Wildcat #2

05 Nov 1988 - 18 Nov 1988; Cover price 40p.
32 pages. Colour & B&W.
Fleetway Publications.

Edited by Barrie Tomlinson.

Cover by Ian Kennedy

Free Alien Monster Stickers.

Contents:

 2 Wildcat The Story So Far... Introduction. recap; illustration by Ian Kennedy.

 3 Turbo Jones UNTITLED [Time to Fight Back] w: UNKNOWN; a: Ian Kennedy.

 8 Joe Alien UNTITLED [Stalking Joe Alien] w: UNKNOWN; a: Massimo Belardinelli.

11 Kitten Magee UNTITLED [Ten Metres and Closing] w: UNKNOWN; a: Jose Ortiz.

16 Joe Alien UNTITLED (cont.)

18 Time-Warp Data Link feature page (uncredited); pocket cartoon UNTITLED [Stonemason] by UNCREDITED, from a joke by G. Cartwright.

19 Alien readers' art; Songtun Shape-Changer by Andrew Cole, The Mighty Mouth Monster by Paul Ramsey, The Multi-Eyed Tree Terror by Colin Matthews, and The Floating Fiend by Lawrence Magee.

20 Loner UNTITLED [Underground Lake] w: UNKNOWN; a: David Pugh.

25 Free Stamp Collector Starter Kit (half page) advertisement for Universal Stamp Co. / Joe Alien Loses His Brain (half page) preview of next issue; illustrated by Massimo Belardinelli.

26 Space Madness w: UNKNOWN; a: .

32 Joe Alien pin-up. a: UNKNOWN.

Continuing the fine start, the free gift - a strip of three full-colour stickers (loosely-packed inside the issue) - follows the title's sense of exploring a new world, highlighting three creatures which can be found there. They are rather impressively sized, and many likely ended up being attached to books, bags, furniture, or smaller siblings - to have an issue complete with its free gift makes me very happy.

Turbo Jones, using his visor in a superb visual reference to Cyclops of the X-Men, shoots a flying lizard out of the air. What follows is a brief history lesson from the Supreme Monarch, outlining a conflict with the Arglons which has been raging for many years. Asked to take a position as military advisor, Jones' reaction is of incredulity at the suggestion.

Then a Dino-Rider appears.

Of course, it isn't actually a Dino-Rider, but close enough. There must have been something in the idea of immense creatures heaving around armor and ordinance, as mid- to late-eighties SF and fantasy properties were stuffed to the gills with the things. It isn't a bad example, thankfully, raised by some exceptional art.

Joe Alien's luck holds out, seeing the walking tree before it can reach him. While the depiction of the tree is fine, it does have the unfortunate effect of reminding me of WOW!'s Family Trees, but there are only so many ways that such a creature can be depicted... With the disappearance of Baker, Joe finally works out that the vegetation poses a danger to his rapidly diminishing unit. Baker's demise at a baby Sarlacc pit, with suitable sound effect, is a joy. It is amazing that the title wasn't merged with 2000 A.D..

Attempting to contact Wildcat to inform them of the situation, Joe discovers that communications aren't working. As the various forms of plant life gather, and hold a conference, the links to Family Trees and The Haunted Wood grow uncomfortably clear.

Despite being in the tropics, Kitten's team are remarkably well-clothed. It had occurred to me that the only reason to specifically state the location was to justify the eventual bikini-scene (it was the eighties), but Jose Ortiz's restraint here is admirable. The dialogue is dripping with knowing, and blatant, innuendo: "Kitten! Something in that bush!" and a multi-toothed creature rumbles "Huuuur! Huuuuur!" as the women walk past.

In a superbly creepy sequence, a group of humanoid creatures stumble out of the dark, their row of eyes glinting in the low light. It is a moment of complete and focused horror in what, to that point, has been a firmly SF strip. Slightly unfortunate in having the sole female main character be so easily swiped aside, but it is set up so that she can redeem herself in the next issue. Or die a horrible death. There's always the possibility that the title will contain a real surprise.

I'm tempted to make a comment about Crud, but given T-Bob, Nono, Snarf and Orko, it isn't the worst comedy sidekick. The name is, however, prone to mockery.

Dave Pugh's art in Loner is amazing. You likely don't need that pointed out, but it really shines here - even in the midst of so many great artists. The immense scar-faced lizard is one of the most memorable creatures from the title. Encountering a flying Fuzzball (again: why can't I buy one of these?) Loner is being slowly herded towards his demise.

Space Madness is a painfully eighties story - Rick X, a DJ aboard Wildcat, is shot while on-air. BY A ROBOT. Yes, that's the trick to make it a SF story. Leaving aside the likelihood of lugging along a DJ aboard a ship filled with people crucial to the survival of the human race, why is precious resources being expended on broadcasting throughout the ship? Even in 1988 there were such things as cassette tapes and CDs.

The robot is on a murderous rampage, and soon claims a second victim. This is reported in The Wildcat express, a newspaper which- Okay, hold on a minute. There's a newspaper on the ship? Really? Honestly? An actual printed-on-paper newspaper? Are there newspaper boys on the ship as well? Milk deliveries, with a little van scooting around the corridors? I bet there's a skateboard park somewhere on board as well.

A botany boffin listening to the thoughts of his plants (Roald Dahl much?) is killed next, and a witness to a fourth killing finally delivers a solid lead for the security officers investigating - a robot from the printing presses of Wildcat express. It turns out that the editor is responsible, in an unlikely turn of events, in order to create sensationalist headlines. I'd like to believe it was the robots themselves who were responsible - planning murders first, then escalating to going on strike and causing horror comics to disappear.

Not that it was any way inspired by real events.

#01

Wildcat

#03