Mindless Ones

YOUR CIGARETTE STILL BURNS, YOUR MESSED UP WORLD WILL THRILL ME

Who loves you, and who do you love? SILENCE! that’s who. SILENCE! loves you like a pig loves lemonade. What do you mean pigs don’t love lemonade? What the eff do you even know about pigs anyway? I tell you, if you go to a shop and ask it to pick out a can of fizzy pop, it won’t pick out Cola, it won’t pick out Ginger Beer and it sure as sh*t won’t pick out got-tamned Cherryade! Whuddya even know ’bout pigs…come round here tellin’ ME about pigs willya??

So, like a pig loves lemonade, SILENCE! loves you. And what more could you want from a comics podcast hmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

<ITEM> Who’s that I hear outside, scratching to get in? Why it’s only special guest presenter Clark Burscough, aka Clark T-Bubz! He joins The Beast Must Die and Gary Lactus in their latest traipse around the 4-colour wastelands. And what a touch of class he brings!

<ITEM> Sponsorship, RAW, the Truth Behind Thought Bubble and Gary’s Vegan Adventure? It’s all here true believers!

<ITEM> A Reviewniverse three-way? You betcha! The boyzzz talk up Ben Marra’s Blades & Lazers, Tango & Cash, All New X-Men, DKIII: The Master Race, Star Wars: Chewbacca, Star Wars: Lando, Batman: Mitefall, New Avengers, Venture Bros, Batman: Brave & The Bold, Degrassi Junior High, Saved By The Bell and Ian Beale: Martian Manhunter…oh man, even I want to listen to it now and I’m just …. DISEMBODIED NARRATORBOT X-1575! HA HA HA HA AND YOU THOUGHT I WAS DEAD!!!

Ta ta!

click to download SILENCE!#178

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Being an irregular series wherein I spotlight some particularly beautiful cover runs, from some comics you might have forgotten about, or never seen before. This time it’s Comico’s surprisingly high quality 80’s JONNY QUEST run.

Jonny Quest, as a franchise, never really had an impact in the UK. Not the original 1960’s TV show, the subsequent 90’s updates or the computer games. In fact it’s probably more recognisable for elements of it that crop up in the post-modern lampooning of shows like Sealab 2021 or The Venture Bros. Jonny quest was/is a plucky blond moppet who accompanied his explorer dad, Dr Benton Quest on rollicking globetrotting adventures accompanied by his faithful dog Bandit, chum Hadji and all round tough guy Roger ‘Race’ Bannon. It was, as is to be expected, good, clean and relatively insipid fun more likely to create a nostalgic glow in a certain demographic than inspire any kind of critical reappraisal. File under Scooby Doo and move on.

Which makes the 1980’s Comico series all the more surprising for the relative sophistication brought to the storytelling and the stellar list of creators it attracted. This was a franchise tie-in to a then defunct kids cartoon that featured work from William Messner-Loebs, Adam Kubert, Bill Sienkiewicz, Marc Wheatley, Marc Hempel and Dave Stevens and many more, all under a steady editorial steer from Diana Schultz (soon to depart for Dark Horse, where she helped nurture a similarly solid creative roster). Between them they crafted engaging, charming stories that caught the flavour of the original series whilst adding a good dash of narrative sophistication. There’s a strong flavour of Eisner’s The Spirit to this iteration, with the shifting perspectives and cute narrative tricks and flourishes.

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