A break from the keyboard and other projects have jointly conspired in my attempts to write this review of Time Bomb Comics‘ Dick Turpin And The Restless Dead, written by Steve Tanner and drawn Andrew Dodd.
Notorious highwayman Dick Turpin stumbles across a deserted village following his latest highway robbery, and it seems the ideal place to hide out. But the village is not as empty as it first appears – and Turpin soon finds himself surrounded by hordes of rotting, hungry zombies!
This straightforward action-horror yarn is a change of pace from the intricacies of Time Bomb’s first title, Ragamuffins:
Stitches in Time, but zombies and the darker, grislier setting rather suit Andy Dodd’s ‘scratchy’ art style (and I don’t mean for that description to sound derogatory). Turpin himself is an interesting choice of anti-hero, and there’s no doubt he’s a villain at heart from the get-go, as the book opens with his hold up of a stagecoach.
The script is fun with a serious edge although I’m sure the closing line is a homage to a film, but I can’t think which one. While there are some odd choices of panel – Andrew favours mid shots with few close ups which I think is to the detriment of some pages – this is fun one shot worth checking out from either the publisher’s web site or the company’s other distributors.
John Freeman
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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.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Current British Publishers, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Reviews
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