Posted in: Comics | Tagged: Comics, entertainment, the troop, Titan comics

'I Think I'm Gonna Chunder' – Preview The Troop #1 From Titan Comics

Published Thu, 08 Oct 2015 12:00:44 -0500

By Olly MacNamee.

Debuting this December from the multi-talented actor/director and now comic book writer, Noel (y'know, Mickey from Dr Who) Clarke with art provided by rising talent, Joshua Cassara, comes a new type of superhero team book, The Troop. This really isn't your mum and dad's X-Men, but rather an X-rated X-Men, with adult content and plenty of the ultra-violence. I can understand why Mark Millar thinks it's, "Fan-Bloody-Tasic!"

A 5-issue mini-series, The Troop is a thrill ride of a read, with very little let up across the first issue's impressive 31 pages. Clarke and Cassara throws the reader into immediate high-octane action and turmoil as we are witness to a dangerous world wherein a group of disparate and desperate kids discover they each have burgeoning superpowers that can only be a bad thing when set against a backdrop of shady shadowy forces with seemingly unlimited resources hunting them down for as yet undisclosed but no doubt, nefarious reasons. Countering this purge is an equally shadowy savior, with a hint that he too is saving them for his own personal reasons, which I am sure will be revealed in subsequent issues of this promising, professional, polished title.

Renaissance man, Clarke, has created a new wave of superheroes for a new wave of savvy readers and with artwork that reminded me of Colin McNeil's great artwork on the classic Judge Dredd arc, 'America', I loved it. Cassara is certainly one to watch. You heard it hear first, folks.

The individual waifs and strafes that we meet are all given a voice, take a leading, equal part as narrators in this series, giving it a diversity of voices and viewpoints you don't normally come across in modern comics will all the time sharing a common enemy. Sacrifices are made, and new relationships are forged, but whether they will be lasting or not, who can say?

Issue 1 ships with two different covers, with cover A is by the series' artist, Cassara, while Clarke, making use of his Dr Who connections (and why not?) to bring onboard Dr Who artist, Elena Casagrande to illustrate cover B. Contact Titan and you may very well be able to bag yourself an exclusive variant cover for your LCBS. Retailers, are you reading this?

The Troop is currently on order in October's issue of Previews, so go seek it out. And, look out for my interview with the creators coming soon. This December, it's not all about Star Wars y'know and The Troop No.1 drops December 9^th.

Remember, comics aren't just for Christmas. They're for life.

Olly MacNamee teaches English and Media, for his sins, in a school somewhere in Birmingham. Some days, even he doesn't know where it is. Follow him on twitter @ollymacnamee or read about his exploits at olly.macnamee@blogspot.co.uk. Or don't. You can also read his articles fairly frequently at www.bleedingcool.com too.