Rogue #5

Posted: Tuesday, August 15, 2000
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of Rogue #5 Creator(s): Various
Publishers: Analecta Productions
From: New Zealand
Price:

Anthology comics, there sure are a lot of them in the world of Small Press. For the creators working as part of a group is comforting and shared costs helps their work see the light of day. Such an achievement is Rogue which collects a wide range of genres and styles.

So what do we have? For starters Lee Challis gives cartoon life to a Keystone Cop type story of mistaken identity. It's funny, honest. We then jump to the Year 2052 with Jamie Laurie's high action tale of high tech, high risk courier delivery. Jamie handles the action poses with skill but the plot didn't grab me I'm afraid.

Brendan Wright's Brief Excursion would have benefited from brief exposition. Watching three characters talk about being chased by another spaceship kind of takes all the fun out of the idea. This is followed by a reprint of the wonderfully inventive Earthwrath II by Steve Saville. This medieval tale is an intriguing tale of plague and pestilence.

The Adventures of Shang Wong, Master Swordsman didn't really take with me, though I liked looking at the pictures. Danger Cat sort of James Bond crossed with James Bond plus a heavy dose of James Bond, except in making fun of the whole idea it just got tedious very quickly. And yes, it is probably a take off of Danger Mouse as well.

Closing off we get an inventive strip about two friends chatting on the phone about how we can never really get to know people. This is a great comic, full of ideas with interesting visuals building upon the themes of the conversation. Seth Win, its creator, has something interesting to say and has given some thought to how to accomplish it.

Oh, and I nearly overlooked a fun filled one page strip by Toby Morris that has a nice surreal approach to a game of poker.

In a Word: Patchy.



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