Rum Lad #10

Rum Lad #10

by Steve Larder

A5, black and white on grey paper, 16 pages

£2 (plus postage)

Rum Lad is a unique combination of diary style comic and astonishingly detailed illustration. When sending me the latest issue (it's one of the best things you'll read this year - read my review here), Steve also sent over issue 10 for review. 

When Steve isn't drawing he makes noise in a band called Moloch - Rum Lad #10 is essentially a diary of the Moloch / Savage Realm 2016 tour. Moloch make music that is around the Sludge/Doom area of the spectrum. If that doesn't mean anything to you, they describe themselves like this:

Moloch's primary objective is to ruin everyone's night with a bass tone that has so much treble and distortion that it reduces humans to paste and a turbo brute behind the pots and pans who just won't give in until every snare is destroyed.    

The zine follows the the ins and outs of touring, lugging gear, soundchecks, crashing on floors, discovering new bands, new people, and new places to eat. Also included is a breakdown of some of the finest Slayer moments. 

Rum Lad #10 is a peek backstage at the reality that underpins the moments a band is on stage, all the unseen and unexpected acts of kindness that allows that raw brute wall of noise to happen. 

You can listen to Moloch on their bandcamp page - moloch.bandcamp.com - but it doesn't have to be your kind of thing to take something away from Steve's zine. 

Buy a copy via Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/501213378/rum-lad-10-comic-zine - and while you're pick up issue 12 too! 

And visit Steve's site for more of his incredible illustrations: SteveLarder.co.uk

 

Review by Nathan Penlington

Rum Lad - Issue #12

Rum Lad - Issue #12

by Steve Larder

A5, 28 pages, black and white on grey paper.

£3 (plus postage)

Rum Lad #12 is a funny & heartbreaking tribute to Steve's grandparents. His Gran died in 2013, followed by his Grandad in 2017. As Steve says in the introduction: 

"Grief can do all sorts of cruel things to your brain...the jarring lapse where you forget they're gone"

He goes on to point out that the hurt of grief is caused by love and affection. Steve has captured his love for his grandparents in this collection of short stories, and comic strip vignettes, that reflect the absurdity of everyday life and the unexpected moments that we store as tender memories: his Gran wearing a Tesco carrier bag as a substitute hood, and hanging sweary punk t-shirts on the washing line; his Grandad's relationship with Paxo, and a catalogue of his tattoos.

Rum Lad #12 is also an unflinching chronicle of his grandparents' decline - the failing bodies, and reversing of roles, that we all have to face as we age. 

Rum Lad has a trademark style of art - a combination of breathtakingly detailed line drawings that sit alongside more comic book style illustration. The writing in this issue reminds me most of Simon Moreton's Minor Leagues, not just the themes of memory and loss, they are both told with a similar warmth and humour. 

It's a no-brainer. Not only is it just £3, it's one of the best things you'll read this year.

Buy via Etsy: etsy.com/uk/listing/644672935/rum-lad-zine-12-comic-perzine

And visit Steve's site for more of his incredible illustrations: SteveLarder.co.uk

Review by Nathan Penlington

Three Days of My Life I Will Never Get Back