Its time again for another Weekly Comics Hype. Im doing these alphabetically, but skipping around a bit, and we continue December by giving you the reader the very best suggestion you can possibly receive for the comic reader on your holiday list, the remarkable Indigo Prime by John Smith, Chris Weston and Mike Hadley.
Indigo Prime was a deeply strange and often brilliant series which featured periodically in the pages of 2000 AD from 1989-91. Occasionally crossing over into its sister series Tyranny Rex, the series told stories about an organization which works to protect reality from incursions outside our understanding, but which is also willing to manipulate time and space in the services of very rich clients. Its agents, under the jurisdiction of Major Arcana, tend to be almost shockingly amoral, but those characters which we do meet are incredibly interesting eccentrics, and the constant feel that there is so much more we could know is one reason the strip evokes such strong memories in its fans.
Since all of reality is available for Indigo Prime to play in, the stories cover a wide range of times, planets and dimensions. The opening story in this volume features a trip to Hell, and the last one is set on a time-travelling train. The backgrounds counterpoint an exciting writing style and a real sense of danger. John Smith is not afraid to let his characters either fail or undergo genuine suffering. The result are some genuinely horrific, downspririted, unpredictable adventures.
One downside to tackling this watch me argue against you buying this, yes, that makes sense is that while it claims to be complete, it isnt, not quite. Indigo Prime was preceded by a pilot episode called A Change of Scenery which appeared almost three years before these episodes, and which, masterfully, set up the concept and introduced two of the operatives, Basalt and Foundation. These two later showed up in a one-off episode of Smiths Tyranny Rex, and her third adventure introduced Fervent and Lobe, a pair of dead psychic cowboys who work as freelancers for Indigo Prime. One of them has aspirations of becoming a playwright, and thats where this complete book opens, with the stage debut of one of their adventures. Leaving out these early appearances results in the book feeling awkward and slightly off-putting, which is a shame, as the actual stories are quite amazing.
The books centerpiece is the closing Killing Time, a brilliant ten-part adventure that sets two Indigo Prime agents on the trail of Jack the Ripper. Far from another stereotyped run-in with the criminal, Victorian London is the background for a much larger and horrific story than the reader will expect, giving Weston the chance to draw the sort of nightmarish landscapes and imagery hed later revisit in The Filth. It also features some of the most startling death scenes ever envisioned, and one of the most astonishing finales of any comic story.
Mainstream American success has completely eluded Smith, who is only known for a few fill-ins and failures at Vertigo, and some Vampirella comics, and his incredibly rich, descriptive prose is an acquired taste. But youre in good hands with the artists. Chris Weston is well-regarded for his more recent work with Grant Morrison and with Warren Ellis, and this early work is bound to please his many fans.
The Complete Indigo Prime is available from your local comic shop, who would enjoy your custom; new books ship each Wednesday, so why not stop in after work tonight?
Indigo Prime was a deeply strange and often brilliant series which featured periodically in the pages of 2000 AD from 1989-91. Occasionally crossing over into its sister series Tyranny Rex, the series told stories about an organization which works to protect reality from incursions outside our understanding, but which is also willing to manipulate time and space in the services of very rich clients. Its agents, under the jurisdiction of Major Arcana, tend to be almost shockingly amoral, but those characters which we do meet are incredibly interesting eccentrics, and the constant feel that there is so much more we could know is one reason the strip evokes such strong memories in its fans.
Since all of reality is available for Indigo Prime to play in, the stories cover a wide range of times, planets and dimensions. The opening story in this volume features a trip to Hell, and the last one is set on a time-travelling train. The backgrounds counterpoint an exciting writing style and a real sense of danger. John Smith is not afraid to let his characters either fail or undergo genuine suffering. The result are some genuinely horrific, downspririted, unpredictable adventures.
One downside to tackling this watch me argue against you buying this, yes, that makes sense is that while it claims to be complete, it isnt, not quite. Indigo Prime was preceded by a pilot episode called A Change of Scenery which appeared almost three years before these episodes, and which, masterfully, set up the concept and introduced two of the operatives, Basalt and Foundation. These two later showed up in a one-off episode of Smiths Tyranny Rex, and her third adventure introduced Fervent and Lobe, a pair of dead psychic cowboys who work as freelancers for Indigo Prime. One of them has aspirations of becoming a playwright, and thats where this complete book opens, with the stage debut of one of their adventures. Leaving out these early appearances results in the book feeling awkward and slightly off-putting, which is a shame, as the actual stories are quite amazing.
The books centerpiece is the closing Killing Time, a brilliant ten-part adventure that sets two Indigo Prime agents on the trail of Jack the Ripper. Far from another stereotyped run-in with the criminal, Victorian London is the background for a much larger and horrific story than the reader will expect, giving Weston the chance to draw the sort of nightmarish landscapes and imagery hed later revisit in The Filth. It also features some of the most startling death scenes ever envisioned, and one of the most astonishing finales of any comic story.
Mainstream American success has completely eluded Smith, who is only known for a few fill-ins and failures at Vertigo, and some Vampirella comics, and his incredibly rich, descriptive prose is an acquired taste. But youre in good hands with the artists. Chris Weston is well-regarded for his more recent work with Grant Morrison and with Warren Ellis, and this early work is bound to please his many fans.
The Complete Indigo Prime is available from your local comic shop, who would enjoy your custom; new books ship each Wednesday, so why not stop in after work tonight?