Alongside this week’s 2000AD, don’t miss out on the all-new Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular Special, out today in newsagents, comic shops and treasuryofbritishcomics.com, or the official Monster Fun web site.
Britain’s kookiest anthology returns from the great beyond with plenty of brand new, HELL-arious comic strips, mixing and mashing updated takes on just some of the classic comedy characters publisher Rebellion owns with a diabolical host of new frights.
With a stand out cover by veteran cartoonist Tom Paterson to catch the eye from the get go, this Special – which, as we previously reported, leads into an ongoing comic, launching next April – is a terrific mix of humour strips, with an all-new “Leopard from Lime Street” adventure by Simon Furman and Laurent Lefeuvre included, too.
(It’s great to see Rebellion are mixing adventure and humour strips in this new title, something that was once regular practice in British comics, but slowly died away in favour of “single note” comics. I’ve always felt a combination of genres gave an anthology a greater strength and seeing teenage Billy Farmer back in action, the strip included very much taking the character back to his roots, is a welcome inclusion).
Humour dominates this super Special of course, providing a fine mix of updated and new characters for younger readers to enjoy. And enjoy it I think they will, the frenetic craziness of Tom Paterson’s hilarious “Sweeny Toddler”, taking on a castle’s ghosts, and his “Grimly Feendish” adapting his inept evil plots for the modern world, working well with younger creators many contributions, particularly brilliant strips such as the comic’s opener, “Frankie Stein” by Cavan Scott, John Lucas and Gary Caldwell, “Kid Kong” by Alec Worley and Tiernen Trevallion, and “Tokoloshe” by Ned Hartley and Juni Ba, just three my personal favourites.
On offer in this Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular Special is a seriously appealing smorgasbord of thoroughly-enjoyable comic silliness, from the madcap of the fast-paced updating of “Hire a Horror” by Matt Baxter and the deliciously delightful “Hell’s Angel” by Chris Garbutt, through to to the more traditional, such as “Wiz War” by Kek-W and Lew Stringer, and “Martha’s Monster Makeup” by Robin Etherington and David Follett.
Overall, all the strips contribute to a fantastic, carefully assembled opening salvo of sheer unadulterated erm, fun – because, dear reader, this is a comic very much not for adults, aimed straight at BEANO and Phoenix readers and doing a grand job of it, too.
This comic may have its roots in the past, but it’s a thoroughly modern affair. It may also be for kids, but it certainly jogged my funny bone, and I’m looking forward to seeing the regular comic next year.
This is a great package of potty comics craziness, and well worth the £4.99 entrance fee to humorous horror…. why aren’t you stalking your local WHSmith already?
John Freeman
• The Monster Fun Halloween Spooktacular Special is available now in all good comic shops and newsagents, and some run by vampires
The first regular issue of Monster Fun will be available from all good newsagents and comic shops in April, but readers can subscribe now at monsterfun.co.uk, order this Special – and receive brilliant free gifts!
• Tom Paterson fan? Good news! The Treasury of British Comics Presents: The Tom Paterson Collectionis on sale from 25th November 2021
- About the Author
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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, Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News, Features, Reviews
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