Books, Comics, David Pollock

House to Astonish

A very well-created, knowledgeable and informative podcast for comic books fanboys

With a name redolent of the Golden Age of pulpy superheroics from the 1960s, House to Astonish is a comics and comics-related podcast with no sense of deference to the non-geek or the comic book movie part-timer. That’s probably not the market they’re…

Hot 100 2011 - No. 49 to 1

The definitive list of Scottish creative talent

The Hot 100 is the definitive list of Scottish creative talent. From fashion designers to performance artists, everyone who has made a sizeable splash in 2011 has a place in this countdown. It’s for people who’ve created a buzz, but it’s also about…

Nick Spencer & Christian Ward - The Infinite Vacation No 1

Character of parallel universes tale ends up ‘bored, alone and miserable’

(Image) ‘Hello My Name Is Mark,’ says the badge worn by the red-haired guy with the shirt, tie and patch of ill-advised chin fluff who looks as though he’s attending a conference. And in a way he is, with this gathering of his alternate selves over…

The Atomic Society of Justice

John Miller's episodic one-off tribute to the 1940s ‘Golden Age’ of comics

(Small Press) In comic geek speak, the ‘Golden Age’ means the 1940s, and the advent of the superhero era from DC and Marvel. Set in 1942, this episodic one-off tribute comes from prolific Scots small press creator John Miller. As is typical of his…

Joshua Dysart & Cliff Chiang - Neil Young’s Greendale

(Vertigo) Originally a concept album in 2003, then a film, a live DVD and an off-Broadway musical, this anti-war, pro-ecology tale by Neil Young & Crazy Horse continues its march across media formats with an attractive hard-bound graphic novel…

Mark Millar & Steve McNiven - Nemesis No.1

(Icon) With Mark Millar’s last creation currently tearing up cinema screens, what better way to drum up interest in his new project than with a cover strapline bearing the claim ‘Makes Kick-Ass Look Like S#it’? Another collaboration with Steve…

Jim Lawrence, John McLusky & Yaroslav Horak - James Bond 007: Polestar

SPY THRILLER Amidst the furious modernism of Daniel Craig’s James Bond incarnation, it’s becoming easier to forget just what a retro thrill the character was for so many years. This collection celebrates a vision of the character from the most sadly…

Alan Grant, John Wagner and Massimo Belardinelli & Ian Gibson - Ace Trucking Co. Vol.1

Born out of the 70s and 80s-mired misapprehension that CB radio talk was the vernacular of the future (let’s blame Burt Reynolds for that), this weekly 2000AD serial nevertheless became one of the British comic’s best for a while. That’s partly down to…

Curt Sibling - Total Fear: Collection 2

CARTOON SATIRE It’s obvious right away that pseudonymous Scots comic creator Curt Sibling is taking the mickey, but the way in which he does it really has to be spot-on in its execution to succeed. This self-published, black and white anthology takes…

Garth Ennis & Gary Erskine - Dan Dare

SCI-FI ADVENTURE Following cold on the heels of Grant Morrison and Rian Hughes’ controversial, and some might say ugly, early 90s update of Britain’s noblest comics hero, this seven-part revival from Richard Branson’s comics line, now repackaged in…

Art Spiegelman - Breakdowns

BIOGRAPHY Subtitled ‘Portrait of the Artist as a Young %@*!’, this was the first collected book of comic art which the Jewish-American Spiegelman had published. Created between 1972 and 1977, the volume is reissued with an illustrated 20-page…

Judge Dredd Megazine No.275

The other outlet for Dredd's continuing adventures in near-future totalitarianism alongside 2000AD is the Megazine, relaunched this issue, including a free mini-graphic novel collecting Dredd stories illustrated by Jock. Regular writer John Wagner is…

Robbie Morrison, John Burns & Simon Fraser - Nikolai Dante: Sword of the Tsar

FUTURISTIC TALE (Rebellion) Set in a time after a mythical future Russian revolution, adventurer and rogue Nikolai Dante is one of the most feared men in the land, and that’s just by all the women he inevitably ends up charming into bed. On the way…

Various - Fantasy Classics: Graphic Classics Volume 15

HORROR (Eureka Productions) Graphic novel adaptations of classic works of literature are becoming more popular these days, and American series Graphic Classics pack in more updating for your buck with an anthology format. They’re not quite in the…

Steve Niles & Kelly Jones - Batman: Gotham After Midnight No 1

SUPERHERO (DC) In the arena of American superhero comics, Batman and the X-Men’s Wolverine are probably the most over-saturated characters. It can be a minefield trying to guess which titles featuring either character on the cover are actually…

The Best of Roy of the Rovers: The 1980s

Forget Teddy Sheringham or Craig Brewster. Each would have to play on for almost another 20 years to match the footballing career of Roy Race, who turned out for and then player-managed the famous Melchester Rovers from 1954 to 1993 (with a brief…

Alan Grant, Jamie Grant & Various - Wasted No.1

ANTHOLOGY (Bad Press) Devised by sometime 2000AD writer Alan Grant, and the artists at Glasgow’s Hope Street Studios (which includes the All-Star Superman team of Jamie Grant – no relation to Alan – and cover artist Frank Quitely), Wasted is the…

John Miller - Secret Agent: Chronicles of Doom

SPY SATIRE (Small Press) You can see the work of Edinburgh cartoonist John Miller on posters and adverts hanging in the city’s Deadhead Comics, but none hint at his proclaimed double life as the template for James Bond, with inspiration imparted to…

John Wagner & Colin MacNeil - Judge Dredd: America

DYSTOPIAN SCI-FI (Rebellion) Neither a part of the Hollywood-friendly American comic book market nor as established in the British psyche as he was during the 80s heyday, it’s an oft neglected fact that Judge Dredd has become the focus of one of the…

Malcy Duff - It’s Just Ketchup

INDEPENDENT (Missing Twin Publishing) The modestly home-made comics of Edinburgh cartoonist Malcy Duff are abstract almost to the point of alienation, but there’s something about their cinematic grace and unashamed abstraction which sits comfortably…

Howard the Duck

DVD (PG) 111min (Metrodome) Howard the Duck originally appeared in an issue of a 1973 Marvel comic entitled Adventure Into Fear, and perhaps his greatest moment came when thousands of American citizens actually voted for him in the 1976 US…

Warren Ellis, Cary Nord & Dave Stewart - Ultimate Human No.1

SUPERHERO (Marvel) Marvel’s Ultimate line was intended to reinvent the company’s main characters for the 21st century, to drag them out of the hands of continuity-obsessed fanboys for a while and show off how well superhero stories could function as a…

Simon Spurrier & Tan Eng Huat - Silver Surfer: In Thy Name No 1

SUPERHERO SCI-FI Silver Surfer: In Thy Name No 1 (Marvel) With extensive work for 2000AD, various licensed and original novels, and his recent Gutsville series for Image already behind him, Simon Spurrier is the hottest young British writer in…

John Wagner, Alan Grant & Jose Ortiz

HORROR The Thirteenth Floor (Hibernia) The 80s British comic boom is best-remembered these days as the glory days of 2000AD, when such creators as Alan Moore and Grant Morrison came to prominence. Yet, other contemporary comics from the same…

Captain America: The Chosen No 1

David Morrell & Mitch Breitweiser

In the current Marvel universe, Captain America is dead. Still, that doesn’t stop him being reincarnated when David Morrell – the novelist who created Rambo – comes calling for a scripting job. The majority of this first issue of six is about as…