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[Number 78 - Hicksville - Part 3]

Number 78 - Hicksville - Part 3


Copyright - Dylan Horricks

How does all this relate to Hicksville. Well for me in two key ways. Firstly my experience of it, I'll lead with this as said 'self absorbed', it's in the title! I do think if I'd have discovered Hicksville maybe 10 years later than I did I would have loved it all the more and I'd have fallen down a rabbit hole of chasing more stuff by Dylan Horrocks, including the superhero stuff he's done. Who knows what else it would have led to me discovering? I didn't however, I discovered it almost 20 years ago and enjoyed it but I wasn't at a place where this type of comic was going to divert my reading. I still had so much of my return to superheroes to explore. My reading now is heavily shifting in all sorts of ways towards this type of material, something we will see as we get deeper and deeper into this list with the higher placings.

That's not to say if you've found your niche, whatever that maybe, and have stuck with it that's a bad thing. Far from it, in some ways I'm jealous. My nerd cave has finite space and I'm lucky to have as much as I do. My constantly shifting tastes however means that collection is constantly shifting as well and I have boxes and boxes of comics I'm selling to find room for the new stuff I'm discovering, or fulfils the needs I now have from the medium. That collection is constantly being reorganised to reflect those shifting tastes... and if I'm honest cos I love doing it. I have fixed points too, my time here, on the forum reflecting on my solid and never ending love for 2000ad evidences that. It's just a lot of stuff around those fixed points change for me.

The second way all this relates to Hickville is one of the things the story focuses on is that diversity in comics. It's both warning and love letter to the medium. It's a testament to the potential of the medium and how if we stick to the same things, if the market doesn't shift and grow we will miss out on thousands, millions of potential stories that brilliant creators like Horrocks won't be able to find a place for in that market. I guess this is specific to the western, US centric market. Other countries and cultures have long embraced this. Just explore the comics of the continent and as I'm increasingly discovering manga.

For me and Horrocks it's the medium we love, not any specific genre. The potential for comics to tell an almost infinite number of stories in a way that's unique to comics. Comics aren't a launch point for movies or other media. They are an art form in themselves and if we don't respect that we will miss out on so much of its potential. If any of that makes sense to you I can't recommend Hicksville enough.


Copyright - Dylan Horricks

Where to find it

Unfortunately Hicksville seems to be getting  a little tricky to get hold of. I mean it is available from the usual places but seems to be second hand at silly prices. Though not crazy silly yet.

Drawn and Quarterly (the current publisher) still seem to have it in stock, BUT you'll need to shell out shipping. I do wonder though if this means an LCS could order it in for you via distributors to avoid that?

So to be honest the aftermarket is the way to pick this up. Seems to be available from the predictable places at a pretty decent price still easily enough.

I can only find it digitally as a French edition. But I might not be looking in the right places?

Finally unless you are feeling particularly flush forget getting Pickle the comic originally appeared in as they are pretty rare and very pricey.

Hopefully it will be reprinted and or reissued at some point in the none too distant future?

Learn more

Obligatory Wikipedia page

Living the line has a good view of the comic and the presenter from that channel that bugs me isn't on it so that's a bonus!

Dylan Horrock's website doesn't have too much info but feels right to link to it.

du9 (??) has a great interview about Hicksville with Horrocks.

Since I used them last time I'll also go with a review from Slings and Arrows. To be honest though there's a fair amount out there if you do a search so fill ya boots!

What is all this?

Conscious that this is becoming a long thread and if you're wondering what the heck you've just read and can't be arsed (quite sensibly) to search back to find out I'll link to my opening posts that try to explain all this.

What this all came from

And of course a nerd won't do a list like this without setting 'Rules' / guidelines

Some thoughts on what will not be on the list.

[Number 78 - Hicksville - Part 2]

Number 78 - Hicksville - Part 2


Copyright - Dylan Horricks

I don't want to give the impression this is a difficult read. It's not. The central narrative is pretty straightforward and easy to follow. It's just there are lots of side roads and detours it takes that add layers of interest and leave you with questions. Not in the

"Well that was baffling???"

way. Rather in the

"Hmmm I'm going to think about that and what that means."

way. It stays with you and guides you without forcing answers on you.

During one such diversion Sam meets a woman called Sally and falls for her. He's then pulled away to America by Dick Burger but his mind keeps drifting back to Sally. When he returns from America he returns to Sally in Auckland. It's a really sweet, charming romance that is left as a 'subplot'. When Sam is in Hicksville I don't remember any reference to Sally or why she isn't there. I was at first a little frustrated by this as I really enjoyed their relationship. But that wasn't the story being told here, that was the story being told in Sam's mini comic that was about his time with Dick Burger. That I didn't get the story I wanted might be as I've not read more of Dylan Horrocks stuff. It might also be that Horrocks didn't get the chance to tell that story... which would tie in perfectly with the end of this comic... but I'll not dive any deeper there as that might give away too much of the ending.

Suffice to say this has left me really wanting to investigate more of Horrocks work to see what I'd discover there.


Copyright - Dylan Horricks

Or rather it should have. I first stumbled across this in a charity shop not too long after getting back into comics. I was still very much mid-mainstream superhero phase. But I saw this for next to nothing, it looked interesting and reminded me of the type of comics I was loving when I dropped off reading comics in my early 20s. So I thought what the heck I'll give it a whirl and I loved it. Alas I wasn't quite at the point where this kickstarted an investigation into these more interesting comics. I was still very happy where I was with my superheroes and genre fiction (and to some degree still am I'm in no way down on that stuff). So while I really enjoyed this it didn't divert me and was just added to my collection as an interesting oddity.

When making this list it still came easily to mind as a comic I really needed to add as I'd enjoyed it so much. I read it very recently for the only second time and it holds up even better than my memory of it. What's interesting to me (and don't forget that this is a self absorbed set of reflections!) is the fact this didn't (on first reading) spin me off to search out more content of this type. This relates to how my reading tastes shift and change significantly over time as I develop both as a person and a reader. Over the 20+ years I've been back into comics my tastes have shifted significantly. The number of comics I've read and really enjoyed but then when I've gone back to I've just not had the same interest in is incredible.

Well I say incredible, it really shouldn't be. We change over 20 years, least I hope we do, I know I certainly have. This is most apparent to me in the way my fascination with superheroes has dwindled over the years. I read so much less of that stuff. I've referenced this in a couple of posts already. It's not that I don't like superhero comics, I love them. This list will stand as evidence of this and I still pick up the odd superhero title. It's just I sometimes feel that I've got all the superhero comics I need. I still have the best of those in my collection and return to them for re-reads as the overlong 'spreadsheet of reading' allows.

I certainly have different reactions to those now and I do wonder when I get to re-reads of some of the titles that will appear on this list whether I'll shrug my shoulders and realise they just aren't as important, or interesting to me any more. Not to say bad, just I've shifted in my tastes. I ponder the fact that some comics commentators rail against how superhero comics have changed and are worse than they were 'back in the day', whenever day in the day was for them.

They have changed and thank God for that, as a genre they need to change over time to reflect a changing society. But I often think folks who say this - that superhero comics aren't as good as they once were - might be better served reflecting on how they have changed, or not, or how society is moving on around them and they are refusing to change with those developments. Rather than get angry, and some YouTubers and writers about comics seem so angry, embrace that change and if they still work for you that's brill. If they don't move on and find the comics that do now work for you. Or find something different.

[Number 78 - Hicksville - Part 1]

Number 78 - Hicksville - Part 1



Number 78 - Hicksville

Keywords: Story about story, comics industry, not foundational, critique

Creators:
Writer - Dylan Horrocks
Art - Dylan Horrocks
Colours - Its in beautiful black and white baby

Publisher: Black Eye Comics originally, more lately Drawn and Quarterly.

No. issues: Originally serialised in 10 issues of the self published Pickles, but more commonly a stand alone graphic novel.
Date of Publication: 1998

Last read: 2024

Well if my last entry dealt with how I love comics with contrast and juxtaposition, this next one will deal with another common aspect of story I love as


Copyright - Dylan Horricks

is Dylan Horrick's critic of the comics industry and love letter to comic stories and the fine folks who create them. It's a story about story, possibly more directly than most but does really give me a chance to dig into that one a little more.

Hicksville of the title is a small fictional New Zealand town that is a haven for comics, their creators and stories. Most of the inhabitants have some relationship with the medium, many are independent creators. Mrs Hicks runs a bookshop and library there which has a collection of just about every comic ever created. Every year the town hosts the Hogan's Alley Party (Hogan's Alley being the home of the Yellow Kid, seen by many as the first US comic) when all the residents dress up as different characters from comics. The town is regularly visited by famous comic book creators, or even other artists, such as Picasso, who have a passion for comics but aren't known to have ever produced a comic. There's also a lighthouse, which holds a secret, one which I won't go into as that secret is revealed at the end of the story.

Leonard Batts, a comic writer for the fictional magazine Comics World, is trying to find Hicksville, the town is difficult to locate. He's travelling there as part of his research into a book about Dick Burger, the world's most popular and successful comics creator who once lived in Hicksville. Lost and struggling he gets picked up by Grace Pekepeka a botanist and resident of Hicksville, who upon discovering Batts reasons for seeking Hicksville immediately abandons him at the side of the road. When Leonard finally reaches the town and starts to inquire about Burger he quickly learns that the townspeople are very reluctant to talk about him,  why he left Hicksville and quite why they hate Burger so much.


Copyright - Dylan Horricks

The story then starts to unravel these mysteries, introducing a host of fantastic characters and detailing elements of comics history both real and imaginary from the world of Hicksville. We meet Sam Zabel, an indy cartoonist and learn of his struggles to create comics and find happiness, leading him to return to his hometown, that of course being Hicksville. Danton the owner of the town's tea room 'The Rarebit Fiend' (tea room not coffee shop, it's important!), named after a Winsor McKay series. Cincinnati Walker an actress who stars in the film Lady Night, a character created by Dick Burger. Mort Molson the fiction creator of Captain Tomorrow, the classic comic series in which Lady Night appeared and who gave Dick Burger some of his greatest successes. And Dick Burger himself, to name but a few of the magnificent characters, both 'real' and fictional who take us through the tale. There's a lot in here.

Oh and that's before we get to the comicbook characters in this who have important roles. Captain Tomorrow's comics appear. As do Toxie and Moxie two simple cartoons that appear in Sam Zabel's comics... oh and Captain Cook, yes the Captain Cook... look I could go on, as I say there's a lot packed in.

Originally the story was presented in Dylan Horrock's self published comic Pickles. This goes some way to explaining why it's quite as fractured as it is in its final presentation. Collected it seems to jump around telling vignettes and small fragments of the whole story during its first half. It still hangs together wonderfully, but does leave questions. The second half seems to have much more direction and pulls all - well almost - the pieces together.

There's one main strand of the story, or what appears to be a main strand that doesn't quite get satisfied. We meet Sam Zabel as a struggling cartoonist in Auckland, well we don't meet him there of course, we meet him there in one of his mini comics about his time working as a struggling cartoonist in Auckland which is read by a friend of his on his (Sam's) return to Hicksville. He later gives Leonard another mini-comic which details his time whisked off to America by Dick Burger as Burger is about to be enrolled into the Comic book Hall of Fame. Now its suggested that Sam is a stand-in for Dylan Horrocks himself and there are autobiographical elements of Dylan's life in Sam's story. So we have a semi autobiographical comic of Dylan, as a cartoonist whose semi-autobiographical comics detail their life, in the semi autobiographical comic of Dylans... I think I got that right...

...see it's a lot...

100% correct, I have never heard of this comic! I think you might be underselling the art - that double-page dining room scene is astonishing.
On the other hand - musicals in comic form?, not my favourite thing. Still, will look out for a digital deal on this one for sure.

Yeah i defo get this (musicals in comics not working) and often it can be jarring but here its made to work really well for me.

I only know Ryan Ferrier from his run on Rat Queens which was good but not great. But then that series had a lot of heavy baggage around it (which I only found out about after I finished reading it) and I don't know how much freedom he had when it came to using the characters. And I feel like I'm damning with faint praise because I do really like his issues, there just not quite up there with what came before. Either way I love musicals, I love dogs, so this is a no brainer for me and I'll definitely be getting it!

I've never read any Rat Queens but hear very good things about it. I might get to that one day... one day sigh...

The fact its still going suggests its hitting its mark somewhere as well.

As I understand it, the run is now complete: six books. But there's of course nothing to stop Rebellion doing more if it wishes to repeat or redo the experiment.

Yeah that makes sense - thanks for flagging.

Print volumes of it were very rare for a while but the collected volumes are now available on Amazon (and therefore probably other non-evil sources) although I've yet to get round to buying anything beyond Round 2.

Yeah i really must get back to Copra at some point - as I keep saying just too many great comics out there!

Anyway, back to the stuff actually on your post and this list!

Ohhh we should never do that - the list is just a springboard for talk about wonderful comics! Let have the chatter roam wherever the mood takes us!

Ohhh two Dante treats landing on the same day!

Ohhh if this gets a nice webshop exclusive hardcover this will be very tempting!

Are there any comic shops left now that still have old skool atmos?

I'm not sure if its the atmos you are after but Sheffield Space Centre feels like it can hardly have changed in the 45 years its been open. Its certainly very old skool.

This is really cool stuff. Lovely page and a little bit of comic history.

Yep its a beaut for sure.

Colin, have you read Copra by Michel Fiffe? I know it's quite different to The O-Men in terms of it's influences but I was (fondly) reminded of it reading your excellent writings above.

I have read Copra - I got it in a digtial bundle and really enjoyed it. I then started to pick up the Image issues while they were going but alas when it moved to a Kickstarter and thus wasn't as distributed to the UK as well (from what I could see) I dropped off.

The only reason it didn't make the list is when that happened I quietly let it go rather than track down alternative ways of getting it - which kinda surprised me as I was enjoying but clearly not THAT much.

I defo see the linkages as you say the specific influences are different but the way its influenced is broadly the same. Both are well contrusted superhero yarns that add a lot more than the 'norm' (well whatever that is these days) and have art that might be said to be an aquired taste. I think Fiffe is a brilliant artist. So yeah defo very clear parallels there.

Yeah great sketches Trooper McFad - always nice to see another Chimpsky!

Can't believe I didn't get a Durham Red from Ben Wilsher - such a great revamp of the series (yes, yes I know...)

[Number 79 - Kennel Block Blues - Part 3]

Number 79 - Kennel Block Blues - Part 3


Copyright - Boom! Studios - I'm guessing

Overall then the story is just fantastic. The hope, albeit denial, in Oliver's tale is delivered with real skills and emotional impact. At times the story is pretty horrific. This is most obviously seen in the presentation of the prison guards. Not seen as real guards but black clawing, amorous shadows that grab and grasp and when they catch a prisoner drag them off to places unseen and a fate from which their victim won't return. These are the manifestations of the humans who truly control the prison. Not seen doing anything positive, never seen feeding or caring for the animals. Rather they are unseen terrors that can't be communicated with, can't be controlled or bargained with as they can be in a human prison drama. They must be avoided at all costs when they do appear.

This harsh reality is introduced early in the series as a character we meet, who you are led to believe might be a guide and a guardian for Oliver is horribly taken by the guards. This early companion is dragged away and never seen again and frankly it's really sad when that happens. Straight away it becomes clear that while there is humour and fun to be had in the story, this isn't a happy tale. This is a prison drama with unseen death just around the corner. This means that the lighter moments are straightaway filled with pathos and sadness for all the bright, chirpy hope you think you might be getting.

This sense fills the whole story. Characters you learn to love never feel safe. The prison is a horrible, terrifying place. When cats attack they don't just cut, they rip flesh from their victims. When danger approaches you sense in it and worry for these wonderful creations.

The only downside is its four issues don't quite give the tale enough room. All the prison drama tropes are there but the story rattles along. There is little time to relax and breathe, to spend as much time with the dogs and cats as the next beat of the story needs to be hit. Just a couple of extra issues would have sorted this, but it's testament to the series that even though we don't get that extra space I might have wanted I both wanted it and the story as is feels complete and entirely satisfying. The four issues are brisk and compelling. The ending when it is reached is just magnificent. I won't say anymore for fear of spoilers and in the hope that some folks might want to join the journey to get there.


Copyright - Boom! Studios - I'm guessing

I almost wish I'd been able to just simply say

"Read Kennel Block Blues cos it ace"

And leave it there in this write up. So anyone who might decide to check it out went in with the lack of expectations I have. Maybe they'd be looking for a charming comedy, maybe the idea of the animal pound elements would have made clear thus was some fairly horrific stuff. To get the fantastic surprise that I got reading this little hearty musical with some heartbreaking moments completely fresh. Regardless it's so worth checking out whatever your expectations now are as it's just great comics and so full of contrast and juxtaposition it will defy any expectation I might have been able to give you.

Where to find it

Pretty easy one this. There is a trade collection with all four issues. It might be out of print but seems to be readily available second hand from the expected places

It's all there digitally as well for folks who prefer that way of getting great comics.

I'm pretty sure you'll be able to pick up the original floppie for next to nothing in the aftermarket when they pop up as well as. As stated this one didn't get the love it deserved.

Learn more

Nowt of course there's no Obligatory Wikipedia page for this one.

However you can't do better to see if you'll like something than reading the first issue for free. Which you can for Kennel Block Blues issue 1 for free on Tumblr. It's pretty wonky in that you have to scroll around to find the chunks in order, but it's all there, albeit with a very heavy watermark from Boom!.

Here's 5 reasons to read the series from Comic Vine.

Slings and Arrows has a less glowing review for some balance but Good Reads has a nice broad range of opinions as ever.

What is all this?

Conscious that this is becoming a long thread and if you're wondering what the heck you've just read and can't be arsed (quite sensibly) to search back to find out I'll link to my opening posts that try to explain all this.

What this all came from

And of course a nerd won't do a list like this without setting 'Rules' / guidelines

Some thoughts on what will not be on the list.

[Number 79 - Kennel Block Blues - Part 2]

Number 79 - Kennel Block Blues - Part 2


Copyright - Boom! Studios - I'm guessing

The story therefore plays into something that is clearly an element of story that appeals to me. That being stories with seeming contrasts balanced so effectively. Juxtapositions that are used effectively to do two things. Firstly to usurp the reader's expectations. Secondly to therefore spin existing tropes so they avoid cliche, while still being true to those tropes. I've mentioned this as an aspect to so many of the comics I've included in this list, either in terms of the story being told, or the art used to tell that story. Here though it's a real feature in both story and art and stands out so clearly in this series it's worth diving into a little deeper here.

These contrasts mix with another thing I talk about a lot, the needs different readers bring to a tale and how that tale does or doesn't meet those needs regardless of the creators intentions. In stories where we get these contrasts these two contrasting elements or tones, can combine in wonderful ways. You can enter any given story expecting one set of needs, or a desires to be satisfied by the tale, and find that it in fact meets an entirely different set of 'requirements' you didn't even know you were bringing with you. When done well it can of course achieve both, meet the need you consciously or subconsciously brought with you and another set you weren't even expecting to be satisfied.

In a comic like Kennel Block Blues a third possibility is unearthed...maybe. As said I had no idea what I was expecting when I came to this story. Or at least certainly don't remember what it was that drew me in. Was I after a prison drama, playing with the common themes of entrapment, isolation, freedom and justice, conflict between humanity removed from its norms... seems unlikely from the previews I've seen out there when writing this. It clearly isn't just that. Was I after a fun cartoony feel good humour comic... well again seems like it was clear that's what you weren't going to get, at least not alone, so I doubt that. So I kinda think I came to these comics with no conscious expectation or focused need. I was going in to be surprised and find something new. On that score it certainly works.

It's possible to come to a comic, or indeed any medium for story, with no conscious need or desire other than to be surprised, to experience something new and different. I think this is hot wired into me as a fan of anthologies prominent in the UK market. You quickly learn from reading 2000ad you can come for Judge Dredd, but stay for Halo Jones, Brink, Hewligans Haircut... I stay because it constantly surprises me and opens up new comics and story I have little conscious expectation of. I think Ryan Ferrier, Daniel Bayliss and the rest of the creators of Kennel Block Blues deliberately played with this. They created a comic you would look at, flip through, see a preview of, whatever, and just think...

"What on earth is that... looks interesting I'll give that a try..."

...and before you know it you're reading a comic like nothing else you've read before.


Copyright - Boom! Studios - I'm guessing

The art by Daniel Bayliss with colours by Adam Metcalfe is worth singling out for this as well. On one level it's pretty functional art, not at all bad, but not outstanding. The character designs are fun. The acting is well realised and executed on anthropomorphic characters. This is a trick that can be difficult to pull off well. Here not only are emotions and reactions clear and carry the impact they need to communicate character.  It's done in a way that looks like these are animals reacting though. The dogs snarl, cats look surly and brooding, when they are angry or fighting they are sharp and spitting in the way cats can be - the occasional scratches on my arms testify to this from 'our Indie'. This is pretty damned impressive, to carry the human reactions the reader needs to understand the emotion, while still retaining the real sense that these are animals, acting as those animals would. On this level the art is super good.

There's some really great page designs as well. Some brilliant storytelling choices that make pages of prison schemes and riots really pop. The layouts of Oliver's inner fantasies are softer and rounded as opposed to the sharp, more typical rectangular panel shapes, mixed with angled edges and tilted perspectives when violence erupts. Again these subtle choices really highlight what a fantastic job is done with the art, that at first seems fine but nothing too special.

The colouring is fantastic too. Colouring for the story could be said to be easy and obvious, the contrast between the story's reality and Oliver's imagined world so stark the colour choices seem an easy trick. The 'real' world is subdued, low blues and greys. When violence breaks out its aggressive browns and cutting purples. Oliver's imagined world has all the bright colours you'd expect yet they are selected with real panache and deft skill. All the bright primary colours are there as you'd expect, yet they feel slightly off, a little sickly. The pinks against oranges are slightly jarring and almost a little unpleasant.

This has the impact of making these choral moments feel on the surface, at first glance bright and cheery, as joyous as Oliver's inner life seems to be. Yet it feels a little unreal, a little at odds with what you are seeing. Just as Oliver almost knows, certainly unconsciously, that his inner life is a denial of the reality he knows he's in. They are forced and false, they mask the truth, but the unpleasant truth quietly sneaks in and isn't hidden entirely. He knows his bright cheerful world is a lie somewhere in his cute mutt brain. This is especially true given the colouring on Oliver himself doesn't change, again flagging both the contrasts and his subconscious inability to completely allow his fantasies to take over his mindset and mental wellbeing. Yep the colouring choices may feel obvious and easy but in less skilled hands they wouldn't be anywhere near as effective and this further enhances the contrasts and contradictions in the story.

[Number 79 - Kennel Block Blues - Part 1]

Number 79 - Kennel Block Blues - Part 1



Number 79 - Kennel Block Blues

Keywords: Musical, comedy, horror, anthropomorphic, dogs vs cats

Creators:
Writer - Ryan Ferrier
Art - Daniel Bayliss
Colours - Adam Metcalfe

Publisher: Boom!

No. issues: 4
Date of Publication: 2016

Last read: 2024

Well surely I can't get more obscure than a British small press title like I did last time... well ya know what I reckon this one could be. A supremely odd little mini from Boom! Studios that I'm guessing no buggers heard of, but who knows I'm often wrong about these things and in this case would be delighted to be so as you should all be reading


Copyright - Boom! Studios - I'm guessing

I have no idea what led me to pick up Kennel Block Blues when it first came out. Maybe I was just in the mood for an anthropomorphic prison musical about feuding cats and dogs. I mean we all go through that phase don't we.  And yes that's right, that is what this series is. It's a comic book musical about Oliver, a French (or Boston) Terrier who is thrown into Jackson State Kennel. In the slammer he becomes embroiled in a conflict for control. The cats, led by Pickles, have wrestled control of Jackson. Sugar, a hardened chihuahua and Oliver's new cell mate, wants to remind the dogs who should be in charge, even if their leader Chester has been cast into solitary.

The thing is Oliver is a good dog and he knows doesn't belong in Jackson, he knows he doesn't. He has no real interest in the conflicts and politics within the prison. He's just a good boy who wants everyone to get along and to be loved. Anyway he also knows his owners will come and find him soon... or so he tells himself.  As we learn, heartbreakingly, that belief might well just be a copying mechanism. Oliver's other copying mechanism? Why he regularly breaks into song, full on, overblown musical numbers straight out of a 40s Disney musical short cartoon. As he sings, to him at least, the world explodes into colour and those around him sing with along, join his chorus. Alas, again the reality might be very different.


Copyright - Boom! Studios - I'm guessing

And in that summary we learn so much about what makes Kennel Block Blues such a brilliant comic. It's so refreshing and different. I've read a lot of comics. A LOT and yet I've never read anything quite like this. While it plays happily with prison story tropes we all know. The characters all dance around the possibility of being cliches, they fall into archetypes that we know so well. The innocent 'fool' whose mere presence seems to incidentally spin events in unintended ways. Oliver could be played by Gene Wilder! Sugar is the hard bitten, streetwise, no nonsense smart player, who knows so much about surviving and thriving in the slammer, yet is too damned stubborn and doesn't know when to quit. Pickles, the calmer, considered prison mastermind, not far from Noel Coward in The Italian Job. There's henchmen, well cats, kindly strong dogs. Wise old wizened prison veterans. Old timers who know to keep out the trouble and try to help the weak get by.

This cast is thrown into scenarios we're seen. The attempted prison break. The prison politics, players and people pushed and pulled into position, to serve the needs of those that hold the reinds. Violence breaking out as tension comes to the boil. All of this we're seen and know from so many stories of this type from across different media.

And yet none of this falls into cliche here. Oh sure it toys with it, tetters dangerous on the brink of falling over, but never quite tips over. Rather the way it's presented, the originality of elements of both these familiar characters and the stories they play out remain utterly original. This allows the story to play with different themes and ideas within these common prison story tropes and thus keep things very new and exciting

It is ideal for newcomers and long-time lapsed readers. I've heard US folks on podcasts also getting annoyed (in a jokey way) because once they'd read the first two volumes they felt compelled to get the rest of eg Brink and some of the other contained strips. So job done there too.

That is good news and yeah Brink (and other stories in there) are going to pull you to the trades. As it says it a mix tape and the best mix tapes force you to the shops (well if folks still did that!) to buy more records.

The fact its still going suggests its hitting its mark somewhere as well.