Pipedream Indie Round-Up - July 2017

Here's the latest edition of our ongoing team-up with Pipedream Comics.

STEVE JACKSON'S THE TROLLTOOTH WARS

Writer: PJ Montgomery

Art: Gavin Mitchell

Kickstarter £15.00

Alex T: One of the most eagerly anticipated indie books of recent years, PJ Montgomery and Gavin Mitchell's adaption of Steve Jackson's The Trolltooth Wars is finally here after a two year wait! The world of Titan is in the midst of a war between two powerful sorcerers - Zharradan Marr and Balthus Dire - which leads to an epic showdown in the Trolltooth Pass. In the middle of this, hero Shadda Darkmane is on a mission into the heart of Firetop Mountain to encounter its legendary warlock Zagor. If you grew up in the 1980s reading Fighting Fantasy then this will be an amazing trip down memory lane. Montgomery has created a faithful retelling of the book - flaws and all - and makes the most of classic scenes like the caravan raid at the beginning or the scenes in Firetop Mountain. Although it has a huge battle at its centre, The Trolltooth Wars manages to focus on character and not spectacle, so doesn't get bogged down in overdoing the huge sweeping battle scenes, instead focusing on the actions of the characters, which makes it much more readable. There's a cleanliness and simplicity to the characters and it's not too serious either, as Montgomery manages to bring humour into the book thanks to sidekick Cherval. Mitchell's art work throughout is incredible. His labour of love to finish this book over the past two years has reaped ample rewards with every page looking truly exceptional. The action leaps off the page when needed and the design and realization of the key characters is top notch. They are packed with Mitchell's trademark personality, especially Dire who has a real snarling presence to him, with angular and pointy demonic features that make his a fantastic villain for the piece. And the big reveal of Zagor is almost goosebump-inducing, especially for long time fans! Packed full of action and excitement, character and humour (plus a generous amount of gore and violence!), The Trolltooth Wars works so well as an adaptation because it avoids getting bogged down by some of the more overwrought elements that the fantasy genre can be guilty of, and as a result is a truly epic fantasy in every sense! 9/10

Pipedream Indie Round-Up - May 2017

Better late than never, here's the next edition of our ongoing team-up with Pipedream Comics.

KNOCK OFF WARS

Writer: Luke Toywalker

Art: Lucasz Kowalczuk

Underworld Muscle $2.00

Alex T: Inspired by Luke Toywalker's Underworld Muscle blog about mashup action figures, Knock Off Wars sees a group of intrepid heroes set off on a mission to find the mysterious Monster Castle, home to all the secrets of the world of Vulkanair. The quest is lead by Primor of the Turley clan (a violent green reptile, with a red eye mask who looks strangely familiar) and he is joined along the way by heroes named Trolldolf and Killasaur who he meets in a series of blood-soaked battles and are keen to share in his adventure. At its core, Knock Off Wars is a pretty straightforward quest tale, more in the vein of Conan than He-Man (especially when you factor in the limb chopping violence!) and as such the dialogue is pretty shouty and the characters are paper thin. But that's kind of the point! It's not meant to be a subtle character piece looking at the human condition, it's a showcase for the weird imaginations of Kowalczuk and Toywalker! And what an imagination these two have! They have created this unique world that their equally weird characters can populate and along the way produced a crazy, fun, violent and utterly original comic! Sure, the characters are all reminiscent of those Saturday morning heroes like the Masters Of The Universe and Thundercats, but importantly they aren't direct copies or homages, instead they capture the spirit of those characters without copying them directly. This manages to not only make it feel fresh and unique, but also keeps those pesky lawyers from the door too! Kowalczuk's art is perfect for this book, his kinetic visuals and eye popping colours creating this perfect hybrid of underground comix anarchy mixed with neon '80s excess. The pages are all designed as splashes, and are divided up with lightning bolts and treelines for the edges of panels, rather than with a rigid border, which helps maintain the chaotic, sugar-soaked energy you need for a book like this. Each chapter is also introduced by a reminder of its Saturday morning cartoon roots with an intro page featuring a mysterious 'viewer' watching the adventures on TV surrounded by various '80s and '90s ephemera (from classic games consoles to movie posters, VHS tapes and all manner of other nostalgic Easter eggs). We've been a big fan of Lucasz's work ever since we discovered Vreckless Vrestlers and Slime, but this may just be his best work yet! 8/10

Pipedream Indie Round-Up - January 2017

Our next edition of our ongoing team-up with Pipedream Comics. At the end of each year Pipedream round-up the best digital comics and crown the Digital Comic Of The Year. Here are five of the most exciting and innovative titles from the last 12 months.

DARK PULSAR

Expanded Comics

Alex T: There have seen some impressive uses of animation and motion effects in comics over the years from the likes of Madefire and Narr8, but Expanded Comics’ new series Dark Pulsar is without a doubt the most sophisticated. Blending cutting edge motion graphics into traditional comics panels, it creates explosive results that almost leap out of the screen at you – especially in a scene towards the end involving a giant robot sentry. The story focuses around heroic sentry Pulsar who is sent on a shadowy mission into the mysterious 12-sided pyramid Morgot which holds all the secrets of the universe that have hitherto been hidden from the world. Although the story is fairly straight forward infiltration tale, by using short animated clips rather than transitions it blurs the lines between comics and animation to create a superb hybrid and some truly cinematic moments, including a pan and scan up a skyscraper. The story focuses on action instead of of exposition (although there is still plenty of that on show) and thanks to exceptional production values courtesy of director Diego Escalada’s Studio, Dark Pulsar sets a new standard for motion comics on the iPad. 8/10

Pipedream Indie Round-Up: Anthologies

Our next edition of our ongoing team-up with Pipedream Comics. Anthologies are the lifeblood of the indie scene and here we take a look at five of the best.

COMICHAUS

Writers: Various

Art: Various

Comichaus £5.00

Alex T: The new big dog in the anthologies yard, Comichaus channels the spirit of classic UK anthologies like 2000 AD or Warrior to create a modern take on the British serial. Compiled by Pete Genepool and James McCullough, who run the online indie comics marketplace of the same name, each issue features a selection of ongoing tales from some of the UK's brightest talents, and is rounded off by a quirky one-off. The regular strips include feisty investigator Karyn Shade from James McCullough and Jessica L Byrne, Jon Laight and Dan Butcher's highly ambitious sci-fi series Suited And Booted, Dave Cook and Norrie Millar's cop with a secret story Feather, Aaron Walther and Ed Bickford's scratchy Western Troubleshooters and Luke Cooper's gothic Mortality. The one-offs include the truly unsettling 'Mum And Dad' by Tom Ward and Ian Laurie in issue #1 and a creepy stalking tale from Ness's Chris Welsh in issue #2. As well as the excellent range of storytelling on offer in every bumper issue, what truly sets Comichaus apart from the crowd is it's covers which are supplied by top industry names like Glenn Fabry, John McCrea and Carlos Ezquerra, all of which helps present Comichaus as the complete package when it comes to high quality indie comics! 8/10

Pipedream Indie Round-Up - October 2016

Following last week's announcement, here's the first batch of reviews delivered by Pipedream Comics for their monthly round-up. Prepare to enter the world of indie and digital comics, prepare to make some exciting new discoveries...

BARRIER

Writer: Brian K. Vaughan

Art: Marcos Martin, Muntsa Vicente

Panel Syndicate

Alex T: Brian K. Vaughan may be the king of comics right now with his epic sci-fi space opera Saga and his Eisner Award winning Paper Girls, but he is also a self-publishing digital comics supremo! Along with his long time collaborator Marcos Martin, they have released titles like the Eisner Award winning The Private Eye and Albert Montey’s quirky Euro sci-fi series The Universe via their Panel Syndicate website which has the unique selling point of letting you pay as much or as little as you want for their comics - meaning you can never complain about lack of value for money! Their latest series, Barrier, sees a Texan cop and a South American immigrant get kidnapped by a flying saucer in a story about both kinds of illegal aliens! Barrier started out as a tense, crime-infused thriller, with the two characters from each side of the law and the border running side by side, before a giant spaceship comes along, beams them aboard, and pushes them together in a completely unexpected manner! As such we have no idea where this story is heading long term, but we can’t wait to find out as this is the kind of leftfield storytelling you expect from a maverick genius and is definitely part of it’s appeal! But it’s not all about BKV, as Martin’s stunning artwork (brought to life by colourist Muntsa Vicente) is truly breathtaking and manages to balance the gritty world of Earth with the fantastic world of a psychedelic spacecraft to create a truly unique read from one of the most exciting comic book partnerships around. 8/10

TEAM-UP! The PCG & Pipedream Comics

Matt C: Regular visitors to this site will know that, generally, the PCG are mainstream guys, our pull-lists comprised of books from the major publishers in the market. Sure, we can probably be a little esoteric, and we often champion titles that are far from sales juggernauts, but by and large we talk about stuff that you can readily pick up in most well stocked comic shops. We do branch out into the small press and digital arenas from time to time but not nearly as often as we’d like. Basically, there’s simply too much material coming out on a monthly basis to cover it all so sometimes it’s easier to stick with what you know when faced with a near overwhelming number of choices.