Malcolm Magic #7

Y’know, I was going to review the latest issue of Malcolm Magic - the remarkably colourful #7 - this week.

I’ve decided not to.

I can’t do it. It’s just too good. I’ve re-read it three times now and I can’t get beyond vague delighted muttering s of “wow, that’s cool”.

This wouldn’t do the book Justice, and more to the point from your point of view, would make for an unspeakably dull column. Eventually I’m going to get my head around its sheer brilliance but for now I’m going to take a different approach. Apart from anything else, I just got an e-mail from my big sister, who thinks I’m getting boring. This is a terrible thought and must be addressed immediately!

Just read this bit for a second, while I dash off to grab my red nose and over sized clown shoes….

You see, I spent some time in my new local comics store at the weekend (the utterly fabulous Destination Venus - so good even my wife likes it…) trying to explain what Malcolm Magic was all about and why it was good.

The basic premise got them hooked – there is something inspired in the idea of the perpetual drunkard who is sober and heroic in another dimension - but the sheer scale of the ambition of the comics’ publisher, the esteemed Blink Twice took the Venus crew aback a little.

Blink Twice is a relatively small operation. Consisting of the Etherington brothers (Bob on words, Lorenzo on pictures) and their website creating, game coding mate (whose name, to my eternal shame I can never remember – please don’t take it personally, I’m just very bad at names…) operating out of what I’ve always envisaged as a small flat in Bristol (it could well be a mansion for all I know, but that would spoil the image) this tiny crew puts out a regular supply of consistently high quality comics.

In a world where highly paid and lightly talented “big name” star creators put out sub standard dross pretty much when they feel like it, esteemed Blink Twice it a genuine breath of fresh air. If you meet the esteemed Blink Twice boys at a con or a mart, you’ll be struck by their utter lack of pretension, their energy (talking to Bob in particular is fun but exhausting – I swear he never stands still) and their commitment to comics as a medium.

All of this comes through the pages of the comic in big fat hairy spades. Malcolm Magic is, in the words of another fine reviewer on this very site, a “comic to make you love the world again” (and I wish I’d said that…) and it would be so if it were hand drawn in green crayon on shiny toilet paper.

But it isn’t.

Malcolm Magic is, as regular readers already know (not least because I’m expecting each and every one of you to have bought a set by now) a beautiful thing to behold. The paper is heavy and the cover s are of sturdy card. I know it’s become unfashionable to refer to the regular monthly comic book as a “flimsy”, but place a copy of Malcolm next to your average offering from Marvel or DC and the big publisher’s fayre looks pretty damn flimsy.

Which drags be to my point.

Oh go on – you knew there’s be one in here somewhere…

The Blink Twice boys produce everything themselves. They print their comics at home. They cut the pages, they fold and staple the issues together. By hand.

How is it that this ultra slimline organisation can put their product together so well, for a price that is only a little bit larger than those charged by the infinitely larger players from New York? I mean OK, I doubt they’re making a profit, but they’re putting out single issues for three pounds and good sized Trade Paperbacks for a tenner. The Tpb prices in particular are completely comparable to those charged by the big two for similar product.

I go weak when I think of the economies of scale that the likes of Marvel and DC must command. Somebody is making a very silly amount of money, and I’m guessing it’s not the Blink Twice boys. This is fundamentally unfair and should make you all want to rush to their website and spend money.

Done that? Good. You won’t be sorry.

In the meantime I’m back with my jesters’ cap and red nose. But I’m going to leave you to ponder this thought for a while. Check out the three red lines of the Blink Twice logo. Now look at Marvel’s House of M covers.

Hmmmm.

- Regie Rigby