No, we’re not talking about having an all-night session in some seedy bar with Middenface McNulty! Dogbreath is the brilliant comics fanzine inspired by Starlord/2000AD‘s Strontium Dog, published by Futurequake Press, who also publish Zarjaz (plugged yesterday).
Featuring a slew of great strips and text features from a range of up and coming – and in some cases, well established – comic creators, Dogbreath 28 offers an excellent selection of science fiction adventure stories, with Durham Red taking centre stage on the lead strip, “The Great Train Screw Up” by writer Luke Foster and artist David Broughton.
Behind an amazing cover by Kev Levell – who’s often earning deserved praise of his work in the official 2000AD forum, so why aren’t they commissioning him? – are some great strips, plus tow short but entertaining interviews with Strontium Dog creators John Wagner and Calros Ezquerra.
Of the strips in the issue, I’d have to say that in terms of both script and art I most like the Strontium Dog tale “Stuck In The Middle With You” by writer Rich McAuliffe and artist Jake Rowlinson, closely followed by another fine tale from the talented Graham Stoddart and David Stoddart, “Search & Destroy”.
But there’s plenty more to enjoy: “Case File 31 – Stone Killers” a one pager take by writer Leigh Shepherd; “The Healers Hotel”, a thoughtful and tragic six pager from writer Shaun Avery and artist Tom Crielly; “The Day The Diddly Died” by writer Dirk Van Dom and artist Dan Cornwell; and, nestling without ceremony among these “Twilight of the Dogs”, a text story by writer Matt Sharp, illustrated by Jim Campbell, better known as the Damn Fine Letterer in my office but whose art excels, too.
This issue positively oozes talent and great storytelling. Go check it out!
• Dogbreath 28 costs just £3.00 and is on sale from http://www.futurequake.co.uk/shop.php
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.
Categories: British Comics, downthetubes Comics News, Featured News