Something Wicked Issue 11
Published by: Futurequake Press annually in November
Creator owned material
Edited by:
Dave Evans &
Richmond Clements
Cover: Matt Sandbrook
Genre – Horror
This is a British anthology of Horror syories from the same punlishers as the 2000AD fanzines Zarjaz and Dogbreath. This anthology and sister publication FutureQuake, a SciFi anthology, have been the starting point for a number of creators. Arthur Wyatt, the writer of the Dredd 2012 sequel comics for example started off FutureQuake before passing it on to the current Editors.
The very nature of these stories means my reviews have to be fairly brief to avoid spoilers.
A great read from start to finish.
The Warm Welcome
Script: Rik Brink
Art: Matt Sandbrook
Letters: Deadbolt-01
A quite country town in the shade of a nameless mountain welcomes, with some trepidation, a home for the emotionally disturbed. Then people start to change.
This is a page turner in more than one sense that has you twisting at the end.
Very well crafted story narrated by the voice of the protagonist. Hauntingly illustrated.
Irony Fairy
Script: Andy Oldfield
Art: Rui Mendes
Letters: Deadbolt-01
Coming from the land of fey to collect the dead. This Grim reaper is having a nightmare of a day.
A blindingly obvious twist once you’ve read it. That’s exactly what I’ve heard in advice from professionals to amateurs. If your twist is obvious once it is read you did something right.
Be a Doll
Script: Ryan Tandy
Art: Ross Bampfylde
Letters: Deadbolt-01
A little girl’s cat has been brutally killed and the child just doesn’t trust that new doll.
Keep looking…
Hang Him
Script: Marcello Bondi
Art: Marco Arzilli
Letters: Deadbolt-01
Translation: Alberto Sentimenti
A western with a white lynch mob giving summary ‘justice’. Who will save this innocent victim.
Quite a few images of horses in this one and they are not easy to draw, a very good effort here with reasonably good anatomy.
The Last of the Camel Leopards
Script: Karl Brandt
Art:P L Woods
Letters: Deadbolt-01
Nubian Giraffes were once known as Camel Leopards. Now the final few live in the South Sudan at risk from Poachers.
Two pages of story with some interesting art and a befitting ending
Guilty
Script: Michelle Wilkinson
Art: Andy Michael
Letters: Deadbolt-01
The man caught with her husband’s blood on his hands is acquited for murder. But he had to have done it!
When offered revenge first check your reasoning…
The Curious Tale of Hartigan Hare
Script: JJ Robinson
Art: Bryan Coyle & Alex Paterson
Letters: Deadbolt-01
We have a winner.
I’m not really sure what I read here b ut I loved it and there is a part two. Brilliant!
Interesting crime gang based mystery
The Sultan’s Painting
Script: Phil Madden
Art: Rui Mendes
Letters: Deadbolt-01
In 1459 at the Sultan Court in Constantinople an Italian convicted to death can receive clemency if he can deliver a paining of the severed head of John The Baptist in three days. He is no painter.
Lovely art work with a nice period feel and an amazing picture of the severed head of John the Baptist. Though as the plot points out, something isn’t quite right here.
Greed and Other Human Compulsions
Script: Chris Tresson
Art & Letters: Shaun Speight
Before she died the wealthy Eleanore hid her fortune. Her husband desperate to find the money hires a Medium to confer with the deceased.
Bad Move.
Great story with good pacing and after you predict the end, that’s when the twist arrives.
Horror Stories
by Jack Davies
A Dad telling his three children scary stories at bedtime.
I just have to wonder if the family own a Motel.
Judge-Tutor Semple 