TwoDays #1

Posted: Tuesday, December 6, 2005
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of TwoDays #1 Creator(s): Iain Withers and Gordon Johnston
Publishers: Self Published
From: UK
Price: £1.50(UK)

A young student gets into a political discussion with a homeless man who he invites into his flat. Their evening of point and counter-point get the young man thinking about the political realities of the world. The next day he receives a mysterious phone call inviting him to take part in political action, and before he can give things much thought he finds himself in the middle of a series of global pranks and happenings aimed to bring down the multinational corporations. Acting for freedom is all well and good, but when he starts developing a conscience about where things are headed he find his life has become a lot more dangerous.

A gormless pawn in the middle of events that they can't control. It's the pattern that Alfred Hitchcock based a career, given an edgy update with contemporary cultural references and a "Train-spotters" aesthetic. The political ideals are little more than straw-men, quickly defined as the basis for a series of outlandish and threatening circumstances, all driven by the narration of the main character as he recalls how he ended up in a very dangerous situation.

The range incidents are engaging as the tension builds. The focus on one vaguely defined character means the comic comes across a a rather clinical exercise in plotting. There's no room for friendship, characters development or realistic interactions. Instead we get fights, escapes, guns and intimidation.

I found myself losing interest in the goings on after a while. There's too many "nasty" characters talking tough but acting like very amateur thugs and spys. The James Bond effect (Lone hero enters the villain's parlour) creates an unbelievable sequence of events.

Visually the book holds together very well. The layouts are clean and imaginative; the characters are draw as three dimensional objects and in a stylish manner; and every so often some thought symbolic artwork is uses to illustrate political concepts covered in the narration. It suggests that the book is well planned, thoughtfully designed and carefully committed to paper. Its a shame the socio-political arguments behind the plot don't raise above the level of "Mac-Corporations are evil".

In a Word: Slogans.



If you have a comment or question about Small Press then feel free to contact me