FTL #2 is a 32 page, Black & White anthology comic, brought to you by Orang Utan Comics. The anthology is edited and designed by Oran Utan co-founder Ian Sharman, and features a beautiful, full colour cover by John Charles.

As I mentioned in my review of FTL #1, with anthology titles, I tend to find that reviews are most effective when the books are broken up into their respective stories, which I then look at individually, before examining the book as a whole. So, please read on to see what I thought…

Morgan McFee and the End of Tomorrow

Story: Ian Sharman
Art: Melissa Hudson

This story opens with two special agents arriving at a remote location to which a mad scientist has absconded with a stolen viral sample. It seems that he plans to use said sample to wipe mankind off the face of the earth. Upon arriving at the scene, our protagonist Morgan decides to to go in alone, and after battling past  legions of armed guards she comes face to face with our mad scientist, Professor Jonas. Only problem is though… he’s really not that mad. It turns out that he has traveled to the future, and has seen that once mankind uses up it’s sources of fuel, having not developed any proper alternative energy sources, war erupts, which ends in the eradication of our species. With the stolen viral sample, Professor Jonas plans to wipe out 90% of humankind, leaving the last 10% with enough resources to last thousands of years, and far more time to find a better alternative to fossil fuels. This leaves Morgan in a very tricky situation, raising some complex moral issues. Does she let Jonas live, forfeiting the lives of millions to save our species? Or does she kill him, causing the inevitable end of human kind….

Ian Sharman has great tale here, so great in fact that he has pre-written a story that I had been thinking of doing… well, pretty much. I work as a microbiologist in my day job, so I’m always thinking of different ways to end the world with bacteria and viruses (hey, I get bored), and this one is ridiculously close to one of my evil plans story plots. DAMN YOU SHARMAN! In all seriousness though, this is a great story, and has nice artwork from Mellisa Hudson that complements the story really well.

The Secret Cross: Humanity in the Execution

Story: Steven G. Saunders & Stephen Lindsay
Art: Dominic Vivona
Colours: Jeff Balke

Secret Cross is actually a story that is set to see final publication with Nightmera Comics, but to give readers a sneak peak, Nightmera have been kind enough to let Orang Utan print the first issue of the comic in FTL #2 and #3.

Secret Cross opens in Flanders, Belgium in 1914. We find ourselves in the German trenches, just as the troops are about to clamber out of on to the killing fields. Scenes of bloody violence and brave sacrifice are overlaid, and juxtaposed, with a heartfelt and moving letter from one of the German soldier’s to his family. He writes of how scared he is,  and how he wants nothing more than to be at home, sleeping in his wife’s arms, while their child sleeps next to them. While this message is relayed to us, the action in the strip show the German troops tearing through the allied forces and making a run into their trenches. Suddenly, our letter writing narrator is set up by some hulking beast, which tears him limb from limb. The remaining German troops turn on this wild attacker, only to find that it is a gigantic, half-decayed werewolf! This is where the story leaves us, forcing us to come back for more in FTL #3!

Secret Cross is brought to you by Stephen Lindsey, who you may know from comics such as Jesus Hates Zombies, as well as Steven G. Saunders, for whom this is the first official writing credit. However, Steve is in no way a new comer to the comic industry, and you may know him from his time writing All the Rage, or one of his many other jobs in the comic world. In the interest of fairness I will mention that Steve Saunders is a very good friend of mine, but I shall try not to let that affect my review in any way. That being said, both Ian Sharman and Dwight MacPerson are also friends of mine, but I’ve never shared a bed with either of them, so I was a lot more comfortable reviewing their stories…

As I mentioned, I always feel a little uncomfortable when reviewing a friend’s work, but damn! This is good stuff! Anyone who has ever spent more than ten minutes in a pub with Steve Saunders know that he really loves his WWI & WW2 history, and I’m glad to see it put to some good use. Because, oh boy is this ever good! I love that this is set in WWI rather than WWII, and I love seeing the story from the perspective of the German troops, it really helps the story break the mold. Oh, and there’s the werewolves of course, you don’t normally get those in war stories! A horror story set in the German WWI trenches is a really unique concept, and Saunders and Lindsay pull it off with great aplomb. I was particularly fond of the snippets of letters home that we get to see, it put me in mind of some of Garth Ennis’s finer war tales! The art by Dominic Vivona on this story is absolutely wonderful! I’ve been seeing bits and pieces of the art for a while now, but it’s really good to see it all come together. It’s a great comic!

One Last Ballad

Story: Itai Rosenbaum
Pencils: Gary Heany
Inks: Matt Santorelli
Greytones: Nick Dismas
Letters: Richard Nelson

This story opens with a girl driving through the desert when her car breaks down. She doesn’t have a cell phone, and so she heads off to find help. She arrives at the nearest town, which is a desolate looking remnant of the old West. The first inhabited building she goes to is the general store, where she is told that there is only one phone in town, and it’s in the chapel. It seems the reverend is out of town for the day, so she decides to take a room for the night in the town saloon. She is pretty upset about being stranded in the town, as her band is supposed to be playing a gig the following night and she has to get back on the road. In her hotel room she pulls out her guitar and starts practicing with the amp cranked high, but little does she know that the denizens of the town are really all undead monsters, who break in her room and chop her up while she is jamming.

It’s not a bad story, and it puts me in mind of old drive-in horror flicks. It had some good slasher action, but could really have done with more of a twist at the end. It’s still a good fun read though!

Karachun

Story: Troy Wickwire
Art: Olli Hihnala
Letters: Amadarwin

Karachun is a story based on Slavic folk-law tales. When the guardian spirit of their house is unsatisfied with a family’s offerings, a young boy is sent out into the winter night to find mandrake root to appeas the spirit. However, it seems that tonight is the night of Karachun, the longest night of the year, a night when wild magical beasts roam the land. The young boy is accosted by two such entities, named Chernobog, and ved’ma, both claiming that the boys life is theirs by right. The old witch, Baba Yaga, then appears, and solves the dispute by convincing both creatures that neither of them has rights to the boy. The boy is relieved to be saved, but does the Baba Yaga have his best interests at heart?

The was a really cool story, which dug lots of characters up from old Slavic folk-law tales, and re-purposed them to create an interesting little situations. Troy Wickwire has definitely done his research here! Some of these same characters appeared in recent Hellboy stories, and Wickwire uses them just effectively as Mignola did, perhaps even more so. The artwork by Olli Hihnalais is absolutely gorgeous, with some really nice line-work in these pages, and his depictions of these mythological characters is just spot on!

Schoolgirl Attack Squad: Graduation Day

Words: Ian Sharman
Art: Dhonnie “Dagger” Punzalan
Colours: Yel Zammor

Erm…. ahhh… Where do I start? … … … … … … …

I’m joking of course For this last story in the anthology Sharman chooses to come jump back on to tell a tale of scantily clad, arse kicking cheerleaders who have just graduated SAS, or Schoolgirl Attack Squad. The girls are out celebrating their graduation, when a group of ninjas appears out of nowhere, and start attacking them. Why, you ask? Well, that’s what ninjas do, of course! Much butt kicking ensures, much clothing gets removed, and a ninja gets turned into a frog???? Bizarre!

It’s not how I was expecting the book to close, but Sharman knocks out a bloody hilarious story here, which is full of fun, quirky dialogue, unexpected oddness, and funny little oddities that just make you smile. The art is actually very good, and the action scenes are really well executed. The fact that these insanely huge chested, petite young girls are kicking the crap out of ninjas, with little or no effort, is completely beside the point

Summary:

Amazingly, FTL #2 manages to pack even more punches than FTL #1! There is such a wide variety of stories in this book that it is mind boggling. The book starts with people having to make important moral  decisions that could decide the future of mankind, then goes via the WWI trenches to see German troopers battling werewolves, then it makes  a quick stop in at the drive-in for some pulp horror action, then we check out some rich Slavic folk-law tales, before finally ending up with with sexy butt kicking schoolgirls! The stories in this book cover pretty much the entire gamut of genres, which is an incredibly impressive thing to do in one 32 page comic!

FTL#2 is a wonderful anthology comic that showcases some of the hottest new writers and artists in the industry. Ian Sharman and Orang Utan Comics have put a lot of heart and soul into this project, and it all pays of in the form of this great collection of stories. The comic industry is sadly lacking in anthology titles these days. Some companies have tried their hand at it recently, but all have ultimately failed, because none of them have put the same amount of care and attention in to their anthologies as Orang Utan has.

FTL #2 will soon be available to review for free at Myebook, followed by a POD release at Indyplanet. Why you can’t walk into a comic store and pick up brilliant comic series like this is absolutley beyond me. The best we can do for now is to continue reading the online .PDFs, and buying the POD copies, and hopefully one day demand will be enough that titles like FTL will be readily availble at your LCS. Fingers crossed!

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