On Home Turf.

Ok I’m back. Last year at the British International Comics Show, I got to meet Jonathon Ross in lieu of artist Tommy Lee Edwards. Edwards was meant to be there but because of work commitments he couldn’t make it. So Wossy as he likes to be known on Twitter, turned up instead. He was there to publicise their comic, Turf. I bought Turf from the first issue onwards. I buy titles but I just end up dropping them probably because of lack of interest or the storyline’s / art is going north.

There’s just one book I’ve stuck with through thick and thin and that’s the Incredible Hulk. I’ve been buying that book since the late 80s. Even if I missed an issue, I managed to get it as a back issue. I began reading the book when writer Peter David began a mammoth run which changed the character forever. To satisfy the completist in me, I went through a massive back issue binge on getting almost every Hulk comic to fill in the gaps.

It’s undergone a few re-launches here and there, in August; Marvel is going to publish the last issue of IH. With a short mini-series soon to follow, the future’s not quite bright for us Hulk fans. Needless to say I’m quite miffed about this but I’m saving my inner Hulk for another time.

With Turf, It made a change from all the superhero books I’ve been reading ad nauseum. It’s a genre mishmash of gangsters, vampires and aliens. Set in the twenties prohibition era Chicago, it has organised gangs fighting for supremacy when an age old vampire clan, the Dragonmirs turn up to get some fresh blood, a feisty reporter, Susie Randall is caught up in the bloodshed.

Randall is saved by Gregori Dragonmir who wants a far more peaceful outcome as opposed to his brother Stefan. Things couldn’t get more complicated when gang boss Eddie Falco is set up by a corrupt cop and is left for dead. Falco’s salvation comes in the form of an alien called Squeed whose ship has crash landed. Sqeed does a sort of Vulcan mind meld on Falco and heals the wounded gangster.

Falco and Randall soon put their differences aside, they team up to kick the vampires out of town. I recently bought the double sized last issue which has a mecha robot slugging it out with a giant vampire. Wossy, have you been reading the Iron Man by Ted Hughes? Not many people I know bought Turf initially I just bought for the artwork alone but by the second issue, I became hooked on it and I’ve got the feeling that the duo had a blast working on the book; it’s steeped with references to Doctor Who, Christopher Lee and cult director Mario Bava.

Edwards’s stylish artistry is perfectly suited to Ross’s storyline of feuding vampires and aliens adding more and more detail to his pencils he really does the business on capturing twenties New York. But a small gripe would be with the colour, I think Edwards should have toned down his colour palette and gone for a sepia tone effect, it would have suited the era perfectly. As of matter of fact I’m looking forward to their next project, Golden Age a tale about retired super heroes. Overall, it’s a great start for a chat show host turned comic writer.

(This was autographed by Jonathon Ross in Birmingham last year)

Posted: 17/6/2011
Categories: Comics / Reviews

0 comments (Add Yours)

Add Your Comment