Comic - Papercuts and Inkstains #4

Steve Taylor-Bryant gets another fix of Madius madness as he reads Papercuts and Inkstains #4...

The Forebearer is Rob Jones and Mike Sambrook with art by Darren Smith inspired by Marillion. Wait! What? I was never really a fan of Marillion (a Scottish rock band from about 30 years ago if you are a young person) and certainly didn't see them inspiring anything let alone a comic story! However... it's pretty cool and massively helped by some beautiful pencil looking art by Smith with a panel where Hogarth is in his throne room staring at teddy bears that is just stunning to look at. I mean proper "make it a cover of something" stunning. I mean "heavy metal album cover that would stand up next to Iron Maiden's Eddie" stunning!

Flight of the Valkyrie sees Jones and Sambrook team up with Jim Lavery who is rapidly becoming one of my favourite comic artists. There is a rebellious style to his visuals that reminds me a lot of Jamie Hewlett's early Tank-Girl or Gorillaz work and it's such a pleasure to see the influences I love dripping into modern comic artists. The story itself is very old school Mad Max in feel and again one panel in particular where Valkyrie arrives on her bike is exquisite and I want this as a full colour poster please Mr. Lavery? Pretty please?

Profits of Doom by Jones, Sambrook and Mike Smith is Papercuts and Inkstains ongoing story and is so batshit crazy that I can't help but love it even though I don't really remember what's going on purely because it's often some time between reading one issue and the next and I rarely go back to older issues to get the storyline right. Surely though any story about ineptitude in trying to end the world and one that has a character called 'A Lesser Spotted Flaming Tit' has to be appreciated!

Add in some standalone images, Alan Henderson's Penguin of Doom is hilarious, along with, in my opinion, the best cover to date from the warped minds of Nick Gonzo and Brad Holman and it's another issue of varying styles and stories wrapped.

Papercuts and Inkstains #4 is my favourite of all the releases so far just purely for the art contained within. I've liked every issue and some have better stories, or should I say stories that speak to me more, but art wise this is by far the strongest release to date from an independent imprint that have really got their footing right.

Catch the guys at Digicon in Doncaster on Feb 21 or at Atomicon in Hartlepool on March 12 and kiss them. Kiss them right in their talented faces, with full tongue...

Images - Madius Comics