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Underground > Comic Books >

The Vinyl Underground

13:34 / 10.10.07

Ok, so there's this guy who's a cocaine addict, into gambling, dresses well, is a fan of Northern Soul. His first name is Morrison, and he heads a team of occult detectives which also includes an internet porn star who is still a virgin (she was the 'head girl' of her school, she'll have you know, but that's as far as she's prepared to go!) and a young man named 'Perv' who has been through some hard times in teenage correctional facilities, and is prone to visionary trances. In Issue One, this arguably mismatched bunch are investigating what seems like a case of ritual sacrifice in the ex-pat African community in London. Psychogeography seems like it might be a theme. Also really quite violent, soft-edged porno comics, I suppose.

But what does anyone else think?

14:19 / 10.10.07

How does it represent "ritual sacrifice in the ex-pat African community in London", out of interest?

14:25 / 10.10.07

Two potential repsonses to that question i reckon, can't decide which is best:

1. 'I'm going to go out on a limb and guess the answer to that question is 'badly''.

2. 'I'm going to take a torso-clippngly wild bit of knifework in the dark and guess the answer to that question is 'insensitively''.

i've not read it though, so how would I know? I had a quick flick through it in the shop and it looked shite.

MattShepherd: I WEDDED KALI!

14:34 / 10.10.07

Bob Cleaver, is the book any good or just "interesting?"

I'm sick to the gills of "interesting" books that substitute tired Morrison/Ellisisms (look! A monkey! And it talks!) for reasonably decent character-driven stories with a plot and a point.

More lengthy tirade to be generated later, I suspect.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

14:44 / 10.10.07

I looked at it in the shop, having Cam's name on it as it did, but was fairly underwhelmed. So I put it back. Sounds a bit dull, all told, and I'd much prefer to read Division X comics about Division X, you know what I'm saying?

15:11 / 10.10.07

How does it represent "ritual sacrifice in the ex-pat African community in London", out of interest?

There's a specific part of Africa mentioned (Somalia, maybe; I don't have a copy to hand) as regards child sacrifice. But it possibly reads as worryingly close to the red-top perspective on all this, crazy witch doctor putting a family's young 'un up for eviction, in the most terminal sense. For gains that are quite clearly going to turn on them.

It's quite a negative portrayal, all in all.

15:18 / 10.10.07

Personally, I think it is a good setup. It isn't necessarily Invisibles meets Phonogram. There isn't conspiracies or hipper-than-thou allusions to British music of the 1990s. Instead, after reading it, I got a sense that this is going to be a fairly odd update of the whole Sherlock Holmes mythos, with Morrison as the detective.

It reads pretty well, but there are some large info-dumps that make it feel sort of like Transpotting. Personally, I think the title has a lot going for it as far as just a fun romp through London with stylish people who like music.

I don't know why Vertigo HAS to be something so serious. Why does every book have to have a conspiracy or a serous meaning behind it? The Vinyl Underground seems like a very fun book that seems more akin to The Amazing Buzzcocks (is that what that title is called, the one with the luchador) and a Sherlock Holmes mystery.

I'll definitely pick up the story, if only to see if the first arc has fun with the premise. If it starts to drag down, I'll probably drop it. But for now, I'll pick it up because it looks pretty and it seems fun.

ONLY NICE THINGS

15:29 / 10.10.07

Well, the head in the Thames is a reference to the 2001 discovery of the torso of "Adam" in the Thames, I imagine. But yes. It's not a _great_ treatment, although it does introduce an ebony honey with a fiery temper, which does count for a lot.

And while we're about it, let's not forget the naughty drug dealers in Brixton. In my time in West Baltimore, I've been involved tangentially in The Game - really, you can't not. And, indubitably, I have seen a lot of drug-related violence and beastliness. However, generally people just want to get paid, yo. It's comparatively rare for one dealer, let alone two, to take time out from their busy schedule to try to force their affections on a young lady, even if she is a pink-skinned blonde with blue eyes.

I realise that this is not meant to be a strictly accurate portrayal of London - in fact, it took me a while to get my head round the idea that Mr. Spencer had been to London, despite remembering his work with Mr. Ormston for 2000AD. However, there's unrealistic and there's unrealistic.

The art is good, though - to describe it as Phil Bondish is probably not divulging state secrets.

15:31 / 10.10.07

Bob Cleaver, is the book any good or just "interesting?"

Well, the art's good.

It's too early to comment on the writing (who knows where it's going) but morally, plot-wise? It reads like strictly from the sewer.

In fact I'd go so far as to say that this is the most gratuitously depraved comic I have ever read. And that's including the Misty Knight/Blade story arc from Marvel's Epic line in the Seventies.

If you've read it, you'll know the one I mean.

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

15:51 / 10.10.07

I don't know why Vertigo HAS to be something so serious. Why does every book have to have a conspiracy or a serous meaning behind it?

Because somewhere along the way, Vertigo got itself into a bit of a rut. I think it's part of the "Mature Readers" fallacy. And at this point, I'd pretty much settle for "not crap."

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

16:15 / 10.10.07

Hmmmm. Does anyone know if Spencer writes TV under the same name? Just i've seen his credit for Torchwood bandied round a couple of places in connection with this book, but he doesn't seem to be the creditted writer of any episodes.

With reagrds to the comic I haven't bought it, but I suppose I will, despite it sounding horrid. I really enjoyed LDW, and I was pleased when I heard Spencer had another book. Less so when I heard it was derivative and racist though.

ONLY NICE THINGS

16:28 / 10.10.07

Seaguy, Vimanarama, Army @ Love, American Virgin, Y - The Last Man - some of these are not much cop, but they all either have funny parts or seek to be funny. Even Fables has its chucklesome moments, although they are in the context of a load of godawful blather.

More broadly, the breakout successof The Sandman convinced Vertigo that there was a mine of cludgy goth bollocks to be exploited - hence the Dreaming, House of Secrets, Lucifer and Fables, along with the endless bloody Sandman-character one-shots and limited series. While there remains a chance that they might be able to get their bits back in the tenebrous wall safe, it seems unlikely that this strain will truly die.

Regarding Torchwood - Spencer was named as a writer, and did some promotional work, but never actually wrote an episode for Torchwood, or at a least not one that was accepted.

19:07 / 10.10.07

My apologies.

It's just that Torchwood appears to be on Spencer's Vertigo CV. And on this showing at least, it's not too hard to picture him slaving away on, I don't know, Ianto's sexual complications.

It's just silly resentment, I suppose, and that's all it is. But why can't I be swimming in the Benjamins, is something is ask myself daily-ish - where's my Vertigo series? Why aren't I allowed to kick some life into Torchwood? Obviously I'd murder the entire cast, but still ...

lord nuneaton savage

09:01 / 11.10.07

Gotta say, and apologies to anyone reading who might have worked on it, that this was one of the worst bits of try-to-hard, overcooked shite I've ever read.

The protagonist is a handsome-millionaire-son-of-a-footballer-page-three-shagging-psychic-soul-DJ you say?

My stars!

He solves crimes in a London A LITTLE LIKE THE ONE YOU KNOW (OOOOOWAAAAAA!!!!!!) and is constantly banging his HOTTTTT GRRRL sidekick, who also has a nice line in barbecuing the faces of sexually agressive black people!

(It's sounding good though, innit?)

It's a total rip-off of everything I've ever enjoyed about pop culture (Cornelius, Invisibles, psychic detectives, Philip Bond etc), that plunders without style, chutzpah or wit and is constantly tripping over itself to remind you how fucking hip it is, little realising that the first sign of true hipness is that it is effortless.

And, seriously, if you're going to have a soul DJ as a main character try to get him to drop some more obscure references. Otis Redding? Pah! People dance to him at their weddings. How about name dropping N.F. Porter or Darrell Banks?

Again apologies, but the writing on this was just really fucking lazy. Artwork was nice however.

Haus of Mystery

15:03 / 11.10.07

I flicked through this in the shop, and it angered me. Then I read a description of the characters and the set-up. And I knew in my stones that life is far far too short.

Regrettable Juvenilia

15:11 / 11.10.07

I was hoping to give it a second, more thorough read last night, the idea being that the cursory skim I'd given my flatmate's copy was probably insufficient to justify criticising it here.

Said copy had already been "recycled" by the time I got in.