Comic: FutureQuake: Issue 26Release date: March 2015
Editors: Dave Evans and Richmond Clements
Writers: Alec Charles, Gary Chudleigh, Alexi Conman, Umar Ditta, Jim Lavery, Alec Robertson, Lee Robson, JJ Robinson
Artists: Jim Groasdale, Marc Ducrow, Jim Lavery, Rui Mendes, Alex Paterson, Xia, RH Stewart, Matt Soffe (cover), Darren Mullen, Barry Renshaw,
Cover: full-color
Interior: black/white
Synopsis: The stories inside FutureQuake are generally five pages or less, and often follow the 'twist in the tail' set up popularised by EC comics and 2000AD's Future Shocks. Any genre or story within the rough boundaries of sf/fantasy/horror/romance/comedy or any permutations thereof.
The Deal
A kind soul on Twitter pointed me in the direction of FutureQuake (FQ) and I was invited to contact them by one of the editors. I did and two digital issues for review purposes were emailed to me. I was impressed with the FQ cover and immediately wondered if the story within would be as good as it's cover, which made me decide to review this one first. The cover art by Matt Soffe is impressive and if I'd seen it on any comic book shelf I'd have taken it off to have a look through.
I'll have to drop the 'The Feel' section for this review because there's no hard copy to review.
I'll have to drop the 'The Feel' section for this review because there's no hard copy to review.
The Stories and the Look
Anthologies can be a great way to show off a large number of talented people. In the case of FQ you don't have to be an established team of artist and writer. If you have a script they'll match you with an artist or vice versa. It's important to me that the story fits the art and the art fits the story and nowhere is that combination more in sync than the first story 'The Shepherd'. It's amazing that Alexi Conman can make us feel so much in just five pages. The artwork by Xia is almost mesmerizing and enhances the story bringing it to a new level. The facial expressions of the main character are sometimes painful to watch because you can just feel the hurt and longing. After reading it the first time I wrote in my notebook that the story would benefit from color, but after reading it again I'm going to negate that comment. Xia's grey-scaled art is brilliant. I think this first story is the best of this issue.This is followed closely by 'Letters Home' by Alex Robertson who wrote a story about a Mormon ranger who finds more trouble than he can handle. The art by RH Stewart is filled with details and he really took the time to fill the background. The art is dark and this matches perfectly with Robertson's story. The strongest and weakest panel of this story were both on the last page. I was especially taken by the last panel. It feels as though you can see straight into Zeke's soul through his eyes. I was slightly less impressed with the panel depicting both his wives and toddler. It felt rushed and anatomically off.
Alec Charles' story 'Modern Security' is a great reminder that we might need to keep some things in our own hands. A good and solid story that made me laugh at the and cringe at the same time just by thinking of future possibilities.
The complete anthology contains nine stories, including the one page story on the back cover. All the stories have their own merit, although some of them could have benefited from a slight tweak here or there. This FQ issue has various styles of artistry some of which are quite stunning (The Shepherd, Revenant, The Day After The Earth Stood Still and The Final Status). I think we have to remember that this anthology depicts work from established as well as upcoming artists and this shows in the overall quality of the works within. I did think the 43-ish year old looking man in 'Final Cut' could have benefited from a slight face-lift as he's being spoken to as 'kid'. A beat was missed in this otherwise very good story.
