Zones #2

1990. Cover price £1.75.
68 pages. Colour & B&W.
London Editions Magazines / Egmont

Cover (uncredited).

Contents:

 2 Definitely Collectable - Superman Monthly • Batman Monthly • DC Action! • Zones in-house advertisement.

 3 Zones! Introductory text (uncredited). / Contents

 4 The Shadow text introduction (uncredited). a: Howard Chaykin.

r: interior page from The Shadow (DC Comics) #02 (Jun 1986).

 5 The Shadow Blood & Judgment, part two, w:/a: Howard Chaykin. lettering by Ken Bruzenak, colouring by Alex Wald.

r: The Shadow (DC Comics) #02 (Jun 1986).

33 Close to the Edge text feature by UNKNOWN (uncredited).

34 Dinosaurs Attack! text feature by Brian M. Clarke.

some information taken from the fall issue of Midnight Graffitti (Midnight Graffiti Publishing) article Dinosaurs Attack! by James Van Hise in #04 (Fall 1989).

36 Swamp Thing text introduction (uncredited); a: Bernie Wrightson.

r: interior panel from Swamp Thing (DC Comics) vol.1 #01 (Oct 1972-Nov 1972).

37 Swamp Thing Dark Genesis!, cont., w: Len Wein; a: Berni Wrightson, colouring by Tatjana Wood.

r: Swamp Thing (DC Comics) vol.1 #01 (Oct 1972-Nov 1972).

46 Sky the Colour of Static! text feature by Jay Taylor.

r: covers from Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson, Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling, Count Zero by William Gibson, Islands in the Net by Bruce Sterling, mirrorshades ed. by Bruce Sterling, and Neuromancer by William Gibson.

48 Wasteland text introduction (uncredited); a: William Messner-Loebs.

r: interior panel from Wasteland (DC Comics) #08 (Jul 1988).

49 The Dead Detective w: John Ostrander; a: William Messner-Loebs, colouring by Lovern Kindzierski.

r: Wasteland (DC Comics) #08 (Jul 1988).

58 The St. Louis Electric Giraffe Caper! w: Del Close & John Ostrander; a: Donald Simpson, colouring by Lovern Kindzierski.

r: Wasteland (DC Comics) #07 (Jun 1988).

67 The Bizarre Detective Chimp text feature by Brian M. Clarke.

Close to the Edge attempts to reshape the traditional letters page, with mixed results. It is interesting to see Viz, Gas, and Brain Damage singled out (among many superficially similar titles) as being immature by one reader (Simon Alison), while praising a title which is in the midst o slowly reprinting the adventures of a walking, talking cabbage. Or is Swampy more like a lettuce? I've never been certain. Answers on a McGill postcard, and all that...

A double-page feature on Dinosaurs Attack! makes mention of both Mars Attacks and Dinosaurs Attack being option for cinematic outings, and (should the continued popularity of dinosaurs proves to be sustainable) a film which might yet appear. The second double-page article is, inexplicably, about the rise of cyberpunk. In an issue which features The Shadow and The Dead Detective it would have made more sense to cover Mickey Spillane, Dashiell Hammett, or Raymond Chandler, but that isn't the most obvious problem.

Once again I find myself faced with a title almost impossible to read thanks to poor colour combinations. It isn't difficult to come up with something stylish which doesn't make your readers go blind attempting to read what is written, and (although a minor niggle in the large scheme of things) it is a distracting and unnecessary problem to introduce.

With such a limited display of covers, one might assume that the feature is a slight and frivolous overview. Which this, thankfully, isn't. It would have been nice to see a greater range of covers reproduced, but at least there is a list of important titles, however brief:

RECOMMENDED READING

Iain Bans:            The Wasp Factory
                      Espedair Street
Bruce Sterling:       The Artificial Kid
                      Islands in the Net
                      Involution Ocean
                      Schismatrix
William Gibson:       Neuromancer
                      Count Zero
                      Mona Lisa Overdrive
Greg Bear:            Blood Music
                      Eon
Pat Cadigan:          The Pathosfinder
Bruce Sterling (Ed.): Mirrorshades
                      (The Cyberpunk Anthology)

As mentioned, The Dead Detective, which features a character as-described, isn't as odd or as offbeat as it was presumably hoped to be. It is difficult to determine the purpose of the strip, but the art is fine. The St. Louis Electric Giraffe Caper!, a title dripping with 1970s underground sensibilities, is a very funny strip which, finally, validates the inclusion of material from Wasteland.

Edwin and Angelina Haldern, an elderly couple living in St. Louis, have a giraffe in their garden. Edwin received it after the Parker Brothers Circus went bust, and his wife is thoroughly fed up of the chaos it brings. Despite being promised that the creature will only remain with them a couple of weeks, until Bill Parker can raise capital down South, Angelina decides to visit her sister in Boca Raton until it is gone.

A telegram arrives, stating that Parker has died (and presumably gone to Windy Van Hooten's), leaving Edwin in charge of the giraffe for the foreseeable future. Edwin covers the giraffe in cloths as the weather grows colder, but when it begins to snow he is forced to up his game - improvising with an electric blanket and extension cords, he accidentally electrocutes the animal.

Deciding to cut up the corpse with a chainsaw, and wearing the head of a rabbit costume, Edwin sets to his task - just as his wife returns home...

Brian M. Clarke's look at Detective Chimp doesn't cover much ground, nor compare and contrast the character with similar simians in law-enforcement. While looking at old strips which have an air of being purposefully strange, there really isn't enough development of how the character fits into a long and (even stranger) tradition of creature detectives.

An improvement, though drip-feeding Swamp Thing's story across so many issues means that it is difficult to care about events.

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