Sometime ago I read a rumour that Pat Mills - hallowed be his name - was thinking of putting together a new SF anthology comic. Needless to say when the man behind the creation of the galaxys greatest comic, 2000AD, and a large portion of it's most memorable characters talks about creating a new independent comic I, and many others got excited. Slowly but surely the rumour became a reality and Pat spoke in interviews about his vision for the new comic and the search for artists and other collaborators. Spacewarp was going to happen!
Our appetites were well and truly whetted when, as a reward for signing up to an email newsletter, we were treated to a 'Future Schlock' (nothing like a Future Shock of course) written by Pat and black and white artwork by the awesome Cliff Cumber. This was a perfect demonstration of how a Future shock should be done, tightly written with a great twist, complimented by perfect artwork from Mr Cumber who is fast becoming a favourite artist of mine.
Thanks to Covid-19, the physical edition of Spacewarp won't be available until the Autumn but, happily, I'm not adverse to reading my comics digitally and my copy was virtually delivered to me on 28th July. I will admit to a few weird habits when it comes to my comics, one of them is that anything new or special I will save until a weekend morning and I'll get up early to read with a coffee or two. That's what I did with Spacewarp and I think it was worth the wait and a quick review. I'm not going to go into great detail here, or touch on every story as I don't want to unwittingly ruin the experience especially for those waiting for the physical copy.
Straight out of the gate we get a great cover from Mike Donaldson, colours by Gareth Sleightholme that pictured all of the main characters from Spacewarp on a plain white background underneath the very nicely designed Spacewarp title banner. The first interior page is an excerpt from The Necronomicon of Malek which introduces us to the concept of the Warp Lords, who control the warp and the infinite Earths they have created to enjoy the suffering and pain that they reap.
Then we are up and running into the first story, Sfeer and Loathing, where we meet the Warp Lords and our first main character, Slayer. The first thing that hit me was the black and white artwork, I'm a sucker for black and white so I was very happy to see this, especially as I realised the whole comic was in B&W. Gareth Sleightholme was on art duties for this one, a first time seeing his work for me and I enjoyed it, great character design. The lettering for Slayer was initially a little jarring as it uses back to front letters with a quite cyrillic feel, but the more you read the easier it gets.
The format and theme of the comic gives Pat, the author of each story, free rein to vent his imagination and take the reader on a fantastic journey. Jurassic Punx, takes us back to Liverpool in 1977 except it's a Liverpool filled with dinosaurs. Hellbreaker gives us a horror element, Xecutioners are future cops, Futant starts with a Harry Potter vibe and becomes super spy, SF1 gives us future war and finally Slayer returns and gets his own strip.
Many of the stories are allowed to get right into the action thanks to some nice pre-story set up. For example, prior to Hellbreaker, we read transcripts of an interview with one of the protagonists by a secret service branch, typed on coffee cup stained paper. This allows for speedy immersion into the world of each story. I also enjoyed some of the little extras between stories like a spin on the old nuclear war Protect and Survive leaflets of the late 70s/80s but this time relating to dinosaurs and how to utilise mattresses to avoid death by dino.
I wish I could sit here and find some faults with Spacewarp but, for this reviewer, it hit all the right notes. Pat Mills gives us a masterclass in how to write good comic book stories that contain action, humour, satire and characters that excite us and that we care for. Pat is well known for his astute choice of artists and Spacewarp is no exception. The artists chosen to bring the stories to life have taken the opportunity given and excelled themselves. For me the work of Gareth Slightholme and Ade Hughes really stood out. Let's not forget the oft forgotten unsung heroes, the letterers too, such as Nikki Foxrobot and Ken Reynolds. As for the stories themselves, Xecutioners and SF1 were favourites of mine, but there wasn't a weak tale amongst them.
Spacewarp harkens back to the glory days of 2000AD, but equally it feels fresh and forward thinking, particularly in the choice of artists and design of the comic, in no small part down to Vince Hunt and Lisa Mills. More importantly the content remains creator owned, Pat certainly stands by the principles he has been so vocal about in the past.
If you've not gone digital before try it for Spacewarp, the guided view and ability to go close up on the art is worth it alone. I think I'll probably end up double dipping and getting a physical copy too. I for one am happy to say that I have not been disappointed by Spacewarp, believe the hype!
