For the best part of two decades now John-Paul Kamath’s London Horror Comic has been a staple of the UK small press circuit. Kamath’s stories have been illustrated by a number of collaborators, with the bulk of the issues providing complete-in-one tales. A rare thing for a numbered genre comic and something that makes LHC an easily accessible series for new readers.
London Horror Comic #11 contains two short stories. The first features Kamath’s Jane Silver character, a kind of female John Constantine in attitude. Set in a graveyard this is a more tongue-in-cheek offering with Silver assisted by university researcher Tammy as they await an undead presence to reveal itself. The sparky dialogue between the two is priceless in a story that never takes itself too seriously and is just pure escapist fun. It’s not pretending to be sophisticated or thematically profound. Rather it’s just a rollicking good zombie story; light in plot but heavy in dark humour and morbid fun. Craig Cermak’s art is so well choreographed here with flowing action sequences that capture both the eeriness and the comedy of events.
In the back-up tale the tempo takes an abrupt about-turn in an intense and focussed story of a murderer being interrogated by the authorities. Adam Jakes’ art is deeply claustrophobic to match the slow build-up of the situation. A young girl has been left parentless by events but there are twists and turns to come. The effectiveness of the storytelling here is very much dependent on the body language interaction of the characters and Jakes interprets Kamath’s script with studied skill.
It’s really quite remarkable when you consider how LHC has been a constant for so many years in small press circles. Uncountable numbers of series and artists have come and gone in that time yet London Horror Comic has remained throughout. If genre fiction comics in the mould of US periodical comics are your thing, particular horror and supernatural books, then you won’t find a more consistently solid book than London Horror Comic.
John-Paul Kamath (W), Craig Cermak, Adam Jakes, Alan Patrick (A), Hi-Fi Design (C), Matty Ryan (L), John Vasquez (CA) • London Horror Comic, £9.00
Review by Andy Oliver
