Review: SHIFT

It cannot be denied, 2020 has been a bit of an all round shit show what with global pandemics, lockdowns and the like.  But one spark in the darkness, for us comic fans, has been the wealth of great new indie titles we've had to help us through the rough times. Such as the homage to Starblazer, The Sentinel and Pat Mills (all hail his name) brought us the highly anticipated Spacewarp. While The77 smashed onto the scene bringing with it a wealth of new art and writing talent.

Joining this lineup comes SHIFT, another British anthology comic but as Spacewarp is different to The77 SHIFT is different to them both.  The comic weighs in at a hefty 100 pages and is brought to us by the distributor and publisher GetMyComics. The comic contains a mix of ongoing strips and one and done stories along with articles, creator profiles and interviews.  The interviews and articles come from the team behind the Comic Scene magazine which sadly fell victim to the Lockdown.

SHIFT opens with 'To the Death' by Transformers writer Simon Furman and Geoff Senior, who also draws the cover art, a future war story with full on muscle bound action heroes and huge guns a plenty. This is a strip that wouldn't feel out of place in 2000AD, where Geoff Senior has been an art droid previously.  It's a strip that has been released previously but if it's your first time of reading, it's an action packed treat with a more adult tone.

Another 2000AD droid, Steve Yowell, is on art duties for the next strip 'Foot Soldiers' written by Jim Krueger. Robot overlords rule a dystopian future and it's up to a gang of delinquents to take them on, using equipment from superheroes killed by the robots. I liked the less than typical superpowers the heroes of the story discover and use here.  Coincidentally, I assume, one of the teen heroes looks like a young version of Steve Yowells Zenith.

The titular character of 'Kora' crash lands her craft and has to survive what the planet has to throw at her.  Written and drawn by Chris Geary, he pulls us into the tale with great sequential storytelling and no dialogue.

'Soulwind' is an Eisner winning adventure strip which begins with a very distinctive oriental look, about a boy tutored by monks in remote temple. But then an event happens that changes everything for the boy and for the reader as the art style changes dramatically too. A very interesting start to what promises to be an epic tale.

'Tiny Acts of Violence' is probably my favourite strip here, set in 1968 East Berlin, it is dark and full of tension drawing the reader into the lives of those wanting to escape the restrictions and violence of the East.  Martin Stiffs design here is very strong giving the reader great depth and variety.  He mixes in a folklore tale of two boys into a story of defection and intrigue, complex storytelling done to perfection.

If you like to use your tech then 'Shifter' could be for you, or a great way to introduce your kids to a comic. Simply download an app and use it when reading the comic for the augmented reality embeded in parts of the story to  come to life.  Perfect in a story where people can turn into creatures both real and imagined. 

Finally 'Hungerville' a very satisfying one and done strip from a personal favourite creator of mine Warick Fraser- Coombe, the creator of body horror Skullfucker. A relentless robot debt collector has come to make a collection from a debtor who has taken refuge in an isolated town, Hungerville, we soon discover there is good reason the town is isolated. Stunning use of colours and brilliant imagery throughout this one.

I really enjoyed reading SHIFT, it has a great indie feel to it, but not so much as to make it inaccessible to someone who is used to more mainstream comics.   For someone like me, who fell away from comics for a long period of time, it's great to be able to catch up with previously released titles in this format. However, the fact that all but one of the strips has been released before may be off putting to some of the potential audience for the comic. 

That said, SHIFT is great value for money at £6.99 for 90+ pages and will be available to buy online and from comic retailers every 6 weeks.  This accessibility, to another excellent British anthology comic, will hopefully mean that it can reach a new audience, drawing them in, to the world of comics. That can never be a bad thing!

Buy SHIFT here: https://getmycomics.com/SHIFT