Posted in: Comics | Tagged: caspar wijngaard, Cross: A Political Anthology, neil gibson, Seb Antoniou, Tpub, twisted dark

Mac's Books Reviewed: Twisted Dark Vol. 3 And Cross: A Political Satire Anthology

Published Sat, 21 Feb 2015 16:00:50 -0600

by Hannah Means Shannon

Comments

Bleeding Cool contributor, Olly MacNamee, takes a look at the comic book scene here in the UK and beyond in this monthly review:

This month's reviews:

Twisted Dark. Volume 3 (T Pub)
Cross: A Political Satire Anthology (Disconnected Press)

Twisted Dark, Volume 3

Publisher: T Pub

Writer: Neil Gibson

Artist: Various

Somewhere locked away in the deepest, darkest reaches of T Pub's offices must lie the overstuffed file of a cunningly minded madman, containing illegible graphs, charts and diagrams that could only be deciphered by the mind of its creator, publisher/writer Neil Gibson. A roadmap that reveals the intricate connecting links Gibson's has planned for the characters of his popular Twisted Dark anthology series that has recently seen the re-release of Volume 3 available at many good comic book stores as I write this, as well as online too.

Gibson's developing universe of psychologically disturbed and often-violent psychopaths, sociopaths and generally nasty people – from all walks of life – is Tarantino like in its seemingly casual array of characters that, on first viewing, do not seem to be related in the slightest, yet on further inspection have more to do with one another than we may think. And he's only just scratching the surface of his master plan. In Volume 3, however, the links become more visible, more tangible with several stories in this collection clearly written with this in mind.

A good example of this and for me one of the emerging breakout characters of this volume is organized crime overlord, El Nudillo, who seems to haunt many of the twisted tales in this collection, spreading his tentacles of terror into many a person's life even when he doesn't feature in the stories himself. One minute he is introducing a slow, organic torture technique to his henchmen, which he picked up from the Yakuza (in the opening story, Grow) illustrated by Caspar Wijngaard, in another (Silent Justice, with art by Seb Antoniou) he is demanding answers from a mute accountant ('It makes it difficult for him to testify in court or conspire with anyone') who he believes has embezzled over a million bucks from him. If there is an overreaching message to take away from this book it has to be the age-old adage that there really is no honour amongst thieves. His appearance in a few stories, as well as his shadowy presence felt in other strips, pays off in the long run and I for one will be interested in his further development in future volumes.

In other stories the connections are less obvious, but when these links are made, it often adds a further twist to the tale that I didn't always see coming.

But the psychological horror to be had from Twisted Dark, Volume 3 is not all set in the world of organized crime. Many of its finest stories deal with real life issues that spiral out of control. One such strip focuses on the social issues of body confidence and obsession. Made fun of by her own family when they think she isn't listening, the nameless young woman in Perfection (Wijngaard on art duties once again) decides to do something about it. But, an obsession with dieting becomes a lifestyle and that lifestyle becomes an albatross around her neck. Beauty, as Gibson point out, certainly is in the eye of the beholder.

The art can be somewhat hit and miss, but given that the artists included were mere young guns new to the game of creating comics when Twisted Dark was originally published a few years ago now, that is to be expected. Certainly, when I look at Wijngaard's art style in this tome and compare it with where he is now as an emerging artistic talent (check out the collection Tabatha and see for yourself and then come back later this year when I am more able to wax lyrical over T Pub's newest title, Tortured Life mini-series) I can see how developed many of these original artist have become. Finding an endeavour like T Pub in its early stages of world domination, for me at least is like finding a band whilst they are still singing in pubs, ahead of their own rise to stadium arena tours.

I remember seeing Green Day in the famous Leeds pub The Duchess of York back in my university years, just as they were about to hit it big with their Dookie LP (yes, I know that admitting this, and using the term 'LP' gives my age away somewhat). For me, T Pub are UK comics' Green Day and Gibson is certainly building up a strong stable of young talent and a strong identifiable art style for his growing output that certainly draws a crowd at each and every comic con I saw them at last year. This year, at the Cheltenham's True Believers Volume 1 sold out.

So, if you like contemporary, real-life psychological horror and being treated as a fully developed reader rather than a doofus that some of the bigger companies treat us like with endless 'must-read, world-changing' events, then look no further than Twisted Dark Volume 3. Who knows, you may just want to bag the follow up trades too and join the ride while there's still room. These are no supernatural horror stories. What Gibson does best is find the horror in the real world that we all live in, a horror that we may find lurking closer to home than we would like to admit.

Cross: A Political Satire Anthology

Publisher: Disconnected Press

Writer: Various

Artist: Various

Britain has long had a fierce tradition of biting, yet humorous, political satire; whether that is depicted the bawdy frailty of humankind and the perceived vices of 18^th century political figures as illustrated by William Hogarth, the godfather of political graphic satire, or the welcome return of television's much lamented Spitting Image resurrected from the 1980's when politicians were still larger than life characters rather than the PR preened cutouts they are seen to be in today's homogenous political culture, and Spitting Image was must-see TV. In an election year the taste for poking fun at the elitist establishment is as strong as ever. With our media beginning to become saturated with smiling, self-serving public school fops of all shapes and sizes already we, the voting public, need a respite, or failing that, a good laugh.

Cross: A Political Satire Anthology (Disconnected Press), at 64 pages long, is a welcome tonic to a disenfranchised voting public with black and white strips provided by a stable of great British writers and artists, many (such as the Private Eye cartoonist, David Ziggy) more than familiar with the art of mickey-taking. Some of the strips are so contemporary it felt like I was receiving my copy 'hot off the presses', with strips dealing with up to date debates such as the one recently posed by the actor/comedian/rabble-rouser, Russell Brand (well, with no career left in America, he does need to keep himself in the public eye) who allegedly suggested to his young followers not to vote (when he was actually referring to his own historical lack of voting in elections).

In a riff on It's A Wonderful Life one strip (written by Tom Eglington and illustrated by Verity Glass) introduces the Angel Clarence who shows a disillusioned voter what would happen if he didn't vote. The long and the short of it is, of course, every vote counts. Least we forget, like President Bush Jr., our own Prime Minister, David Cameron (PR personified), was never really voted into office and got in, not to a 'hanging chad' but thanks to the LibDems (surely now a spent force in British politics thanks to their Machiavellian machinations spectacularly backfiring on them and positioning them collectively in this current government as nothing more than stooges). The imagined future, as presented here by Clarence (himself revealed to be a victim of privatization) is one of far-right political gains, tax breaks for the filthy rich and the destruction of Britain's welfare system. So, not too far removed from the current worrying status quo then.

The strips borrow from many different genres, appropriate given the medium in which the message is being presented through, making it an entertaining, formative, yet opinionated read that is never repetitive or ever sanctimonious. The opening strip, which sets the appropriate tone for the whole affair too, takes as its cue the famous Holocaust poem as penned by Martin Neimöller ("First they came…") only this time it is the apathetic 'everyman' voter who ignores the crackdown occurring to our civil liberties and the dismantling and selling off of the public service sector (a common, but all-too-real problem) before it is inevitably too late for him.

A few pages later, we are given a backdrop of a Heaven, which has formed an uneasy, and far from equal coalition with Hell, mirroring our own current coalition love-in at 10 Downing Street in the strip The Coalition of Heaven and Hell (writer, Emma Beeby, artist, Gavin Mitchell). Surreal science fiction is thrown into the mix too, with the short strip Five Flying Squirrels (writer and artist, Howard Hardiman) presenting to the reader five xenophobic squirrels who harass the walking, talking robot himself a metaphor for immigration, and heckling him with words all too familiar in the current climate ("Bloody robots taking our jobs").

These are clever tales from some of the brightest minds in British comics who, like me, have seen the legacy of the last Labour government torn apart in less than 5 years under Dave and his Bullingdon Boys influence. But, as we are reminded, we should never give up on the process of democracy. Not all politicians are bad, some are just products of a corrupt system (see Money Bucket Head by Rob Williams and PJ Holden, in which a political idealist becomes part of the system he thinks he can handle) while others are nothing more than 'frightened children' acting as adults. Indeed, the very publishing of this anthology is a reminder that we live in a society in which we can currently scream and shout our annoyance at out politicians, our broken dreams and our broken political system.

While this is unashamedly an anthology that on the whole targets the politicians it is also a study in nepotism, elitism and media manipulation at the hands of the media and particularly the influence certain media moguls (Rupert Murdoch being the obvious – and correct – example), moguls who think they can act as kingmakers like some medieval feudal lords sitting in their ivory towers and barking commands to the subservient, or as they like to call them, the 99%.

In a country where in the 2010 General Election only a half of all 18 – 24 year olds were even registered to vote, resulting in more over 73 year olds voting than 18 year old something has to be done to connect with the disenfranchised. Comics, such as this one, is a medium that could appeal to such a group, more than the news or newspapers, the traditional battleground for trying to win undecided hearts and minds. Even if one young reader is encouraged to go out and vote after reading this satirical collection then it's a start.

You can get a copy here, so vote with your wallet and enjoy a rollocking political assassination at the hands of some of Britain's best cartoonists and creators. Just remember to use your vote come May.

See you next month.

Olly MacNamee teaches English and Media, for his sins, in a school somewhere in Birmingham. You got a comic you want reviewing? Get in touch through Twitter @ollymacnamee or Facebook

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!