Dutch comic artist Sandra de Haan is currently translating her excellent comic strips into English. Her humour definitely translates well, with Sandra’s candid strips commenting on anything from surviving film festivals and enduring the BBC’s wilting standards to the social intricacies of toileting. She has a unique brand of quirk that will definitely appeal to fans of Nemi and the likes.

The English translations are up at www.sandradehaan.nl/portfolio/tags/tag/english/. Sandra already has already released 5 books in her native tongue, so presumably this is a step to reach out to a larger audience.

The invisible devil and angel that reside on my left and right shoulders, respectively, have been having a bit of a row. Lil’ Angel tells me not to bother spending my cash on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It’ll only make Michael Bay richer, me poorer, and encourage more similarly mindless blockbusters in the near future, he says. Lil’ Devil, however, assures me that there will be countless scenes in which elaborately designed (translation: preposterous) robots punch the crap out of each other.

Either way, there are some undeniably cool web promotions going on.

Most interesting is the Transformers “Augmented Reality” experience at www.weareautobots.com/uk/, which defies all description, really. With but a printer and a webcam, you are able to manipulate rendered objects as if they’re actually in your hands. You, yes you! can be Optimus Prime! I’d already seen videos of similar technology used to promote an upcoming Metal Gear game, and was initially suspicion that it was a hoax. Nice to be proven wrong. It’s like living in the multi-layered reality Philip K. Dick envisioned, or summink!

Elsewhere, there’s also this equally bizarre application at www.transformersmovie.com/intl/robotize_me/uk which allows you to create your own Autobot from composite parts and then past your face on it. Quite why you’d want to is beyond me, but I guess we’re not all quite as hideous and reticent as I.

Lastly, there’s a more conventional flash game in which you take the role of everyone’s favourite backstabbing Decepticon Starscream as he roars through the sky as a plane and, um, runs along the ground in bipedal form. That can be found here.

2008, Attackosaur Comics
Story: Martin Ian Smith
Art: J.C. Grande

Paralysis is the first book by Martin Ian Smith and J.C. Grande under Smith’s Attackosaur Comics. Set in 1942 London, it’s a gruesome little standalone tale that flitters between psychological thriller, creature feature and wartime romance… well, maybe a little less of the latter than the first two.

Dr Harper is a detached, soulless man whose life is consumed by research into a cure for his comatose daughter Rosemary. As the ferocity of the German air raids increases, Harper has been desperately conducting sickening experiments, willing to sacrifice the lives of strangers at the possibility of saving his child.

Paralysis would feel at home in a ghoulish E.C. Comics inspired anthology, or equally as an episode of the Twilight Zone. The book’s ending is ambiguous to say the least, which some people may have a problem with. But not me. This is that (now) rare variety of horror whose formless terrors linger uncomfortably in a far corner of the reader’s imagination, and Smith prevents the story’s tension from deflating by forbidding us the usual pre-climax burgeoning of exposition. It’s the sort of ominous short story that Ray Bradbury once excelled at.

Read more: Paralysis comic review

2009, Diablo Productions
Writer: Scott “Diablo” Marcano, Tom Lenoci
Art: Renzo Podesta

In one of Warren Ellis’s wonderful column series ‘Come in Alone,’ he comments astutely on the great irony of Image Comics and the exodus of talent by MacFarlane, Lee, Liefeld, Valentino, Silvestri and co. from Marvel and DC to their own creative landscape. A publisher where their imagination would no longer be hindered by a lust for big bucks and a fear of venturing outsides the comic medium’s established market. Of course, this creator-lead drive ultimately gave birth to Spawn, Shadowhawk, WILDCats, Cyberforce and (ugh) Youngblood; second-rate facsimiles of the mainstream titles those guys had fled from, betrayed not by a want for imagination or artistic ability but a complete lack of balls.

So why am I rambling on about something completely unconnected from the book I’m supposed to be reviewing? Because Hum, the new book by screenwriter Scott “Diablo” Marcano and Tom Lenoci, and illustrated by Renzo Podesta, manages to succeed where so many independently published titles fail. These guys have crafted an intelligent tale that caters to the accustomed comic book science fiction and fantasy market without ever feeling complacent or uninspired. It’s a rich, unfeigned sci-fi tale that doesn’t attempt to grab your interest with colourful but shallow characters that feel as though they were designed solely with action figures and animated series in mind.

Hum take place on a distant three-mooned planet where an alien virus turned 80% of a human colony blind, dividing the population into sighted masters and blind slaves. When drug addict Vol infiltrates a village of blind former slaves, who have developed unique abilities to compensate for their disability, he is slowly and cautiously accepted by the group. But his arrival has also initiated an attack from the sighted majority led by his brother Rom, who wants to use the village’s disused drug supplies to fuel his new reign.

Read more: Hum TPB review

Written and Created by Martin Brandt II
Artists: Jason Stephens, Eric Boswell, Chase Bowman, Martinho Duarte Abreu, Bob Smeets, Roberto Macedo Alves, Matthew Pinchback, Carl Jeffers, Paul Petyo, Timothy Kepple, Martin Brandt II, Jim, Amanda Faye, Matthew Pinchback, Kit White, Candy Hart

It’s surprising how strong an idea of a book’s content you can get from its title alone, and somewhat disturbing how difficult it is shake that initial preconception. Take Grim Furry Tales: Seeds, for instance. This collection of 17 short stories and accompanying journal entries, written by Martin Brandt II and illustrated by an assortment of artists, is not the children’s cartoon-styled escapade that its name might suggest but a sophisticated tale of growing up, and the wonders (and dangers) of imagination.

Though Grim Furry Tales treads the same path as Bill Willingham’s Fables, initially depicting the war on myth, fairy tale and legend as a Lord of the Rings inspired battle between industry and tradition, these short stories are presented in the innovative metaficitonal context of a journal. Imaginative 11 year-old Laurel Matthews finds herself the protector of the Avatars of the Unwaking Lands, guardians of dream and whim sealed within the bodies of stuffed animals. Shifting effortlessly between illustrated prose, sequential art and diary extracts, Seeds is brimming with interesting notions and curious creatures; such as the mind-gobbers, imperceptible imps who feed on idle thoughts.

The illustrations for each short tale were donated by over a dozen artists, which has become a popular way of getting such ambitious comic projects off the ground. Each artist was given only minimal art direction, and their diverse approaches add to the book’s scrapbook narrative without feeling at all incohesive. Particularly impressive are Paul Petyo’s macabre diorama/photography work on ‘Bloody Bones,’ Kit White’s ‘Changeling’ and Chase Bowman's illustrations in several of the prose sections.

Read more: Grim Furry Tales: Seeds review