Title:
FLINTLOCK BOOK ONE
Format:
AMERICAN COMICS FORMAT. SQUARE-BOUND. COLOUR COVER, B/W INTERIORS
Length:
44 PAGES
Price:
£8.99
Publisher:
TIME BOMB COMICS
Creators:
STEVE TANNER, ANTHONY SUMMEY, LORENZO NICOLETTA & ED MACHIAVELLO
Available from: www.timebombcomics.com
Available from: www.timebombcomics.com
Review:
This
anthology from Time Bomb features three strips written by Steve
Tanner, all set in the eighteenth century. I’m glad I didn’t read
FLINTLOCK before writing my own eighteenth century comic (CAPTAIN
WYLDE) as it has to be said that all the strips feature elements I
would have then had to exclude from my strip! Since I didn’t read
it until now I came claim with complete honesty that I didn’t rip
anything off from Steve… it’s just that great minds think alike!
First
up is LADY FLINTLOCK with art by Anthony Summey. This cross-dressing
highwayman tale has much in common with the famed ‘Wicked Lady’
stories that I also used for inspiration in Captain Wylde. There’s
also a dash or Robin Hood in here.
It
also calls to mind many a William Hartnell Doctor Who stories where
an attractive woman barely disguises herself in male clothing and
completely fools the credulous fools around her. It’s a
well-established dramatic convention!
Secondly
we have SHANTI: THE PIRATE QUEEN with art by Lozenzo Nicoletta.
Obviously this is the closest to my female pirate strip, also
featuring a non-white main protagonist who frees slaves during her
piracy. Albeit, Shanti seems much more ruthless!
And
thirdly we have THE CLOCKWORK CAVALIER drawn by Ed Machiavello. This
focuses on the adventures of a clockwork-automaton-policeman in
Regency London. (Again, I too featured clockwork robots in Captain
Wylde.) Completely preposterous, of course, but great fun.
The
first two strips in particular are much darker in tone than my
tongue-in-cheek pirate adventure. Violent death and gore are fully
enjoyed, for which I am grateful. There is perhaps a greater sense of
danger and suspense than Captain Wylde can manage. These are serious
tales with heroines that are a little more realistic, but perhaps a
little less sympathetic than Cinnamon Wylde? But it can’t be denied
that this does raise the stakes.
I
enjoyed the bonkers style of Clockwork Cavalier the most. It comes
across as a fantastic mash-up of Robocop and Oliver Twist. And we’ve
all been waiting for that… haven’t we?
I
can’t wait for the characters to cross paths in a great big shared
universe blow-out! (This has crossover written all over it.)
John
A. Short
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