(via BugPowder): On sale now is the RhiZome Anthology, a weird but wonderful-looking 48-page black and white science-fiction and fantasy anthology, co-edited by Rob Jackson and Kyle Baddeley-Read.
The anthology contains stories by Max Mose, Rob, Kyle Baddeley-Read, John Robbins and Pete Batchelor and contains an interview with David Huxley (the creator of Nasty Tales).
“I can tell you that it’s absolutely stellar.,” enthues Kyle. “As you flick through the pages, you’ll be taken on a wild sci-fi ride, involving everything from sadistic robots, feuding tribes of dogmen, suspiciously similar looking office workers, mysterious gaping holes, and giant sized cockroaches! Plus there’s that cracking David Huxley interview to round things off.”
“My comic’s title is a pun on the title of Nate Powell’s excellent book Swallow Me Whole,” says John Robbins of his tale, “which always sounded Dublinese to me; like a resigned retort in the ‘swivel on it’ category. If Swallow Me Hole seems to aptly describe my comic – a comic riddled with hole-related puns and word play, and peopled with characters with no sense of personal power (their happiness in the hands of others), who in their own way yearn for the destruction of mankind as means of passively escaping their circumstances – then that’s because the title triggered the comic, and not vice versa. So I guess Nate Powell obliquely inspired my story.
“Beyond that, the story is typical of my assimilationist approach to crafting comics: lure the readers in with a familiar-shaped comics-work that appears to pander to their requirements, then lace the affectation with a little psychology and clobber the dopes with some hard truths!”
“Ever since I was a kid I have had a soft sport for sci-fi twist tales,” says Pete Batchelor of his six page story, ‘The Post Apocalyptic Subterranean Wake Up Blues’, “especially ‘Tharg’s Future Shocks’ in 2000AD. Having been reading this kind of story during the Cold War years of the 1980s it seemed a great starting point for this post apocalyptic tale,with a twist.”
• Here’s a preview of the anthology, and here’s the RhiZome tumblr, which includes interviews with the creators of the stories featured.
• RhiZome Anthology is now on sale at Rob Jackson’s website shop, priced at £4 with free postage to the UK. Please add £2 postage for the rest of the world
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, downthetubes Comics News
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