Strangehaven #11&12

Strangehaven #11 © Gary Spencer Millidge

Strangehaven:
Gary Spencer Millidge
Links:
UK:
mail Gary
Strangehaven website
US:
mail Chris Staros
Top Shelf website

Millidge certainly produces eye-catching covers. Sadly not eye catching enough for people who browse comics shops, (that order this to begin with). If more people bought this, then perhaps its creator could afford to donate more time to this comic that it richly deserves. Events plod along at their usual leisurely pace, so the long wait between issues is incredibly frustrating. Especially as no issues were published at all in the year 2000 to follow up to the climax of #12, an issue which marks a turning point in the series as for the first time, things get nasty.
Strangehaven is like a soap opera, but with more wierd elements, (cue predictable Twin Peaks reference) like the fact that no one seems to be able to leave the village, but food still seems to get in. Neither do you see the characters short of cash despite the lack of a bank & a cashpoint machine. There's an array of interesting characters and mysteries that keeps me hooked. #10 gets in danger of being bogged down with UFO conspiracies but thankfully for only one of the three chapters. #11 memorably has a character drinking himself into oblivion, then Basil Fawlty talks to him from the TV set about his marriage. Millidge has a good cast here, which he handles well, always making this a gripping read. This successful formula I suspect is more due to watching TV, reading books & living, than recycling existing comics.
The artwork still suffers from total reliance on photo reference that can cause a lot of panels to look painfully posed. In the past, which makes it more noticeable, his rendering has felt fairly mechanical, hence I've been torn between marvelling at his cross hatching & feeling left slightly cold by it. However, he is loosening up & improving considerably while keeping his distinct style. Millidge is starting to push himself in interesting directions with the artwork using his computer. As well as incorporating spots of photography and painted elements, as previously the extensive use of halftones especially for backgrounds make the pages appear a lot stronger. The use of type on the opening page dream sequence of #12 could be something to explore at a later date.
Very English, very good, and hence a very undervalued comic.
Reuben Willmott

Strangehaven #11&12: both 36 26x17 pages, glossy full colour cover.

Recieved at ZUM! HQ:
no info

£2.20(UK), $2.95 (US), $4.20 (Canada)

Aboigenesis Press, PO Box 448, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS1 2FN.
For US & Canada contact Chris Staros, PO Box 1282, Marietta, GA 30061-1282, USA