Tuppenny Rice #1

Posted: Tuesday, October 12, 2004
By: Darren Schroeder

Cover of Tuppenny Rice #1

Creator: Cameron Kerr
Publisher: Arghh Comics (Self Published)
Address: tuppennyrice.co.uk
Price: 102p(UK)

The Goth horror field is quite popular in comics. Books line Lenore mix gruesome characters with slapstick humour. This book goes for the same audience but lacks the cohesiveness that a central character and longer stories give. A random assortment of ghouls, monsters and robots run amok in this quick-fire collection of short comics. Going for quick laughs rather than plot or character development, Cameron lets his imagination go wild.

A cast of intriguing characters populate the pages of the book. I was especially taken by Veloria: a woman of prodigious conversational dexterity who accepts an invitation to the Inferno club and has to cope with some toxic goings on. Her reactions to the characters she encounters are amusing, as is her aloof manner . The is marked as to be continued and well worth following.

My eye was also taken by Atomic Death Robot, and comedic character who unleashes a variety of weapons at no-one in particular. The Whale blubber Bomb (tm) is a particularly hilarious device of mass destruction.

The tone of the book becomes darker with the two page story Mechanically Recovered Chicken, where a poem exhibiting marvellous wordplay details the horrors chicken face in the path to becoming our takeaways. In contrast to the very cartoonish style of the other pieces, the artwork here is very angular, with rough brushed blacks in the background. It's gruesome black humour and will have you eating vegetables for a few days.

Any book featuring vampire slugs deserves a read, and Cameron takes that hook and makes the most of it with stylish illustrations.

In a Word: Outlandish



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