Tales from the Udderverse (Mother Udder Comics)

Tales from the Udderverse (Mother Udder Comics)

Darren Cameron & Geoff McGrath (w) Various (a)

Up until recently I didn't take much notice if at all of the "Independent Comics" scene but I have been pleasantly surprised by the likes of the  Comic Haus anthology, Shaman Kane by David Broughton and Technofreak from John Charles (see sidebar for details of their comics) so now I'm more willing to take a risk by ordering copies on-line.

Half the problem is that there are so many and lets be honest of varying quality so choosing one can be daunting. However a friend of mine on Face book recommended this comic from Northern Ireland writers Darren Cameron and Geoff McGrath so I ordered a copy and worth the price of entry it proved to be.

This Prestige format edition contains six stories plus features explaining the breadth of their project which involved artists from around the globe whose various styles make for over-all a professional looking comic.

Being an anthology some stories will appeal more than others depending on individual tastes. These are all little introductory features. The first three stories are by Darren and the second three by Geoff.

First up is the science fiction story M. Squad X which takes us to a rather gory murder scene where even one of the investigators seems scared out of his wits. When expanded with more background and characterisation this one looks promising.

Next up is Beasts, one of those esoteric stories one might expect from European publishers.  A young boy on a spaceship must learn the truth. The arts great but the "Jury is still out" on the story but then this is just a snippet to be developed.

Finally from Darren comes The Deepening. The story of class struggle led by cabbies in but with a sci-fi edge as there be something at the bottom of that there hole. This is the sole story in black & white (the rest of the book being in colour) which actually does suit the art.

Harla follows and this is my favourite story in the book with top notch art and despite the obvious mystery is very accessible from the beginning. A girl hiding on a spaceship gets passage is put to work to pay her way but has a hard past and is being pursued though Harla is quite able to defend herself. More of this one please.

The weakest of the features is Ezra which at first seems like an ordinary western but turns out to be science fiction. For some reason the art deteriorates as the story progresses and the font is far too small. Not keen on this one.

Of interest is the dialogue free Sarna. A pretty teenage girl, a portal and some demons. Arts not bad but the story does need some explaining when the next instalment appears.

The declared ambition from the authors is to launch these as series in their own right. Given they are are independent publishers that's one heck of a task so I asked Darren what they were planning to do next:

"Future publishing plans are for release of The Deepening Issue 1 later this year (I am working with a new illustrator) and M-Squad X Issue 1 to follow that (potentially early 2021 as I am retaining the artist but his schedule is tight this year!) Beasts I am not sure on yet. The 3 stories towards the back of the book in the ‘Cluster’ section, my colleague Geoff plans to dovetail into a single uniting narrative which will mean only one title there to publish. He is currently exploring potential artists to work on that as an ongoing single title. As for publishing, currently we are purely self funded though we may look at crowd funding in the future. This is the biggest trouble we have as indie creators, regular content output, but we will strive to do our best.

I wish them luck and I'll certainly be up for following up their future work.

Copies of this comic can be obtained from: www.motheruddercomics.com