Malcolm Magic #1-4

Britain is not exactly known for being a bubbling melting pot of comics. Sure, as a country a lot of talented creators emerge... who then seem to do the almost obligatory migration to the American market. To be honest, who can blame them? That’s where the work and the money are.

It’s a similar affair for conventions. In comparison to the big, flashy extravagant affairs held in America, the English variety tends to be more an apologetic gathering. What you do get is a crowd deprived of the usual suspects (Marvel, DC, Image, etc. don’t attend) whose sustenance then becomes the homegrown material, but what a wealth of goodies there is to pick from.

The largest convention held in Britain is a two-day event formerly known as The Comics Festival. Independent and small press creators and companies (such as AD 2000) descend on this unsuspecting historic port city of Bristol to unleash the comic horde in all its glorious geekiness.

Meandering up and down the rows of comics, I happened upon the Etherington duo and their little gem of a comic Malcolm Magic. Having met them in real life, I can certainly see where the humour and fun from the comic comes from; they could be characters in their own comic and fit right in.

Malcolm Magic is the eponymous hero of this tale. He’s a blue rabbit with an unlikely ragtag band of friends and a penchant for drinking far more alcohol than is entirely good for you. Banned from virtually every drinking establishment in Fuzzton, Malcolm weaves his way through life in a drunken stupor.

Having been banned from yet another bar one evening, Malcolm – more than a little worse for wear from the drink – feels that the night is still young and goes off to find further sources of inebriation. Mistaking a garage for a pub (as you do) he spies what he thinks is a bottle of brew. Instead he drinks the best part of a bottle of finest engine oil.

The heady cocktail of alcohol and engine oil sets off an unusual and extreme chain reaction in Malcolm. If this had happened to any other rabbit, you would have been paying a visit to the undertakers. Instead, Malcolm’s brain rebels and he finds himself transported into the perfect paradise world of Happy Hippy Dale.

Happy Hippy Dale really is the perfect world. Here the normal rules no longer apply, and everyone is dedicated to the complicated art of having fun. In a sober daze Malcolm wanders about the town till he bumps into a French walrus by the name of Punch. Punch appears to know a lot more about Malcolm than Malcolm does about himself, but before he has time to ask a single question he finds himself back in Fuzzton’s hospital surrounded by the anxious peering faces of his friends.

Staying in Happy Hippy Dale is not as simple as it seems, for if Malcolm drinks a single drop of liquor there, it immediately bumps him back to Fuzzton. Oh, and massive head trauma will do the trick too. Punch is able to pull Malcolm into this alternate reality every time his life is in peril (and there is head trauma involved).

Malcolm’s friends are starting to cotton on to the fact that all is not well with the madcap rabbit. For whilst he might be considered odd at the best of times, Malcolm is really pushing the limits of bizarre with his mind flipping out between the two realities with sometimes extra-ordinary results.

There is more to this problem than meets the eye however. Malcolm is rapidly becoming a nuisance in both realities, and to top it all off an evil arch-nemesis has popped up with unpleasant intentions. He wants to exploit the gateway that exists in Malcolm’s brain, and he will stop at nothing to plunder the wealth of innocence in Happy Hippy Dale

The director of mayhem, otherwise known as the writer on this comic is Robin Etherington, one half of the brother duo who between themselves created Malcolm and the strange world in which he lives. Accompanying Malcolm on his ventures to the brink of sanity, are a blind shrew known as Pygmy, a chipmunk with an extraordinary eating disorder, Firkov a Russian bear performer who has a love/hate relationship with Malcolm, and finally Reggie, to all intents and purposes an accountant, so goodness knows why he hangs around with this bunch.

With the staple characters set, Robin Etherington sets about unleashing this farcical slapstick upon the unsuspecting reader with flair and panache. Creating a character that is a total boozehound is so far off the politically correct scale as to be immeasurable, and it is great for it. The moral ambiguity of these characters makes them that much more engaging and interesting.

Although the first issue is more of an introduction to the players and setting the scene for adventures to come, when read with the other issues it has a tendency to feel a shade directionless. It is reassuring to see the writing settle down in to a much more fluid and strong style go from strength to strength with each new installment.

The story is entertaining, and you can’t help but watch in horrified fascination as Malcolm drags his friends kicking, and often screaming from disaster to disaster. Towards the later issues, the story becomes less like a Saturday morning cartoon serial, developing thrust and momentum that draws the attention of the reader and creates interest and flavour.

There are some excellent treats in book, with some deliciously black touches of humour, such as the Rooster chef who owns a fast-food chicken eatery or the subtly played homage to films, deftly slipped in to make you wonder, “Is that really a reference or have I just been watching way too much Matrix?”

Confederate Lawrence Etherington provides the visuals to Malcolm Magic. It was the artwork that originally attracted me to the comic when I was flicking through it at the convention. Highly stylised, there is always plenty going on in the panels to pull the eye smoothly along from one section to the next. Lawrence Etherington captures the spirit of the characters with a style that is very reflective of the nature of the comic, a very vivid and energetic artistic approach that feels a lot like caged mayhem.

Malcolm Magic is the first outing into comics from Blink Twice Studios, and you can really see the maturation in their approach to storytelling. Getting better and better as they go along, there has been a huge improvement from issue one to the current issue of #4. Malcolm Magic is packed to the brim with quite a lot of British humour, but it is never so extreme as to put off American buyers from the series.

It very much exploits the drinking culture in the UK, but with likeable characters who as a group are entertaining to read. There’s plenty for readers to get their teeth into. Being a small-press book, they don’t have huge production values. However Blink Twice has gone to a lot of effort to present a good product for the reader with colour front and back pages and quality paper. Just picking it up feels like value for your money.

Wickedly dark humour and lovely artwork combine to make Malcolm Magic a small press book that really can stand head and shoulders above most efforts. Just remember folks: “The future is orange, the future is a big carrot.”

Malcolm Magic is available to purchase online at MalcolmMagic.com.

- Immelda Alty