPRA continues. Characters die, suffer life altering trauma and carve out lifelong grudges in the wake of failed and barely successful operations. Yet life goes on, and the pain never goes away. COPRA is not a happy comic, though it can be laugh out loud funny in it's comedic moments. Unlike the big two, where a status quo needs to be maintained, COPRA can genuinely explore the consequences of it's arcs. It's why, going back to read it, I'm surprised how plot much unfolds over the course of six volumes.



And I haven't even spoken about the art yet. If what I have written above already has you interested, let me just say what Fiffe achieves in his writing he achieves doubly through his art. I've never seen another comic artist do it quite like Fiffe. He pulls out every visual technique in the book. Panels will duplicate and multiply, or split into mathematical grids. Characters and speech bubbles will warp with every thrown punch or broken wall of reality. Whole swathes of story will be rendered in different shades of single colour, sometimes to represent a mystical forces, sometimes to represent a character's psychological mood.

Let me be utterly clear here. Fiffe's art grabs you by the neck and refuses to let go. His interdimensional forces and eldritch horrors genuinely feel beyond human comprehension in the way he depicts them, the structure and consistency of the pages breaking down in front of our eyes. Yet human frailty and psychological damage is depicted in much the same way. He understands more than anything that art can convey emotions in more ways than just drawing a pained expression on a character's face.



If all that wasn't enough, even the feel of the pages between your fingers is a small part of COPRA's storytelling. Right from the get go Fiffe decided that he wanted the comic published on rough newsprint like the comics of old, even in the collected editions. There's just something about that feel, that coarseness, that feels missing on the shiny laminated pages of contemporary comics. It's why I felt it was a bit of a shame that COPRA lost that once Fiffe scored the deal with Image to get it a greater distribution. Then again, I don't blame him. This is the reality of comics. You gotta' take what you can get.

I hope all of the above helps to emphasise how calling COPRA "Suicide Squad with the serial numbers filed off," does it a disservice even when it's at it's most blatant in it's replication. Just because Guthie is obviously Duchess doesn't make her story any less heart breaking. Just because Castillo is obviously The Punisher as played by Sylvester Stallone doesn't make his fate any less gut wrenching.



What Fiffe achieves goes beyond simple homage. It is comics uncompromised. It is storytelling where the rules can be broken. It's a superpowered nightmare world where no twist, turn or reveal can be predicted, because the boundaries don't exist. It's the artistic equivalent of choking down oysters doused in Tabasco and following them up with harshest of whiskeys. Each turn of the page feels like I'm getting my teeth pulled out and I am desperate for more.

COPRA is probably one of the greatest comics out there right now and I genuinely don't think it's getting the respect it deserves. If you've been burned out by predictability and the lack of experimentation in mainstream comics of late, COPRA is the perfect cure. Michel Fiffe has given us six volumes so far, and I'd happily eat up sixteen more. Read my lips: Make mine COPRA.

------------------------------------------

Jack Harvey 2023. COPRA is (c) Michel Fiffe. Images used under Fair Use.

Saturday 11 November 2023

A Perfect World

 We may be winding down the last few months of 2024 but it's always a good time for unsettling stories of existential dread. I'm delighted to bring you this tale with phenomenally suspenseful art by Lexa.

A Perfect World tells the story of Leon, a cynical loner with a distaste for classic tales of good vs evil. Leon's humble life begins to crumble as he starts to discover that the fantastical might not be as fictional as he believes.

(click to enlarge)

I can't say enough good things about Lexa's art on this one, who absolutely knocked it out of the park. I love the dreamlike quality they brought to the story, which is exactly the kind of mood I wanted to bring across in the script.

I highly recommend you check out their other work, which you can find all of the links to here.