Injection #15 - Image Comics

INJECTION No. 15, November 2017

Bringing the comic book series’ third expletive-saturated, gratuitously violent story arc to a sudden conclusion, the contents of Issue Fifteen of “Injection” is arguably best described as a carnal house of chilling, bloody slaughter, which sees a good dozen Cornish inhabitants first torn to ragged shreds of flesh and organs, and then reduced to little more than a few skeletal remains, simply because they were out walking, drinking in their local pub, or at home in bed, at the wrong time in the wrong place. Indeed, these supernatural attacks upon the innocent come so very thick and fast, that the opening quarter of this twenty-page publication doesn’t contain a single word or sound effect, and simply relies upon artist Declan Shalvey to pencil gory mutilation after graphic disembowelment…

Fortunately, this savage assault upon the senses does finally cease once Emma Louise Beaufort drives her boss up to Mellion Moor and Warren Ellis actually provides his leading ladies with a few pages of dialogue. True, the Eagle Award-winner disappointingly permeates the pair’s explanatory interplay with a plethora of colourful metaphors, but such a colourful conversion is perhaps understandable given that their vehicle is being repeatedly slashed by giant luminescent phantom claws, and instead of manoeuvring away from the source of such lethal evil power, the duo are purposely heading straight towards it; “Put me right next to that digger thing. I’m going to have to jump from the car. You stay inside.”

What is a little hard to digest though is that the key to closing the Cold House and the Other World’s access to our plane of existence, is for Brigid Roth to simply knock over one of the ancient monument’s standing stones with an excavator. This act of all-too necessary ‘archaeological vandalism’ seemingly stops the Spriggan Town overspill into Mellion instantly and subsequently causes the rest of the stone site to come crashing down around the ears of the FPI (Force Projection International) team. So simplistic a solution really is bewildering, and begs the question as to just why the incredibly clever “computer geek” didn’t decide to remove one (or all) of the menhirs when she initially realised how deadly the circle was and bring this harrowing adventure to a close a few comics earlier?

Writer: Warren Ellis, Artist: Declan Shalvey, and Color: Jordie Bellaire

Injection #14 - Image Comics

INJECTION No. 14, July 2017

If it wasn’t for this comic’s horrifically over-the-top, and frankly juvenile, use of colourful metaphors, then Issue Fourteen of “Injection” would probably have pleased its 8,202 followers far more in August 2017. For whilst Warren Ellis’ prolific use of obscenities means that his narrative’s dialogue occasionally provides a modicum of humour, such as when Emma Louise Beaufort really wants her boss to “buy the iphone app” in order to prevent her from being literally sliced to pieces by giant claws of bright white light, the vast majority of this publication’s expletives simply get in the way of the storytelling, and persistently, brutally jar the reader out of the prose.

This overreliance upon Brigid Roth’s penchant for profanities is particularly disappointing considering that the rest of the Eagle Award-winner’s writing is rather good, and for once actually shows “the computer geek off the CCCU [Cross Culture-Contamination Unit] squad” getting into some seriously deadly fisticuffs with a couple of shovel-wielding louts; both of which come to very bloody ends courtesy of a Stanley knife across the throat and a screwdriver buried deep into the jugular. Such a gory scrap really is incredibly well story-boarded and smacks of when Ellis, artist Declan Shalvey and colorist Jordie Bellaire were seemingly at the top of their game in 2014, creating “Moon Knight” for “Marvel Worldwide”.

Equally as impressive is this twenty-page periodical’s genuinely chilling confrontation between the Irish dark-skinned hacker and “that old cow Kernick.” There’s a genuine “American Werewolf In London” vibe to Mellion Moor and the complicity of its locals, which the elderly bespectacled Professor beautifully encapsulates. Her boastful admission that she chained “that guy on the moor” to the ring knowing he would later be torn to shreds by creatures “from the Other World” is hackle-raising stuff, particularly when Derwa is shown to be ably supported by a veritable horde of shadowy, yellow-eyed sprites.

Regrettably, for all his good work sketching out this comic’s dynamic fight scene, and some simply breath-taking vistas of the soggy, rain-soaked countryside, the majority of Shalvey’s artwork for this edition is disappointingly somewhat off-key and wooden-looking. The Dublin-born illustrator’s sketching of Roth’s eyes, nose and mouth appears particularly inconsistent and resultantly, the lead character strangely only appears at her best when drawn with her hoodie predominantly masking her facial features.

Writer: Warren Ellis, Artist: Declan Shalvey, and Color: Jordie Bellaire

Injection #13 - Image Comics

INJECTION No. 13, June 2017

Arguably focusing far more upon the mystic nature of primeval manifestations and the sinister machinations of modern day magicians than its more recently printed publications, Warren Ellis’ script for Issue Thirteen of “Injection” must have both encouraged and delighted this comic’s increasingly dwindling audience with its simply told tale of terror concerning Brigid Roth’s patient excavation of the Cold House. Certainly, the twenty-page periodical’s plot seemed far more closely aligned to the Essex-born author’s original vision for the on-going series' content to be “high-concept science fiction fused with elements of magic and mythology”, than its story-arc’s previous instalments had been.

Foremost of these improvements has to be Professor Derwa Kernick’s creepy examination of the ancient site’s archaeological finds, and her menacing dialogue with Roth involving the early Christians in the area being sacrificed as part of a “cultural exchange” with mischievious pixies. Indeed, one doesn’t need to be the computer geek’s Stanley-knife carrying female chauffeur Emma Louise Beaufort to know that the elderly bespectacled expert is lying, and clearly knows how “the mechanism of the cell” operates; “She already cited local stories and poetry. Poetry was how oral history survived -- put into rhyme to make it easier to remember. She knows.”

Equally as captivating is the Cold House’s reaction to Force Projection International performing “a series of small current tests across the mineral pan.” Initially innocent, and simply part of a checklist in order for the scientists to get paid, this experiment shows just how gruesomely fatal Brigid’s miscalculations can be by causing one of the nearby FPI assets to be unceremoniously torn to shreds by giant claws composed of blindingly white energy…

Gratuitously drawn by Declan Shalvey, without a single syllable being uttered, this ten-panel soundless sequence genuinely appears to be pencilled in order to replicate the stuff of nightmares, as heavily-whiskered Bob Gristle has his skin ripped from his face, his tongue gouged out of a mutilated mouth, and his entrails pulled from the man’s still pain-wracked, breathing torso. In fact, the entire scene, which ends with all the corpse’s meat being somehow dragged through the earth by the savage spriggans, appears to have been a disconcerting labour of love for the Irish comic book artist.

The regular cover art of "INJECTION" No. 13 by Declan Shalvey

Injection #12 - Image Comics

INJECTION No. 12, April 2017

Bedevilled by overly-long, drawn-out sequences and enough needless dialogue to make even the head of a romantic poet like William Wordsworth spin, Warren Ellis’ narrative for Issue Twelve of “Injection” doubtless made many of this title’s 8,615 fans wish that they’d just simply stuck to reading “Image Comics” brief publication promotion blurb rather than the twenty-page periodical itself. In fact, the publisher’s one-liner “Brigid Roth uncovers the death box known as the Cold House” pretty much sums up the entire contents of the English novelist’s storyline without necessitating the need to peruse endless panels pressed full of colourful metaphors, unnecessary expletives, and poorly penned conversational pieces concerning Emma Louise Beaufort’s “brief and surprisingly fun career as a getaway driver.”

Sadly, this apparent obsession by the Eagle Award-winner with anything that doesn’t seemingly progress the book’s plot, yet painstakingly pads out the tale, runs rampant throughout this comic, and resultantly numerous pages are seemingly squandered depicting Professor Derwa Kernick’s identification of “an old Cornish spirit”, Roth’s tedious banter with her new driver en route “to the local police station”, and a disconcertingly bizarre telephone conversation featuring Maria Kilbride and the “supposedly sorcerous” penis of Rasputin. Indeed, Just why Brigid even needed to ‘recruit’ a criminally-inclined female chauffeur, or later contact the Cross Culture-Contamination Unit founder “now it’s got interesting” is far from apparent, and thereby makes the Essex-born writer’s inclusion of the former Lowlands University professor talking whilst looking at the Mad Monk’s pickled sexual organ all the more gratuitous and gravely grotesque; “I will hunt you down and skin you and believe me I have done that before --”  

Unfortunately, all these pointless detours and meaningless side-missions, badly detract from the magazine’s cliff-hanger conclusion, and ruin what otherwise would have been a seriously sinister story involving the Force Projection International not only discovering the skeletal remains of numerous people who had presumably been buried alive by “wee spriggan fellas”, but a chillingly menacing stone monument, known as the “Cold House”, which reeks of “the space between here” and “all the folk of the Other World.” As it is however, this particular instalment of Ellis and penciler Declan Shalvey’s supposed “techno-thriller” appears to lurch from inconsequential instance to aimless act, disastrously diluting any of the “horror” its creative team originally promised when the series was first advertised.

Writer: Warren Ellis, Artist: Declan Shalvey, and Color: Jordie Bellaire

Injection #11 - Image Comics

INJECTION No. 11, March 2017

Tantalisingly its readership with a genuinely spooky opening that involves “an entire stone circle” being unearthed in Cornwell and the subsequent discovery of a skinned corpse being “chained" to it, Warren Ellis’ script for Issue Eleven of “Injection” initially bears all the hallmarks of another of the graphic novelist’s mesmerising folkloric themed adventures. Sadly however, any such notion is then almost immediately quashed by the Essex-born writer’s introduction of Brigid Roth and more unnecessary colourful metaphors than even a “Rated M/Mature” comic book has a right to have.

Indeed, if it wasn’t for the Injection team-member’s apparent predilection for profanities, it would genuinely be hard to argue that anything of any actual note occurs within this twenty-page periodical; except perhaps the computer geek’s unoriginal materialisation inside a deserted garage using a spatial relocation device which looks suspiciously similar to the TARDIS console from the BBC science fiction television programme “Doctor Who”. Certainly, this publication’s audience won't have been 'won over' by the Dubliner’s attempt to “gouge out” a coffee machine with a screwdriver simply because if wouldn’t work, or her sitting silently alone atop her home’s roof recollecting how her residence came with its own earthwork. 

Even once the Cross Culture-Contamination Unit (CCCU) operative arrives at the grisly murder’s location, little of interest take places, as an overly hostile Roth seems intent on swearing at both FPI assets Ryan Sutter and Bob Gristle within moment of meeting them, and then starts talking ‘mumbo jumbo’ to her tiny stone totem, Sheela-na-gig. In fact, it isn’t until the comic’s cliff-hanger, when a horrified Brigid reasons that the Mellion Ring Stones are actually just the lid to something which extends “way further down,” that Ellis somehow surprisingly rekindles the suspense his narrative’s prologue first promised.

Quite possibly more disappointing than this comic’s penmanship though, are Declan Shalvey’s breakdowns. Initially well-drawn and full of increasing menace, as three backpackers cross Mellion’s Tor only to discover a decaying corpse, the Eagle Award-winner’s artwork becomes increasingly inconsistent as he repeatedly attempts to imbue Roth with some sort of personality. Whilst the less said about the Irishman’s ‘flashback sequence’ depicting Brigid purchasing her home “not too far from Dublin”, and garishly coloured by Jordie Bellaire, the better…

The regular cover art of "INJECTION" No. 11 by Declan Shalvey

Injection #10 - Image Comics

INJECTION No. 10, June 2016

It probably wasn’t too hard for the majority of this comic’s 11,771 followers to read “Image Comics” post-publication announcement that Warren Ellis’ series concerning “five crazy people… [who] poisoned the 21^st Century” would not return until “later in the year”, as the unimaginative writing and woefully poor artwork contained within this concluding instalment of ‘Volume Two’ must genuinely have resonated with them as to just how fatigued “the acclaimed creative team of Moon Knight” had presumably become working on the series. Indeed it’s genuinely hard to take anything positive away from a twenty-page periodical whose narrative predominantly focusses upon a debate between Vivek Headland and some Rubedo operatives in Mister Van Der Zee’s sitting room…

Admittedly the Essex-born writer uses this frighteningly lengthy conversational piece to quite neatly tie-up all of the plot points his multi-issue story-arc has generated. But even so it shouldn’t take a multiple Eagle Award-winner over a dozen convoluted pages of wearisome wordiness to depict the “logician and Ethicist with an interest in security” informing his armed opponents that “the rogue artificial learning system” the terrorists “keep calling the Philosopher’s Stone” is actually The injection, and that it was actually responsible for the deaths of the financier’s wife and son; “Yeah. Traffic light failure did for her. Car’s onboard computer system failure caused his.” 

What isn’t explained however is just how the Manhattan-based detective miraculously managed to have all of the Rubedo assassins’ “guns unloaded hours ago.” It is quite clear that Ellis has endowed Headland with such an incredible “ability to think of all the possible outcomes” that Vivek ‘borders on the precognisant.’ Yet that still doesn’t explain the removal of the bullets, especially when one of the black-jacketed would-be killers expostulates that she checked her firearm before infiltrating Van Der Zee’s isolated mansion.

Such objectionable gobbledegook might though have been potentially palatable if it were not for Declan Shalvey’s amateurishly sketched and diabolically rushed pencils. Having “made his name with his first comic Hero Killers” it seems unacceptably strange that the Irishman’s breakdowns for so well publicised a title as “Injection” would, in the main, simple consist of numerous panels comprising of a single, awkwardly angular, facially disfigured form, with nothing in the background whatsoever apart from the occasional outline of a curtain or piece of furniture.

The regular cover art of "INJECTION" No. 10 by Declan Shalvey

Injection #9 - Image Comics

INJECTION No. 9, April 2016

Whilst Vivek Headland may well start off Issue Nine of “Injection” by proclaiming that “Something’s off”, the “Anglo-Indian consulting detective, living in New York” most assuredly wasn’t commenting upon this comic’s narrative. For even though Warren Ellis’ storyline concerning an Artificial Intelligence fooling “a rich man” into believing that he “had a ghost stolen from him” runs out of steam towards its end, and thus has to rely upon an overly sentimental drinking session between friends to pad out this publication. His writing initially doubtless provided its 11,433 readers with thrills aplenty as Red takes out an assassin armed with a compact automatic rifle, Simeon brutally convinces a second Rubedo soldier to yield by shoving “a Taurus Curve, already loaded, for concealed carry…” squarely in his face and Brigid interacts with the Injection as it finally starts to make its presence felt.

Such a flurry of activity genuinely proves an engrossing experience, especially as the Essex-born author is able to populate the oft-times graphically violent scenes with some incredibly humorous one-liners; most notably Headland’s profanity-filled response to his showboating bodyguard’s removal of a hired-killer with just a single bullet after agreeing to “give you a bonus… And an extra night off” if he could dispatch their would-be murderer “in two shots.”  

   

Sadly not all of the Englishman’s penmanship is quite so entertaining though, once the plot progresses to the cyber-punk’s interrogation of “a laptop poisoned by the Injection”. The concept that a sentient computer programme is “learning about people by examining aspects of us and assembling them like code” makes sense. But just why it confusingly desires to learn about “crime and money and sex”, and requires Van Der Zee in order to attain this knowledge is arguably an entirely different matter.

Declan Shalvey’s pencilling for this twenty-page periodical proves just as much a dilemma as understanding some of Ellis’ nonsensical contentions. There is no doubt that the Eagle Award-winner can draw some terrific, if not a little gratuitous, action panels, as Red’s brief gun-fight with the Bullpup-armed Rubedo stooge attests. However, whenever the Irish artist has to illustrate the more sedentary aspects of the script, such as Headland raising a toast to his “old friends” or Brigid making a sandwich, the drawings are disappointingly angular and his figures disconcertingly two-dimensional.

The regular cover art of "INJECTION" No. 9 by Declan Shalvey

Injection #8 - Image Comics

INJECTION No. 8, March 2016

It is really hard to imagine that many, if any, of this twenty-page periodical’s 11,855 readers obtained any notable satisfaction from perusing Issue Eight of “Injection”. For whilst Warren Ellis’ storyline does occasionally provide some fleeting moments of deductive ingenuity as the Cross-Cultural Contamination Unit continues its investigation into the bizarre abduction of John Van Der Zee’s ethereal girlfriend. It does so almost begrudgingly and seemingly prefers instead to tediously toy with the concept of a ‘TARDIS-owning’ Brigid Roth potentially being Doctor Who, an unshaven bleary-eyed Robin Morel having drinks with his dead relatives, and, most distasteful of all, Vivek Headland recollecting his various sexual encounters with all manner of partners across over seventeen semi-graphically drawn panels; “So, if anyone asks? You drugged me.”

Just why the Essex-born writer felt his audience would enjoy such a bizarre gestalt of unrelated ideas, particularly those concerning the Logician’s more dubious “human interaction” experiments, instead of continuing with what was once an enthralling enquiry into a missing ghost and the serving of a human-ham sandwich, is not terribly clear? But it seems probable that the British novelist at some point realised that a narrative focusing solely upon the Private Eye’s interrogation of a confused criminal chef “with strong occult tendencies” and subsequent briefing of a New York Police Department officer, wasn’t going to produce material sufficient enough to fill either the magazine, or the graphic novel based upon this story-arc which, somewhat mercenary-like, “Image Comics” actually announced before this comic book series had ever been published.

Sadly however even Ellis’ logic behind just why the nefarious international organisation Rubedo are threatening Headland’s latest client makes little actual sense. Vivek’s hypothesis that the villains “have mistaken an artificial intelligence for an alchemical substance and/or presence that represents ultimate power and enlightenment” genuinely taxes the mind… And it certainly comes as no surprise that Manhattan detective Lucy Branch balks at the ludicrous idea of Van Der Zee somehow making a deal with the Philosopher’s Stone in order for its “virtual facet” to bring “his dead lover back for him.”

Such a mind-numbing plot clearly did little to motivate artist Declan Shalvey either, as the Irishman’s breakdowns for this comic are arguably far from impressive. Admittedly there will be plenty of fans out there who will praise the Eagle Award-winner’s significant use of a child-like bubble-map as innovative story-telling. But that still doesn’t account for the wooden, lifeless figures, such as those pencilled throughout Robin’s drunken stupor sequence, which populate the rest of this book.

The regular cover art of "INJECTION" No. 8 by Declan Shalvey

Injection #7 - Image Comics

INJECTION No. 7, February 2016

Warren Ellis’ somewhat lifeless almost stagnant narrative for Issue Seven of “Injection” unfortunately rather confirms the opinion of “Dark Horse Comics” President and Publisher Mike Richardson that whilst the sociocultural commentator is a master “of the comics art”, the Essex-born writer’s penmanship isn’t necessarily “always good.” For whilst the opening moments of this twenty-page periodical are entertaining enough in its coverage of a ‘good old-fashioned’ police foot chase within the confines of the Local Slice eatery, the pulse-pounding action is soon regrettably replaced by copious dialogue-heavy colloquies as New York-based detectives Diaz and Branch hold their suspect for questioning and Vivek Headland telephonically converses with former Cross Culture-Contamination Unit team-mates Robin Morel and Maria Kilbride.

In fact many of this edition’s 12,459 followers in February 2016 probably felt that nothing else actually happened within this comic’s storyline until towards its very end when the multiple Eagle Award-winner seemingly takes a note out of Arthur Conan Doyle’s book and depicts the “Logician and Ethicist with an interest in security” at his deductive best investigating “the Van Der Zee man-cave.” This Holmesian sequence of pictures, quaintly panelled, genuinely proves an engaging read as the dusky-skinned Precognitive meticulously works his way around the crime scene collecting samples of “intense instances of electromagnetic energy” and “vaginal ectoplasm.”

Sadly however this “unique Ellis brand of storytelling” isn’t anywhere near enough to save what is otherwise a miserably monotonous magazine. Admittedly Headland himself provides a modicum of interest every time he makes an appearance, and even arguably is capable of raising the odd chuckle as he chides a prisoner for delivering “a carefully-sliced and superbly seasoned cooked human bicep to my home.” But such satisfying moments are lamentably fleeting and hardly worthy of the $2.99 cover price.

Worse yet though is Declan Shalvey’s predominantly lack-lustre pencilling. There’s a definite pace to the Irish artist’s first few pages, as Red the Butler smashes his way through a locked diner’s door and the accompanying Manhattan Police graphically shoot out the elbow of their quarry. But just as soon as the kitchen is sealed and the bleeding stopped, the former “Moon Knight” illustrator’s drawings disappointingly appear mechanically unexceptional and even comically amateurish at best.

The regular cover art of "INJECTION" No. 7 by Declan Shalvey

Injection #6 - Image Comics

INJECTION No. 6, January 2016

“The next chapter in the series”, Issue Six of “Injection” exclusively focuses upon Vivek Headland, one of the “five actual geniuses… [who] created an alien artificial intelligence in order to make the 21^st Century better and stranger” and undoubtedly unsettled it’s 13,153 strong audience in January 2016 with its disconcerting depiction of “a case involving money, ghosts, sex and the correct kitchen preparation of human meat.” Indeed despite positively believing that “any reader could come in at” this particular edition “and come away with an ‘issue one’-like reading experience”, Warren Ellis seems to have been equally as determined to make this twenty-page periodical’s narrative as disquieting as possible by starting it with the Anglo-Indian consulting detective undergoing an eccentric morning routine of having his tea in an antechamber walled with nothing but television screens displaying world news.

Having established that the New York-based private investigator is idiosyncratic in his daily habits, as well as utterly “bored”, the graphic novelist then provides an equally alarming insight into the background of the rich man’s butler, Red. This rather hard-nosed ex-mercenary, who rather rudely gesticulates at his well-spoken employer behind closed doors just because he’d threatened to blow the servant up if he got the contents of a sandwich wrong, was supposedly rescued from a former affiliation intent upon murdering him “just for staying alive this long after the failure of your client’s business” and strangely seems to feature quite prominently on account of being the ‘gag man’ of the script.

Household staff expositions aside the majority of this comic book’s storyline is actually taken up with Headland’s initial interview of his latest client, wealthy investor John Van Der Zee, and then an unnerving investigation into how someone from a local eatery managed to send Vivek “a sliced human bicep” which formerly belonged to the son of the “giant of corporate finance.” This sudden and ghoulish plot-twist is made all the more disagreeably unpalatable by the protagonist’s nonchalant admission to his cook that he immediately recognised the taste of the ham in his sandwich on account of already “know[ing] what human meat tastes like.”; “A full education is crucial to a complete life, Chef.”

Quite delightfully Declan Shalvey’s artwork for this cannibalistic chronicle proves just as captivating as Ellis’ writing, for the Irish illustrator not only depicts the recipient of “the criminal food order” as an authoritative Sherlock Holmes lookalike. But populates some of his well-rendered, oft-times detailed panels, with surreal touches such as having Headland walking through a plan of the investigator’s own home in order to help orientate the reader or depicting all the world's tiny details which Vivek notices via a series of small-framed negative images.

The regular cover art of "INJECTION" No. 6 by Declan Shalvey

Injection #5 - Image Comics

INJECTION No. 5, September 2015

Supposedly ‘wrapping up the first bulk of story’, Issue Five of “Injection” proves to be a somewhat grisly unsettling affair as “Maria Kilbride goes underground to save a man from the sound of the haunted future” and shockingly ends up literally skinning the archaeologist alive in order to rescue the world from pixies. Indeed Warren Ellis’ narrative finally starts to actually deliver upon the International Horror Guild Award-winner’s pre-publication promise of the comic book containing “science fiction, tales of horror, strange crime fiction, techno-thriller, and ghost story all at the same time”, and surprisingly manages to depict both some genuinely surreal and ghoulishly sinister moments.

Foremost of these has to be the lame Professor’s confrontation with the Spriggan and their innocent naked ‘riding’ vessel. Having easily rescued two fungi-infested workmen by having them simply turn their “outer clothing inside out” and thus breaking the Cornish fairies’ “control”. The understandably grim-faced scientist is then forced to carve open the back of the spirit’s foremost victim with her electromagnetic field-generating blade and despite the fact the man is clearly still consciously alive, rip the hide from his bleeding torso with her bare hands; “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

Just as unsettling, though infinitely less gory and decidedly more unfollowable however, is the revelation that Robin Morel was responsible for creating the “non-biological, non-physical consciousness” within the Injection’s computer code which Kilbride’s group created in order to “bend the terms of the future just enough to ensure innovation didn’t stagnate.” Such a premise is arguably pure Ellis transhumanist mumbo jumbo, and actually gets worse as the “cunning-man” then later seeks out the ghost of “the greatest blacksmith in England” and is admonished for making “the Injection live by infusing it with something from The Other World.”

Disappointingly the Essex-born author also insists on populating his characters’ dialogue with some rather cumbersomely placed swear words. In fact it is infuriatingly hard to understand just why the Eagle Award-winner believes such language is necessary or appropriate for this story as he predominantly only seems to include such vulgarities when his protagonists are talking to one another, as opposed to when Maria is horrifically breaking the physical connection between the Spriggan and its hapless victim.

Possibly just as ‘hit and miss’ as the script is Declan Shalvey’s inconsistent artwork. The Irish penciller’s illustrations of the mushroom-ridden pixie pawns is fiendishly well-detailed, especially when the fairies mouldy machinations are set in motion and start to crawl their way through the dilapidated factory’s tunnels. Yet the same praise cannot be given to several of the artist’s other scenes, with some of his depictions of the mentally disturbed professor proving to be especially awkward-looking and unappealing to the eye.

The regular cover art of "INJECTION" No. 5 by Declan Shalvey

Injection #4 - Image Comics

INJECTION No. 4, August 2015

Amidst the unnecessary and juvenile application of profanities within his characters’ conversations and the utterly unfollowable technobabble of “five crazy people” as they discuss their work’s final findings, storyteller Warren Ellis inadvertently also stumbles upon an all-too worringly apt description for this comic book’s narrative… “It’s so boring.” For whilst Professor Kilbride is clearly describing her team’s unappetizing vision for the planet’s future when she extrapolates that Mankind has previously reached “a peak of novelty and innovation” and must now “enter a long trough. Straight flat line”. The insane guilt-ridden ‘troubled scientist’ could just as easily be talking about the quality of this title’s writing and just how tediously poor the English author’s storyline is.

For starters this periodical squanders its entire twenty-page length in order to just simply depict Maria deciding to visit “an abandoned factory” in order to ascertain whether there has been “an incursion from deep history or another strata of space-time or a previously mysterious terrestrial life form that we once believed to be folklore” within its dilapidated ruins. Everything else, whether it be Control updating the new Dispatch (and reader) with a series of media files showing Kilbride facing “more than we can ever find the words to describe in plain briefing documents”, Simon Winters being collected from Criochfort Terminal Two at Dublin Airport or Robin Morel “circling around the notion of building something to accelerate the future and… doing it to the world without warning” is superfluous, arguably somewhat sanctimonious, padding… and discourse-heavy incomprehensible padding at that.

Admittedly the Essex-born writer does manage to ‘inject’ a little of his (in)famous humour, barbed or otherwise, into this “creator-owned project". The British Foreign Office serviceman inadvertently stepping in some ‘dog muck’ whilst out on a friendly ramble with his team-mates is rather droll, as is Maria’s “Star Trek” quote during a theological discussion; “Ye Cannae break the laws of physics! The budget cannae take it, cap’n!” There’s even a facetious ‘pop’ at the “Sapling Foundations” Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conferences. But such amusements are few and far between, and certainly don’t compensate for an otherwise lethargic read.

Equally as unfathomable as Ellis’ “sociocultural commentary” is Declan Shalvey’s inexplicably inconsistent illustration work. The Irish penciller’s misshapen, overly-angular and surprisingly undetailed figures, such as those drawn for a lack-lustre-looking ‘flashback scene’ staged within a public restaurant, are uninspiring at best, and genuinely make one wonder why Eric Stephenson, publisher at “Image Comics”, thought “the two of them together are an absolutely amazing team.”

The 'Haunted' variant cover art of "INJECTION" No. 4 by Declan Shalvey

Injection #3 - Image Comics

INJECTION No. 3, July 2015

Considering that the “Image Comics” advertising strapline for this third instalment of “Injection” concludes with the wording “Civilization is dying and only five people know”, many readers would arguably expect a good deal of action to take place within the book’s twenty-pages in order to thwart such a global predicament. Disappointingly though, besides an utterly bizarre double-splash sequence where the narrative’s ‘not cunning man’ somehow banishes a gigantic Treeman, nothing of any note actually happens at all…

Such a dissatisfying experience is undoubtedly due to the fact that Warren Ellis literally fills the entirety of the magazine’s opening half with Professor Kilbride's slightly fraught "pixies" telephone conversation with her former colleague Robin Morel. In fact this periodical contains little else but dialogue-heavy scenes, as the English author scripts Brigid Roth cursing as Simeon Winters attempts “to arrange an in-person consultation” with her, Maria ‘chit-chats’ with “the new Dispatch”, a colourfully-dressed Indian woman who needs “to pass an interim report on to Control”, and the title’s “esotericist” argues with his group’s resident secret agent during a somewhat lengthy ‘bygone scene’ back when the “weird think tank” was still in operation.

Admittedly in this title’s pre-publication press release the Eagle Award-winning writer forewarned his many fans that this comic would initially simply establish “the world and its problems” and focus upon the development of the storyline’s main protagonists. Yet in doing so it is also arguably clear that this comic’s creators are not producing a well-paced narrative which is readily followable as a regular monthly magazine series. But instead as “five planned volumes” of trade paperbacks.

Fortunately this periodical is at least pleasing to the eye with Declan Shalvey producing some quite wonderfully illustrated moments. In particular the artist’s transformation of Morel’s cheap hotel room into a dank, misty woodland, complete with shadowy observers, startled crows and abundant trees, is incredibly well rendered. The former “Thunderbolts” penciller even goes so far as to slowly represent tiny leaves working their way up Robin’s room phone cable as the duration of his call with Kilbride increases. An especially impressive demonstration of the artist's ‘attention to detail’ which seems to genuinely show just how “delighted” the Irish inker is “to be continuing the creative relationship I’ve established with Warren [Ellis] and Jordie [Bellaire]”.

Unfortunately not everything is as well drawn however, with Shalvey’s infinitely less-detailed flashbacks depicting the “five crazy people” who “poisoned the Twenty-First Century” considerably jarring with the majority of this issue’s artwork. Such a disappointing contrast is especially noticeable when these lack-lustre, blandly-hued panels are intermixed with the much more detailed ‘modern-day’ events all upon the self-same page.

The variant cover art of "INJECTION" No. 3 by Declan Shalvey

Injection #2 - Image Comics

INJECTION No. 2, June 2015

So grand is the scope of this “ongoing series” by “Image Comics” that it is arguably abundantly clear that twenty pages is simply not enough room for writer Warren Ellis to house even a single instalment of his narrative. Not and have it make a satisfying and understandable read at any rate. For Issue Two of “Injection” contains so many characters and highbrow concepts that it is plainly impossible for the English author to do any of them much justice when they are all so tightly crammed within so restricting a publication.

As a result much of this issue simply and disappointingly provides the reader with little more than a fleeting glimpse of most of the title’s supporting cast. Indeed the vast majority of the five (former) members of the Cross-Cultural Contamination Unit appear for but a handful of panels at best, as the Eagle Award-winner desperately tries to simultaneously progress each character’s very personal journey back to the side of Professor Maria Kilbride.

Fortunately however Ellis does provide Simeon Winters, a slick-looking well-dressed British Foreign Office serviceman who “kills foreign people”, with abundant ‘screen time’ and as a result ‘injects’ this mysterious yet lack-lustre storyline with some much needed action, suspense and excitement. In fact the spy’s somewhat botched assassination mission within the “Ambassade De Gran Bretagne” building is both humorously written by the Essex-born Englishman and scintillatingly well-drawn by Declan Shalvey.

Admittedly a lot of the action is strikingly similar to the creative duo’s work on the “Marvel Worldwide” 2014 superhero comic book “Moon Knight”, even down to the bald bearded three-piece suited killer’s murderous use of a handy telescopic baton. But when the drama is this utterly insane and breathlessly violent, with Winters being mercilessly hurled into furniture and ceilings by a “huge” bodyguard before becoming involved in a vicious knife-fight, such a petty qualm can easily be forgiven. Perhaps even doubly so when the introduction of the ‘gun-carrying strategist’ clearly seems to have galvanised the Irishman’s pencilling, provided colorist Jordie Bellaire with the opportunity to rather impressively use different palettes to 'highlight' bygone-based scenes and finally allowed the reader to immerse themselves in Ellis’ re-energised writing.

The 'Haunted' variant cover art of "INJECTION" No. 2 by Declan Shalvey

Injection #1 - Image Comics

INJECTION No. 1, May 2015

Judging by the pre-publication hype and advertising, this first instalment of an “ongoing series” crafted by a “critically-acclaimed creative team” is clearly something which has publisher’s “Image Comics” rather excited… And quite rightly so when the science fiction title reunites “best-selling and award-winning writer” Warren Ellis with artist Declan Shalvey and “Eisner Award-winning colorist Jordie Bellaire”; the visionaries behind the first six issues of “Moon Knight” (2014) by “Marvel Worldwide”. Unfortunately however, such enthusiasm doesn’t necessarily translate into an entertaining read and disappointingly this is certainly the case with “Injection”, a decidedly disturbing comic book whose narrative is as nonsensical and bewildering as its dialogue is profanity laden.

The vast majority of this confusion is due to Ellis’ misguided belief that by failing to provide any sort of clarification as to what is going on within his storyline he will generate an atmosphere of mystery and intrigue. It doesn’t. Instead it simply creates utter bewilderment and uncertainty as to just what is going on and who the characters populating this periodical are.

Fortunately the British author has provided much more of an explanation as to this comic’s plot in some of the book’s marketing literature. But it really shouldn’t be necessary for anyone buying this magazine to have to seek out promotional material in order to understand that “set in a dystopian future” this publication is all about a multinational corporation scientist who having “poisoned the twenty-first century” now has “to deal with the corrosion to try and save us all from a world becoming too weird to support human life.”

It would though be useful if any of the foul-mouthed “crazy people” the Eagle Award-winner has created were in anyway likeable or even bearable. With sandwich-obsessed Professor Maria Kilbride, presumably Ellis’ lead character for this series, proving to be especially annoying with her brusque ‘holier than thou’ attitude and overly aggressive willingness to assault innocent co-workers simply because they use an acronym with which she is unfamiliar; “Get me a [bleeping] sandwich” indeed.

Equally as galling is the creator-owned publisher’s belief that this title is already destined for a long healthy run of “graphic novels about how loud and strange the world is getting”. Admittedly the likes of Ellis, Shalvey and even colorist Bellaire have a following of loyal fans willing to support even arguable horrors like this twenty-page purported “techno-thriller”. But it is hard to imagine without some significant improvements and story revelations that a book of such ‘shaky’ quality will survive on the stands for too long.

The variant cover art of "INJECTION" No. 1 by John Paul Leon