Filed under: Indie Comics | Tags: A Comic A Day In May, Charlie Cooper, Dean Beattie, London, LSCC 2014, Random Trials, Snakebite
Dean Beattie writes, draws and letters another hidden gem in the self-published world……with Random Trials #1……a tale of beer, crisps and a government trial gone wrong……..or maybe right.
Our central character for this is Charlie Cooper – a leather jacket wearing, trash TV watching man who’s just run out of beer…..I hate when that happens. Off to the shops he goes and with beer & crisps in hand the heads back to the warmth of his London flat in a rough part of town. Cue a run in with some local teenagers who have an eye on his purchases and who may take his boots and leather coat and burn them but this is where the s&%t hits the fan……at least for the teenagers. Charlie seems possessed as he retaliates and then some, punching right through one of them and quickly killing the others as all of this comes as a surprise to him but there are some beady eyes watching him from the local research facility.
This all turns out to be an extreme reaction to a government plot to hit the water supply with sedatives in an attempt to reduce crime in the area and it’s backfired big time. Shocked and bloodied (and without his beer & crisps), Charlie heads back to his flat where he’ll try and figure out his next steps…..seems easy enough but the research guys are quick to act and send their armed task force to bring Charlie in for discussions & dissection. Safe to say that’s not how things play out as the situation escalates and Charlie starts blasting his attackers with fire from his face.
the body count is rising and Charlies on the run and his next stop is his friends house – a secret password later and Charlie is pouring his heart out to Snakebite (great name) and we’re trying to figure out what’s caused all this stuff to happen. The discovery of a tracker placed on his jacket by that first st of armed attackers at his flat……and we’re left with a cliffhanger of two shadowy strangers watching Snakebites house.
Part comedy, part adventure and all very British with some great writing that helps you hear the accents in your head. Smart pacing makes this pass by before you even know it as the switch between Charlies predicament and the watchful eyes of those in the know…….and this all leaves you wanting more. Some quirky art in this too gives it a really cool vibe to it and it’s the kind of work I’d expect to be made into an animation for the BBC that would gain a REAL cult following. Can’t wait to get more of this and if you can get your hands on a copy – buy one, read it and tell your friends to do the same.
Checkout more of Deans work over at his website
8/10
G-Man
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