First, I must say that this is a very professionally produced comic and the quality of the work inside more than matches these production values, though having read it I start to wonder where the creator found the money to fund his comic.

The artwork is fluid and dynamic and very reminiscent of the work of Albert Uderzo on Asterix, which I loved as a child (and obviously as I’m writing for a comics website I still do).  This includes the varied hand lettering throughout, which adds yet another dimension to the storytelling, both by putting inflection into the characters speech and by the multiple layers of action within each frame.  The Asterix connection is touched on in a playful little reference when a chamber maid says, ‘Estos ingles son loco’ (‘These English are crazy’ for those of you without CSE Grade 1 Spanish).

It was a little disconcerting though, when reading something which appears so comfortingly familiar from childhood to discover swearing, violence and drug abuse.  This never happened in Asterix.  Although thinking back, there was a fair bit of cursing, by Toutatis, quite a lot of violence against the Romans and as for what was in the Druid’s magic potion…  And he was even called Getafix in the English versions for God’s sake!

The plot revolves around a couple on holiday who discover a load of cannabis on the beach where it has been temporarily left by some smugglers and who then decide to try and smuggle it back to England themselves, with the aid of the hero’s brother.  Unfortunately they are being pursued by HM Customs, SO10 and the rightful (wrongful?) owners of the drugs.  Hilarious complications ensue as is traditional in tales such as this.

It is a breakneck farce, laden with funny lines and visual gags which keeps you reading right to the end, in fact to both ends, in one sitting and then makes you want to go back and read it all again. At first, I was a little unsure about the cameo near the end which parodies a well known TV family but as the story develops and it turns out they are involved indirectly in the plot resolution you realise that they do fit in perfectly.

Fantastic little comic from a creator well worth keeping an eye on.

9.5