DRAFT – In Review: Cancertown: Blasphemous Tumours

By John Freeman on September 27, 2012

Publisher: Markosia
Writer: Cy Dethan
Art: Graeme HowardOut: 1st November 2012

The Book: Vince Morley is a dangerously sick man. Within the monstrous alternate world of Cancertown, a creature of horrific violence and limitless rage has burst from the nightmare landscape. The foundations are shaking and the old powers are falling. In response, the deadliest of Cancertown’s inhabitants seeks Morley out to claim a favor that could cost him more than just his life.

The Review: Regular DownTheTubes readers will recall I enthused about the original Cancertown, despite not being much of a horror comics fan. First published by Insomnia but snapped up by Markosia when that publisher went under, it’s proved a deserved success for its creator, and I’m delighted to see this return to what is most certainly a nightmare world.

Dethan ably picks up the threads of the original graphic novel, weaving a heady unsettling mix of nightmares. This time out, the story is brought to life by the talented Graeme Howard, who ably takes Stephen Downey’s original look to the world of CancerTown and makes it his own, with some amazing sequence of the bizarre and grotesque, juxtaposed with the ‘normality’ of Morley’s ‘normal’ life.

• Pre-Order directly from Cy Dethan and receive the book for a special price, a DVD and a chance to win a sketch!

• Markosia Official Web Site: www.markosia.com

• Read our review of Cancertown: An Inconvenient Tooth

About the Author
Latest Posts

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.