Strip Magazine relaunches in print and digital with this second volume and a new start.
What we get are a selection of stories in this monthly anthology style magazine/comic. Also included are a selection of interviews and reviews to pad out and give a reading experience.
In the digital version you also get the option to touch for information about the strip – including a bio, audio and video, which are now becoming the norm from Rok Comics.
We get a nice circus of stories here (my phrase for good anthology comics – if you don’t like the clowns, you may like the acrobats!) with a nice mix of humour, action and science.
We start off (and finish) with Cosmic Patrol – a fun look at the ‘capes’ of today. This is a single page gag strip, but a fun way to kick off the issue.
Next is a return of King Cobra – a character I remember from my youth and an old Hotspur annual I had! This re-introduces the British hero and adds sufficient action and promises answers as to the legacy of the character next month. Again, a good marquee character for the magazine, and hopefully a mainstay!
The two strips of Black Ops Extreme gives us a nice two nice short stories, introducing the team and some of the characters in the team. A change of pace from King Cobra, but with enough action to keep it going!
Operation Inferno crosses James Bond, with Alex Rider and adds in some alternate dimensions and martial arts. A young British agent in a world where Britain still has it’s Empire. Again, this is an introductory story, with some of the characters being introduced and added in some action. There were some little teasers here and hopefully this will develop.
Denizens slows the pace a little, with a thoughtful set up of a story which looks like it could grow (!) into something apocalyptic. The change of pace works well in such a frantic issue, but there are some nice points here as we see the set up for a potential plant based oblivion.
Warpaint, for me was the most intriguing titles an it doesn’t disappoint, the Loki type character and the feel of American Gods was excellent. I liked the mystery and the set up dialog was brilliant!
Finally another couple of single page gag strips – bogeyman Bob – good clean fun, with a twist of monster.
In all Strip have a provided an excellent boys comic, which may be able to find a distinct niche in the market. 70+ pages and packed full!
You can get Strip Magazine #2.1 on the App Store for the iPad!
