Fashion Beast

Story by Alan Moore and Malcolm McLaren
Adaptation by Antony Johnston
Art by Facundo Percio

So apparently back in the day, impresario Malcolm McLaren convinced Alan Moore to write a movie script for a story idea he had.  The film was never made, and the script languished for a while, before being acquired by Avatar Press, who then got Antony Johnston and Facundo Percio to adapt it for comics.  In some ways, the idea of two icons like McLaren and Moore working together is as interesting as their final product, but this story also stands on its own without worrying about its providence.

Fashion Beast is set a little ways into the future (as seen from the vantage point of the 80s), after England has been plunged into a nuclear winter, while it still fights some sort of war against an unnamed enemy.  London is slowly emptying of young men of fighting age, as well as undesirables.  The economy has tanked, and things are looking pretty grim.

This is not the case, though, for the fashion empire of Celestine, a reclusive designer whose gigantic salon remains brightly lit.  Doll Seguin is an androgynous young woman who works in the coat check of a local nightclub, until an unruly patron causes her to lose her job.  She ends up auditioning as a model (really, as a mannequin) for Celestine, who hires her against the wishes of the two simian Madames who actually run his operation while he sits in the dark and sketches clothing.

Not long after being hired, Doll discovers that the person who caused her to lose her job, Johnny, works at the salon.  Their rivalry pushes the two of them to do greater work.  When Johnny criticizes Celestine's designs, it is Doll that takes that criticism to the great man, and they are incorporated into his collection, which further enrages Johnny.  Things continue like this for a while until the tragic secrets behind Celestine's self-imposed exile from the world come to light, and Doll has to decide whether or not she will remain complicit in the deception at the heart of her new job.

I'm not sure how this would have worked as a film, unless it had been directed by Peter Greenaway, with a big, ostentatious score by Michael Nyman.  It definitely feels like a story whose time has passed, but that doesn't make it ineffective.  Johnston, as always, does a fine job of adapting Moore's screenplay, pacing the comic nicely to make it work across ten issues.  Percio is pretty Avatar-esque in his art, but that's not exactly a bad thing.

At the end of the day, this is really just a footnote in Alan Moore's career, and an odd piece of trivia in McLaren's, but it's good that it managed to make its way into the world.

Wasteland #43

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Russel Roehling

One thing that has consistently made Antony Johnston's Wasteland stand out from other post-Apocalyptic comics is the extent to which he has gone to develop and explain the world into which he has dropped his readers.  Social orders are thought through to a high degree, and every town and person has some kind of backstory that has already been worked out before we meet it or them.  I imagine that Johnston has notebooks full of ideas and stories that we are never going to read, and that exist only to inform what does make it into the comic.

In this issue, Michael is continuing on to A-Ree-Yass-I, the mysterious place where he believes that he and Abi were born.  He's on his own, having split from Abi a couple issues back, and is simply following his instincts.  He comes across a grove of trees that have grown alongside a river in the middle of some wasteland.  Michael's never seen trees in such number of or such height, and he becomes especially interested in an old man who lives among them - a former artisian from the town of Wosh-tun.  Michael doesn't know that he's being followed by Thomas, a man we met a few issues back, who has abilities somewhat like Michael's.

This is a quiet issue, but not in the manner of the last issue, where Abi found herself in the town where her former religious leader was born.  This issue is not about Michael overcoming any particular challenge or hardship; it's more of a filler to show his journey and to give Thomas the chance to catch up with him, but it is still very good, as we get to see a little more of Johnston's world.

The Coldest City

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Sam Hart

The spy novel has become a victim of the world's progress moving away from the Cold War.  People have tried to retool it in the fight against global terrorism, or have tried to focus on rogue states like North Korea, but the genre has lost some of its effectiveness, mostly because of the sense of otherness inherent in those attempts, at least so far as the mainstream North American and European markets are concerned.

That's why I was a little surprised to see that Antony Johnston, writer of the brilliant comics series Wasteland, among other titles, had written a Cold War graphic novel, The Coldest City.  The book is set in the final days before the Berlin Wall came down, and it is very cool.  Britain's number two spy in West Berlin (known as BER-2) has been killed, and a document he was carrying, which lists the names of every spy from each country active in that theatre, has gone missing.  MI6 sends Lorraine Broughton, one of the best operatives, into Berlin to find the list.

She immediately bumps up against BER-1, who has been in the region for so long that everyone fears he has lost all perspective.  He's a misogynist, but Broughton soon begins to wonder if he's also involved in an Ice Man operation - running his own network of international assassins from both sides of the Iron Curtain.

Johnston handles the spy stuff very well - the story propels itself along quite nicely, and like Broughton, the reader begins to wonder who can be trusted, and just which version of truth is the actual one.  The ending has a nice little twist to it which, to be honest, I don't think is fully supported by the story, but I would like to read the book again with that knowledge in mind, to see if I missed some very obvious signs.

If the book has a weakness, it's in Sam Hart's overly minimalist artwork.  It mostly tells the story effectively, but there were a number of times when I wasn't sure who a character was at first, and I didn't feel that there was a lot of excitement in his rather static drawings.

Still, this is a very good book, and it nicely fills the void, at least for a little while, left by Queen & Country, which remains one of the best spy comics ever written.

Wasteland #42

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Russel Roehling

Last issue, Abi and Michael went their separate ways, having argued over how to get to A-Ree-Yass-I, the fabled location where they believe they were born.  This issue follows Abi on her journey.

At the beginning of the comic, she finds herself in Sunspot, a town that is central to her faith as a Sunner.  The town is not what it once was - it's done to having only twenty-three inhabitants, and all but four of them are sick with some form of plague.  Abi has the ability to heal, however, and she sets herself to work curing everyone she can.  For some reason, though, the cure doesn't work properly, for the first time ever.

This issue returns the Sunner religion to a place of prominence in the book.  Since Abi and Michael left the city of Newbegin a while back, there has been very little discussion of religion.  The people of Sunspot interpret Abi's abilities as being proof that she is one of Father Moon's children, all of whom were long believed to be dead.  It is the close attention to world building, and faith's place within that, that has made Wasteland stand out among other post-Apocalyptic comics.  I'm pleased to see Antony Johnston return to that.

This is a good character-study issue, and I'm happy for the extra insight into Abi's character.  Russel Roehling is working well as the new artist of this series, and I'm especially happy to see it return to a monthly schedule.  This issue doesn't have a text piece featuring the journal of Ankya Ofsteen, and that is missed a great deal.  Ankya is referred to in the story, which is a first for this series, but I'd prefer her story continue to be told on its own, and not just be woven into the comics.  I wonder if Michael or Abi are going to meet her on their travels...

Wasteland #41

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Russel Roehling

It is so good to see this series back on track again, as new regular artist Russel Roehling shows improvement in his art and his handling of the regular characters, and Antony Johnston does what he does best, providing another exciting chapter to his post-Apocalyptic epic saga.

Michael and Abi were visiting the small settlement of Far Enough when they saw an object come crashing from the sky into the nearby Pre-city.  They investigated with a man they had just met, Thomas, who has the ability to get a psychic reading off of people and objects.  The object that fell, an old satellite, provides Thomas (and a reader) with an image of how the world came to its end.

Our heroes don't get much time to dwell on this new information however, as Thomas's daughter, Diana's boyfriend shows up in the Pre-city, being accosted by some Dwellers.  The group's fight and flight from these mutated creatures ends with them back in Thomas's home, where they all discover that they have a few things in common.

Johnston's always done a remarkable job of building his fictional world, both through the main story and the text pieces narrated by explorer Ankya Ofsteen, and this issue continues that.  There is some dispute as to whether or not the 'talking machine' that Abi relies on to lead her and Michael to A-Ree-Yass-I, the fabled land they think they were born in, is leading them astray.  Johnston has been building the mystery of that place since the very first issue, and I hope we'll get to see it for what it really is soon.

Wasteland #40

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Russel Roehling

Yet again, Wasteland has a new artist.  Since Christopher Mitten left this title, it's seemed that Antony Johnston has had great difficulty in finding someone to stick with the book.  I don't know why some of the other artists - Remington Veteto and Justin Greenwood were both announced as new regular artists - have moved on, but I do hope that Roehling sticks around.

His work is more realistic than Mitten's or the others', and that takes a bit of getting used to, but he's an accomplished artist.  At times, I've found the level of abstraction in this book to be kind of annoying, as it's not always been clear what has been happening.  Greenwood gave the book a more cartoonish feel than I felt appropriate for this series.  Roehling works for me, especially if his joining the crew means this book will come out regularly.

That is because Wasteland is one of the best-written comics on the stands.  This new issue starts a new arc, which has Michael and Abi, still travelling across the wasteland, arrive at a town just before an asteroid crashes to the Earth, obliterating a nearby pre-city.  At the town, they meet Thomas, a learned man who has the ability to pick up psychic traces off of objects and people (kind of like Longshot's power).  His daughter Diana scavenges for interesting items from the pre-city (like the 'fown' she finds this issue)), and together they seem to be more enlightened and knowledgeable than their neighbours.

Johnston is definitely taking his time in getting these characters to their destination - the mysterious A-Ree-Yass-I - but as he keeps diverting their attention in ways that reveal a little more about their strange provenance, I don't mind.

Dead Space: Salvage

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Christopher Shy

I usually avoid comics that are video game adaptions, but the first Dead Space mini-series was written by Antony Johnston (Wasteland) and Ben Templesmith (Fell), two creators I have tremendous amounts of respect for.

And that first mini-series was excellent.  From what I can gather, Dead Space the game is a cross between Aliens and The Walking Dead, where the player works their way through a gigantic spaceship killing reanimated corpses.  There's not a lot of story potential there, but then Johnston added a controversial religion (Unitology), and its most holy relic, the Marker, which causes changes in people, and the series took off.

In Dead Space: Salvage, Johnston returns to this story.  This original graphic novel follows a group of illegal miners who have been strip mining an asteroid belt when they discover the Ishimura, the vessel on which all the Dead Space action takes place.  There are government forces looking for it, so the miners have to figure out how to strip the vessel of any value before being caught.  This causes them to board the ship, and the predictable happens, as corpses come back to life, and a lot of people die.

Johnston downplays the religious aspect in this story, which did cause my interest to wane a little, but the problem I had with this comic lay in Christopher Shy's fully-painted art.  I'm not a big fan of painted comics in general, but I found that Shy's art was unnecessarily stiff and murky.  The characters were not easy to differentiate visually, and some of the action scenes were ambiguous.  Compared to the work that Templesmith did on this series, this does not come close.

I don't know that there is anything new to say in this franchise, but that doesn't usually stop companies from producing more work.

Wasteland #39

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Sandy Jarrell

A new issue of Wasteland is always a small cause for celebration, but I especially like the one-off issues that Johnston always writes between longer story arcs.  This issue takes us further back than we've ever been in this series, with a story set just ten years after the 'Big Wet', the disaster that changed the entire world.

This story is centred on Michael, Marcus, and Mary, as a trio of children (they look to be about twelve to fourteen years old) as they travel through the wasteland the world has become.  These names are familiar to regular readers of the book.  Michael is the ruinrunner who is the series's main character.  Marcus becomes the ruler of Newbegin, a walled city that is probably the pinnacle of human civilization in this world, but he runs it as a dictator.  Mary is his consort, who only recently arrived in the city, having led an army of Sand-Eaters in an attack before switching sides. 

This issue shows the three kids as allies, if not quite friends.  There is a rivalry between Marcus and Michael, although Michael doesn't particularly care about it.  It's clear that Marcus is in love with Mary, but she is more interested in Michael.  When a group of scavengers find them, and decide that they would like to take the girl, things get interesting, especially when Marcus has a vision of Michael killing Mary.

Wasteland has had a number of artists since Christopher Mitten made his departure (there is yet another artist coming on board for the next arc).  I've never heard of Sandy Jarrell before, but I like his work here.  It fits nicely with the look Mitten established for the book - scratchy and as sparse as the landscape, although still capable of telling a clear story.  I like Jarrell's work much more than I did Justin Greenwood's, and I hope we see him on this book again.

Wasteland #38

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Justin Greenwood

The main appeal of Wasteland is the totality of Antony Johnston's vision of the future.  He's built a fully-realized world in this comic, and that often comes through in small moments that fill his stories.  I often feel like he knows every character's entire life story, and only shares some of it as he works his way through his long-running series. 

Gerr has been traveling alongside our heroes Michael and Abi for some time now, and we as readers have known all along that his purpose in being with them is to betray them and kill them for Marcus, if they find the mysterious A-Ree-Yass-I, a fabled place where the three have a shared history or origin.  Last issue, Michael and Abi both figured out that Gerr worked for Marcus, and now it's time for him to tell his story.

Gerr has worked for Marcus since he was a boy, and he goes through his history in Newbegin for most of this issue.  The ending came as a surprise to me, but I shouldn't discuss that here, except to say that one of the most interesting things in this comic has been the way in which Abi has changed and darkened as a character from being the optimistic healer we first me years ago.

Justin Greenwood does better with quieter issues like this one, and his cleaner vision of Wasteland is growing on me.  I still miss Christopher Mitten's art on this book, but I'm very happy with the monthly schedule, so it's a fair trade.

Wasteland #37

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Justin Greenwood

Wasteland is really finding its feet again after its long hiatus and recent return with a new artist who is keeping the book on a monthly schedule.  For the last few issues, our heroes Michael and Abi, and their companion Gerr have been in some trouble in the Crossed Chains (read that as Christian) town of Godsholm.  Now, with the two men surrounded, Abi is confronting the leadership of the town, and a good number of its citizens while holding an open flame to their Bible.  Needless to say, she gets their attention...

Johnston uses this issue to show the lasting changes wrought in Godsholm by the main characters' appearance in the town, and returns the trio to the road.  The thing is, both Abi and Michael know that Gerr, who saved them from the Dog Tribe, is actually in the employ of Marcus, the insane ruler of Newbegin, where most of this series took place.

Two things have made this comic work over the years:  the depth and detail of Johnston's world-building, and his strength in constructing strong characters.  This issue balanced both nicely, and has me excited to see where the wanderers are headed next.

Bad Medicine #1

Written by Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir and Antony Johnston
Art by Christopher Mitten

Of all the publishers that participate in Free Comic Book Day, I think it's Oni Press that has best figured out how to make the day a viable one.  Two years ago, they used FCBD to debut their series The Sixth Gun, guaranteeing that unique and wonderful series a much wider audience than it would have gotten otherwise.  Last year, they did the same thing for Spontaneous, a terrific mini-series about spontaneous human combustion.  I probably would have picked up both of these comics anyway, but I appreciated being given the opportunity to sample the series for free in a meaningful way (instead of just being given a couple of story pages and some character sketches).

This year, they've done the same thing, with the first issue of Bad Medicine, a new mini-series by the team of Nunzio DeFilippis, Christina Weir, and Christopher Mitten.  DeFilippis and Weir have written a few graphic novels together, and are probably still best known for their very good revitalization of the New Mutants a ways back.  Christopher Mitten has worked with them before on Past Lies and The Tomb, as well as on the long-running Oni series Wasteland with Antony Johnston.

Bad Medicine is a medical thriller.  A corpse is discovered in a scientific laboratory, and it appears to have been decapitated.  Soon though, it is discovered that the victim's head is intact and attached to the body, it's just invisible. As you can imagine, this leads to all sorts of problems for the detective on the case, Joely Huffman.  She has few leads, except for the name of a doctor who left the profession five years ago, after causing the death of one of his patients.  He has spent these five years on a 'walkabout', researching alternative and bizarre approaches to healing.  He has something to do with all of this, and is eager to help.  As well, there is an pair of CDC scientists involved, who have a bit of a love/hate relationship going on.

There is plenty to like here, as DeFilippis and Weir lay down the groundwork for their series.  Mitten's art is always nice, and is always much easier to follow in colour.  Wisely, Oni have solicited the next issue of this series for next month (previously, they waited until after FCBD to continue their series, leaving a large gap between issues that may not have capitalized on their wider audiences).

This issue also has a Wasteland short by Antony Johnston and Mitten.  It appears to be set either just after the current storyline, or before Micheal and Abi ran in to the Dog Tribe a ways back, as it has the two of them traveling together and finding an injured man in a ravine.  It's a bleak story, but it helps to demonstrate the aesthetic of this wonderful series.

Wasteland #36

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Justin Greenwood

While I'm still not over the excitement of being able to read Wasteland on a monthly basis again, I am beginning to feel that this current arc, set in the Cross Chains (aka Christian) town of Godsholm is beginning to run a little long.  Not much of consequence happens in this issue, although it is still a very good comic.

Father Affon, the leader of the town, and his head Templar, Rykerd, are searching for the missing outsiders, who are also this book's main characters.  They discover Michael, who has been torturing Gerr to learn the truth of his intentions, and attempt to kill them both.  They are interrupted by Abi, who has also found her way into the tunnels under the town.  The three escape and separate, but Michael and Gerr soon find themselves holed up in a home that has been surrounded by the townsfolk.

This is pretty much an all-action issue, and little else is revealed about the strange god-like figure who came through town a few issues ago, or about the mystery of Michael and Abi's abilities.

The 'Walking the Dust' prose page at the end of the book is as good as it always is.  I look forward to the next issue, which should bring some resolution to the Godsholm part of this story, and get our heroes out on the move again.

Wasteland #35

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Justin Greenwood

How quickly we as comics fans can become spoiled.  I had more or less given up hope that Wasteland would continue as a series, and now we've had something like three issues in a row come out on time, one month apart.  It's a pretty amazing thing.

In this issue, Michael decides to test Gerr, who we know was sent by Marcus to kill Michael and Abi.  Michael, having some form of telepathy and telekinesis doesn't need to lay a hand on the man to question him, and their scenes together are pretty interesting.  Abi, meanwhile, has been taken prisoner by the Knights Templar, who don't believe she doesn't know where her traveling companions have gone.

This is a good issue, but being smack in the middle of this story arc, it's a little hard to discuss.  As thankful as I am that new artist Justin Greenwood is able to keep this book on track, I do miss Christopher Mitten's work here.  His pencils were a lot dirtier, and that seemed more fitting for the types of environments that Johnston's created.

One thing that really grabbed me with this issue is the Ankya Ofsteen text piece.  People who have only trade-waited this series don't know about this, but each issue contains one page from the travel journal of a woman who has been wandering around the various communities and barren places that fill Johnston's world.  Before now, each of these one-page pieces have been self-contained, but now Ankya's story about meeting a tribe of people who live inside a mountain is continued from last month, and will carry into the next issue.  These are often a favoured part of this comic, and I like seeing that Johnston is giving Ankya more space to develop her story.

Wasteland #34

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Justin Greenwood

I'm very pleased to see that Wasteland is back on a regular schedule, and therefore welcome the addition of new artist Justin Greenwood, since it seems that it is his efforts that are helping the book return to its previous status as one of the most dependable (and high-quality) independent books on the stands.

The tone of this comic has shifted quite a bit with the new artist and new story arc.  Where before, Wasteland was largely about survival in a difficult future, and the politics of the city of Newbegin, this story arc is also exploring issues of faith in greater depth than the series did before.  Our heroes, Michael and Abi, who are traveling with the Ruin Runner Gerr, find themselves in the town of Godsholm, which is a Crossed Chains town.  The populace of this isolated town are Christians, and it is curious to see Johnston introduce such a familiar thing into his story.  He has not shied away from religion before, but in those cases, he has only given us the Sunner religion, which is much simpler in its belief system than Christianity.

The people of Godsholm are convinced that the travelers are demons, and everyone is upset about the fact that they were recently visited by a giant naked man who mocked their beliefs.  Abi and Michael realize that this same figure, who visited them last issue while they slept, is their father, and that he is traveling to Newbegin, to deal with Marcus, the leader of that city.

This arc is very much grounded in what has come before in the series, but is also rather accessible for new readers.  It may not feel that way at first, but many of the things that seem unclear, such as Michael's abilities, and the mystery of A-Ree-Yass-I have been mysteries since the series began.

As I've been saying for as long as this comic has been running, Johnston has done some incredible world-building with this series, and it is always fascinating.  Greenwood's art works well here - I preferred Christopher Mitten on this title, but am also very pleased to see the book coming out again, so I'm not going to complain.

Wasteland #33

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Justin Greenwood

In my opinion, some of the best news of the New Year is that Wasteland is back, and that the creators are committed to putting the book out on a monthly schedule again.  For the first year and a half of its existence, Wasteland was just about the most reliable independent comic published at the time, but something happened that caused artist Christopher Mitten to fall way behind, and eventually leave the title.  The first replacement artist didn't work out for some reason, but now Justin Greenwood has joined the title, and it feels like things are going to work out for it again.

To celebrate getting back into the swing of things, this issue is only $1, and is well worth picking up.  It's not a perfect jumping on point (Wasteland is a complex series), but Antony Johnston does his best to welcome new readers with a detailed recap inside the front cover, and by shifting the story back to central characters Michael and Abi, who are continuing their journey to A-Ree-Yass-I, a mysterious land that has been talked about as the birthplace of the Big Wet, the event that changed the world.

They are accompanied by Gerr, who they think is a Ruin Runner, like Michael, but who we know to be an agent of Marcus, the leader of Newbegin, who wants to keep Michael from getting where he's going.

In this issue, we see a new aspect of society - a Cross Chains town.  Basically, this is an isolated place where Christianity is still practiced.  Most of society has become rather tribal at this point, with the Sunner religion claiming most souls, except for city people (who enslave Sunners), and groups like the Dog Tribes.  It's a surprise to see a holdover faith from the old world still existing here, and I like how Johnston has the people who live in the town revert to a more superstitious and suspicious form of the religion (they think Michael is a demon).

Also of interest in this issue is the introduction of Zakk, a brother of the church who has lost his faith after a visit by a strange man who seems kind of god-like.  This strange man has also recently visited Michael, Abi, and Gerr in their dreams.  Johnston is setting this series up to go in some interesting new directions.

Justin Greenwood does a good job with this debut issue.  I liked his work on Marc Guggenheim's Resurrection(I do wish we'd see more of that title too), but at first worried that he wouldn't be a good fit for this title.  His art lacks the rougher, shabbiness of Christopher Mitten's, which fit this world so well, but he does handle the characters quite well.  Here's hoping for monthly issues of this series all year.

Thought Bubble #1

Written by Antony Johnston, Duncan Fegredo, Andy Diggle, Robin Furth, Mark Rutter, Mike Carey, Gavin Ross, Sally Jane Thompson, Will Morris, Raymond Mak, Amy Evans, Kristyna Baczynski, Matt Sheret, HP Lovecraft, Stuart Gordon, Alice Summerscales, and Sophie Kamlish
Art by Charlie Adlard, Duncan Fegredo, D'Israeli, Frank Beazante, MD Penman, Gavin Ross, Jally Jane Thompson, Will Morris, Raymond Mak, Amy Evans, Kristyna Baczynski, Julia Scheele, Tula Lotay, Alice Summerscales, and Sophie Kamlish

I'm always a sucker for an inexpensive anthology, but picking this up at the comic store this week led to a nice surprise - this anthology of short stories by a mix of British comics professionals and prize winning-amateurs is printed on newsprint, and is folded over, making each page half the size of a page of Wednesday Comics.  This allows the storytellers more space for their work, and makes reading this a treat.

As is always the case with a project like this, the quality of the comics included ranges quite a bit.  The book starts with a one-page Wasteland strip, drawn by Charlie Adlard.  It's very cool, especially since it's only the second time Wasteland has been in colour.  It's followed by a single page by Duncan Fegredo, looking back at his career.  I also quite enjoyed Andy Diggle and D'Israeli's strip about a cop who believes a murder was committed by time travelers.

Mike Carey gives us a very cool story about Leonardo Da Vinci, outlining some of his lesser-known accomplishments, such as break-dancing and playing for FC Milan.  It's drawn by MD Penman, and is a nice companion to Marvel's SHIELD.  There's also a creepy adaptation of an HP Lovecraft story by Stuart Gordon and Tula Lotay.

Most of the rest of the book is kind of forgettable, but still a decent collection.  It's always a pleasure to be able to support projects like this, even if it ended up being published after the event it was intended to advertise.

Wasteland #32

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Brett Weldele

Amid the usual trickle, and sometimes deluge, of announcements about new graphic novels and comics series that have been heralded over the last year, one of the ones that most caught my eye was the expected return of Wasteland to a monthly schedule.  Wasteland has been around for a while, and was at one point the most reliable of monthly independent comics.  And then it hit a few snags, as the last arc was released on a schedule that has more in common with sightings of particular comets than it does a monthly comic.

That's just about all over now, as in January, new series artist Justin Greenwood is set to arrive, and the book will be beginning a new arc.  In the interim, Antony Johnston decided to give us this one-off issue which addresses the fate of a couple of very minor characters.

The issue opens with a young woman, who we may or may not have seen in Sultan Ameer's camp (I don't remember if she was a character or not, or is just your generic escaped slave), reveling in her new freedom, and traveling to what she hopes is a city.  Along the way, she runs in to a group of Sunners going the other way, led by what looks like a familiar figure.  We quickly learn that this is the group that left Newbegin some time ago, under the supposed leadership of Golden Voice.  As it turns out, the man leading this group is an imposter, chosen a while back to make it look like Golden Voice had left the city.

The rest of the book follows this group as they face the hazards of Johnston's broken future world.  As always, Johnston provides a fully-realized science fiction environment, but keeps his story grounded in the strength of his characterizations.

Brett Weldele, of the recent mini-series Spontaneous, provides the art, so of course the book looks good.  He is a good artist to continue the minimalist aesthetic Christopher Mitten began on this title.

This issue is a nice introduction to new readers who may want to sample this series before the $1 issue next month, but it is also a reward to loyal readers on a number of levels.  If you haven't read Wasteland, you're really missing out on a terrific comic.  If you abandoned the book during its scheduling troubles, it's time to come back to it.

Wasteland #31

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Remington Veteto

We haven't seen an issue of Wasteland since February, which makes this story, which unfolds over a long period of time and intertwines with other 'recent' issues, a little difficult to follow.  Regardless of that, Wasteland continues to be a very good comic.  In this issue, Golden Voice, the spiritual leader of the outlawed Sunner religion, is arrested while plotting to set off bombs throughout Newbegin.  In Marcus's city, there is no such thing as a fair trial, and Goldy is taken to be publicly executed.

A lot happens in this issue - Skot and Jakob have a very interesting conversation, wherein Skot's Sunner status is revealed, and Jakob learns that Abi, his adopted mother, is still alive.  I feel like, were this issue to be read as part of a trade, all of the momentum that Antony Johnston built into the story, but which was eroded by the long wait between issues, will make this a pivotal chapter in the longer story.  The last page of this book has me intrigued.

I hope that whatever is going on with this series is getting resolved.  I know that Christopher Mitten left the title, and his announced replacement, Remington Veteto has done a fine job with this issue and the previous ones, but nothing seems to be getting the book back on track.  The next issue is going to be guest-drawn by Brian Hurtt, a known and reliable artist, but I don't know where things will go from there.  This issue does not have a letters column or text piece (aside from the usual excellent Ankya Ofsteen story) explaining what is happening.  For a long time, this comic was just about the most reliable monthly indie on the stands; it's too bad that it can't seem to reclaim that status.

Wasteland #30

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Christopher Mitten and Remington Veteto

Well, it's only been seven months since the last issue of Wasteland, which used to be just about the most reliable independent book I bought, showed up on the stands, so I suppose I can be forgiven for being a little bit lost here.

For the last four or five issues, the series has been focusing on a particular character, and showing us their perspectives on a string of events, taking place over almost a year of story time (and so much more in real time).  This issue focuses on Golden Voice, the Sun Singer who has been leading the Sunners' Rebellion over the last few issues.  It's a good issue, as it shows us the progression of this pacifist into increasingly violent tactics.  As the issue comes to its close, it looks like Goldie is going to reveal one of the secrets that has had me intrigued since the series began, but that looks like it will happen next issue (hopefully that will happen this year - no other issues have been solicited).

The issue continues to feature Christopher Mitten's layouts, although I thought that was not going to happen any more.  New artist Remington Veteto, who was supposed to be getting the series back on track, does a decent job, although his line work is much more solid (and occasionally more stiff) than Mitten's.

There is no text piece explaining what is going on with this book, but there is another very interesting Ankya Ofsteen travelogue piece, which stands out because it discusses the colour of the sky in the Wasteland world, something I've given no thought to before, as the book is black and white.

Here's hoping we'll see another issue of this comic by the summer.

Wasteland #29

Written by Antony Johnston
Art by Christopher Mitten and Remington Veteto

This is only the fifth issue of Wasteland to be published in the last year.  That is not so shocking for an independent title, especially one of this quality (check out stuff like Elephantmen or Godland, or Walking Dead a few years ago).  However, when this title began, it was uniquely regular in its publication schedule, and I have really noticed and disliked the change in regularity.

With this issue, Antony Johnston provides us with the explanation that Christopher Mitten, the extraordinary artist of the first 28 issues, can no longer manage the title.  This is a shame, as Mitten has done a fantastic job in constructing the Wasteland world.  This is a book with a lot of unique design elements, as the team have carefully and exhaustively constructed the science fiction world where this story takes place.  I consider myself a fan of Mitten, even though at times I found his art to be confusing and hard to follow.  I wish him luck in his future projects, and will be very likely to pick them up.

And so, with this issue, Mitten is only doing layouts, and new artist Remington Veteto is doing the pencils and inks.  This arrangement will last for a while, before Veteto takes over full art duties.  In these types of situations, its often hard to tell who has done what, but it seems that the baton is being passed to capable hands.  Veteto has a stronger line than Mitten, which gives the figures more weight.  I always felt that Mitten's often washed-out look worked best in the desert scenes, giving the hint of brightness, but in this story, set within Newbegin's buildings, this heavier look worked well.

The spotlight of this issue is on Dexus, the Watchman, as Johnston goes over the same events of the last few issues, this time from his perspective.  Had these books come out more quickly, this story might be getting boring by now, but with the lengthy delay between issues, I find it only helps to solidify each character's take on events.  I look forward to some resolution of this story, and the focus being placed on Golden Voice in the next issue (which hopefully comes out soon).