Review: Rejected

I remember the first time I met Baden James Mellonie, it was at the NICE Bedford comicon in 2018. He was sharing a table with Steven Austin and David Millgate and I remember him a) being a fellow fan of the most underrated rock band, Therapy? And b) him showing me some artwork for a book that he was working on Called Rejected. Right away the title and cover by Stephen Sampson hit me, such a stunning multifaceted image and that colour scheme, just gorgeous. 

Baden wanted to address the concept of rejection, in this case by putting together a collection of his scripts that,  for whatever reason, have been turned down in the past.  So was it worth waiting for, should these scripts have stayed rejected? I got a copy and settled down to read.

Right away I was on familiar ground with Steven Austin on the art duties for the first story, Angel, about a father and daughter (the titular Angel) trying to survive after a tsunami. All I'll say is this is a story that deserves a second read, to see it through eyes that know the ending. 

Next comes a script rejected by Tharg as one of his Future shocks, it has all the elements that you would want from a future shock, including art by Karl Richardson. Obviously this includes the final shock or twist, that I won't reveal here, I've read a lot worse in the prog that's for sure.   Perhaps The Mighty One was having an off day when he turned this one down.

Tusk, with art by 2000AD art droid David Millgate, follows just one page of pencils for a story about a trucker being chased down and shot at by armed men. I was left wanting more from both art and story - what or who is Tusk?  How has Jake, the trucker, pissed off a gang of armed men?

Another Future Shock script, The Girl of their Dreams, gives us the tale of a city shares dealing yuppie type, who meets a girl in a bar, but is she who she seems to be? This was the only story that I didn't like as the ending left me a bit cold and not very shocked. But as any 2000AD regular reader knows that is the way of an anthology - not everything will hit the mark.

However Mayne, created with artist David Hitchcock, is one that certaintly the mark.  I'm a fan of David's artwork so was very happy to see him on the pencils for this one.  If you like horror you should grab a copy of his book The Signalman.  This action filled steampunk adventure, centering on the character Mayne as he leaves jail, suits his style perfectly.  Again I was left wanting more.

The Family Man sees a team up once more with David Millgate on this Zombie tale and if you know Badens work on Edge of Extinction you'll know that he gives great Zombie.  The final piece is a co-creation with Steven Austin who, as you might guess, does the art too.   This was my favourite story, one of missing persons and horrors that lie in wait. Steven's art really takes centre stage here, as there is no speech, complementing Badens script perfectly.

The collection rounds off with a lot of extra material such as character sketches, scripts and a great piece from the writer himself giving an insight as to how Rejected came about. He candidly discusses personal issues that affected him and the feelings brought about by the rejection of something that has been a labour of love.  But most tellingly Baden explains how he was able to reframe his thoughts about rejection and turn the negatives into a positive. That positive is the collection of great stories and some awesome black and white artwork sat in front of me now.  

If you want to decide for yourself if these scripts should have been rejected in the first place, then you can get your own copy from: www.eighthcontinentpublishing.com