Glasgow League of Writers #1
Written by: Various
Art by: Various
Letters by: Various
Cover by: Graeme Kennedy
www.glasgowleagueofwriters.com
The Glasgow League of Writers was set up by Gordon Robertson to bring comic book writers together to help each other produce work. This is their first anthology and the theme is Superheroes.
There are six different short stories, each separated by a recurring one page humour strip featuring Aaron Funk.
As with almost every anthology review, the obligatory statement to make is that some of the writing is good and some is ok, some of the art is good and some of it is ok (there aren’t any bad strips in this collection). Readers will most likely have their own favourites, regardless of my opinion, but in the broadest overview, the quality of the writing and art is quite high in this anthology.
The six main strips each follow a familiar template or format for short pieces, which is to set the story up quickly, move through the action and then end with either a twist or a punch line. Some are more successful than others at doing this.
The school set “Egg” starts very well, but then doesn’t quite manage an impactful ending, whereas “Three Brothers” does the opposite, with the ending outshining a more average opening.
Unfortunately, the promising “Randall Flash” suffers from somewhat blurry art and lettering, which is a shame as I think with greater clarity the story would have been more enjoyable. The art does have a great dank and moody tone, but sometimes the darkness overwhelms and the art suffers for it.
“The Healer” is a decent short, but probably shouldn’t have been put last as it doesn’t have the punch to round out a collection. Also, the inks look different on the first two and last pages than the middle three, which was strange.
The stories I most enjoyed were “Super Tidy”, “Doggy Boy” and “Aaron Funk”. “Super Tidy” combines the best art in this comic with a fun and amusing story about a Superhero team cleaner. “Doggy Boy” expertly handles a very funny opening before switching dramatically for a dark twist and “Aaron Funk” is just pure fun as an old fashioned hero variously battles monsters, plays the viola and invents a shape.
Though the quality varies, there is nothing bad in this anthology and a lot to enjoy; I laughed out loud and was genuinely surprised by some of the endings. If you like superheroes, then this anthology contains six very different short comics and one Aaron Funk that show the versatility of the genre.
7/10
