John Robbins - Unlucky Unlikely

I hadn't read a new comic for a few months so I was very pleased to get John Robbins new book. It's a proper 76 page book published by Phil Barrett's Black Shapes Books. You can buy it here.

It's a collection of the Tom Bennett stories from 'Curtains', 'The Well Below' and 'Inside Outsiders' so I'd read some of it before, but there's new chapters too and it is all repositioned and makes more of a single storyline. Putting all the stories together in a book makes it more dark and disturbing, but also funnier, with running jokes. I really liked it. It's probably John's best work and would be a great introduction to his comics if you'd never read any before.

Forty-something Tom Bennett meets a woman he used to fancy at school, a child has gone missing in Dublin and there's a death in the family. Tom tries to deal with his mother and make women see him as a sexual being. His habit of speaking lines from films and poems at exactly the wrong moment will get him into trouble.

John Robbins - Curtains

Here's the latest comic from John Robbins. His website is here. It starts with a short story, then a text story and then a really long story for the rest of the comic, 'The Heart Bowed Down by Weight of Woe' which is the best one. It's about a son at his parents house and his mother tells him that his father has just died in bed upstairs. They both keep putting off ringing for an ambulance or a doctor. The mother wants to have some food and watch TV, and the son goes out on a weird kind of date which seems to end badly as he says the wrong thing. There seems to be lots of things going on in the background but none of the characters take much notice. The drawings really great, with strange very cartoony faces on all the characters, which add a lot to the effect. It's a very good story.

Romantic Mayhem Anthology

I really enjoyed this Irish anthology. A lot of the stories are parodies of Romance comics, and they nearly always make me laugh. It's a good funny subject to choose. It's a nice thick little book, and nearly all in colour too.

'What's Roy Thinking?' by Paddy Brown and Gar Shanley made me laugh, and it looks exactly right for the comics it's trying to parody. I really like the drawing. I enjoyed 'This Never Heavenly Heart' by Cathal Duggan about faded Southern Belles. The art reminded me a bit of Michael Kupperman and the story made me laugh again. 'Perfect Nadine' by Ian Pettitt was funny too. I really enjoyed John Robbins story 'All the Way', its quite a sweet story for him. John Robbins and Philip Barrett's text story 'Hand in Marriage' was very creepy indeed and sticks in your mind unpleasantly. And I also enjoyed 'Star Crossed Love' by Deidre de Barra and Gar Shanley which made me laugh again, and had art that looked just right too. The other stories were all pretty good as well.

A very good anthology and highly recommended, here's the website for it so you can have a look.

John Robbins - Inside Outsiders

The whole of John Robbins 'Inside Outsiders' is up on Irish Comic News here so you can read it for free online. It's a very good story.

John Robbins - Mortal Tedium

John Robbins has just brought out an excellent collection of seven of his recent short stories. It's a really good read, and holds together very well as a collection. The story from 'Gin Palace 2' is in it but it's well worth getting even if you already have that story, it's only one out of seven after all. His website is here and you will be able to buy the comic from Blackshapes here. They aren't on the site yet so you would just have to ask for a copy. Highly recommended!