Hub - Issue 23 Page 3

  So Jen sets off to find Aughra the witch (voiced by Whitelaw and operated by Frank ‘Yoda’ Oz), who possesses the shard. But the Skekses, who have just had to appoint a new ruler, are onto his game and send out their minions to capture Jen: basically huge and quite creepy-looking beetles. Instead they come back with Aughra, leaving Jen to try and find his way into the Skekses’ castle with the shard. Along the way he goes through strange lands and encounters many odd beings, like the giraffe-legged Landstriders (who look like they’d walked straight out of a Dali painting). But he also meets a flying female Gelfling called Kira (voiced by The Bill’s Lisa Maxwell) who aids him in his mission. Will Jen and Kira be able to heal the crystal in time?

  The look of The Dark Crystal is certainly unique – something that’s mentioned time and again on the bonus documentaries (kids today apparently ask ‘what was that?’ when they watch it because there is no CGI involved; they just can’t understand how it was all done live). Froud himself is a bit of a unique artist, so when you combine his ideas with a completely puppet world, what you get is something that makes it easy to suspend your disbelief. As Henson told Froud, he wanted the movie to be totally organic, and he definitely achieved that. But thanks to all the hard work of the puppeteers the movie also achieves something else: it makes you care about the characters. When Jen cries at the climax, we feel his pain, and when Kira is facing the Dark Crystal’s power – in an effort to drain her life essence and revitalise the Skekses emperor – we’re rooting for her to escape. As Henson told screenwriter David Odell, you can make puppets do anything, and he was right. They can also play with your heartstrings.

  As well as the film, you also get a truckload of extras – as is to be expected with a 25th Anniversary edition. For starters there’s Froud’s audio commentary where you learn snippets like the Skekses concept costumes were made from melted down plastic toy soldiers sprayed with paint. On the second disc there are no less than three documentaries. The World of the Dark Crystal is the making of feature from the time of release, with behind the scenes footage from Elstree studios and the opportunity to see Froud sketching the characters. The new documentaries – Reflections of the Dark Crystal – Light on the Path of Creation and Shard of Illusion – take us through the ideas stage and filming stages. And lastly we have deleted and extra scenes, plus Froud’s character sketches.

  Fans of fantasy won’t need me to recommend this one: it’s already proved its worth as a classic of the genre.

  The Servants

  By Michael Marshall Smith

  Earthling Publications (earthlingpub.com)

  26 lettered hardcovers US$400

  175 numbered hardcovers US$75

  Trade hardcover US$30

  The Servants marks something of a return – the first novel published under the Michael Marshall Smith name for some time. More recently, the author has enjoyed a great deal of success as Michael Marshall, with his Straw Men thriller series (Straw Men, Blood of Angels, Lonely Dead) and this year’s stand alone cross-genre piece, The Intruders.

  This story, however, follows Mark, an eleven year old trying to handle many changes in his life. His parents are now divorced and his mother has remarried. His stepfather, David, is totally different to his beloved dad, and Mark has trouble adjusting to his new life. There’s a new, unwelcoming house in Brighton to deal with , a far cry from his native London (and Brighton isn’t the happy place he remembers from family holidays before the divorce), plus a mother whose illness is hard enough to handle without his new stepfather’s apparent over-protectiveness making Mark feel like an outsider… Nothing feels the same anymore. And things keep getting worse…

  Then Mark meets the old lady who lives in the basement flat of their house, and inadvertently finds an ally. He finds refuge visiting for tea and cake, and when she shows him the unused servants’ quarters behind her flat, a mystery is born. As things at home get worse, Mark is drawn back to the servants’ quarters time and again, to the voices he can hear there and the people he can see. Voices and people that only appear to be there for him, and him alone.

  But things aren’t right in this hazy, maybe-real world either, and Mark soon becomes aware that each world works in tandem, so to right one he has to right the other.

  On one level The Servants is an emotionally heartrending tale of a small boy’s struggle to cope with the disintegration of the life he has always known, and his anger as things get worse. He has to deal with his mother’s illness, as well as the fact that his perception of the world was flawed to begin with; nothing was really as he thought.

  On another level, The Servants is an outstanding piece of modern fantasy, reminiscent of Stephen King’s and Peter Straub’s The Talisman in its scope and depth. A worthy addition to any collection, this book will stay with you long after you turn the final page.

  Dead Men’s Boots

  By Mike Carey

  Published by Orbit (www.orbitbooks.net)

  Out now. £6.99

  Sometimes you discover a new series by a writer, and wish that you hadn’t. I sometimes wish I’d not come across Carey’s gothic/urban/noir/dark fantasy books starring down-at-luck exorcist Felix Castor. This is because the series to date has been so good that I’d like to have had the opportunity to buy them all and read them back-to-back. As it is, I’ve had to add Carey’s series to the very short list of “can’t-wait-to-have”s, and reconcile myself to the fact that after each one it’ll be a year r so before I get to read the next chapter.

  In the third book in the series, Felix Castor is having even more bad luck than before – not only is Rafi (an old friend who is now possessed by a demon due to a mistake made by Castor) due to be transferred to a facility where he’s likely to be experimented upon, rather than cured, but Pen – Castor’s landlady and only real friend – has thrown him out. Pen was the Castor’s anchor, and without her, there’s little stopping him from getting in too deep when he stumbles across an old society hell-bent on reincarnating mobsters and other homicidal low-life.

  Like Charlie Huston’s Joe Pitt books, Carey’s Castor sequence is set in our world, but twisted a few degrees. We recognise the places, the people, the dilemmas, the options, and this makes it all the more real – more feasible. We don’t question the absurdity of the central premise that the dead are rising around us, publicly, and in ever-increasing numbers. Of course, part of the reason for this is that Carey’s prose skips off the page. It really is a disappointment when we realise that in order to function properly tomorrow we really must put the book down and grab some sleep. Just one more chapter, then…

  The only bad thing about reading Dead Men’s Boots now is the fact that it’ll be another year or so until the next instalment. But don’t let this put you off. Buy it. If you’ve not yet read the first two in the series, start with The Devil You Know – they function as stand-alone novels, but you’ll get more out of reading them in order.

  The Future in Eight Pages or Less

  A Profile of 2000AD by Alasdair Stuart

  Once a comic, or character gets to a certain age, history becomes their greatest asset and greatest potential weakness. After all, look at any given character, say Batman, and questions begin to arise. Why isn’t he sixty? Why isn’t he dead? Was he really around in World War 2? Not a company on the planet has escaped the horror of continuity and some have tied themselves in knots trying to explain everything.

  Others have chosen simply to acknowledge their past and celebrate it and none more so than 2000AD. Whilst we’re now seven years past it’s project ‘future’ the decades of quality material produced by the weekly comic are ripe for exploitation and new owners, Rebellion have done just that.

  There are two clear strands to the 2000AD graphic novel line that mirror the strands of the comic itself. One is the old reliables, Judge Dredd, Strontium Dog, Rogue Trooper whilst the other is the more esoteric, unusual, newer material. Starting with the ‘originals’, Rebellion have begun a systematic, ground-up repr
int of every story from the very beginning.

  Now with some characters this is a labour of near-herculean proportions. Take Judge Dredd for example, a character who is TWENTY-NINE years old and has appeared in every issue of 2000AD in some form since the second. That’s a hell of a lot of material, but Rebellion have stuck to their word and there are now eight telephone book sized directories of Dredd stories with more to come. There are some gems in there as well including in volume 2, the epic ‘Cursed Earth’ that sees Dredd lead a small group of Judges across the radiation-soaked wastelands of America and encountering some seriously odd (And in one case famously copyright infringing) foes along the way.

  If you’re looking for something a little less intimidating than the mighty ‘Books of the Law’ however, you could do a lot worse than take a look at one of Dredd’s stablemates. Rogue Trooper is another ‘old faithful’ and one that rewards far more sporadic reading than Dredd. The story of the last Genetic Infrantryman (GI), a genetically engineered weapon betrayed by his creators and left to die on a world of perpetual war, it’s like Commando with the volume turned up, a dizzying story of heroism, blue-skinned men and lots and lots of violence. Most notably, Rogue Trooper has arguably the most ghoulish gimmick in comic history in the form of the bio-chips. Each GI is fitted with a biochip back up of their personality that, provided it’s removed within sixty seconds of their body being killed, can be used to control another GI’s equipment. Aided by Bagman (his backpack), Helm (his helmet) and Gunnar (guess), Rogue battles not only to get justice but to get new bodies for his buddies. Of course, this being comics nothing is ever easy and ‘Re-Gene’ collects some of Rogue’s finest hours as he clears his name, the chips get new bodies and it all goes wrong once again, in an entirely new way. War may be hell but Rogue Trooper is consistently fun and some of the best stories featuring the character are now part of the reprint library.

  War of an entirely different and infinitely more horrid sort is on display in ‘Goodbye, Krool World’, a collection of the best Bad Company strips. The story of Earth’s war with a hive mind known as the Krool, it follows Danny Franks, a raw recruit as he’s inducted into bad company. A rogue fire team led by Kano, a man who keeps something awful in a box, Bad Company don’t just want the war to end, they want the Krool to end too and Danny and his friends are swept up in their hideous tidal wave of violence. Deeply surreal and staggeringly violent it’s ‘Oh What A Lovely War’ to Rogue Trooper’s ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and well worth your time.

  Moving forward in time a little, Rebellion haven’t been backward about reprinting newer material. Robbie Morrison’s Nikolai Dante series is one part cyberpunk swash buckler, one part War and Peace with added nanotech. Nikolai, the biggest bastard (literally it turns out) in the Empire is bonded with a war crest, a mission adaptable weapon only wieldable by members of the Royal Family. Who are mostly insane. Or just very dunk. Or often both. Adrift in an Empire coming apart at the seams, Nikolai finds himself a political pawn in a game which soon erupts into all-out war. Balancing swashbuckling action with political intrigue, it’s no surprise that the series has been such a success. Start with The Romanov Dynasty, and work from there. Just don’t show Dante your wallet. Or your girlfriend…

  The other breakout hit of the period, Sinister Dexter, is also well represented. Finnigan Sinister is an amiabley sociopathic, chain-smoking Gunshark. His partner, Ramone Dexter likes watching TV. On his eyes. Together, they’re the two best Gunsharks in Downlode, a city which not only doesn’t know your name, it doesn’t care. Fast paced, ideas heavy cyberpunk with a strong streak of black humour, Dan Abnett’s pair of gun toting ne’er do wells are some of 2000AD’s most enduring characters and it’s easy to see why. As well as being a classic double act there’s enough depth to their world, thanks to Abnett’s writing, for it to become clear that their lives aren’t perfect or infinite. One day, one of them is going to screw up and that may be the last day of their lives. For now, there are three volumes of their adventures available and I’d recommend starting with Gunshark Vacation, the story of why it’s a very, very bad idea for these men to take a holiday.

  One of 2000AD’s greatest strengths has always been the ‘bus approach’ to storytelling, namely; ‘don’t like it, then another one’s along in eight pages!’ That’s reflected perfectly in their back catalogue and some of the comic’s most ambitious one off series have been given a welcome second lease of life in collected form.

  One of the best of these is ‘Thirteen’. Written by Mike Carey and with art by Andy Clarke it’s the story of a mildly telekinetic London punk and what happens when he gets his hands on a small black pearl with incredible power. Classic ‘comics with guitars’, Thirteen is huge fun and a perfect example of how to do a great story in a single volume.

  Another standout, although a second volume was produced, is Shakara. Written by Robbie Morrison and with superb, spiky art by Henry Flint it’s the story of an unstoppable alien fleet, the path of destruction they leave in their wake and Shakara, the seemingly invincible alien killer who’s hunting them down. Almost European in it’s use of silence, and gleeful in it’s use of violence it’s a superb piece of action SF and one that deserves a lot more attention that it’s had.

  However, the gem of the solo volumes is ‘Storming Heaven’. Collecting the majority of the work Frazer Irving produced for 2000AD, it’s a dizzyingly effective showcase of one of the best artists in the business. Featuring stories exploring the war between the creatures of the night, the true nature of monsters and the titular ‘Storming Heaven’ a dizzying alternate history of the Haight-Ashbury superhero scene it’s one of the best, and prettiest books on the market. Irving’s one of the best artists in the industry and after this, you’ll see why.

  He’s also part of the splendid ‘Necronauts’, written by Gordon Rennie and best described as ‘He’s HP Lovecraft! He’s Harry Houdini! He’s Sir Arthur Conan Doyle! He’s Charles Fort! They fight crime!’ Necronauts is, simply put, huge fun. Four of the greatest men of their age team up to battle an eldritch horror and it’s all lovingly rendered in Irving’s wonderfully scratchy, almost gothic style.

  Moving still further up the line to the last couple of years, the last two books I’ll talk about here are again single volumes and, again, basically modern classics. ‘Leviathan’ written by Ian Edginton and drawn by the marvellous D’israeli is the story of an ocean liner that’s been at sea for twenty years and the community that’s grown up on it. A sickly piece of period horror, lovingly rendered in D’israeli’s unique style it’s big idea horror at its best and one of the best books to come out of 2000AD in the last ten years.

  Finally, Asylum, written by Rob Williams and drawn by Boo Cook is a book I’ve already talked about for Hub but which needs to be looked at again. Mapping the immigration debate onto aliens arriving on Earth it manages to combine familiar situations with social satire and comment to create a startlingly dark story about what it means to be human and cruelty justified by the greater good. Populated by a staggering array of alien races, all lovingly and individually drawn by Cook, it’s a grim little story that makes it’s point intelligently and still works as an action thriller.

  There are, of course, lots of other books I could talk about. The complete Nemesis the Warlock, the complete DR & Quinch or any of the other Alan Moore volumes but half the fun of this sort of thing is finding out what you like for yourself. And believe me, regardless of whether your tastes run to future war, comedy, or out and out horror there’s something in 2000AD’s back catalogue for everyone. Their history is alive and well and bringing new readers in every day. Do yourself a favour, and make sure you’re one of them.

  COMPETITION

  A couple of months back we ran a competition on our website to win the complete series of Judge Dredd Casefiles (a HUGE collection that had us in traction after carrying it to the Post Office).

  This week we’re running a competition to win some 2000AD-flavoured audio adventures �
� thirteen Judge Dredd audio dramas, and two Strontium Dog plays. That’s about 18 hours (plus extras) of Big Finish audio goodness.

  To win, simply email the answer to this question to competition@hub-mag.co.uk:

  Which genre-loving actor plays Johnny Alpha in the Big Finish 2000AD productions?

  The winner gets all 15 currently-available dramas. There will be one runner-up prize, too, but we haven’t decided what that is, yet.

  Coming Next Week:

  Fiction: House Trainer by Ken Chiacchia

  Coming Soon: The next instalment in our popular history of Doctor Who…

  If you have enjoyed this week’s issue, please consider making a small donation at www.hub-mag.co.uk. We pay our writers, and your support is appreciated.