Comic review: The October Faction #4- Goodbye pretty comic

Writer: Steve Niles
Artist: Damien Worm
Publisher: IDW
Released: 21st January 2015


I don’t want to further my reputation as the grumpy old man of comic book reviewers and needlessly slag this comic book off, because that’s no fun, and it’s kind of cheap of me as well.

Let’s face it. It’s easy to go on the Internet and call something terrible, say you hated it, and string together some pretty sentences to describe how awful it is. But what kind of individual would want to spend their days reading awful comic books and then destroying them on the Internet? I know it might appear that I do that all of the time on my blog, so I think it’s time for me to rein myself in.

From this day forward I will not waste my time deconstructing silly, throwaway, light-hearted, escapist comic books. I need to acknowledge that they are not for me, put them aside, stop buying them, and move on to something else.

If I come across a comic book that is hiding it’s insidious anti-human, global Police state message under cover of playfulness and silliness then I will point it out. But if a book has no agenda other than to entertain and avoid real-world issues then I’m not going to waste anybodies time by going on a massive 2000 word rant about it.

The October Faction #4 is one of those books that appears to be purposefully ignoring the real world. I understand that is what some (a lot?) of comic book readers want, but that’s not why I am reading them. The book offers a daft plot and some cuddly characters that you shouldn’t be taking too seriously, and it’s a jumping off point for me.

For anybody interested in the plot, it’s silly, and throwaway, and it has that post-modern, knowing, too cool for school thing going on with the dialogue. Characters are linguistically clever, but no wisdom is being imparted. Death is portrayed as a bit of a joke, foreshadowing that death in this comic isn’t really death, and so the last page reveal comes as no surprise. It’s just something that of course happened, because none of this is serious, and you are a bit daft if you are taking any of it seriously.

‘Have fun with the book dammit.’ That’s what writer Steve Niles will be shouting, if he reads this review. ‘Don’t take it so damn seriously mate’ (that’s something else that I’m sure he’d say).

But for me, as the reality junkie, anti collectivism, anti globalisation Internet tough guy twit that I am, I have to bow out now. I’m a bit disappointed, as it means that I’ll be missing out on the awesome artwork of Damien Worm, but the narrative progression, themes and characters being offered up by writer Steve Niles offer very little to me personally. I can’t get much out of it, and so I’m not going to try to find something that is not there.

That doesn’t mean that I hated the book, because I didn’t. There’s nothing here that greatly offends me, but there’s nothing that illuminates contemporary real-world issues either, and as it’s not exactly a memorable book that leaves me begging for more on a strictly narrative level either, why would I continue to read it?

If you like Tim Burton/Goth kind of stuff then give it a go. You might enjoy it, the art is beautiful, but for me, it’s become a bit blah now. I’ve read four issues, and even though I still admire the art, the story is beginning to wash over me. That’s it. Indifference has set in, and there’s not enough reason to keep this one on my rapidly diminishing wafer thin comic-book pull-list. Goodbye pretty comic book, you were fun, for a while.

Rating: 5/10 (occasionally amusing, great art)

Comic review: Millennium #1- Cleverly constructed, intriguing and fun

Writer: Joe Harris
Artist: Colin Lorimer
Publisher: IDW
Released: 21st January 2015



It was the overarching concept behind this book that hooked me, that tempted me into a purchase, and not the association with the old ‘conspiracy’ television show of the 1990’s.

That show was The X-Files, and the concept I’m talking about here is evil, and how it manipulates the world, hiding just beyond the scope of our current ‘scientific’ understanding.

That’s the real ‘conspiracy’ behind the pathetic, see-through lies and manipulations of our puppet politicians. It’s an interdimensional conspiracy with demonic entities attaching themselves to those in positions of power and influence in our particular ‘reality.’

Do these entities have to psychically manifest in the minds of individual men in order to manipulate them, or perhaps it’s just an in-built disease of our DNA that allows us to be so open, so eager to embrace evil? Either way, the demonic entities attach themselves to the minds of men (and women) in order to guide them, to manage them, and to encourage them to give out the immoral orders that those in uniforms unquestioningly follow.

That is the story of our planet. A wilfully ignorant, immoral, psychically contaminated species in love with order giving, and order following. The inevitable result of this toxic mindset is endless war, suffering and inhumanity, with man killing man, not for a good reason, but because he was ordered to. This is our past, our present, and if we keep on voting for it, our future as well.

That is the reason behind my purchase of this book. I am hoping for an exploration of that very human disease, the disease that allows us to give and take orders with no regard to moral rights and wrongs. I am hoping for an exploration into control systems, of slavery, of the collective Stockholm syndrome that is affecting us all. I have high hopes, and that is why I am such a harsh critic.

I will not accept a good story with interesting characters and give it a 10/10 because it was exciting or ‘cool.’ I am no longer a child. I demand much more than cheap thrills in my comic books these days. Say something, or go away.

This X-Files companion book takes the idea that the year 2000 was to be the end of something, acknowledges that it wasn’t, explains why it wasn’t, and carries the idea forward. There was a group of human plotters working for the evil entities that I have just mentioned. The group had something planned for the big day, but when 1999 turned into 2000, they failed, and the promised end of times failed to materialise.

But what is time to the eternal evil that lives, that hides, that manipulates, that plots, that conspires, that deceives, that tempts, that sows seeds of discord, disharmony, hatred and despair within the heart of us all? Nothing, and so the poisonous metaphorical spider continues to weave it’s web, mankind entraps itself, and a new threat emerges.

It’s a very comic book thing happening here, introducing a threat, and then having order following agents of the state thwarting it. It even has that tired old trope, the serial killer, but there’s something happening in this book that interests me, at least so far. It could be the structure (which is very good) and it could be the dark shading and colouring (which I like very much), but there’s a feeling of something hidden here that appeals.

As long as writer Joe Harris can ratchet back the statism, it should be a decent read. I’m not a frequent reader of his work, so I don’t know where his mindset is, but all I can do at the moment is keep my fingers crossed and hope that this story doesn't devolve into yet another book where state sanctioned agents save the poor innocent victim-civilian-suspects.


I’m going to take a gamble here and give this book a cautiously optimistic thumbs up. Time will tell whether or not it’s trying to say something, but I have to acknowledge that it’s a very cleverly crafted, intriguing and interesting beginning to the arc. A good opening can often deceive of course, so we’ll have to wait and see with this one. At the moment it’s worth purchasing, but time will be the ultimate judge. Will this book stand up like a nail, or will it just end up being another in a long, long line of police state supporting contemporary comic books? We’ll see.


Rating: 7/10

Comic book review: Winterwold #4- Decent comic book to be made into a television show shocker

Writer: Chuck Dixon
Artist: Bruce Guice
Publisher: IDW
Released: 19th November 2014


Winterworld is to be made into a television show. I find that a bit surprising really, as the book is good, and most television programmes are, well to point out the bloody obvious, they are usually bad, very bad.

I’m a bit shocked that a book about an independent, self-sufficient, decent man is going to be allowed on television in 2014. The mainstream media continuously pumps out anti man/anti-family programming that portrays men as order following statists, psychopaths, criminals, fools, losers, geeks, metro-sexuals, flaming best friends or juvenile weaklings dominated by bossy women, so this surprises me. Yeah, it’s very surprising, but in a good way for a change. I wait with frosty Winterworld breath to see how they mess it up. Nah, only joking. I’m sure it will be great. After all, if they follow the excellent comic they can’t really go too far wrong.

Issue #4 sees the end of the first arc. It features a determinedly unintimidated Wynn (the young ‘charge’ of the main protagonist Scully) versus a bunch of Al (Abraham) Gore worshipping fanatics and their new god, a killer whale. Will she become the latest sacrificial offering to the eco-friendly fish god who is silently stalking her through the frozen sea? I won’t spoil the outcome, but I approve. It’s good, and this month’s front cover of the killer whale preparing to gobble up our daring young heroine is the best cover of the series so far.

Tomas Giorello takes over as the artist for next month’s arc, and I couldn’t be happier. Bruce Guice has been very good, but with Giorello taking over it’s going to get even better. Giorello’s work on King Conan for Dark Horse comics was absolutely stunning, and in my eyes he’s one of the very best artists working in the comic book industry today.  Excited? You bet I am. I can’t wait to see what he does with the icy landscapes of Winterworld.

Winterworld is a rare comic book. Simple, yet good, with no underlying statism and characters that I can relate to and care about. There’s a refreshing absence of wagging fingers telling you to bow down to uniformed ‘heroes’ and watch what you say less you might upset the feminist liberal thought Police. It’s just a good old-fashioned comic book. Hopefully it will make a good old-fashioned television show as well. God knows we need something decent to watch on the lying box these days.

Rating: 8/10