The whole childhood wonder stage just blew right past you, didn't it? The sight of that whammer! Wham! Good, sir. Oh, whammy. Ooh, not the flip of me.
Hello, my dear flippers, whammers, and various perverts. Welcome once again to WAM, the classical, the laid-back, the most joyous of joys, because we here at the lovely laid-back WAM feel nothing but happy thoughts. We feel nothing but good things. This dark blade isn't in this issue. So this WAM-ing will be a nice, calm WAM-ing. There will be no frantic WAM-ing. There will be no horrendous, hunched-over, sweating going on, because we are nice and cheerful, and there's nothing but good times ahead. Isn't that right, Andy? Well, we'll see you later.
I was thinking just at the start we should have just had the New Day theme tune just start playing Yes it is! The problem is although this is a Darkblade 3 episode the Sword of Damocles hang was so red that we know it's coming back and we still have to figure out a way of how to cover it without boring the tits off you guys by us just going on a rant and obviously just putting ourselves in a bad mood by going on a rant. I've got a couple of ideas which we'll talk about over the next couple of weeks. Once you're done with TFN we'll focus on it. We'll look at what we're going to do going forward. Yes, it's liberating to have the weight off your shoulders of...
Yeah, just as we said, just a strip that just, I dislike the word content because it's like, no, you don't, if you're creative in any way, you don't make content. You make art, you make stories, you make songs, you make films, you make whatever. You make something. Content's just slop, and that's just what Dark Blade feels like. Like, it just felt like it filled, it's like, there are eight pages, it fills it. Now, as I said, Kefok good art, brilliant. No criticism on anything he did. The blame is entirely on the editors and Dan Abner. Yep. Yep.
Let's move away from that, because we're not talking about Dark Blade, because he's not in Warhammer Monthly 31. No, he's not. Oh, we were all sorts in Warhammer Monthly 31. We have a cover of Absolute Purest Green by Simon Davis. When you saw the cover, did you hear Blackadder in your head? Because I heard Sir Percy. No, I didn't, but now you mention it. Yeah, I love the cover. Labs of Pure Green takes you back to, or me back specifically, to Cam Kennedy's watercolour work, which is great. I love Simon Davis. We've talked about it before, and I won't mention it because it's been a while. If you've not, pick up the graphic novel of his serialised story in 2008, Thistlebone.
Folk horror set around the filming of a horror in the late 60s, early 70s UK. Brilliant. Can't recommend it enough. Yeah, no, really, really good stuff. And this cover is just, look at that. The lighting on it. The weird stone just up there, so it's just, and again, that allows the logo to pop. There's a real sort of scratchy element to it that I just can't get enough of. I mean, that's kind of how Simon Davies' styles are crystallised into it.
because you could kind of see the roots when he first started in 2008 in the mid-90s and then just as it went you could just see it honing in and refining it adding it he was a lot flatter in the colour and a lot less scratchy noodling he sort of brought that Mick McMahon early slain into his work I'm not saying it's a copy of this but that's kind of what it reminds me of when I look at it is that kind of scratchiness and he brought it with his own colour choice and it's just aye it's one of these artists who stuff is always worth looking at it's always interesting whether the story is attached to it is as good not always the case if this is a bonus however it is not it's brilliant go get it you won't you won't absolutely regret it it's brilliant Here's a question for you, and it's one I haven't prepped in any way, shape, or form, so I'm sorry. Is this the best cover Warhammer Monthly's had so far? Not as a piece of art, but as an actual cover. I don't know, because the problem is there's been good covers, but I still, we're now 31 issues in. There hasn't been one that I would say bangs at. Nothing's troubling my top ten list of striking covers. You're not getting anywhere near it. The biggest problem with a lot of the covers that brings them down is the composition in terms of where the other assets are being played and positioned, and the colour choices around the logos and the taglines and the straps. In terms of the image, it's...
The problem is all the text is obscuring the box of Weirdstone. Yes. Sorry, I was like, just... So I think this is probably the best cover that we've had for Waterman Monthly. The downside being that because the bottom of the page is quite dark where the Weirdstone box is, and you have black with white outline as the text, it gets a little bit muddy to read at the bottom. The issue is, we're now continuing with every issue we're telling you what you've got inside. It's not the use of the cover. Your regular reader is kind of known by this point, but what you want to do is hook someone in to look at it. Now, if I don't know what you've got...
Like, if I'm just a casual comic reader who's got, like, a passing awareness of what Warhammer is, and I know they kind of do space stuff in Sword and Sorcery. Or fantasy, whatever you want to fucking call it. Just in case there's somebody angry right now, but I can't believe you just called it Sword and Sorcery. Vigley knows that's kind of what they do. This is just the Mark Kermode, John Carter of Mars argument. It's the Bing Bong of the Mingling Monks. Yeah. This is just, this does fucking nothing for anyone. This is Julian Marcon, name your price. Yeah. It's like, just keep your strapline at the top telling you, like, Hellbrand Graham, for example, is just like, yeah.
But it's something that I know they do change later on because it becomes the all-action comic, let the galaxy burn, becomes the tagline, and it becomes a single word on the front. And I don't know when that happens, but it does happen at some point. I always find it weird that at no point... there isn't just a line at the top that says decay more time tighten and that's the everything that's at the top as the the strap line yeah you're you're making a mess of the cover yeah it's it's too it's too busy there's too many bits of information on there and as a result it has a tendency to overwhelm you give your artist a template of here is the cover here is your safe space here's where our logo is going here's where here's where our shit is you need to get all your cool shit in this bit here where you go or tell your artist at the start we're going to need some copy we don't know where it places because we won't move each issue but we're going to need space dead space in your image for this in addition to dead space that you're going to do for our logo again that shit falls on the editor squarely yeah because a good editor is going out going i'll give you your cover you're either i'm gonna give you a cover brief or i'm gonna go to you and say we'd like commission a cover for you give me a couple designs i'll tell you which one i want to proceed with
the traditional one of Mithy designs and any artist who wants the cover will do one really good one that they want and two Peche ones. Let us know what it's like. This is the editor's fault for making that cover poorer than it should be. Well, it's the problem that we hit every single time, which is that the artwork for the cover isn't being built for the cover of the comic. It's works being commissioned without knowing, I think, where things are going to go and how it's all going to be put together. It feels like there's no forethought into how it's all going to be merged.
The art itself is lovely. It's one of the few ones where I would love to find that actual art and have it up on my wall. It's really cool. Good luck with that. However, probably your best bet would be Lawless.
Because I know most of the 2,000 AD guys, which obviously Simon is, are regular. Because they're obviously 2,000 AD slash Dread theme con. That's probably best chance. Yeah. Well, one of those things where I'll... I might start looking around and see what I can do. Let's get inside then. So we have our two little guys. We have next issue. If Ariel goes to war with a little cutout for Demonifuge next issue. I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to seeing Demonifuge come back. Yep. However, this again commits the cardinal sin of if I'm a new reader, that tells me nothing. That should be underneath Demonifuge book two. Yeah.
Yep. I also find it really weird that there's no capital letters in If Ariel Goes to War. I don't mind that. It's a stylistic choice. It's trying to go for the cod religious kind of scriptural work. So it's a design choice, which I don't mind. But yeah, again, the whole point is the front cover is basically assuming people know nothing. The inside is assuming people know everything. You need to make your fucking mind up. Inside this comic, we have Titan. We have Helbrunt Grimm. We have Bloodquest. We have Mordheim. We have Carl Jericho. Editor is Mark Asgoyne. Production, Darius Hinks and Gareth.
But it's hard to understand just how all-encompassing this was. I remember even in the late 90s when I was doing... my year's work placement as part of uni in the office and there was like a y2k compliance officer and have you done this you need to do this to make sure everything's y2k compliant and all that all these bits and these things so it's just always always there again it was kind of these things it was a hovering presence in the back of people's heads and then every so often if there's a slow news day it gets wrapped up again Staffs don't understand just how close the systems could have come to being absolutely fucked. Oh, gotcha. The only reason it was nothing is because a lot of people did a lot of work. Yes. But it's mad to think, basically, all record-keeping would have just gone to shite. Like, all your NHS, all your local government, computer systems wouldn't work. Yep. Basically everything. So people did the work. But it was just this hovering bloat, this fast predatory bird to borrow a phone. I knew you were going to do that. I knew it. It had to be done. Because it was bad. It was predatory. It was everywhere. But yeah, it's hard. So 2000 and...
i'm struggling to remember because i was still unique because i've done like a year placement what have you yeah it was just more of the same as it is every new year Right, so we move on to the letters page. Yeah, because that's what you need when you're in a bad mood. Actually, no, because there is a letter here which I think is worth getting into. There's two things here. Without actually getting into the letters themselves, there's two things here which I thought were really interesting. One was, this is a letters page of suggestions. Now, whether they've got letters page of suggestions all at once, or they've just created letters that have the same kind of theme, we do not know. My guess would be they've curated a theme of letters here. But also, they've started this thing called Hero of the Imperium, which is the letter of the month.
Now, is this letter of the month better than the other two letters? Heh. Yes. Heh. Okay. But it is interesting that they are signifying that out as that is our letter of the month. Now, the rest of the month comes from Ryan Nee, from email, and it's talking about how...
how to improve the Black Library. How about stories about the chapter masters, about a book about famous Ultramarines campaign, the Battle of McCrag, and then talks about the movie stuff, which that kind of keeps coming back up. And it's funny that 20 years, well, 26 years later, we still don't have an actual 40k movie. They say one is coming for Amazon, but I believe that when I see it. And it's, it's not a bad letter in any way, shape or form. Because there's a very fun part here, which is maybe you should add some colour to your strips. If you have a Space Marine versus Space Marine battle, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference unless you put the chapter badge or insignia on everyone.
And I got the image that somewhere in the editorial studio, somebody went, no, no, we can't do that. No, not on our budget. That's what it boils down to at this point. Color makes a big difference. Even bigger than like the digital print on demand that we're more used to these days where short runs can be a thing. And obviously because digital print has come such a way forward than it was in those days. But yeah, it's... The reply to this, this is where I wanted to really get into things. Work continues apace on the Bloodquest movie. Now, do you remember the news about the Bloodquest movie?
If memory serves, I have just handed over the reins of the Warhammer Club I started to my mate Ryan. This is the month of me knocking it all on the head. Interested, kind of tapped out. I was still getting Warhammer Monthly as and when it showed up and the other person wasn't buying it. But this is pretty much me. I've tapped out. So there was a lot of people who were working on bringing Blood Quest out as a CGI movie.
So, if you remember, in about six years' time from here, a CGI movie does come out, and it's called Ultramarines. And it has an incredibly varied voice cast. And the reason that it has a very varied voice cast is because originally it had a much higher budget, and it was book one of Bloodquest. And it blows my mind that in the space of six years, all these people who were tapped to be in it, the budget keeps dropping further and further and further, and what you get is the Ultramarines movie. I mean, fair play something came out. Mm-hmm.
Because this is around, in fact, a couple of years before 2000 AD, in their fucking infinite wisdom, and not the editorial, the publisher side of things, 2000 AD films after the, obviously we've got the Stallone Dread thing, for whatever, better or worse. This is where they optioned the rights to Strontium Dog off. Do you know how much they optioned them off for? I don't know. Go on. One pound. What? Yep. Carlos Esqueda does a lot of production art and John Wagner does some stuff. That's where Johnny Alpha comes back in Prog 2000. That's pretty much what they were going to do. Really?
Obviously, they do. The Italian lore, obviously, would have been Creelman and what have you. But no, that's what they repurposed because it wasn't going anywhere. I never knew that. That's insane. Which is worth getting. That's really good. But it's very good. You can watch it for free on YouTube just now, the normal version with ads or watch on your computer with an ad blocker. No ads. Just saying, lads. That's how I watched it. I watched the YouTube version. I bought it when it came out. I was like, yeah, I'm bad on this. But no, to get something out.
from there is still an achievement of sorts. Absolutely. All you look at is how many times Master of the Universe came out this year. How many times have we been promised that film in the last 27 years? 23. That's just what I'll tell you. But you had Joel Silver attached to producing it. Basically a guy that would get things done and it still fell apart several times. We're still waiting on the Tobey Maguire Robotech film. Remember that, kids? Actually, whilst we're on that subject, do you know what time of year it is?
It's my favorite time of year, Andy. It's my all-time favorite time of year. I love this time of year more than Christmas, because it's time for the Toddfather to give you what's happening with the Spawn movie. Every year, without fail, do you know what he says? Oh, it's better than Christmas this. I look forward to it every year. We've got a script. We're working on it. Well, the thing is, Blumhouse backed up the rights. They're fucking Spawn. So they have a script already, and it went back to be where Jamie Foxx was going to be Spawn. Yeah, I don't even think he is. I don't think he's given up on it. Well, remember he had the major health issues when he vanished for a bit. It sounded like the proper serious, but yeah.
Speaking of Spawn, Gail Simone, a writer who I love, is currently writing She Spawn, and so far has dodged the curse of writing for Spawn makes you a shit writer. The Todd McFarlane axis of suck. Which invariably tends to make proper writers just put out I don't know what. So far. Gale's back on the train. I hope it continues. The other two letters that we've got here. There's not much else. We have Ben Taylor from Kent who's just given some suggestions. More stories about Orcs. A rivalry between the Eldar and the Cabal of the Black Heart. We've had enough of the Slaanesh-O-Rama that is Chaos Space Marine Filth. And I don't know about you, but the Slaanesh-O-Rama gives you a mental image that you don't really need. Can I fit these US diners with waitresses on roller skates? Well, I had Slaanesh but Greece. Yeah, we went to the same place. Yep, I don't really want to see John Travolta being a Slaanesh-y. Well, I'd add it.
Because he's like, John, you've done enough atrocities in your time. Commit one more. I know. That hairdo that he's got now, there's something still left you about it. Oh, yeah. It's a thing of beauty. It's incredible. We also have a Callan Stubbs from Kent. Also from Kent. A lot of people from Kent. Just talking about why is there not a Gaunt's Ghost strip? Which, that's not a bad question. Why is there not a Gaunt's Ghost strip going on here?
And of course, every month, they're giving away a box full of Games Workshop goodies. This month, it's a Chaos Battleforce, which I would not want to be the person who has to put that in the post for free, because fucking hell, that's a lot of metal. Oh, that will be said. That's a second-class post. But the interesting thing is, as he calls out, it's like, previously, it was like, if they were just any letter, we'd just get our Black Library D-shot. He's like, yeah, we can get that anyway.
Yes. And then said, why don't you do like a Gutspeed or Baneblade miniature insect, which is a poor suggestion because we don't want to encourage this cat. Well, you can do either of them very, very easily because they're so generic. There's nothing to them that's interesting. But the one thing is like, do a comic adaption of Dan Abnett's first and only or what have you. And it's like, no, that's a bad idea because you've got the book. Yeah. You know how the story goes. Do stuff in and around it, absolutely. But I imagine there's a lot to do with that in terms of scheduling, lead time and what have you. Yeah. Anyway, but it's more just...
Yeah, again, Black Library doesn't really exist in terms of in this, except in the letters page. No. I know the stands don't have the address, but based on the page, I don't imagine there'll be lots of cross-sells for it. If anyone has them who is listening, scan a couple in, send them our way, just let us see what we're missing. Please, please, please, please. So we're now on to Titan of the Vaporius by Dan Abnett, Anthony Williams, Anthony Lanning, and Fiona Stevenson.
And overblown synopsis incoming! Princeps Hecate of the Imperius Dixtato steps out of his god machine alongside crewmates Nelan and Dorne to meet face-to-face with an elder Farseer named Ferendis. After navigating some classic insufferable Eldar riddles and clearing up a misunderstanding about who was actually bowing to whom, Ferendis informs the Xenos-hating Imperium that they aren't actually enemies in Vaporeos. The Tyranids have engineered a horrifying new threat, a psychic corruption designed to infiltrate and hijack the sacred mindlings of the Imperial and Eldar Titans. The act of war that kicked off their fighting was actually a false transmission, sent by the compromised mind of an Imperial Titan, the Vrijalis Annihilatus. As the realization sinks in that the Tyranids are actively seizing control of these colossal war machines, the stage is set for the Perific Pacific Rim soundtrack to kick in. Okay. I have two questions. I have two comments to make. And then I'm going to sit back. One. The Tyranids are doing what now? But...
The tyrannies are doing what? Yeah. What? The tyrannies that eat people exist to just consume biomass. Everything is evolved and built to just do that. If they deal with titans, they grow bigger biomass to take down the titans. And then that biomass goes back into the hive slips and gets melted down. Or, alternatively, they infect the crew to make them gene stealers. Job done. Yeah.
that's how they get into the hive mind. You end up having a gene stealer tyrant sitting in the chair of a titan, or a wraith lord, or whatever the... I mean, this is where... And I don't want to be the guy that pushes the glasses up the nose and goes, well, actually... Well, actually, yes, I'll just do it now, because, again, it goes back to what I said last year, which is if you only have a passing knowledge of Fortaking, this story's absolutely fine. There's no problems here. But for everyone that's into the lore, steeped in it, knows what they're talking about, you're just reading that going, that's not what they would do.
Oh no, it's not. There are other ways and means to get to the same point. It's really bizarre. It's honestly strange. I cannot get my head around it. Yeah, that entire thing baffles the hell out of me. Now, here's the other thing. Eldar Titans are made from Wraithbone, right? So they are psychically attuned. Now, on one hand, you could say that that makes it more vulnerable to psychic attack from the Tyrolid. Okay, fair enough. We'll allow that.
But you can't take over the Wraithbone Titan like that because that's not how the Eldar Wraithbone works. You have to be Eldar. There's a real misunderstanding. However, here's the good things. I love this elder. I love how he looks. I love how he talks. He's a insufferable prick. I really, really like him. Tons of fun. There's a sequence here. Perhaps you should enlighten me. A good choice of words. As much as this tyranny can be said to want anything, they want to engage us here. My kind. Your kind. They have found a way to invade us. A way beyond weapons and physical destruction. A way to invade. Would an ambiguous statement really kill you, Ferrandus. But it's easy to forget how ephemeral your minds are, human. It's good back and forth. It's really fun back and forth between...
A human and a big old bastard Eldar, because they're pricks. Yep. I love the art. Again, it's all... There's a lot of panel repetition, and I don't mean that in a negative way. It's just kind of making it quite clear and deliberate. Again, you're emphasizing the culture gap. So you've got, effectively, one page where he's just kneeling, and it's like, no, no, we're not kneeling for you. We're kneeling for the planet. Yep. It's all good. I mean, I love the way that the...
page works when they're kneeling down and it's that it's the same panel again and again with different clouds and different dust moving around it but it's a real sense of these are alien the way that they act the way that they are responding is alien and it gets it across really nicely and it helps as well that the way that the elder have been drawn they've got this real height to them this lankiness that doesn't feel right and it's really cool and it's interesting that obviously He doesn't quite have the full authority over his men, or is that just because they're dealing with Xenos, because obviously there's interruptions from his crew. Well, this is an interesting point, and it's something I wanted to bring up. One of the biggest problems you've got with 40k is that the, and I use the bunny marks here, good guys are a race of horrendous bigots who want to burn everything that isn't baseline human. Even the things that aren't baseline human in the Space Marines want to burn things that aren't baseline human. Because...
that's what the Imperium is built on. It is built on xenophobia, literally. It is built on hatred. It is built on distrust. And so when you're writing fiction in the 40k universe, for your good guy to be a good guy, he has to act in a way that the Imperium would frown upon. And that's what happens here. I think it's done quite cleverly, where Hecatar, Hecatar, yeah, the princeps, is going out and he's parlaying with the Eldar, who are probably the closest that you would get to a race that humans would work with, whilst the other two being full Imperium.
subscribers for a better term they are distrustful they are interrupting you know they don't quite want this to go smoothly because these aren't human and it's i think it's done really well as a group dynamic yeah because the trick is you can kind you know well you'll burn on this the first chance he gets anyway but he's at least capable of stepping away from the the innate gut instinct of you're not us we'll kill you because he sees the bigger picture which they're not capable of doing He's able to just be able to push back the Doctor in long enough to be able to find something that's for the greater good. No tell required. But yeah, it's a case of... We get our explanation, as you said, for why the Eldari attacked them, which is obviously because they got attacked by the Titan first. And again, it's a case of it just... It's annoying. Because we know the lore, we can't see past it, and it just makes it such a frustrating story at this point. And again...
This is where, if Dan Abnett, the writer, doesn't have his firm handle on Tyranids, and necessarily, why would he need to? He'll have been given some bump. Yeah. They've done a little bit of research, but to my knowledge, I don't think what he's done so far, writing, touches on them yet. No, no, he's not writing Tyranids, and this is the... So this is where the editor should be going, that's an interesting idea, Dan, but here's why it doesn't work. Can you tweak that somewhat?
Absolutely. I don't want to be the type of person who is just completely beholden to the law, but these are very basic building blocks about what is presented to you via the Codex. Yeah. I mean, the other thing that is, potentially, is do we find out that something else has corrupted the Tyranids on this planet, to give him which we don't know yet? I suspect the answer is no. However, if it has, then that's maybe different. Yeah. I'm trying to remember if the fact that the Tyranids are immune to chaos is something that's happened yet, or if that happens later. I have a feeling that that's something that happens later.
in like 4th or 5th edition, something like that. When they thought, obviously, at that point, because there's no soul to speak of. And the shadow of the warp completely destroys all connection to the warp. So anybody who is chaos-powered gets cut off. But I can't remember if that's a thing at this point in time or not. I have a good feeling it isn't. I would actually argue, though, that's actually the wrong way to take the lore. So Games Workshop, you're fucking wrong. Because you've seen it. If someone succumbs to the power of chaos, the stronger willed they are.
the easier it is to resist. I would argue if a Tyranid, it would very much depend on how close are you to a Hive Tyrant or a Node, but any kind of basic Tyranids should be easy prey to Chaos because there's no force of will to fight them off. Yeah. I think the reason that they're kind of given is that wherever the Tyranids go, the connection to the warp is completely severed. So, in the same way that the Tau aren't really Chaos-controlled in any way, because they have no warp connection, they have no Psykers, there's no way for the Chaos powers to get in.
Again, that's woolly fucking shite. To be honest. Again, that's woolly shite, because we've already seen it's like, yes, but chaos can manifest on the material plane. So therefore, the tower should be just as susceptible as anyone else. The fact that we've got those psychic realms, because we've already seen that chaos can corrupt those with no psychic ability. This is very woolly. I would argue that chaos and tyranids are crippling and paralyzing weakness to each other. Yeah. I remember reading somewhere that one of the reasons that the tyranids stopped eating the orcs is because that opened up the door to chaos. I can't remember where I read that in.
It doesn't matter. But anyhow, there's a lot to be said about those building blocks of this story. This is a good installment. This, to me, it reads better. It is a much more interesting, much more engaging one than we had last year. But that building block is just so far off the... It might be that we get something here as the story goes on, as you say. It could be that they've managed to absorb and control something that's allowed them to evolve into this new state. But as the Tirith stand, it doesn't really make a lot of sense. Yeah, and no one's calling it out.
the difference between this if it does go that way and you have them say right you find that they're possessed or whatever infected or mutated somehow but that should be called out now is like that's not what they do this is not what ternan's do and the fact that they're not tells me that dan abner has let's say not quite understood but how it all works and i don't understand if you just read a little bit there's again and speak to the law you can understand where all this why this is wrong but this is on the job of the editors to go actually you know what dan this is not how they work let me explain it to you it's like no it's all biomass it's all this so that's not what they would do again as we said they would just grow a bigger titan or they would infect the crew and have the basically gene sealer hybrids Yeah. Why is that gene seal hybrid traveling around in a titan? I don't know, because that would be amazing. Well, I understand. Yeah, probably. Someone's got rogue. But yeah, it is. It's a perfectly enjoyable story in and of itself and its own merits. It's just the lore gets in its way because there's fundamental misunderstanding. You see, art's good. That's really good. They get across the Eldar so well. They're just creepy shits. But yeah, I enjoyed this one. You know, one...
moment aside, one idea, one concept to put to one side, I thought this was a really good instalment of Titan. Which, once again, it's, in book two, a lot of talking heads. It's odd. you want to then make it's the build up to the action shots the whole point is if it like big dumb fight comics are fun in and of themselves but they don't they don't hold anyway they don't stay with you and they're very very rarely unless you're enjoying unless it's like from an artistic point of view like an art appreciation you're not going they don't hold up to re-reading or re-experiencing so what you're doing is you need and it's also you need to kind of earn these things as well that's why it annoys me when kind of if you just have comments with loads of big splash pages lots of fight scenes they become bland they become wallpaper so you kind of need to make it important so you make it when it happens that means something and also particularly when you've only got six eight ten pages a month to do pages a lot of a lot of real estate to give away so it doesn't mean something because we're just doing it just for the sake of i'm going to show you the tight walking like hi thanks cheers i can do that with the other splash page of the tight walking from the previous issue and the previous issue so you kind of need to do it so you kind of have that and again talking is this is what you want you want a parlay scene so you can have to do it and it's about trying to stage it in a way that
it's still visually engaging. So the bits of repetition work because you're basically hanging a moment. It's about playing with time. I'm sure I've said it before on this, but Frank Miller talked about his reader as the enemy at some point. What he means by that is he's trying to slow you down because he wants you to experience the story at a specific speed and a specific way which you have no control over once you've committed to the page. So you have to then construct the story in such a way that you're forcing them to linger on it. And he said you can cheat with lots of words, but that's not the way. What you're looking to do is to get them linger because the scene is important.
the moment's important or you want to convey that this is just an awkward moment in time because that that the page with the five the five widescreen panels of them of just this like um i'm the catty of the periodistic title it's awkward yes he's doing it it's done deliberately just by again you're not doing lots of showy hand gestures that it's just like nope it's just okay we're making the kneeling okay and then you go on the next one and again it's the same thing and again it's interesting to point out that while he's still kneeling on the two elder they are in the dominant position yeah he's standing and even though it's clear that they haven't quite it's not necessarily that he is looking up in a supplicant position it's establishing the power dynamic on that right off the bat is although it's a parley it's positioning that they are the weaker weaker side at this point despite what Nalan thinks it's in the same moment just to basically heighten in that it's a negotiation but it's very awkward it's not smooth he's not in a set position but you're also at the point putting that the The Eldar are not flustered or activated, plus they are quite neutral in what they do. It's a wonderful two-page bit of business with not doing a huge amount of art, which can help the artist in terms of deadlines correctly, in terms of you can repaste and what have you, but it works perfectly. I think my favourite panels in this is the one with the Farseer looking down and then just looking up. There's something about the way that the head moves up that you get a sense of the power that he has. It just becomes very scary very quickly. Are you for an...
Yeah. I love the shock. There has been a medley of blood and genetic magic, a structure of dynastic spirit. Generations have caused this to be so. Our heartbeats are of your lifetimes. I am the fatality of the craft world, measured in ways you cannot measure. I am what I am. I am horrendous. That's a start then. You are smaller than life. I'm a human, of average build. It's just great. Yeah. Take away the lore about everything up until that last page. I put the blame on the editors on that one. Yeah. Guys, you should have fixed this.
I don't think Abner ever really does much with Tyranids at all throughout his career, because the Gaunt's Ghosts and most of the books that he writes are all chaos-based. The only thing that springs to mind is his current book, Hive, which I'm not going to get into any details just in case people haven't read Hive yet. That's really, really good. It's a hell of a book. Very big, very many characters, but it's really good. But outside of that, I don't think he ever really did much with Nids at all. And again, so that's where the end of it comes. But let's see, Kraken Art, up until that last page, the story's brilliant. Then, like I say, for anyone familiar with lore, it just loses it. Yep.
But again, let's see, if there's an explanation that makes sense, again, we can advise. But I think the very fact that it's not called out tells me there isn't. And I think it's just this is the thing. But again, we'll find out in the next couple of issues. All right, shall we move on then? It's weird that there's a lot of blank pages and then we get into Bloodquest. Did you find that really weird? So I will quote, just in case anyone's asking why, here's my message to Adam earlier today. Darkblade leaves and Hellbrand Grim returns. T-backed. Oh, right, okay. Do you want to give the credits?
Yes, so we have scripts by Mitchell Scanlon, pencils by Logan Libera, inks by Craig Young and letters by Fiona Stinson. Deep within the Rightwell Forest, a mercenary band, led by Helberant Grimm, plunders the long-forgotten tomb of the barbarian chieftain Brandmar to retrieve a powerful demon-binding relic. Among the party is the opportunistic swordsman, Reinhardt, whose greed quickly eclipses his loyalty. After Grimm recklessly smashes the tomb's protective wards, Reinhardt seizes his chance at a bigger payday, and on the way back to the surface, he cold-bloodedly shoves the party's apprentice mage, Arno, down a deep yawning pit to steal the prize for himself and assume command of the surviving mercenaries. But treachery in the old world rarely goes unpunished, and Grimm is not a man.
to let a stolen contract slide. Over the next two nights, Grimm ruthlessly stalks the betrayers through the dark woods, picking them off one by one until a panicked Reinhard flees blindly back to the tomb's entrance. There, Grimm corners his former companion and hurls him down the very same abyss where Reinhard miraculously survives the plunge by landing on Arno's broken corpse. Vowing a bitter bloody revenge, the trapped swordsman finishes recounting his tale of survival and begs his companions for help climbing out. Only for the guttering candlelight to reveal his quiet grinning audience consists entirely of the ancient skeletal remains of Brandmar and his court. Okay. Peak part one. Let's get into part one.
Helbrunt Grimm, once again, is a guy telling a story of Helbrunt Grimm. This is the third time now that we've had a Helbrunt Grimm story, and each time has been exactly the same story. Whilst the trimmings inside the story have changed, it is still a story being told of a Helbrunt Grimm getting vengeance on somebody who double-crossed somebody for some reason. Yeah, Mitchell Scanlon, Teddy Nation, and the shit out of Games Workshop, yeah? Yeah, I mean...
Spoilers, we both fucking hate this. Okay, I'm going to say a positive thing about it. Are you ready? A few pages. No, I'm going to go more than that. If someone has picked this up for the first time, it is not the worst thing to read as a script. There you go. That's the best I've got, because I am going to give it both barrels in a minute. But please continue. Yeah.
just recycling shit with an unengaging character. Again, as I said, you can have, as I said before, you can have a one-note character if you make the trappings around him work. Again, the Punisher, as I said, in Darkblade is the prime example. The Punisher is not a fucking interesting character unless you're a weird fucking gun nut. Fix your soul or you'll die. Or, look, Scarlet is just having to go with him.
But even then, the Punisher's not interesting. Because the characterisation you get... You can get flashbacks to who Frank Castle was, who may not have been an interesting person. But the Punisher himself is not interesting. He was never designed to be. There's nothing of that character. That's the whole point. He is a human by his own design. Circumstance changed him, but he chose that. And he has purposely dehumanised himself to the point that there isn't a man there. Yeah, he's a shell. He's an instrument. And that's why the Punisher works best as a character appearing in other people's stories. It's the same with Doctor Strange.
Outside of the Ditko stuff and the odd bit of Roy Thomas, Gene Cole and stuff, a lot of strange stuff, just, yeah, you're more interesting when you're playing off other people. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and so what we have here is, yeah, just, like I said, if you've never read Anishia Warhammer 4, yeah, it's inoffensive, but again... No, no, the script is inoffensive. Yeah, we'll come to that. But again, even then, there is still, even in this slim thing, there is nothing to hellbrant grim. And a big problem with that...
Right from the start, you've got he's cocky, he's clearly quick-witted, great situational awareness, but thinks on his feet, isn't rigid in his thought processes, which is why he survived as long. Well, Brant Grimm, badass. This is an ass. Well, the biggest problem I think we've got with Helbrant Grimm is the fact that we have not had a story about Helbrant Grimm. We've had stories about stories about Helbrant Grimm. So we don't know a single thing about the character. We have no idea, because all we're getting is unreliable narrators and third-hand information about what he is and does. He's Batman, as seen by a GCP comic.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. No, because that was Gotham Central, and that was interesting to fucking read. Okay, I actually forgot that Gotham Central existed. I'm going to retract that because yes quite right a compact edition is just out of the first arc as well for only tenor when I say a GCP comic what I was actually meaning was the Gotham TV series that's where I was coming from so I will retract my comment you can't even don't even don't dirty the good name of Gotham that because you only get Batman in the very last episode yes but the way the only cop that sees him at that point is Gordon yeah so no I love Gotham obsessed with sandwiches for some reason I love how it started off quite serious and after four episodes went fuck it All right, then. I'll rephrase that. I'll think of another way of describing it. But my point still stands. We don't actually have anything about Grimm himself. He is not a character. He is a... I have it. It's basically like reading an issue of Kingspawn. Yes, that works. There we go. That's your perfect analogy. But yeah, let's say there's nothing to it. There's nothing in this that makes... The whole point about it is this could work as a mechanism for, you know, you're building the mythology of this character up, which I can quite understand if you do it. And to be fair...
There's a way to do it. But the problem is, there is no hint. I mean, he is just Darkblade as well. There's no hint of a personality. You're showing what he's capable of. You don't get a feel for the man. And you need that. Again, like I said, to go back to Cal, right off the bat. The first couple of Cal Jerichos are not great deep stories, but they give you enough in the context of the story to fill out the character of Cal. Because Cal could quite easily have been, oh, it's Han Solo Dante. Yeah, yeah. Which is worse. Han Dante or Nikolai Solo, which is the worst name. Han Dante sounds like a type of pastor.
I don't think a hand dante sounds like something you ask for, like 15 quid off the edge of the package on Sunday night. Oh yeah, let's not get an optional extra. I was like, I'll take a hand dante, thank you. Yeah, that's the one. Either that or it's just like a guy comes in dressed as a count dante and tugs you up. Why do I feel like a hand dante is like something you'd find in the northeast? It's like a peas pudding sandwich. Oh no, I've run out a hand dante. Right, yeah, so. But yeah, the whole point is there's no, this is a perfectly good mechanism of building the lore up and kind of, as an intro. If you've done it three issues in a row and then had a hellbrank room story.
and you'd reveal some measures of the man and a little bit about the personality. These have been quite sporadically spread out. And there's nothing in this that is memorable enough to make you go, I want to know more about this guy. Again, this is just, it's here. Now, I sense Adam wants to give the art a very good kicking. So, before Adam begins, I will give a slightly more even-handed appraisal because I do not like artists. Art is subjective, so it's important to remember this is just our opinion on this. Now, I do not care for the art. Now, we've had Logan Leberon doing the Ravenwing story, and the criticism...
stands from this, which is, this is art that's designed and done to be in colour, and as a result, it suffers. I think it's not a fit for a fantasy thing. There's nothing wrong with doing a slightly cartoony style approach to fantasy, as can be seen by Jomad's Battle Chasers, for example. Don't get me wrong, I love Battle Chasers, but let's not go for the most... Does it stand as the longest time between two issues or a comic? No, no, no. Technically, that would be Kevin Smith's Daredevil Bozai Human Target, because we're still waiting on it 24 years later. Okay, I'll complete it two issues then.
The art itself is clearly not designed for, let's say, to be black and white. It would be more forgiving if this had been the first go. But he's already had a go and has seen his work in print. So someone should be saying that. It is sort of cartoony, kind of...
basically, it feels like a poor man's Humberto Ramos. Yeah. Which, that's sometimes how people start off. People will start off their careers by aping other artists who are successful. Oh, yes. But I think that the biggest criticism, because the art itself is functional, the storytelling is good, which is the first thing that does it, but I just, it's not done for black and white. There needs to be, it needs a lot more bolder lines, a lot more black. It's texturing of some description. Yeah. It's not.
The style does not lend itself to being black and white. Not by a long shot. Because of the nature of the style, and this is in no way me having a go at the style because there is a time and a place and a purpose for everything. This is the style that needs to be digitally coloured to pop. Or acrylic coloured, you can even go as far as that. It needs to have bold, bright colours to work. I'm not ripping into it. That is just the nature of the beast. Because it's all in black and white, it has a tendency to get quite hard to read at times. It gets quite hard to...
There are parts that work. When everything's in silhouette, I think it works really well. The action poses, the way things move around is fine. There's no problems with it. My problem with it lies, and it's the same problem I had with the Bretonnian storyline the first time we saw Logan's work in this, is it does not feel like Warhammer Fantasy. At all. It feels like D&D. There is a certain...
of the look, which is a really bad way to describe it. But if you look at the priest, the guy in the hat, the way that he is designed, he doesn't look like he's from the old world. He looks like a D&D character. Two ruffians, they're not bad at all. You squint your eyes and you can see the fantasy battle in them. But as a whole, because of the nature and the style of the art that Logan does, it doesn't fit within the premise of the setting.
not strongly against that because i think you're i think you're only i think the priest is the only one you can see the rest again because it's it's a fantasy second but that's what hammer is so the rest are all fine i do like the hell brand grim is wearing some uh stripy which is a very nice callback to one of the major sources that won't have ripped all their stuff for because that's what ever used to wear it is only kind of nice fine stripy peanut trousers not enough is made about that you don't see too much yards i know let's get in the black dragon i'm not like stripy kicks one like a look like a wrestler just missing his fanny pack yeah no it's not the art As such, the art is not the right fit for this. Correct, yeah. I think in colour, I'd have a very different conversation happening. Because I think in colour, it would pop and there would be a lot to really sink into. But because it's a black and white comic, it's a pure choice. Yeah, and again, this follows to the editor. Because you've commissioned him to draw it. And it's like, you know by now what her strengths are. And it's a case of, no, that's not a good fit.
Because to be honest, the Ravenwing one was a slightly better job. Again, partly because you were doing the snow and what have you. Hide some of the sins of this in terms of it not being really for black and white. But yeah, he's a solid artist. Not entirely to my taste. Not given a story to shine. And so magnifying any weaknesses or deficiencies by what he's been given. Yeah. It is a shame. I mean, Logan becomes a really good artist. He refines his skill over the years and the stuff that he does even 10 years from this point. It's really good. He moves into being a really interesting guy.
But I think having his early work here, especially in a place where it's not playing to his strengths, I think it struggles. It struggles to find its footing. Yeah, let's say, the storytelling is absolutely fine. The main mission is there, what we're just talking about, is that I can still read it. There are a couple bits where it's just not as easy to read because of, let's say, this is designed for colour and it shows. But all in all, not horrible. Let's say, the biggest crime for this is the story. The story is, let's say... Okay, can I give my two barrels now? Can I open up the two barrels? You can. Right, the ending of the story is terrible.
The sting in the tail here is stupid. So how long has he been sitting in this pit talking to a bunch of corpses without realising that they're dead? Like, I'm Reinhardt the Swordsman, you've heard of me of course. No answer, because they're dead. Perhaps a word of my explanation is you have to reach these parts, no matter I carry their record with me. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. Reinhardt's an idiot. That ending, that sting in the tail ending, is awful. It's not awful, but it's just not as clever as the writer thinks. No. Because the issue is, are you going to set this up that he's somehow going to be able to escape?
Or, because the whole point is, the ending basically hints at, with the quote there, if you must kill a man, strike fast and take care not to leave the job half done. Being of Brio and the so-called City of Thieves. The same is true for Helbrand Grimm. Yeah, because he's just left him there to die. He's left the job half done. Yeah. So is this meant to go that, oh no, you've got an enemy for Helbrand Grimm. He's going to find some way out. I don't think that kind of thought process has happened to this. I'm sorry to say. Yeah. As you say, in and of itself, if you'd never read it before, it would be fine.
However, we've read it before twice already. Yeah. Just either give us a Helbrant Grimm story or just give it to fuck. It just feels like a weaker version of what we've already had. No, that's not good. I mean, maybe they'll turn it around and we'll find out there isn't one Helbrant Grimm. Maybe there's an entire team of Helbrant Grimm's. And if you can pay them and you know where to find them, you can get the G-team involved. That's a terrifying thought. Shall we move on then? Yes, to happier things. Do you want to take the credits again? Yep, so we have Blood Quest. It's book two. We're on episode 10, script by Gordon Rennie. Yay! Art Michael and Neil, yay! Let us buy one of Stevenson. Yay for her as well.
Fiona Stevenson is the workhorse of this comic as well as I'm concerned. She seems to have supplanted Gordon Robson, but yes. Surplanted, or has she killed and eaten him and taken all of his power? We will never know, unless we interview either of them. If we can't interview Gordon Robson, then she killed him. That would be an amazing first question to ask somebody. So did you kill Gordon Robson?
Our interview is over, and now we have legal problems. Right, so... I. Love. This. And I.
Of course you did. This is the right way. Oh my god, this is good. This is so good. Everything here. And you called it, you called it last issue or the one before, where you mentioned Colton having the little bumps on his head. Yep. Yep. The renegade turns back up and he's doing his usual insufferable stuff. He's great. They all go inside the maze, the maze.
Just fucks everybody up. Giant demon Clotin is, my God, that's good. That's great stuff. And then at the end, you just get Proteus. It's me, Lysander. It's Proteus. Don't be afraid. I want to talk to you. I want to show you something. Whatever he shows you, don't look at it. The atmosphere is oozing. I'm in love. As we say, Clotin is now tainted by chaos. That's the clear thing, because it's like, that's not what you go when you've got red thirst, because you just end up getting the fang. The fangs become more pronounced and you start killing folk. Yep. I'm going to try and be constructive and not just wail my joy.
Considering that this is very much a just moving forward installment, it really does so much work in getting across how unlike everything else this Indian land is. It's just deeply unpleasant. You've got to wonder if there's going to be no fistfight at the end of this. You don't fight Zeech with blades. You could be a lot cleverer than that. The only thing I will see is we've not had a...
the only sort of bit you would say that's really teaching is that you've seen what you're going to change into is clotin nothing else is really going to it's difficult but you're expecting i fully expect that labyrinth to reconfigure in some way because again he is the lord of change so you kind of get that with clotin's the one that's and it's just it's been a nice subtle bit from the predecessor where he drinks the blood of the dean so you know he's succumbing to the red thirst already anyway he's on his way but it's now just no no those bumps aren't because you've got the red thirst that's you you've sucked on demon blood that's only going to go one way yep The Renegade. The Renegade looks different. Facially, he looks different. So I don't know if it is the actual same guy. I think it's meant to be. No, it's the same guy. Again, it's... No, he doesn't really look that different facially, to be honest. I think it's just... We've only ever kind of had him at various hours. So this is him. You're getting him kind of face on being smug and smiley. Yeah. Yeah, you're probably right there. But I mean, it's just one of those things where he looks a bit different to us. Huh, okay. I don't know if he's the same guy. But it is. He's got the same weapon. He's got the same backpack and everything. But honestly, the level of atmosphere that you get out of this installment is... It's lovely.
It's so lovely. Renny and McNeil, they are just running on oil cylinders. They are making this into something so spectacularly good. And it just keeps building. It's building beautifully. This is going to go horribly wrong for everyone. Well, I think, well, I have vague memories of, based on part one of this and my vague memories, I have an idea of what happens. Because I know we've got Bloodquest book three. Yes.
Do you want my opinion now? Go on. Let's see how right or wrong you're going to be. Okay, so I think both Clotin and Lysander make it back to Baal with the sword. Leonatus does not leave. Bloodquest Book 3 will be then coming back for Leonatus. Okay, so that would mean that the guy that we see at the beginning is Clotin? The one in all the rags and misshaping armor? Lysander's the one that talks, Clotin's the one that's in the shadows.
Right, yes. Because he'll have no place, because again, he knows he's tainted now, so he'll never be able to go back. So he knows it's a doomed quest. They'll be going back to go, that's my prediction. Okay. So they will get the blade, but at the expense of the Unatus. But they will know the Unatus is not dead, and they will go back from him. Okay, it'll be interesting to see how it comes out. That's how you do kind of a reset of your book, without it being entirely dreadful. Take note, if that's what happens. Yeah, which we'll see in not that many issues, I don't think. I think another two parts. I think if my memory is saved, I think it's 12 parts. Yeah, yeah, 12 sounds right. What do you think of the redesign for Proteus?
I like how long he seems now. That's just the cloak of the stairs. Yeah, but it gives a really nice mental image of him being too tall. It's really good. Are those tentacles or are they just bits of a tree? No, no, I think they're tentacles. I think they're tentacles. He's all tentacled. Don't be afraid. I want to show you something. No, thank you. I love that these three go in their separate ways and you get to really experience who they are as different characters. You know, Leonardo, he just strides on.
Yeah, there's no second-guessing. Clotin is succumbing, he is breaking, and what he has to deal with is the horror of what he's about to become. And Lysander's just like, well, I'm fucked. I am absolutely shit-fucked. I'm scared. Yeah, this is good. There's no other way around it. It's just really good. Again, consistently the best story in the book by Issa Margin. Again, it's tackled... It's doing the fetch quest in the way you want. There's a feeling of progression as things go on.
there's a sense of jeopardy, and we've seen at every point there's been costs. They've had some victories, and the majority of them have come at cost. Yeah. I mean, you're down to three. Yeah. I mean, how many started the book? Ten? Twelve, I think. Twelve. Yeah. Yeah, because remember, they're the librarian, so he wasn't attached to the squad.
They're dead. And your librarians. Should we move into more time? I know it seems like we're just scooting through a book quest, but it's one of those things where it's quite hard to get a discussion out of it because it's just good. The art is gorgeous. Again, the ink washes and the marbling effects and the use of white, it's just... It's phenomenal art. It's beautiful. This is something that if someone wants to computer colour it, now I think GW do that later on. They do. They collect it. It's an absolute sacrilege because it's not designed for it. This is the whole point.
Art should be utilitarian like that. It should be. It's like, what's your story? It's black and white. It's atmospheric. Brilliant. This is the shit you want to do. This is the kind of thing that you needed some of that in the previous story. Like you're doing the caves. You're supposed to be scary. Some marble. Give it some depth. Give it a feeling. Give it a mood. And that's one of the things. The previous stuff to go back is there isn't a mood to that book. Again, of course, he designed it for colour whereby the colours would help do that through the choice of the colour palette they were doing. Whereas here, the colours are black, white, and anything in between. And it just gives everyone so much depth and texture.
Yeah. I mean, funny enough, my favourite panel in this instalment is the one of them walking into the tunnel, and it's just this scratchy silhouette. It's like, God, that's just lovely. Again, just the light, using the white making out of focus, just gorgeous. Mm-hmm.
I think we have to say, in terms of art, while Kapinski's, I think, a close second, I think Colin McNeil is the absolute unassailed MVP of Warhammer Monthly. Oh, without a shadow of a doubt. Without an absolute shadow of a doubt. What he has managed to achieve with Blood Quest is nothing short of extraordinary. This is, it's just, Blood Quest is the best strip of Warhammer Monthly's made, and, you know, Blood Quest's art is the best consistent art that Warhammer Monthly had. It's beautiful. It's genuinely beautiful, and it's horrendousness. Yep.
yeah just at the risk of just repeating myself again and again and again it's really good it's so so good that just go and find blood quest and work out where you're reading it because it is top notch amazing oh yeah yeah absolutely awards given out to everyone please right then should we get into more time city of the damned yes so we're on episode four payback script by gordon rennie art by paul jaycock and letters by fiona stephenson And, as an overblown introduction, according to the cynical mercenaries, Mark, Wendell and Uli, successful vampire hunting in the ruins of Mordheim is simply a matter of timing and pragmatism. After torturing a servant to locate the crypt, the duo launches their raid during daylight hours while the vampire is incapacitated. They fight their way through the daytime defences, cutting down zombies, ignoring a pet necromancer, slaying a pack of massive plague dogs, to reach the sleeping mo- there, to reach the sleeping monster's coffin. Instead of destroying the creature, they decide to use it to settle a turf war. They haul in the heavy-chained coffin back to the surface and deposit directly inside the camp of a rival warband.
Retreating to a safe distance with a bottle of ale, they wait for sunset, leaving their rivals to deal with the inevitable wrath of an awakened vampire. I'm overjoyed. It's brilliant, and it's so... This is only three pages. Yes. It gets it. It's basically... It's the narrative captions, there's no dialogue. Two of them, except to the end, when they're basically just getting it ready, but it's just, here's a guide to vampire hunting. And it's basically telling you, here's all the shit that you don't do that you see from people in films. Yep. It's...
it's a matter of fact I mean there's still it's still a little bit of lyrical charm in terms of the way it's delivered but at the same time it's so dry and matter of fact about this is what you want to do if you want to kill a fucking vampire they don't kill a vampire they drop him off to kill everybody else it's such a brilliant switch I mean, there's sections in here which are just amazing. You know, that now dregs are supposed to be the thrall of their undead masters. Implacable will. But hang one of them both for a hotfire for a few hours and it's amazing what they'll tell you. So good. And then step two, always make sure you do your vampire hunting during daylight and well before sunset. Obvious, really. But you'd be surprised how many idiots have landers, witch hunters, and those lunatic Bretonnians, mostly. Get this wrong. It's like the sense of humour is still there and it's so bleak and so dark.
Step three, the hard part. Remember, the vampire may be confined to his coffin during the hours of daylight, but his human henchmen and undead servers aren't. Then it's the hint to make these things easier. Kill the vampire's pet necromancer and destroy his magical control over any zombie's prison. Fire is always an effective deterrent against the undead. Oh my god. What I think is really cool is that, on top of all this, this very wry, very dry note-making on how to kill a vampire, what you're seeing is that Udy and Markwind are very good at what they do. It's just that they are shits of human beings. Again, competent and efficient.
Yes. I mean, the use of the real estate here to get the story just through and done, without rushing, without... The pacing is really, really good. Yeah, because you basically see they're in there. The only sort of bit where it looks like they're kind of having to be frenetic is the initial sortie when they're dealing with the various zombies and what have you. And then, obviously, once a necromancer's done, they're zombies or zombies, so therefore, at that point, basically slow-moving, shuffling idiots. Easily thinking out. And at that point, it's just, oh, look, there's some dogs. Done. Three strokes and they're gone. Yep.
The movement for killing the dogs, that's not a sentence I expected to say today, is so good. The one where he's breaking the plague wolf's spine is visceral. There's weight behind everything. Jacob's art is gloriously murky and dirty. You get the odd little bit of white usually just in the background, the first couple of panels, that just gives it a little bit of room to breathe. Everything underground is exactly that. It's murky.
I mean, that final panel where you've just got the fire and all the shapes around it with people caressing with their hand coming out. It's like, God, that's such a brilliant end to the journey that you've been on for the last three pages. And when more time started, I was like, yeah, I'm looking forward to this. I don't remember a single thing about it. This looks like it's going to be fun. It's blowing me away. This is...
brilliant work the interesting thing will be to see when it expands a bit now i know it does expand because more time becomes a bit of a fixture in this we'll see how it goes that again consider race with cal is like you're getting little bursts and they're fun does it have have the weight so what we're really doing is kind of establishing kind of the threats and the dangers in and around Mortime, without having to do a painful two-page recap in your first instalment. So you're just giving it a room to breathe, just two or three pages here and there, and it's just like, yep, so there's vampires, okay, fine, and zombies and all that, and in a nice fun way, so that's going to be a threat. It'll be how it pitches when we get Uli and Markwand doing their actual series. I don't remember if Mortime becomes a... like an anthology where each time it comes back after a break, there's different characters, or if Uli and Markwand keep going throughout. Because what you position it is in terms of is, if you get to Mortime, you will get...
you will survive. And that's probably as best as you'll do. Because as quickly, even if they make money out there, if they go elsewhere, they'll be hunted down again and will have you. So it's kind of the safest place for them. But this is very much a, you're living on borrowed time here. I think that it stays with Mully and Uli and Markwand throughout the entire story. That's how it ends. It just ends with them both dying in a horrible... Well, the thing is, you know for well, it's a wild bunch ending for them anyway. Yeah, has to be. The question is how and why, but we'll get to that when we get to it. But all in all, I'm...
blown away by how much i'm loving this the more time series yep already knows exactly what to do with his limited real estate yeah and that's the thing is three pages it's not a lot but that tells you again what you get from this is that early in more time are early as our markland are crafty competent yes and meticulously plan their stuff out it's a nice antithesis from the sort of the more freewheeling cow jericho so it's a direct content they're prepared they're not idiots as you said they're good at what they do and there's There's nothing unnecessary. Everything's in service of their end. And they're confident in themselves as well. There's no second guessing, which makes for a very interesting pairing. Because there's no smart guy and idiot relationship going on here, which would have been a really easy one to fall into. Or even strong guy and weedy guy, even though it's quite clear that one of them is significantly more hench. They're both doing their share of the fight. Yeah.
Yeah, it's a proper partnership between the pair of them. It just makes for a very fun dynamic, especially when you get to see that they are very good at what they do, they are very confident in how they do it. They wage their war knowing that they're going to win. It'll be interesting to see as this goes along if they get multi-part stories where that gets called into question or if that gets observed in some way. But so far, I'm genuinely happy to see where Mordheim goes as a storyline because they've done such a great job presenting these installments. What we're being introduced to is who good these characters are and what kind of threats they are having to deal with just to get by.
Yeah, slice of life. When we get into the longer ones, that's when, absolutely, we're going to need to see where's that sense of jeopardy going to come in there. A hell of an instalment, and it probably made me smile. Right then, shall we move into some Cal Jericho? Yes, so again, Gordon Rennie, yes. The hallmark of quality. Wayne Rounds is back on art, and if you want to see this again in letters. Oh, right, so Cal Jericho, Ode of Connor. My god, that was a spoon of Risman and a half. Cal Jericho, Code of Honour.
Bounty Hunters Cal, Jericho and Scabs launch a characteristically loud raid on a Scaffi Camp in Array, surviving a massive mutant before locating their target, a captive with a 200-credit guild bounty on his head. Despite the prisoner's desperate attempts to bribe his way to freedom, the duo flatly refuses, citing professional ethics. However, the sudden display of moral integrity is cut short when the remaining Scaffi tribe surrounds them, forcing Cal to temporarily arm their own bounty, just so they have enough firepower to survive the ambush. Once the mutants are repelled, the prisoner's celebratory mood is instantly ruined when Cal promptly puts him right back in chains. When the captive protests their lack of gratitude, Cal offers a highly pragmatic compromise.
He'll hand him over to the guild to collect the initial reward, but he can immediately hire them for 400 credits to break the break him out of custody afterwards. It's a financial win-win. I am starting to really warm to the different style of Cal Jericho art. I think the Wayne Reynolds art is starting to... It's not that I'm not warming to this. I think we're not really getting a lot of...
The stories being very much potentially feels like Gordon knows that he's not getting Carl Kapinski, so therefore you're getting stories where you're not getting the facials. The art is fine because you're getting a bit more straightforward action-adventure-y type affair. A good mix, so it's not that you need to be honed into the one particular type of story with it, but what you're getting is stuff where you're not relying on a lot of close-ups of Carl. No, you get more action shots and you're getting more... What I really like about it is the scuffies. This is where I come from.
on this one. Wayne Reynolds, he does a really good scappy. He does a really, really good, horrible looking mutant. There's a guy with crazy teeth in the bottom corner of all the scappies running in and attacking. I want to just know his story. I want to know what he's been up to because he looks terrifyingly weird. All in all, don't get me wrong. I think Renny Kopinski and Cal Jericho was a match made in heaven. And I think that's a pinnacle. But this second outing, this second run at Cal Jericho with Wayne Reynolds as artist, I think it's working for the stories that are being provided for it.
Yeah, again there's no point as a writer you should be writing to the artist if you know who you're pairing up with, so you know there's rights. Because there's no point as you're... you don't want if you've got someone like again if you've got someone like a kev mcguire who is like great cartoonist great character so great facial expression you don't want to do something with robots no so you know what you're getting it's like say we know that as we saw from the redeemer great great handle for action comedy as well to be fair although the redeemer wasn't her taste just purely because it was kind of pat mill's light it's working working well here there are some nice facials on scabs particularly gormless but like i see this very much feels like jericho's just dialed in the background a little bit yeah Which isn't a bad thing, because... If you're doing a main protagonist and they've got support and cash, you need to give them a little bit. And so, clearly, the only fixed supporting character is going to be Scabs. Everyone else is kind of in and around as they're needed. So, nope. It's great. It's breezy as well. And it's got some great dialogue. Wonderful. Now we're surrounded, I can't help notice, and you didn't bother pushing me out of the firing line. Rest assured, Scabs, if your life was even worth 200 credits, then I wouldn't hesitate to throw myself in front of a deadly hail of missiles to save you. Now, let's stop whining and get our prisoner loose and give them a gun, because we really need the extra firepower here. Just wonderful dialogue. No, it's great fun.
Again, we're back to just kind of one-off with Cal. Yeah, I think we're getting one-off with Cal just to give Wayne a chance to get used to the character. Well, quite possibly. It's not a bad thing. No. It's not to say that there's anything wrong with his facial expressions or that, but it's just he is not as accomplished in that as Kavinsky. There are very few in this book who are up to that task. No. So it's a hard task to follow. But he's doing well and enjoying it. There's an energy to the work.
oh there really is the page where they're just shooting and there's just a collection of like angry gun faces everything's being blasted that brought a smile to my face but yeah but let's see the great thing is we i think we talked about last thing as well is like the sound effects are clearly being done by wayne himself great not that any slight to if any were to be done by forn stevenson but there was just something great about artists that controlled their own sfx and it was very much part of the story in a way that sometimes digital lettering struggles with absolutely the sound effects here are It's something we've picked up a couple of times with Reynolds. He has a way with sound effects. Zatch, zatch for the last pistols, which is really good. Ba-dum, ba-dum for the stubber. And using all these throughout gives a real sense of continuity. You don't get interpretations of it. It's the same sound effect, but drawn in different ways. It's also the fact that they are ridiculous. I understand that there is something inherently ridiculous about sound effects. Yes. Things are stupid. And again, it gives the work a certain feel. Yeah. With this, it's like, no, these are ridiculous.
they're not trying to be cool or you know if i got edges just like oh that again we're just guys going spatch i do like spatch yeah again i love sound effects when they're done when they're done well properly and that's best integrating the art not every artist is good at them so i can see why some don't but when you can When it's in service to the story and the art, sound effects can really elevate it. I think in this case it does. If you look at the sound effects, there is a consistency to them as well. In terms of size and what have you, but you look at the dams from Scabs' gun, it's the same throughout. Yeah. Which sometimes some artists will just do blam and then do it a different way next time round or what have you. It kind of makes people know it's the same type of gun. A little thing, but it doesn't work. I think it works brilliantly. I think it's a really smart choice. It's the thing to not take you out of the art. Yeah.
I mean, the fact you even get a kapow makes me very happy. Yeah. Yes. But as you say, we've dialed Cal back, so basically he's just in and around it and helps him, but it's not his story. And I do love on the last page the hero shot of the supposed bounty going, yay, in that second panel, and the third is just beautiful sequential storytelling. Mm-hmm.
Don't you forget about me. Fucking no, no. She's like, yes! And, ah, fuck. Oh, it's, it's, yeah. I haven't even got into the fact that there's a little horned rat on the last panel and there's a millipede crawling through a skull. There's all these little details that are just littered throughout the panels. Yeah, no. Do you know what? I think this might be the best overall issue of Warhammer Monthly to date, because outside of Hellbrunt Grimm, we have been very positive on every instalment. If it's gotten ready, you're laughing. You're going to enjoy it. Mm-hmm. It's like, just...
Can we just make it Gordon Rennie monthly? Please. And saying that, Demon of Fuge is back next this year, so that might be fine. Yeah, I am looking forward to seeing some more Demon of Fuge. Really looking forward to it. It's been like a while. It's been a really long gap between Demon of Fuge ending and this new one beginning. All in all, I've really enjoyed this issue. Take Grim out of the conversation because there's no point in having any further conversation about that. It's been a really solid episode that I've thoroughly enjoyed. Again, Rennie delivers consistently on this book. Yeah.
Yeah, once again, it baffles me how much, you know, Dan Abnett has seen as being the guy for ThoughtyK, but Rennie is, at this point in June 2000, he is outpacing him on every level. And it's a weird one as well, because I don't think Rennie really gets the flowers he deserves for the work he did on this. Again, the whole point is there's an entire generation of people that BloodQuest is just not available. Yeah, it's reprinted once in black and white and once digitally coloured, but that's the type of thing that, once again, Black Library needs to keep certain things in. Constant circulation. So I think then, with all that being said, we will start to close this down. Andy, where can people find you if they so wish to tell you all about why Hellbrand Grimm is the best thing that's ever happened? If you wish to take your life on your hands in such a passion, I mean, I will listen to your, listen to your tales of, uh, and flights of fancy before dispatching you, because I feel like a mercy killing is all that's due at this point. In meat space, unless you live in Fife, you won't, is the most answer. Or you're at TF Nation, where you can find me, where I'll be on my best behaviour, because I'm working, so I can't.
Yes, and you're going to be very busy for the next few weeks. Yes. As for myself, you can find my personal stuff at adnicol.weebly.com, where I've got a load of stuff up on that site. I've got art, I've got short stories, I've got We Can Remember It for You wholesale as an audiobook. Just come and have a look at it. The Fluffenhammer stuff, you can find us everywhere. We're on Blue Sky, we're on Instagram, we have a Facebook group, and we have a Discord. You can find the links to those below. And I think with all that being said, we will get out of here. Thank you, Mr. Turnbull, for joining me today. Pleasure as always. And thank you guys for listening, if indeed you still are. Bye-bye. Pretty well.