In Review: Wasted #2 – Back With Bite!

By John Freeman on 27 June 2009

Wasted #2 The second issue of Bad Press’ adult humour anthology mag Wasted is on sale now, cranking up the quality several more notches on its launch issue with some terrific strips from a wide range of creators that include Alan Grant, Jon Haward, Martin Hayes, Adrian Bamforth, Jamie Grant, Frank Quitely, Alan Burrows and many others.

Wrapped in a stunning cover of demon teen Lusi Sulfura by Alan Kerr, this 70-page magazine is not for the lily-livered – crammed as it is with strips such as The Dirty Dog (toilet humour extreme from Grant, Quitely and John Wagner) and the brilliant Tales of the Buddha (from Grant and Haward, the Buddha partnered this issue with a very angry Jesus).

Alan Kerr’s superb Lusi Sulfura – surely a character of Tank Girl and Nemi cult potential – a wonderful gem, as is Holmes Has It Large by Martin Hayes and Adrian Bamforth; and there’s more gems in the form of Fun Guys (by Grant and Burrows, drawing in a much looser style than you’d expect from this line man-extraordinaire, and I liked it), The Dopranos, Space Cabby and tons of other strips.

Anthology titles – especially humour titles – are never going to score on every page, because there’s no telling what will make any one person laugh out loud. But when even ‘throwaway’ strips like Rom McPherson’s Amber Nectar raise a smile, the good outweighs the occasional dud.

With full colour throughout for a measly £3.25, Wasted eats rival titles like Viz – perhaps these days over reliant on a trusted formula for its continued success – for breakfast. Yes, there are some rough edges (not literally – it’s not that dangerous), but for a second outing, Wasted #2 is another cracking read and well worth tracking down.

• Wasted is available from www.wastedcomic.com and selected newsagents and other outlets. “You can Try Before You Buy” by grabbing this still-available preview edition of the first issue

About the Author
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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as 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.