Comic Related - If It's Comic Related, You'll Find It Here!

Futurequake #16

Reviewed by David O' Leary

FUTUREQUAKE #16
Story by: Various
Art by: Various
Colours by: Steven Denton
Letters by: Bolt - 01
Cover by: Lee Carter
Publisher: FutureQuake Press
Cover Price: £3.50
Reviewed By: David O' Leary

FutureQuake is an anthology comic based out of England with the purpose of showcasing the talents of up and coming writers and artists and giving them a forum to say they have been published. Having seen the likes of The Walking Dead's Charlie Adlard, Battlefields PJ Holden, Thunderbolts Declan Shalvey and Detective Comics Alan Grant grace its pages over the years in some capacity they are proven to be a stepping stone to better pastures for many people.

The format of the book is that of five pages or less short stories with a vintage EC Comics moral twist to some of the stories a standard of the book for a long time. Varying in many different genres of comics covering everything from sci-fi to horror and everything in between it is apparent that in some cases the talent is raw but present.

But what is different about this issue you may ask. Well, one of the strips is written by one of the rising stars of Irish comics. Nominated in this years Eagle Awards for Best Newcomer Writer alongside industry stars Jonathon Hickman, Kieron Gillen and Kathryn Immonen and Al Ewing, Mike Lynch was trust into the public spotlight at these awards on the back of his breakthrough comic Black Star in Irish language comic anthology Rira. FutureQuake marks one of the first times many will see Mike's work in English. He is joined on the strip by Scottish artist Paul McCallan who illustrates two strips in the book. McCallan currently working on his own comic called The Ark is an artist with potential.

Lynch's story follows a kid named John who has long had his suspicions about his neighbour Mr. Robinson. John is convinced that Mr. Robinson is an alien. In an effort to get proof John starts to root through Mr. Robinson's trash and through a window he can see a big device in the house. Having been spotted trying to take a picture, Mr. Robinson stops John to explain and confirms that he is an extra terrestrial traveller stuck on Earth and that he will be leaving soon. John requests that he join Mr. Robinson and is told to come back after dark the following day. The following day goes slowly as John waits the time he can leave but in a twist when he arrives at the house Mr. Robinson has left without him. This is indicative of the type of story that FutureQuake want to print; plenty of story confined to a few pages with a twist at the end. A great little story.

This is just one of the many strips in the book with obvious varying influences ranging from Judge Dredd to Star Wars the stars of tomorrow are on show in a complementary manner.

What is so cool about this book is that every page has the potential to surprise you based solely on the raw talent on show. The thing about raw talent is that there is no fear factor so there are no boundaries. Which in turn makes a book like this so enjoyable to read.

Rating the Issue

Reviewer Bio

David has been with CR since June 2008 and started out as a reviewer and has expanded to do a couple of columns for the site also; starting with 28 Words Later with artist Declan Shalvey and later 5 Minutes With... where he talks with the industries best and brightest from Kubert to Moore.