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Review: Dodgem Logic #1 By Alan Moore And Friends

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That's the introduction to Alan Moore's new self-published-ish fanzine, Dodgem Logic, in shops now. In fact I'm told that in Alan Moore's home town of Northampton he turned up at his local comic shop, Close Encounters and dropped them off saying "does Frank Miller do that?"

No, Alan, no he doesn't. Frank is currently in Rome though, so it would be hard.

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So what have we got here? Well, for a start, we have value. For the cost of a US comic, we have a full fifty-two page magazine of features, articles and cartoons, a number of them by Alan Moore. Such as this six page article on the history on the underground press from the thirteenth century to the present day.

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I understand that Fox News have already trademarked "global circus of tits and atrocity" for an upcoming spinoff channel.

Moore also contributes fictitious bubble gum cards, Great Hipsters Of History, a comic page End of the Line in his sharper-Robert-Crumb style, and the piece that started the whole idea of a fanzine off, The Destructor, an article on a local estate for a council-funded magazine that they refused to publish that is possibly the most poignant touching piece of the magazine – especially the post-creation addendum.

But it's not all Moore. Certainly the Graham Lineham piece extolling the joys of Twitter by wondering how many Lennon-McCartney meetups it could generate is frankly anti-Moore.

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And the Josie Long diaryesque textual comic strip is rich, deep and multilayered, betraying it's simplistic and childlike images to expose a life and a lifetsyle that draws and drags you, in a most unexpected fashion.

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The freegan piece by Dave Hamilton is a life-enhancing while simultaneously mercurial expression of the bin-diving lifestyle, If Armstrong Was Interesting by Steve Aylett is a poetical piece extolling surrealism in one of science's most iconic moments, Kevin o'Neill's piece is HR Giger meets HP Lovecraft over a pint, and I'm even tempted by Wendy Jarett's Lemony Rice Pudding recipe. yes, recipe. It really is that kind of a magazine, resembling if anything, a fanzine version of Radio 4. This is broadcast, with a wide variety of pieces, the only common theme being that they be rather good. Oh and there's a free CD here. A free CD! Beats a plastic Black Lantern ring anyday.

The pull out Northampton eight page section is just as readable as the rest, but it's more tangible nature calls to be replaced by your own version.

Anyone fancy working on a London pull out section? Or how about your own area? Maybe we should get together on Twitter. Alan would love that.

But that's a testament to what I think was the driving force of much of Dodgem Logic. To encourage people to contribute, or go off on their own and create something. And see the fanzine as still an effective way to distribute this kind of work, even in an online age.

And here's a snippet of the article that started it all…

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Dodgem Logic #1 can be found at comic shops and ordered from Knockabout here.


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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