Wildcat #6

31 Dec 1988 - 13 Jan 1989; Cover price 40p.
32 pages. Colour & B&W.
Fleetway Publications.

Edited by Barrie Tomlinson.

Cover by Ian Kennedy (signed).

Contents:

 2 Turbo Jones UNTITLED [Arglons in the City] w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).

 7 In Space, Some Things Are More Important Than Others... subscriptions coupon.

 8 Joe Alien UNTITLED [The Great Gardener] w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Ron Smith (signed).

11 Kitten Magee UNTITLED [Torg-Lion Attack] w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: Jose Ortiz (uncredited).

16 Joe Alien UNTITLED (cont.)

18 Alien readers' art; Smiler by Lee Yeun, Vos by Chris Garside, The Blob by Tony Palmer, Octo Slug by Simon Wood. / Time-Warp Data Link feature page (uncredited). / Robojoke UNTITLED ["Take me to your leader"] (pocket cartoon) w:/a M. Herlihy

20 Loner UNTITLED [Minions of the Beast] w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: David Pugh (uncredited).

25 Moon of Terror w: UNKNOWN (uncredited); a: UNKNOWN (uncredited).

31 Goodbye, Turbo next issue information; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

32 Turbo pin-up; illustrated by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

The Torg-Lion cover is dramatic - along with being superbly painted - but the design of the creature leaves a lot to be desired. It doesn't look like a creature that might live, and although Kennedy imbues the image with much energy and gusto, it fails to convince as a snapshot of Kitten's battle against the beast due to how cartoonish the Torg-Lion is.

Turbo Jones commands the Burroids dinosaur army after Burroidia is attacked by the Arglons. Turbo rides a deadly Terrosauron... Not knowing that the Arglons are about to bring two Terrosaurons of their own to Burroidia!

We get a name for the city. And it is awful. Honestly, anything would be better than Burroidia, which smacks of a lack of both imagination and credibility. I dread to imagine what their nation is called, or what their national anthem sounds like. Letting loose the Terrosaurons, the Arglons anticipate the speedy demise of Turbo, but before they can prepare their attack Robo manages to sever the Arglons signal. After defeating the Terrosaurons, Turbo orders the city defences stored underground to be activated.

Giving Robo a purpose other than to make a rather attractive action figure is appreciated, though a more proactive stance would have been better than merely requesting permission to act, or responding to orders. He is nothing more than Turbo's well-trained pet, or worse, as uncomfortable as the suggestion is, his slave. As for the grand city defences which are so important to put in place... Nothing more than a giant fence. Fences, no matter how impressive, are very backwards-thinking forms of protection. Did they run out of money for an accompanying moat?

What an utter waste of time. How is a fence supposed to protect against burrowing enemies?

Joe Alien sits down with the leader of the plants - a man who appears to be human - to learn more about the circumstance he and his men has found themselves in. An astronaut aboard the first manned rocked to Mars in the year 2079, everything went as planned until the vessel reached the Von Kaybane asteroid belt, where an asteroid swallowed the ship whole before moving off under its own power.

"We finally landed on this planet...

I was amazed to find that on this continent, vegetation ruled...

They had sent the craft out to discover another living species who could help them... For a great war was being fought between trees and other vegetation...

They wanted me to end the hostilities. They were sick of fighting... I negotiated with both sides...

Finally, an agreement was made. Peace returned to this continent!"

With both sides in the conflict trusting the man from Earth, they decreed he become a king. Assisting in the breeding of new species, he decided to give himself the title "The Great Gardener." With the planet having a strange slowing effect on human biology, he aged slowly, and with the trees and plants not having long lives he became more like a god than a traditional ruler, with even his watering can becoming a symbol of power.

He is, of course, as mad as a bag of ferrets.

This background creates several problems, none of which are immediately discussed. Firstly, why were the plans so hostile to those who are, fundamentally, similar to the most revered figure in their society? The aggression seen does not indicate that the group have entered a peaceful plant society, though that might be explained by the irrationality their leader displays.

The second problem is one which poses a great danger to plans for the long-term habitation on the planet. If people age so slowly, then overpopulation is a real problem which needs to be addressed. If this is merely limited to those living in the area which the plants have claimed as their own, then issues of longevity are mitigated, but if it is a general effect it will impact on every decision hereafter.

After seeing the explosion, Cassandra believes Kitten and Aurora dead, yet they have survived thanks to the holes dug by their robot foes. Hobos, angered at their survival, uses a destabilising beam, interrupting the signals between the brain and limbs, making them non-operative. Kitten almost falls back into the hole, though Hobos steps (or, rather, glides) into action to save Kitten - showing the meat-eating Skik scavengers, brought to the surface by the use of his beam, which now squirm in the hole. Leading them away from the area, while using a carnivore-attracting beam to bring fresh dangers. A Torg-Lion attacks, though Kitten is able to scratch it with her ring, which contains poison from the Kizajeree plant from the planet Maakan, the most deadly in the universe.

Kitten's attack is silent but deadly.

I'm not sure if any poison could make things explode, leastways if they aren't already made of explodium, but it is nice to see some mad, out-of-the-box thinking, no matter the logical leaps required. There is no sense of what Hobos' plan is, which is admirable for this kind of title, which so often signposts plot developments in flashing neon, preventing immersion in the immediacy of events. Not being able to discern the shape of the coming journey is a joy.

Loner uses the telepathic weapons to strike against the monstrous Beast, though it quickly flees to a lower network of tunnels. Following, with tentative steps, Loner discovers a cave full of skulls and skeletal remains stretching as far as the eye can see. Further down into the twisting network of tunnels, and he finally manages to corner it - but must first dispense with its minions.

Beautiful and disturbing in equal measures, the Hell-Beast is a superb creation, and its immensity is presented clearly - Loner is, in comparison, tiny. It sets up the big battle perfectly, with the almost-insurmountable odds clearly laid out.

There is always one story in an anthology which fails to deliver, and here we have Moon of Terror. With the previous three-man expedition crew having disappeared while surveying the planet's first moon, Kurby is tasked with investigating. He has trouble with thick cloud cover, and only barely manages a landing. He escapes the immediate area before his ship explodes, leaving him stranded. Happening upon mutant creatures, Kurby shoots first and asks questions later. Finding a forest, Kurby heads straight for the fruit he spies growing.

There were three men on the first survey, and three mutants attack him. You would think that Kurby had picked up basic mathematics, and put three and three together, but no. And honestly - what kind of brain-dead moron goes and eats alien fruit on a mysterious moon which has already seen the disappearance of three crew-members? With no reasonable sense of self-preservation, I'm willing to state that Kurby is the kind of person who most likely has "Potential Darwin Award Winner" in his personnel file.

#05

Wildcat

#07