COMIC-CON 2014 GARY CHUDLEIGH PICK UPS.

When it comes to comics, I read mainly independents, and believe me when I say I read a lot of them. One particular name has came up time and time again, sticking out to me: Gary Chudleigh. The critically acclaimed local comic genius has written, produced and worked on a diverse variety of comics including iHero ( Lettering), Anniversary of the Dead ( Writing, Lettering and Editing), and the popular Villainous ( Writing, Lettering and Editing).

Last Saturday and Sunday holds the memories of the fabulous MCM Scotland Comic Con 2014 which was hosted in the SECC. Over the course of the weekend, thousands of people came. Cosplayers showcased their best impersonations of their favourite comic, manga and anime stars, middle aged women and men united with their friends to rejoice in nostalgic tales of childhood entertainment, families swarmed the halls, newcomers to the comic world came to inevitably be shocked in awe inspiration of becoming enthralled in the comic world (one being my life partner) and general comic lovers all round attended the glorious event. Amongst the masses was many sellers of comics. Some being just people with stalls selling backdated issues of Marvel, DC, Vertigo and 2000 AD comics. Some selling manga and anime along with merchandise related. Others selling just all round various comic related merchandising and last but certainly not least, independent comic writers. Obscure Reference Comics and Black Hearted Press, two of my favourite independent companies, blessed us with their presence. Gary was showcasing two comics, one for each company. Once I had picked them both up and read them separately, there was no stopping me from giving him the well deserved money for each.

First I read: "PLAGUED: THE MIRANDA CHRONICLES". This was published through Black Hearted Press with the story being written by Gary Chudleigh himself. The artwork for this comic was perfect. Every inch was beautifully drawn and coloured. Tanya Roberts takes credit for the visual masterpiece. The same woman who has worked on Star Wars: Clone Wars, Toy Story comic with Boom! Studios, Strawberry Shortcake, TMNT with IDW and How To Train Your Dragon. 

Imagine Scotland now. Beautiful thought, isn't it? Now think of it being obliterated, left as nothing but a post-apocalyptic wasteland due to a plague that has ruined the country. Due to the plague, witches have emerged and are being hunted down and forced to stand trial by freelance agents who are specialised in witch hunting. Thomas Mackie, one of these witch hunters, along with his talking dog Dex, hunt for the sole of reason of earning enough bounty to benefit their lives and better themselves. Things turn left for Thomas and Dex when his latest target, Miranda Lee, blackmails him into helping her rebel against the system and act out a dangerous plot to cure the plague ruining Scotland once and for all. 

The comic is PLAGUED with humour throughout, infecting you with laughs from start to finish. The colours are cartoon artistry are extremely captivating and the story hooks you from page one, leaving you itching to change the page and rush to see what happens. This is definitely one of the best independent Sci-Fi and Fantasy comics to come out this year, and for this to be Black Hearted Press' first release for said genre, it's certainly sets the standards for everything else to come of it.

Next up was: "INVISIBLE: Part One". It's a dashing remake of the classic DC Thomson strip 'The Invisible Dick', which follows the story of awkward teenager Rick Dickson who discovers he has the ability to turn invisible, but with this power comes a price. 

The remake is modern and unique. For once the main character isn't a big, muscly superhero, no. This time it's just a scrawny, weak, geeky schoolkid who has the power to turn invisible. Nothing more, nothing less. The title explains it exactly, and is comfortingly relevant unlike many of today's releases. The comic is very kid friendly, making me feel happy to share it with many younger family members as well as the adults. It's an all round good comic for all ages and it's very appealing to those who are looking for a somewhat supernatural school, school era Spider-Man and Buffy The Vampire Slayer-esque vibe. This was a very happy read and I can't wait for Part Two.

Gary has totally outdone himself this year, leaving me overwhelmed with praise for the absolute fantastic releases that I have read. The world is certainly his oyster and the only way is up from here.

You can find Gary's great work and more here in the links below:

http://www.orcomics.com/Gary/gary-chudleigh.htmlhttp://www.orcomics.com/

http://blackheartedpress.com/

 Until next time folks! If I don't return, avenge my death!

What did you think of these comics? Have you read them yet? Yet to? Enjoy them or Dislike them? Let me know in the comments!

BONES - SKINNY

Hip-Hop right now is all about dark, moody underground artists breaking out. The eery Los Angeles TeamSESH artist BONES in particular executes a dark and moody aesthetic with sleek execution. This young artist has just released his newest and maybe even best mixtape of 2014. 

With a much more diverse sound to "Skinny", it certainly makes listeners' ears perk to those who are familiar with his work. This is nothing like his February 25 release TeenWitch, a mixtape about the last month of the lives of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold before the Columbine High School Massacre, or Garbage which brought back old "Th@ Kid" vibes aswell as just fresh, good Hip-Hop.

Skinny starts with an eery minute long Spooky Black infused sounding intro but this certainly doesn't stay adjacent as the talented Bones shows us his musical capabilities afterwards and throughout the remainder of the tape. Every song brings a different element to the table, showing us a diverse range of talent and sound from the young artist. This mixtape IS essentially Hip-Hop of 2014 and contributes to cementing Bones' place in the underground Hip-Hop scene. 

As a veteran fan of Bones, I can say that this gives me everything I need in terms of variants I would specifically look for in one of his tapes. My favourite one to hear is his singing which we're blessed with in the ever so perfect IfYoureGoingToSpew,SpewIntoThis.  A simple but effective dark, melancholic melody is played on an acoustic guitar underneath the slow trap influenced drumbeat. The lyrics are deep and emotional, connecting you with Bones through lines such as "Everything up my nightmares shroud me with mist". The undertone of the song is very deathly, leaving the lyrics haunting your consciousness. Off the record, Bones has became very accustomed to singing with an alter ego he calls surrenderdorothy, hailing two EP's called weneveraskedforthis and nobodywantsme. Songs like this would fit accordingly into this other project aswell as slotting in perfectly with his already established Bones name.

An 80s influenced synth piano loop starts, slowly drawing you into ShrimpPizza. Before you know it, Bones is rapping like his old self on tapes such as WhiteRapper and LivingLegend. The mid section changes everything completely, transporting the song to a Yoshi City style instrumental with him rapping in his low toned, almost speaking voice. Neverless, the beat will have you keeping your hands raised whilst you dance all night. This is definitely a track for future Hip-Hop club nights. DJ's, take notice and take notice now.

DeadInDesignerClothes is very reminiscent of his DeadBoy days. With the beat sounding like it was made in a graveyard and a flow which goes from a mix of that on Sixteen to Moshpits, it really transforms this track into a future golden oldie. This is a track that you definitely have to hear to understand where I'm coming from. I can guarantee you that if you enjoyed mixtapes such as DeadBoy like mentioned above and Cracker, you will love the songs on this tape like this one.

I really enjoyed this tape from start to finish. My only criticism has to be that is isn't longer, and this is a criticism which is carried across ALL of his discography. I would really like to hear a full-length album from the LA king. I recommend this to all Hip-Hop fans out there. Whether you're into mainstream or underground, this is definitely a mixtape you should open your ears and your mind to. I also recommend this to any other avid music lovers and fans of upcoming and unsigned artists. If you're open minded and you can take a lot of lyrics with a pinch of salt, I definitely feel like Bones could find his way into your music collection. 

You can find Bones' and surrenderdorothy's music here:

https://soundcloud.com/teamsesh/
http://www.teamsesh.com/ 
https://soundcloud.com/surrenderdorothymusic/

Until next time folks. Hasta La Vista.

What did you think of this tape? Did you love it? Hate it? Yet to make an opinion? Why don't you make it in the comments section below!

XIBALBA/SUBURBAN SCUM SPLIT.

Eat. Sleep. Suplex. Repeat. If Brock Lesnar were to have had a soundtrack to compliment the vicious beatdown he gave John Cena a few weeks ago at Summerslam, this would have been the EP played.

California Kings, Xibalba, and New Jersey's Finest, Suburban Scum, bring one heavy hitting release to 2014 with this Split. The EP was released on May 13th by Closed Casket Activities, both digitally and on 12″ vinyl. Coming from Xibalba’s 2012 album Hasta La Muerte (released through Southern Lord) and Suburban Scum's last release in 2012 entitled Hanging By A Thread (released through 6131 Records) I was eager to hear what they would come up with for this. I was more than satisfied. This is simply nectar from the mosh gods. 

Xibalba kick off first and foremost with very doomy vibes. However, this swiftly gets kicked in the teeth as you're brought back to what you're used to with Xibalba. Real heavy, metallic hardcore. The song carries a guitar tone brought to you from the depths of hell and a mid-section that will have you headbanging until your neck snaps and your head rolls into the flames below. The beatdown is an intense ground and pound. Austin 3:16 says he has just whooped your ass when this kicks in and that's the bottom line, because Stone Cold said so. What I'm trying to say is, Death Threat will have you giving your grandmother a Sweet Chin Music and her puppy an RKO.

In coalition with the name of the second song, you should definitely be writing yourself a Suicide Note if you're going to be hearing this live anytime soon. This'll have everyone who pits in your scene starting a Lumberjack Match. Suddenly all of your friends will be showing you their best impersonations of Dean Ambrose, The Unstable One. The crunching riff and continuing double kick drum will have you spinning your weave into an apocalyptic frenzy. This is Xibalba at their best, doing WHAT they do best, playing straight up tough guy music. The beatdown is very subtly dropped in out of nowhere, blitzing your eardrums. Although a very repetitive palm muted riff, it doesn't take away the fact that you will also be repetitively punching, kicking and headbutting your way through whatever finds it's way in your path the second it starts. For the remaining duration of the song, you'll be left headbanging through the long crunching doomy riff and at times, throwing more punches when the tempo drops.

Xibalba do give their all in these two songs, putting in an extremely impressive effort. This  side of the split should definitely leave you feeling moist at the thought of what will come next from these Californian legends.

Next we have our New Jersey Royals Suburban Scum who bless us straight off the dart with massive chuggy guitar riffs and hammering blows in their Intro, transitioning perfectly into Misery Loves Company. This is as straight up hardcore as new hardcore gets. Suburban Scum carry on with their head-on heavy hardcore in comparison to Xibalba's heavy but very metal influenced hardcore. The angry yelling vocals carries the aggressive vibes in an instrumental which sums up the Attitude Era in the form of guitar, drums and bass. The beatdown kicks in about two thirds of the way through and very soon you start to feel the pain they've caused. 

Last but very certainly not least we hear Refuse To Suffer. This title is certainly lived up to from the initial chord being struck, having you want to throw yourself into every side of the crowd and turn a venue into the Octagon and start a UFC Main Event. From start to finish this is simply just no bullshit hardcore. If you're not stagediving or busting a move then you should really question what you ARE doing. This would have the Nature Boy, Ric Flair, dancing for days.

The total run time of this split is 23 minutes. 23 solid minutes of bedroom moshing. If you haven't heard this already, get listening now. You can buy this on the Closed Casket Activities bandcamp! There's no other way to describe this Split than just pure mosh meat. If you don't feel like Ultimate Warrior after hearing this, I pity you.

Until next time, folks. In the words of good ol' Dr. Nick Riviera, Goodbye Everybody!

What did you think of this Split? Did you enjoy one side more than the other? Did you love both? Did you mosh? Did you hate it? Let me know in the comments section!