White Knuckle review

Okay, I’ll try to get through this review without it turning into some kind back slapping exercise.
We’ve been falling far behind with our reviews of late, so have missed out entirely on reviewing Cy Dethan’s previous two books: The Indifference Engine and Broadcast.
So, briefly: they’re both awesome and you need to buy them.
You may remember our review of Slaughterman’s Creed a while ago, which was a taught, frightening thriller that really deserves to be a movie.
White Knuckle is the story of Seth Rigal, a ‘retired’ serial killer, who is living his life out in more or less quite seclusion, or at least as close to normal as it is possible to get for a former strangler. However, events take a turn – whether these are for the better or the worse is up for debate – and he finds his quite life is no longer as quiet as he wants it to be.
As always, Dethan has populated the story with a believable cast of characters. The dialogue is authentic – even characters with only one or two lines come across as fully rounded and real.
As he did with Slaughterman’s Creed, he uses flashbacks to flesh out the story and add pathos to scenes – this is helped in no small measure by the art (more of that soon).
I’m reluctant to talk too much about the story, but I will say it’s a perfectly paced slow burn as events gradually escalate into, well, the ending. Which I will not talk about either, save to say that it, too, is perfect. And annoying, in a good way, as I really should have saw it coming, but such is the skill of Dethan that I did not.

Now, on to the art. Valia Kapadai is quite wonderful. I was lucky enough to meet her briefly at the Bristol Convention a year or two back, and I must say that there is a certain level of dissonance to be found in the bloody and violent images she beautifully reproduces and her own gentle and sweet self!
She has created an impressive body of work here, with page after page of glorious, fully painted, work. It’s a mind-boggling amount of pages to paint, and the fact that she has not only done it, but maintained a very high quality of art throughout, is a testament to her skill.
So, as I said with Slaughterman’s Creed – this should be a movie, or at the very least a TV mini-series.
Never mind your Scalped or whatever other US thriller type comics you’re reading. You should be reading this, and everything else this writer puts out. He’s probably the best kept secret in British Comics, and if I had my way, he would be a secret no longer.
Buy this.

White Knuckle is published by Markosia

Leeds Thought Bubble

Team Hi-Ex! headed off to the Leeds Thought Bubble sequential arts festival again this year. It was well worth the two days travelling each way to catch up with friends, Hi-Ex! guests and exhibitors past and future as well as our own comics projects collaborators. Rich does a few comics that were on sale there, Vicky had drawn a strip appearing in a comic called Something Wicked ( by FutureQuake publications ) and we both had worked on strips for a book being launched ' Tales of the Fallen ' part of Barry Nugent's Unseen Shadows trans media project.

We'd volunteered to help the organisers as its important to us that we support other comic events across the UK. After all, we are all trying to do the same thing in promoting comics, bringing fans and creators together and introducing a new generation, a new audience to the massive variety and potential of comics. We had brilliant fun - all the running about without the responsibility! There is a great atmosphere there and masses of people came for the weekend convention which was a cumilation of a weeks events, workshops, talks, conference, competition, film screenings and happenings. We were on guest liaison detail and queue wrangling with the loads of other brilliant friendly and professional volunteers in our coveted red Thought Bubble t-shirts.

Manga cosplayers were out in force, some great costumes, and some...brave ...costumes given the rather cold Leeds fog, brrrr!

2000AD themed canvases were getting painted by a selection of artists throughout the weekend.

Friday night there was a pre con reception, which was a great chance to get together and meet collaborators old and new. Above is Sarah McIntyre and Gillian Rogerson. They have a fabby new book out 'You can't scare a princess' and Sarah's children activity area was pirate themed this year.

Sarah was kind enough to take and send us a rare exclusive photograph of team Hi-Ex! together captured in the wild.

Saturday night at the after show party we got grumpy that the music was too loud to allow conversation, but just prior to leaving thought we might as well join in, so discoed the night away with the young folks. It was great fun! Comics people throwing shapes, a very surreal sight to behold!

blurry pic across one of the two halls.

There was a panel to launch our anthology book ' Tales of the Fallen'- Rich hosted it, on the right, Barry Nugent in the middle with the hat on is the editor/ original creator/ boss , to his left writer Cy Dethan ( who Vicky coloured ' Slaughtermans Creed' for last year)

Left writer Dan Thomson who wrote the story ' Band of Butchers' that  Vicky coloured, Martin Conoghan ( whom she has drawn a strip with for in the book 'Spirit of Hope'), and writer Peter Pogers. Also there were artists Steve Penfold and Rob Carey .

The 'women in comics' panel. It was a rather positive up beat discussion, perhaps the days of male dominance can slowly start to be behind us? Although there are still plenty of publications which are boys only cliques... we'll work on it !  Some of speakers on this panel were brilliantly inspiring! 

The canvas artwork progresses.

The hall clearing away was exhausting! Thought Bubble is massive compared to Hi-Ex!, but manages to maintain that family and friendly vibe. Then we were done- a billion chairs stacked, tables folded, boxes lugged, stressed exhibitors packed up, rubbish cleared! 

Hurrah for the Red Army of helpers, with the lovely Lisa organiser (in denim).Thanks to all for making it so much fun.

Its given us a great boost to start prepping for Hi-Ex! Loads of new guests want to come along, and lots of fantastic people to run comics workshops... but of course a lot depends, as ever on whether we can get funding. watch this space !

Slaughterman's Creed and the problem with Amazon

As you may remember, we reviewed the rather excellent Sluaghterman's Creed not so long ago HERE.

Well, It seems there are some difficulties with the book- or rather, with the treatment the book is getting from Amazon.
Nic Wilkinson explains:

The details for this book are incorrect (due to the ASIN - the warehouse number assigned to products by amazon -apparently having been also assigned a book of flute music).

This means that the title and price are incorrect, as are the "new or used" options from the marketplace, which take you to details for the flute music book. 

I am one of the creative team on this book and I have tried unsuccessfully for over 2 months to try and get this changed, as has the publisher, but Amazon repeatedly claim they cannot/will not change it.

The publisher has contacted amazon directly only to be told that no one can correct this error by the customer service team.

This is appalling service, to the publishers of both books, and to customers, who cannot search for/order either book correctly.

Anyone wanting this title I can only suggest ordering direct from the publisher at http://harrymarkos.com/wordpress/titles/slaughtermans-creed/ or from Waterstones or WHSMiths where the book is correctly listed and the right item will be shipped.

We can only echo her words on this. Slaughterman's Creed is more than worth your time and money, but if someone like Amazon is disinterested in selling it to you, then you're better off taking your hard earned money elsewhere.

You can add your voice to the Amazon discussion page HERE.

Cy Dethan on SciFi Pulse

We reviewed the graphic novel Slaughterman's Creed a while ago. Remember? No? Well, HERE it is, go read it.

Now you can hear the writer, Cy Dethan, talk about this astonishing book and much much more on the SciFi Pulse podcast, which can be found HERE.

Go listen!

Slaughterman's Creed review

The most frustrating thing about reading this book is when I was reading it, I couldn’t help thinking that there will be a percentage of people reading this and thinking ‘Guy Ritchie.’
But- newsflash- Guy Ritchie did not invent the London gangster story, and this book sits more comfortably with real (yes- I said ‘real’) London gangster tales like The Long Good Friday or Get Carter.

Writer Cy Dethan and artist Stephen Downey previously worked together on the brilliant and disturbing horror fantasy book Cancertown. So, if you’ve read that book (and if you haven’t why not?) you’ll probably think you’re prepared for Slaughterman’s Creed....
And you’d be partly right. This is as bleak and disturbing as Cancertown- for the most part. But, for my money, this book is a lot more powerful and there is more impact from the violence and gore for one simple reason. And it’s one I have banged on about before in either other reviews of when pontificating about writing.
Horror is all the more horrible when you have people doing horrible things to other people. That’s what Hannibal Lecter is scarier than Freddy Kreuger. And there is a lot of horror in this book.

That is not to say it is some cheap torture porn story. It is not. Every violent action in this book is there to further the plot rather than to titillate an audience of bored teenagers (when did I get this cynical!?).
And what a plot! Dethan, in the first chapter, sets out the plot nicely as he introduces the characters and the concept of the Slaughterman. But then, just as the reader thinks the narrative is going one way, he adds a wonderful reveal that takes it in completely another direction.
There was a point where I thought that Dethan was biting off more than he could chew as he introduced a number of subplots, but I need not have worried, he juggles the various strands with perfection and brings everything to a satisfying climax. Of course, satisfying does not, of course, always mean happy or upbeat... but it does mean clever and altogether logical.

As for the art- Downey has made a quantum leap in quality from his work in Cancertown. His figure drawing is very good and his layouts are thoughtful and imaginative. I did notice one continuity error in there though...
And I suppose I should mention the colouring too... for the sake of full disclosure, I should mention that the majority of the book was coloured by HiEx’s own Vicky Stonebridge, and she does a wonderful job in creating atmosphere, when required, adding to the bloody and gruesome realism of the horror on the page.

So, all in all, I’d say this book is a bit of a triumph for all involved. With a strong narrative, well realised and rounded characters, strong visuals and a wonderful seam of oh so black humour this deserves to be a hit for all involved. And not turning it into a movie would be nothing short of a travesty.

Slaughterman's Creed is published by Markosia comics.

Slaughterman's Creed Convention Edition Pre-Orders and Competition

This just in from the extraordinary Nic Wilkinson!

Things are ramping up towards the launch by Markosia comics of the hardcopy edition of Slaughterman's Creed at Bristol Comics Convention in Mid May.

There is going to be a convention special edition, signed by all the creators, on sale over the launch weekend at the special price of £10.

Everyone who buys it on the day, or pre-orders it to be sent out after the show will be entered into a competition to win an original piece of art pencilled by Stephen Downey and coloured by Vicky Stonebridge.

We know that not everyone will be physically going to the con, and some people will only be there for one or other of the days, so if you would like to reserve a copy to be held behind the stand, or posted out to you, please let me know.

If you are not coming to the show there will be postage added to the £10 which is £2 in the UK and £4 for overseas delivery.

You can contact Nic by mailing her at nic(at)cydethan(dot)com and she'll will add your name to the list.

And if you can't wait and want a taste of the horrors in store in Slaughterman's Creed, you can read a free 12 page preview on Cy's website- just click HERE to let the carnage commence!

Slaughterman's Creed cover revealed

The cover for the new graphic novel from Cancertown creators Cy Dethan and Stephen Downey has been revealed on their Facebook group- and a bit of a corker it is too!


Slaughterman's Creed will be published by Markosia- and will be available at this years Bristol Comic Expo in May!
The book is lettered Nic Wilkinson, inked by Andy Brown and coloured by HiEx's very own Vicky Stonebridge!