CDComics completes “Butcher of Banner Cross”

By John Freeman on February 16, 2014

British creator Craig Daley has been steadily beavering away publishing a series of comics – adventure, horror and other genres – for a number of years under his CDComics imprint, first published on CD but more recently as digital titles, available via various online outlets.

The Butcher of Banner Cross – a story not for the faint hearted! – is a three issue comic, consisting of ‘Punchline’, ‘Meat is Murder’ and ‘Sliced & Diced’. It is, by far, the darkest and most bloodthirsty of CDComics humorous Surreal Murder Mystery Series so far. (We’ve spard you the more grisly parts of the Preview, as a courtesy to younger readers of this site).

The Butcher of Banner is the fourth narrative in the series and follows on from the success of Meadowhell, Spring Heeled Jack and Football Crazy. This story has a similar whodunit structure and starts at the scene of a second murder where the victim has been dismembered and had their internal organs removed. (We told you it wasn’t for the faint hearted).

The Police investigation is being led by D.C.I Bramley, who regular CDComics readers will recognise from an earlier storyline. He is joined by Watkins, a Government Agent from the Office of Paradoxical Security and his consultant on the occult referred to only as Punchline. The murders have taken place in Banner Cross and close to a family Butchers owned by Ron Savage and that is how this surreal murder mystery narrative starts.

The art and story of previous CDComics have been provided by Craig Daley, but this time the pen and ink work has been taken on Sussex-based artist and illustrator Chatri Ahpornsiri.

The actual murder scenes are depicted as abattoir slaughters and this is just one of the many clues that appear in the story, relating the motive, method and identity of this surreal and eventually serial killer.

Craig tells us reader feedback has been strong, comparing the narrative to the work of Dyson, Gatiss, Pemberton and Shearsmith, referencing the Psychoville, League of Gentlemen and Inside Number 9. “The final issue does pay homage to Sherlock Holmes with several nods and winks,” he hints.

“This comic is not for those with a weak constitution,” he emphasizes, “and like all of CDComics narratives ends with a twist that will have you skimming back through the pages of the comic and questioning your own sanity.”

“The written words do enough to turn your stomach as investigator Punchline thinks nothing of blurting out the brutal details of the murder, seemingly unaffected by what he’s witnessed,” commented Horror Cult Films in their review.

A bonus in issue three is origin of Punchline – and even that has a twist that could leave regular readers looking back into earlier CDComics releases.

• The three issues of The Butcher of Banner Cross are available from various download websites, priced around $2, £1.30 or international equivalent and each issue has 32, black, white (and very red!) pages

• iPad: http://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/craig-daley/id528912381?mt=11
• Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Craig-Daley/e/B0070OKNKQ/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0
• Drive Thru Comics: http://comics.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?&manufacturers_id=4440
• Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/CDComics
• Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=Craig+Daley
• Diesel: http://search.diesel-ebooks.com/author/Daley,%20Craig/results/1.html
• Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/craig-daley?keyword=craig+daley&store=ebook&iehack=%E2%98%A0
• Sony: http://ebookstore.sony.com/author/craig-daley_369148

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.