Main Menu

Finn: Interventions

Started by I, Cosh, 05 July, 2011, 11:39:58 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

I, Cosh

Inspired by Mr YNWA's ruminations on Third World War, I thought I'd get round to throwing down some thoughts which have been floating round my bonce for a couple of months.

As I read through the old Progs, I try to plan what order to read stories in so that I don't gulp down all the meaty treats first and leave myself with the comic equivalent of a plate full of sprouts. Accordingly, on finding myself eyeball to eyeball with a twenty part Finn story, my first thought was to get it over with as quickly as possible.

Imagine my surprise when, a few episodes in, I realised I was thoroughly enjoying it. The story has all the familiar elements that put me off Pat Mills' writing of the time, but there's a sense of fun which seems to be lacking elsewhere. The broad slapstick of the Masonic Lodge surrogate raises a smile rather than hackles; the scene where our man has to try and chat up an ancient dragon is amusingly handled; the obsession with military technology is interestingly juxtaposed with Finn's earthier methods; crucially the relationships between Finn and the rest of his coven make them seem more like real characters than the usual mouthpieces.
It probably helps that this appears to be a significant storyline, with a lot going on. I'm not exactly sure how it fits into what went before, as I haven't read any of that for twenty years, but there's plenty of action. Plans are made, foiled and remade. While there are obviously plot threads dangling for the future, the main storyline starts, escalates to absurd (i.e. Thrill-Powered) levels and gets resolved all within the space of a single story. This is a good thing, incidentally.
The art, by Paul Staples, is muscular and vibrant. The days of brown on brown are largely gone by now, but the colours still visibly pop off the page in an unfamiliar way. I hadn't seen this droid's work before and looking him up it seems he only did a handful of stories for Tharg. Wonder what he's up to now.

Caveats, because there have to be. It seems like the entire cast of Third World War are going to be shoehorned in at some point. More of a problem for me, is what appears to be a major change in the character of Finn himself. I recall him being a capable and intelligent sort of chap with a lot of opinions he'd formed in his own head by thinking about things. In this story he becomes even more of a Slaine for Our Time: hard as nails but with very little between the ears and ultimately dependent on Mandy, the coven leader, for any opinion on what's going on. I suppose I've never really understood this particular Millsism: the idea that the ideal state for a man is to be physicality incarnate, know intimately how to make and do things but not to think about it. Intuition over intelligence or whatever it's supposed to represent. 

In short. Surprisingly entertaining.
We never really die.