The Ether #1 - Matt Garvey Comics

THE ETHER No. 1, June 2017

Arguably combining Alan Moore’s ruthless Rorschach with that of Warren Ellis’ smartly dressed and politely well-spoken Mister Knight, Matt Garvey’s titular character for Issue One of “The Ether” certainly had a lot of violent, hard-hitting personality to project when this comic first hit the spinner racks in June 2017. Happily however, the British author quickly makes it clear that his modern-day anti-hero is very much up to the task at hand, penning a marvellously enigmatic rogue whose propensity for headbutting their opponents into submission is as beguiling as the no-nonsense crime-fighter’s investigation into a seven-year old girl’s bloody murder is disconcerting; “So, maybe, just maybe, using terms like the victim might help me concentrate on doing my job, rather than focusing on the fact that someone could do this to a defenceless child.”

In addition, the masked vigilante’s prickly relationship with the local constabulary proves a major hook straight from the get-go, with the “freak” quickly being established as a necessary investigative tool for Detective Wallace whenever his enquiries require someone “to go where the police fear to tread.” This history between the two parties provides the pair with some significant depth of backstory, and becomes even more absorbing when the  the “self-appointed doer of justice" acknowledges having previously injured Constable Jones’ arm when the officer was once foolish enough to try to arrest them.

Comparably as captivating is Garvey’s wonderfully brutal exploration of London’s notorious underworld and the seedy, money-making nature of its immoral inhabitants. Disreputable film maker Teddy Sherman’s shakedown is particularly well-paced as the mysteriously masked “psycho” manages to obtain a few answers to their questions before having to leap out the criminal’s high-rise office window. But even the low-life Ziggy’s interrogation in a rain-drenched alleyway simply bristles with restrained aggression as the main protagonist threatens and muscles their way through their mark’s protestations to snag a lead or two.

Of course, what really catches the reader’s eye with this publication are the colourful and realistically pencilled layouts of Dizevez. The digital artist does a first-rate job of imbuing the Ether with all the quirkiness an audience might expect from so bizarre a custodian of the Big Smoke’s streets, especially whenever they need to execute an excruciatingly painful blow or arm twist upon an opponent. Perhaps this book’s biggest visual hook though is in the adventure’s big reveal two-thirds of the way through, when the illustrator clearly seeks inspiration in the likeness of a readily recognisable British thespian when it comes to drawing the Ether's blonde-haired secret identity.

The regular cover of "THE ETHER" #1 by Dizevez

Big F#@k Off Worms #1 - Matt Garvey Comics

BIG F#@K OFF WORMS No. 1, May 2020

Entertainingly mixing science fiction with science fact, courtesy of the storyline being based upon the true story of thousands of worms being sent up to “the international space station so they could see how a worm’s muscles would react in zero gravity”, this twenty-four-page periodical’s plot is arguably as enjoyably insane as its title is eye-catchingly explicit. In fact, the sheer sense of zany fun which emanates from Issue One of “Big F#@k Off Worms” is so palpable that its readers will doubtless be able to easily imagine its creative team of Matt Garvey and J. Francis Totti guffawing away to themselves whilst they were producing the post-apocalyptic publication; “I say people because when the worms returned, the radiation they brought with them mutated every human being on the planet into an… antha… anthro-promo… it mutated them into human/animal hybrids.”

Possibly this comic’s principal ‘hook’ is the sheer grandeur of Petey’s task at hand, and the way the narrative quickly allows it to spiral ‘out of control’ to involve the entire planet. Initially, it appears that the prototype battle suit-wearing hero is simply defending a small, rag-tag settlement of mutant children from just the eighth enormous invertebrate which he has faced. However, events should transpire which indicate that “the only human left” is not only desperately trying to whittle down the worms to ensure that the world’s radiation levels subside back down to a ‘safe’ level. But that he is unknowingly locked in a battle of wits with an unseen villainous mastermind who is ‘controlling’ Frank Herbert’s inspirations for his own devilish ends.

Similarly as successful though is the sense of endearing incompetence Garvey imbues “the last thing standing” with. This idiocy starts straight from the get-go, with Totti prodigiously pencilling Petey blazing away at the supposedly small(ish) worm he’s currently facing, only to discover that he’s so far away from the gigantic monstrosity that his bullets impotently land on the sun-scorched ground long before they reach their target. Such a laugh-out-loud moment is delightfully rather typical of the protagonist’s persistent attempts to fell his foe, and even when he does eventually succeed in killing the small-brained crawler the buffoon forgets that the enormous lifeless corpse will now fall slap down on top of him as a result of gravity.

Written by: Matt Garvey, and Art by: J Francis Totti

Chances Are #1 - Matt Garvey Comics

CHANCES ARE No. 1, August 2022

Grabbing its audience by the scruff of the neck and hurling them into a deadly world where a person’s luck is the sole difference between life and death, Matt Garvey’s incredibly fast-paced narrative for Issue One of “Chances Are” will surely have many a bibliophile nervously perusing this comic with one hand over their eyes. Sure, the lethal events concocted by the super-rich to sate their penchant for million-dollar gambling bets are straightforward enough, such as a mad dash across an incredibly busy freeway blindfold until one of the contestants is turned into human jam. But the terrifying sense of speed generated by such exploits literally leaps off the page, and effortlessly carries the breathless reader all the way through to the end of the twenty-two-page periodical without any problems at all.

Furthermore, this comic doesn’t skimp in doing its best to provide its central antagonist, Bruce, with as detailed a background as it can in between the hero’s desperate attempts to evade a grisly demise. The smart-mouthed, understandably arrogant gamester has clearly become used to riding his good fortune whenever he can. However, that doesn’t mean for a moment that everything goes the young man’s way, as his imprisonment by a James Bond villain’s felonious syndicate attests. Indeed, this book’s writer is quick to point out that the guy feels “poor Dave” is the lucky one when he’s unknowingly mowed down by a freight van within seconds of ‘The Sprint’ starting and doesn’t therefore have to spend a couple of days anxiously awaiting the next terminal trial.

Just as well penned are this publication’s secondary cast, with Edward Royale proving to be a truly chilling piece of work, who’ll stoop at nothing to claw back his lost one hundred and seventy million dollars after betting against Bruce in a Poker World Championship tournament. The fact the crook is perfectly willing to cold-bloodedly murder young Grace simply to ensure her father cooperates with his fiendish plans speaks volumes for the crime lord’s sheer malevolency, and this savagery is further exaggerated by the ultra-violent conduct of his formidably sized lieutenant Hector; “Just keep making your wisecracks. When this is all over you’re mine.”

Adding a bucket load of gore and incredible amount of speed-lines to this comic’s sense-shattering shenanigans are the exhilarating layouts of David Cousens, who does a phenomenal job capturing the remorseless nature of traffic tearing down a stretch of road. In addition, the artist is terrific in projecting the raw emotions on display, such as the sheer terror being experienced by the unfortunates having to run out in front of heavy goods vehicles, or the sheer disbelief on the faces of the television broadcasters when Bruce attempts to win a three-million-dollar grand prize on the turn of a two of Clubs.

Written by: Matt Garvey, Art by: David Cousens, and Flats by: Rob Cloma

Vodou Cowboy #1 - Matt Garvey Comics

VODOU COWBOY No. 1, May 2022

Described by co-creator Matt Garvey as “a ghoulish western comic inspired by our love of Eighties horror movies... with a cowboy twist”, it’s arguably crystal clear just why 360 backers pledged £3,714 to help bring Issue One of “Vodou Cowboy” to life via Kickstarter in May 2022. For whilst the twenty-four page periodical’s central plot is a pretty straightforward tale about a demonic possession requiring an exorcism, the narrative’s intriguingly imaginative secondary storylines really help to ‘reel’ the reader into a disconcertingly dangerous world of mean-spirited gunfighters, bed-ridden call girls and bible-thumping preachers.

Indeed, perhaps this comic’s greatest strength is in the way the “once thriving community” of Sweet Root is so palpably depicted as a stark, derelict municipal shaken to its very foundation by “an incident here two days ago”. This sudden descent into desolation smacks the reader straight in the mouth just as soon as the book opens with its titular character slowly moseying their way up to the dilapidated, threadbare small town on horseback, and doesn’t stop even once Grady Young has identified the true monster lurking within the settlement’s meagre population so as to put the creature to flight; “If I must reverend… I will shoot through you. For your own sake… Move!”

However, Garvey is also extremely good at imbuing this tale’s quite considerable cast with plenty of raw emotion. The evident fear in both the heavily-moustached Barkeeper and young Ned when they are first introduced to the audience really helps build up an enjoyable sense of nervous expectation as to what grotesque nightmare might actually be lurking behind Maddie’s bedroom door before it’s opened. Whilst, the rector’s evident angry displeasure at the sheriff bringing a witch doctor into the ‘haunting’ gives him some added depth once he realises his holy tome doesn’t seemingly contain all the answers he thought, and that the “Bokor” is his parishioner’s only source of salvation.

Helping to also ‘sell’ all this comic’s scary situations is Arjuna Susini, whose somewhat rough, scratchy sketching style quite marvellously adds to the atmosphere of horrid wretchedness and ungodly despondency which permeates throughout the publication. In fact, one of the highlights of this book are the illustrator’s layouts for when Young physically places his hand deep inside a poor prostitute’s mouth and literally pulls out the fearsome, multi-eyed fiend inhabiting her writhing body.

Written by: Matt Garvey, Art by: Arjuna Susini, and Colours by: Dee Cunniffe

The Cage #1 - Matt Garvey Comics

THE CAGE No. 1, July 2021

Fully focused upon Walter Stone’s early incarceration inside “the super-prison affectionately known as The Cage”, Matt Garvey’s script for this twenty-four-page periodical grips the reader straight from the start and simply doesn’t let go until its cliff-hanger of a conclusion. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a more compelling journey down a mysteriously large hole in the middle of an unnamed desert, than the one which the second-generation villain takes alongside the somewhat idiotic criminal Robert Kennedy; “Yeah, I know… I got this thing about carnival rides and rollercoasters… They freak me out.” 

Enchantingly though, this palpable sense of awe and wonder generated by the enigmatic correctional facility doesn’t stop once the convicts’ bus arrives at its astoundingly unimposing gates. But actually increases as the anxious inmates are met by some disconcertingly masked guards, and undertake a pulse-pounding journey straight down into the very bowels of the Earth at breakneck speed. This intriguing introduction to Warden Greene’s world really helps set up just how impenetrable the supermax clink is designed to be, and may well remind those longer-toothed bibliophiles of Harry Thompson’s arrival at his space age penitentiary in Gerry Finley-Day’s “2000 A.D.” epic from the early Eighties - “"Harry Twenty on the High Rock".

Perhaps however this comic’s best moment comes at the end of the “powerless” prisoner’s tour of the reformatory by the simian Sidney Cass. The seemingly innocuous scientist turned Orangutan during a failed experiment to become “the greatest criminal” ever initially presents a remarkably civilised front to the life behind bars, and definitely works as an effective plot device to lull the audience into a false sense of security before Garvey’s penmanship completely catches them by total surprise.

Equally as enthralling as this book’s writing are the layouts of Dean Kotz, which do an excellent job of depicting the unnerving secrecy surrounding the Cage, its faceless sentries and the answer as to just why “no one [is] wearing any shoes in here.?” Stone’s character is particularly well-pencilled, with the felon appearing unexpectedly friendly and sympathetic for someone “considered too dangerous to be sent to a regular maximum-security prison” – at least until the American artist draws this publication’s final panel.

Written by: Matt Garvey, Art by: Dean Kotz, and Colours by: J Francis Totti