The Mean Arena Volume One: All To Slay For - Rebellion [Part Three]

THE MEAN ARENA VOLUME ONE: ALL TO SLAY FOR, March 2021

Quite possibly the most memorable match from this early Eighties “Rollerball-meets Roy Of The Rovers” comic strip series, Tom Tully’s thoroughly absorbing depiction of the events surrounding the Slater Slayers’ challenge game against the Southampton Sharks justifiably forms the back bone of this “digital-only” release from “Rebellion”, and arguably doesn’t let up until smart-mouthed commentator Kevin O’Connor provides a player profile piece on J.T. Venner during half-time. Up until this point, whether the spotlight be on either the housing estate-sized pitch or just Matt Tallon’s revenge-fuelled machinations, the British author is almost relentless in his depiction as to just how brutal and deadly a sport Street Football can be.

For starters it seems even the wealthy world of Kosi-Flex owner Rollo Hartie can be highly dangerous, as the hover-chair bound magnate agrees a lucrative sponsorship deal with the Slayer just seconds after one of his hirelings has had his head turned to gory pulp testing out the tycoon’s experimental ram-suit. This "grotesque product of Twenty-First Century medical science" imbues everything disdainful about the sport as he contemptuously arranges for another minion to replace poor aforementioned Wilson without batting an eyelid. But the corpulent cyborg also demonstrates just how low Tallon will evidently go so as to ensure he can have his payback against the people who apparently caused his younger brother to die.

Equally as mercilessly mercenary is Matt’s behaviour in Southampton as he repeatedly goads his opponent’s squad-leader Jaws Jensen into mistake-after-mistake. Whether it be at a staged press conference where the star Striker slaps an abusive banner on his target’s forehead right in front of an audience packed-out with the press, or later when his scoring talent drives the Sharks’ player to sacrifice one of this own team-mates between the deadly steel teeth of the Slayers’ gaping-mouth goal, Tully’s penmanship makes it abundantly clear that the former Louis Leopard is willing to wade in blood as deep as those unfortunates he is targeting; “You’re not interested in crowds! All you care about is nailing the people who helped put your kid brother Paul in his grave..!”

John Richardson’s layouts also help enormously with this storyline’s excellent pacing, whether he’s illustrating a truly fascinating flashback sequence as to the history of Street Football, or pencilling the impressive new Slayer uniforms. Indeed, one of the match’s opening highlights is the way the artist sketches the physical ease with which “The Shadow” silkily evades the opposition’s best efforts to unsuccessfully bring him down, and having “left three Sharks for dead” subsequently puts Mike Slater’s club into a well-deserved lead.

Script Robot: Tom Tully, Art Robot: John Richardson, and Lettering Robot: Pete Knight