Blackguard #3 : Crime Reviewed In Broken Pencil

Blackguard #3 : Crime Reviewed In Broken Pencil

from Blackguard

 
Here's a Blackguard #3 review from Canadian magazine Broken Pencil. Thanks Matthew!

Blackguard #3 : Crime, various contributors, c/o Stratu, PO Box 35, Marrickville NSW 2204, AUSTRALIA, sstratu[at]gmail.com, U.S. $5 [plus postage]

The multi-faceted subject of crime gets the spotlight in the third issue of this Australian comic anthology featuring a hodgepodge of cartoonists from Australia and around the world. The stories run the gauntlet from hilarious to disturbing and are all connected by a shared "fuck you" kind of spirit. Murder (sometimes true life stories) is certainly a popular topic among the group, as shown in strips by Stratu ("Brother vs. Sister"), Gerard Ashworth ("Murder!"), Jason Dean ("A Loathsome Limerick") and Dexter Cockburn ("The Sad Case of Sweet Fanny Adams"). However, it's less of the focus than one might expect, and is never done in a cheaply shocking way.

There are also satirical one-pagers by Glenno, Antoinette Rydyr, Steve Carter and Anton Edmin, as well as personal reflections on youthful indiscretion by Adam Pasion, Julie Doye and Shaun Craike. The collection is capped off by a pair of prose stories, one of which - 'Real Crime' by Damian McDonald - is possibly the stand-out story of the whole book. Told from the point of view of a re-offending misanthrope, it peeks into one of the ugliest souls imaginable and also brings up some uncomfortable truths and questions that so-called "normal" people overlook. (Matthew Daley - April 1, 2011)

Here's the link to the page.

[Note: There's only 18 copies left of the (hand-numbered) print run of 200, and along with my grim financial situation I'm gonna have to add postage to the $5.00, so if you want a copy, email me at sstratu[at]gmail.com or contact me through Facebook. .. Also, there are just 3 copies left of Blackguard #1: Religious Crazies; and 25 copies left of Blackguard #2: Crime.]