Spacewarp #1 [Part Two] - Millsverse Comics

SPACEWARP #1, July 2020

Providing this anthology comic with both an utterly disconcerting and superbly solid midway point story is Pat Mill’s marvellous tale of a technologically-advanced Earth being infiltrated by repugnant-looking extra-terrestrials entitled “Xecutioners”. Crammed full of gun-play, a veritable host of zinging bullets and mind manipulation, this seven-pager’s greatest asset is arguably not actually its enjoyable violence, but rather the developing relationship between Chaval and his new partner Zola as they attempt their first mission together to reveal the true Machiavellian intentions of Saturn One CEO, Mister Mezeros.

Just as unnerving with its opening ‘Harry Potter at Hogwarts’ vibe is “Fu-Tants”, which initially focuses upon three would-be protectors of the planet whilst undergoing the final stage of their training, and then leaps a decade into the future to the Church of the Apocalypse in Spain where super-powered Koda discovers an alien race trying to steal some valuable dinosaur-related artwork. Featuring Mike Donaldson’s stunningly pencilled bout of fisticuffs between “Drogeda’s top agent” and the Warp Lord’s “top gun”, there’s nothing not to like about such an action-packed yarn; especially when it promises future adventures to come, not least of which might be another fascinating insight into the utterly enthralling Warpstone Academy.

Perhaps penned for those within this book’s audience who enjoy planet wide battlescapes such as those depicted in Robert A. Heinlein's “Starship Troopers” or Gerry Finley-Day’s Nu-Earth, “Special Forces One” definitely doesn’t beat around the bush in setting up its heroes’ seemingly suicidal mission to behead the Junkarrs’ leader Zahar. Populated with all manner of weird-looking giant microbes and mutated single cell bacteria, Mills does a grand job of combining some serious slaughter with as much insight as he can manage into the motivations of the elite combat unit’s colourful members.

Finally bringing this publication full circle, and pleasantly incorporating some of the fluff established in this tome’s preceding narratives, is the brilliantly brutal “Slayer”. Once again featuring Schlock, “the Cosmic Lawman”, this concluding chronicle rounds off the comic with a fascinating supposition that if an “offender escapes justice through death or senility” then a suitable descendent can be punished in their place, even up to seven generations depending upon the crime.

Stories: Pat Mills, and Art: Gareth Sleightholme, Mike Donaldson, Ade Hughes & James Newell