Obscure Comic of the Month - Geopolitical Manipulation Through the Use of Fungi Based Parasites on 186F

 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.

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Geopolitical Manipulation Through the Use of Fungi Based Parasites on 186F by LANDO – Decadence University Press/50 Watts Books 2016

Contains Spoilers

Geopolitical Manipulation Through the Use of Fungi Based Parasites on 186F is one of those comics that you take one look at and think 'Okay, I've really got to find out what all this is about.' The comic is part of LANDO's Decadence University Press series, a group of stories stylising themselves as old educational textbooks, each printed in coloured ink on coloured paper, they have a unique style that stands out from the crowd and can't be ignored.

Geopolitical Manipulation Through the Use of Fungi Based Parasites on 186F specifically tells the story of a race of tentacle-faced aliens living life on an earth-like planet. Completely textless, the reader is left to their own initiative in piecing together the sequence of events we are brought to witness.

We start by watching one of the aliens, dressed in renaissance garb, study a smaller, miniature version of itself (A child? A small clone? A sub-species?) The story then jumps forward in time, showing us scenes from one conflict to another, the technology advancing from cannons to machine guns.

Then, almost as though through the logic of a dream, we follow a seemingly lost and emaciated alien, wandering through barren wastes. The alien then comes across a large mushroom, which in turn drops an egg-like spore onto the helpless creature's head, possessing and taking control, though to what degree is left ambiguous.

It's at this point, re-reading the comic, that we realise that all the aliens bar the tiny one at the start have had such spores stuck to their heads. The implication, though likewise ambiguous, is that the war and empire are being instigated by the fungus.

The story ends with a single panel of a city built around a giant alien skull, with an even bigger fungus spore on top, shattered and broken apart by bombs. Like previous panels in the comic, it's an ambiguous note to end on, open to many interpretations. Does this indicate that the aliens might have finally rose up and fought off the control of their fungal overlords, or that the fungus themselves have devastated the planet by turning on one another?

Geopolitical Manipulation Through the Use of Fungi Based Parasites on 186F is only twelve pages long, but it packs so many ideas and wild concepts onto each page that it feels longer. The artwork is fantastic and evocative, surreal and yet realistic at the same time. The war weary soldiers and blackened battlefields strike a sombre tone, and by the story's very nature it feels as though we are only catching a small glimpse of a larger picture.

Due to the story's ambiguity (last time I swear,) it demands to be read and re-read again, the meanings of it's dream world pondered over. That alone makes Geopolitical Manipulation Through the Use of Fungi Based Parasites on 186F far more than a short comic that you'll read, enjoy, but probably soon enough forget about. It's scope is far grander than it's limited page count would normally allow.

The comic serves as a perfect demonstration of the kind of comics that LANDO's Decadence University Press series can cover, and if Geopolitical Manipulation Through the Use of Fungi Based Parasites on 186F is any indication, the entire series has carved out it's own unique place in the world of independent comics.

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Jack Harvey 2023. Geopolitical Manipulation Through the Use of Fungi Based Parasites on 186F is (c) LANDO. Images used under fair use.

Obscure Comic of the Month Double Feature - Tapestry Comics

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.

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Bayeux and A Flower in a Field of Lions by Tyler Button with art by Gerry Kissell, Amin Amat and Ryan Cody – Tapestry Comics 2016 - 2018

Contains Spoilers for actual historical events that actually happened

There's probably plenty of interesting places I could start when talking about Tyler Button's two purely historical comics, from the choice of subject matter, to the execution of writing, but in this instance, I'm going to begin talking about the art.

Tyler's works first caught my eye at Harrogate Thought Bubble 2021, where having passed his table a couple of times, I couldn't take my eyes away from the beautifully illustrated artwork. Looking over, my eyes were captivated by the images of medieval soldiers lined up in their vivid amour and brightly coloured tabards. Sharp green fields gave way to the chaotic melee of battle. Swords flashing in the midday sun. I had to check it out.

Trepidation began immediately, however, once I heard Tyler's accent. There's a stereotype, rightly or wrongly, that America is somewhat cavalier in it's attitude to history, no doubt proliferated by Hollywood leaning more to mythologizing the past rather than accurately depicting it. I've travelled far enough around the states to know it's an unfair stereotype, but one that's hard to shake from the unconscious.

Fortunately, it took barely a minute talking to Tyler that made it fundamentally clear that he knew what he was about. A funny, charming guy with a taste for the details, it was obvious his comics would be well worth reading. I picked up A Flower in a Field of Lions, his comic covering the life of Joan of Arc, and would return a year later to Harrogate Thought Bubble 2022 to grab Bayeux, his story of the Norman conquests.

As I've already made clear, the art is stunning in both comics. Vivid and lively, with a sense of action and movement, and most importantly an understanding that medieval fashion could often be bright and colourful, which modern media often shies away from. On the art alone, I'd say the comics are fine pieces of work, but as I already knew from my chat with Tyler, there was going to be more going on under the hood.

When retelling historical events, most adaptions slip the story into simple good guys and bad guys. No thought is given to the Germans getting conquered by Maximus's beloved Rome in Gladiator, no time to consider how the Scottish nobility treated their own peasants in Braveheart. Tyler's storytelling utterly rejects this approach, understanding that there were no 'right' sides in eras of great injustice and oppression, but instead these were periods of transition and shifts in power.

I first encountered this in A Flower in a Field of Lions. Most stories of Joan of Arc depict her as a true hero and liberator of France, cruelly executed by the English invaders. The comic instead, takes a closer look at the messy truth of the matter. France's war had been brought on not by England but the ambitions of Armagnac and Burgundy. Joan herself, far from a messiah, was confused but well intentioned, raised up by a country in need of a unifying icon and then cruelly exploited for the same reasons. England themselves tried to ransom Joan to back to France multiple times only for France to refuse, happy to be rid of what had by then become a nuisance and a liability.

It would be easy for Tyler to slip these stories into nihilistic territory, where everybody sucks and nobody is likeable, but it's a testament to his writing that he doesn't do this. Instead we are shown the character's own priorities. Their pressures and desires, and the choices they are forced to make thank to the values of their time. This is most clearly demonstrated in Bayeux, which could have so easily turned into a story in favour of either the invading William or defending Harold.

I've long said that we've never seen a film about the Battle of Hastings because it's so difficult to reduce that story into the binary of good and bad. Is the story a tragedy, a story of England's last great defeat against French invaders? Or is it a heroic victory, the conquering battle that gave birth to the 'true' English nation and in the long run Britain as a whole?

What Bayeux does is draw inspiration from it's namesake, taking the story further back, exploring the history between William and Harold long before the battle in 1066. Meticulously researched, it covers the rarely discussed relationship between Harold as exile and William as bastard, and through shared experience allows us to understand these characters priorities, and the psychological foibles that their shared history had thrust upon them. Both are charismatic and genuine, and both are equally drawn to war by ego and perceived righteousness.

Both Bayeux and A Flower in a Field of Lions are stellar work, magnetic in their writing and wonderful in their aesthetic. The art by Gerry Kissell and Amin Amat on Baueux and Ryan Cody on A Flower in a Field of Lions brings vivid life to Tyler's writing, and are a perfect fit for the tone the stories are trying to strike. Eminently readable and hard to put down, the books by Tapestry Comics manages to strike that almost impossible balance of being accessible yet nuanced. A towering achievement.

During my chat this year with Tyler, he gave clear indication that he had more stories to tell, and I'm really hoping I'll be seeing more of this past coming in the future.

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Jack Harvey 2022. Bayeux and A Flower in a Field of Lions (c) 2018 Tapestry Comics. Images used under Fair Use.

One Hell of a Night

 Hello all. It's a great day for bringing you some brand new material that's been in the pipeline. While the story is maybe more suited to spooky season, treat this as an early Christmas present. 

With phenomenal art by Sam W, here is a tale of crime, sex and the evil that lurks within the heart of us all... and maybe beyond.

One Hell of a Night 

(click to enlarge)

And there you have it. I think Sam did an incredible job on this one, bringing so many extra elements to the story that my script didn't even hint at, but it's all the better for it. 

How the Life Is Strange Comic Managed to Surpass it's Source Material - 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.

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Life is Strange by Emma Vieceli, Claudia Leonardi and Andrea Izzo 2018 - 2022

Contains Major Spoilers

The year is 2015. It's a good time for fans of adventure games. Thought long dead or relegated to cult status for years, the runaway success of Telltale Games' The Walking Dead had heralded a return to form for the genre, as well as fulfilling the promise of actual episodic gaming that had eluded developers for so long, treating each episode as though it were an episode of a TV show, and the entire product as a season.

Yet despite the success, few were willing to throw their hat into the arena. One contender, however, would walk in with their own comparator to Telltale's monopoly, and that was Dontnod Entertainment's Life is Strange. Far from the grim apocalypses and far off worlds that Telltale had offered, Life of Strange was a slice-of-life mystery. Concerned with a young woman's return to her home town. The plot escalates as she saves a friend's life and discovers that she has the power to re-wind time.

The time travel mechanic was primarily touted as what set Life is Strange apart from Telltale's entries to the genre, but it was the slowly unfolding mystery that kept people around. Drawing elements from Twin Peaks, Donnie Darko and numerous teen dramas, Life is Strange soon picked up a strong following. While it's student vernacular was lightly mocked, the characters in the story quickly drew audiences in, and soon enough, the shipping began.

I don't know whether Dontnod always intended for there to be romantic chemistry between Max Caulfield, the protagonist, and Chloe Price, her abrasive childhood friend, but I certainly expect the developers pivoted to play more into this aspect once they saw how much of the fanbase was made of young gay women. This, however, would prove to be a double-edged sword, as the more the story played up the relationship between the two women, the greater the betrayal it felt once the ending finally hit.

The game concludes with a player choice, rewind to the start of the game and allow Chloe to die in order to reset the timeline, or witness the town and most of the other character in it be destroyed by a time-vortex hurricane. This, alone, was controversial in and of itself, robbing the player of any possibility of a happy ending for Max and Chloe, but the way it was executed would proceed to draw a great deal of ire from the fanbase. Max and Chloe would only acknowledge romantic feeling for each other with a kiss in the ending where Chloe dies, while the ending where she lives felt underwritten and far too brief to feel satisfying.

The term queer-bating is used to describe a situation where a writing team plays up the possibility of a same sex relationship between two character to drum up interest from gay audiences without ever planning on following through. To many, Life is Strange was guilty of such a crime, and debate ranged heavily on the quality of the endings, with many labelling the game problematic, while others wrote the game off as not worth playing at all.

The fury would soon cool however, in part thanks to a well revived prequel in Deck Nine's Before the Storm, that stayed mostly distinct from the plot of the main game and focussed on an unambiguously queer relationship between Chloe and Rachel Amber, the missing soon-to-be-found-murdered girl of the first game. Likewise, metric tonnes of fanart and fan fiction, where creators chose to just come up with their own ending, cushioned the blow.

Still, with news that series was going to continue with an anthology format, focussing on a new story and new characters with every game, it didn't seem as though we'd be seeing Max or an alive Chloe any time in the future.

However, in 2018 there came an announcement that nobody saw coming. Titan Comics would be publishing a comic sequel to the first game, continuing on from the ending where Chloe lives and Arcadia Bay is destroyed.

Expectations were positive, but tempered for a lot of reasons. The outcome of the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending was lamented as too grim and underdeveloped, with many worrying that the comic would fail to improve upon this. Likewise, the decision to release such a story while the main games continued with a new cast of characters caused many to wonder if the comic was being released merely to placate people who just wanted more Max and Chloe. On top of it all, while Titan Comics has had a fine pedigree of solid comics, it's video game spin-offs tended to fall on the superfluous side, and rarely ran for more than four issues.

All in all, a cynical shadow hung over the series like the storm clouds over Arcadia Bay. So it was to the surprise of many that the first story arc in the series turned out to not only be very enjoyable, but intriguing and thoughtful too.

Jack's October Update

As we continue through autumn into winter It's time for me to start rounding up my current state of affairs when it comes to the remainder of the year's projects.

As mentioned previously, I'm still having problems with the tendonitis in my left wrist, so I'm having to choose my projects carefully as not to exacerbate the problem. I was hoping that the pain would start to dissipate after a few weeks away, but it's sticking around. I'm currently investigating further treatment that will hopefully provide a permanent solution, but for now I'm going to try and not let it interfere with my creativity too much.

- As you may have already noticed, a new Sea of Spheres story, The Right to Know, has just commenced. Part one is up, with the remaining three following each Monday. Artwork, as ever by the fantastic Windlass.

- Work continues apace on my collaboration with SLAM! The artwork on this comic is looking fantastic, which you can see a little bit of below, and I can't wait to show more of it to you.

- I'm continuing to get The Illustrated Guide to Drinking Beer out there. Physical copies of the comic are now available at the Ennerdale Brewery and The Harbour Master Whitehaven.

- It's been confirmed that a follow up to the West Coast Minicon will be happening on the 25th March 2023 and I once again will be in attendance selling prints and books. I'll post more details closer to the time.

- I'll once again be heading to Harrogate Thought Bubble in November. Not exhibiting, just visiting, happy to say hello and chat.

- Other than that I'm currently working on a few more projects that I'm not ready to give more details on, but expect more comics and short stories to be in the pipeline. Next month marks the one year anniversary of my revived Obscure Comic of the Month column so expect an extra long special in celebration of that.

As ever you can follow me on Twitter, Tumblr, Deviantart and find all my recent writings on AO3.

Thanks for reading.

Obscure Comic of the Month - Twenty Thirty Three

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.

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Twenty Thirty Three Special Edition by En Gingerboom – 2019

Mild Spoilers

When writing about comics for this column it sometimes becomes difficult to know exactly what to qualify a comic as. In the author's notes, En Gingerboom classifies Twenty Thirty Three ultimately as a failure of a project. It originally started life as a children's book, bouncing between fantastical fairytale fair and a more grounded, but still optimistic, post-apocalyptic tale of survival . The various iterations were something that the author developed over a series of years, and ultimately settled on a short, dialogue-free comic featuring reinterpretations of the more fairytale versions of the characters.

As a supposed failure I'm not really sure how to talk about Twenty Thirty Three. So I'm just going to talk about it as a I would any comic. From the get go the story is deliberately vague. We only know the character's names and circumstances from ID cards printed behind the front and back covers of the book itself, and the rest of the story simply gives snapshots of a life lived by three young girls travelling from somewhere to somewhere in Britain.

To tell a story with such sparsity requires a great sense of place and character. To be communicated entirely through images even more so. The tone carried entirely by what we see, not by what we are told. At this Twenty Thirty Three is very deft and intriguing from almost the outset. The nature of the apocalypse, if it can even be classified as one through what little information we actually have, is left deliberately obscured. In a sense it doesn't even really matter, it's the survivors that this story is concerned with.

The young girls Molly, Ruby and Phyllis all have distinct visual flair, and as the story goes on, strong personalities. Flipping through the pages, moving from panel to panel, you will find yourself moving backwards and forwards, re-reading earlier points with a greater understanding of who these people are and what motivates them. While there are moments of threat, the heart of the story is about the act of living. Food is cultivated, stories are shared and love and friendship happens almost between the margins.

The grounded nature of the story for the most part does not prevent some of the more fantastical and fairytale aspects bleeding through . Mrs Mackenzie, the girl's magical witch mentor in earlier iterations of the story, still appears in the main plot and this serves to make the scope of the story feel larger. Likewise there are implications of greater supernatural events happening in the background, and at one point more explicitly in the foreground, but again their nature is left vague and open to interpretation.

The exact message of the story itself falls into the hands of the reader to decide. Is the story whimsical, or is there a more sinister edge bubbling under the surface? Ultimately, I think it's this ambiguous nature that makes Twenty Thirty Three so successful. The story is like a puzzle, with the reading and re-reading akin to fitting jigsaw pieces into place, and while I don't think this picture will ever fully be filled out, there are greater mysteries to be explored for those willing to look.

The Special Edition includes all the work in progress from earlier iterations and the writer's commentary, which makes not only the further study of the plot more engaging, but also serves as an intriguing look behind the curtain at where the story started and how it got to where it is.

Is the comic a failure? I don't know, but if it is it's certainly an interesting one.

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Jack Harvey 2022. Gawain and the Green Knight (c) 2019 En Gingerboom . Images used under Fair Use.

Sea of Spheres - The Right to Know

 

Welcome, once again, dear readers, to the next instalment of the Sea of Spheres series. This story, The Right to Know, is a bit of a departure from the previous stories in the sense that it leans into a more science-fiction influenced part of the setting. I've tried to balance the writing in such a way as to make it believable that this takes place in the same, more fantasy influenced world of the previous stories.

Of course, as ever the artwork is by the fantastic Windlass, who has if anything absolutely nailed the balance and really stuck the right aesthetic of 'fantasy world with modern technology' that I'm trying to go for.

In the aftermath of a catastrophe that left an advanced dimension jumping ship crashing into the savage sphere of Gemini, the Horns that reside there soon found themselves with technology far in advance of their rivals, but with little practical knowledge of how it all worked. A half-century later, detectives Garrick Ceraface and Cardina Mordang, while on the trail of a missing scientist, soon find themselves on the wrong side of the law, and learn that the cost of keeping their civilisation afloat might be far greater than they could ever conceive.

Link under the cut: