Edited by Kirk Campbell & Gary Clap
Design and layout by Gary Clap
Let’s face it. Any anthology that opens with a quote by 1980s pop quartet Bucks Fizz is a winner in anyone’s book? Right? Dirty Rotten Comics are fast proving themselves to being the Daddy in the small press anthology scene. Each progressive issue has shown growth in art, design, format and overall content. Volume 5 is by far the best so far.
Comprising 28 full stories it is also a big old issue. I enjoyed all of the stories but thought I would pick out a few favourites to get your juices flowing.
Hush
Created by David Ziggy Greene
David is surely one of the creators at the moment who is well worth watching. He is a regular contributor to Dirty Rotten‘s output as well as a regular cartoonist in Private Eye and more. His commentaries on every day life are always worth a read and this one follows the mishaps that can occur in the home. With danger at every turn a home is pretty much destroyed by one of its video gaming lumbering occupants. This ends in the appropriate use of some broad humour that had me laughing out loud. This is all done with some perfectly realised linework by David. Spot on.
• You can find the creator at www.samu.co.uk or on Twitter @sahreports
Anxiety
Created by Joe Callanan
This is a short one page story that cunningly and educationally advertises the illness of anxiety like it was a cheesy television commercial that you might find on Channel 5 after midnight. It’s biting sarcasm acts like a buffer between stories in the anthology and has an inventively woven in message.
You can find the creator at www.amalgametedbiscuit.tumblr.com or on Twitter @amalgambiscuit
Technophobe
Created by James Wragg
This is a cartoony art styled two page strip that, in a wordless format, attempts to show the youth of today the horrors of giving up on technology. It perfectly and succinctly tells a twist in the tale story that is fun and looks great.
You can find James at www.tpens.com and on Twitter @thrustingpens
Cake Face
Created by Todd Oliver
Wow. What would happen if your face became a cake? My first suggestion is that you should “just say no” the next time you are offered LSD? Or you could actually cut your face off and add it to the top of a cake? A big ol’ slice of cakey madness in another great one page strip. (Do not try any of the stunts you have seen in this comic as you may end up weird-looking!)
Find the fully faced Todd at www.toddoliver.co.uk or on Twitter @toddoliver
Rash
Created by Olivia Sullivan
Luckily, I wasn’t eating lunch when I read this one. It gave me the same feeling of sickly regret I got after googling medical problems late at night (we’ve all done that right? Really?). It is all about a horrible rash that breaks out on a woman’s arm. Errr, that is kind of it really. Read it after eating (a good while after).
You can catch (but not catch anything from) Olivia at www.livvysullivan.blogspot.com or on Twitter @zenbucko
So there we have it. Go find yourself a copy.
• You can find copies of Dirty Rotten Comics at Gosh Comics and Orbital Comics in London as well as heading to www.dirtyrottencomics.co.uk. You can also follow their antics on Twitter @dirtyrottencomx
Many thanks for reading.
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Antony Esmond is a comic reviewer and writer – his hips don’t lie.
Categories: British Comics, Reviews