Review-HOME BREW VAMPIRE BULLETS Number Two

Review HOME BREW VAMPIRE BULLETS Number Two
Contributors: Various, Edited by Garth Jones

Then
 In the tradition of Alan Moore's Dodgem Logic, Tales from the Crypt, 2000AD, Oz Magazine and Metal Hurlant, Home Brew Vampire Bullets is an anthology of 75% R-rated (but not necessarily adult), uniquely Aussie myth spinning, prose, politics and pulp soundtracked by Rose Tatts, soaked in Melbourne Bitter and dyed defiantly navy blue.

Now
Home Brew Vampire Bullets is an Australian pulp narrative anthology showcasing comics, gonzo journalism, scathing political polemics and MORE.

Available as Digital download and Print On Demand Details Here

 HOME BREW VAMPIRE BULLETS Number Two was delivered on time as promised and with it a few surprises. As an anthology it is still finding its feet,, experimenting with content and styles.
 A direction I’m quite pleased with,
This issue is more reminiscent of Dodgem Logic and Oz than the first which was heavy with sequential and satire pieces. Slightly larger than issue One it features Aussie comedian heavyweights Tony Martin and Justin Hamilton and top of their game comic contributors such as Sacha Bryning, Dean Rankine, Scott Fraser, Matthew Huynh and Matthew Dunn amongst others. This issue sees the first issue sequentials tucked away (with the exception of Scott Fraser’s Melbourne based supernatural turf war piece, SHADOW RUMBLE) the vacant pages have been jammed packed with essays, prose and pictorials which take nothing way from the original anthology concept but totally enhance it. Respected scribes Emma Beddows, Emmet O’Cuana, John Harrison and Laura Crawford provide informative and entertaining pieces as interesting as they are insightful and Kellie Gollings’ ABANDO photography is gorgeously reproduced and is a great argument for the procurement of the printed version. With the he addition of Turd Circus’ Tony Lewis we are also privy to some of the funniest satire you’ll see in Australia at the moment. The thing HBVB has going for it that I admire is that it has real “I’m a bastard, so what? “ attitude,   (just check out the provocative cover for proof) and wants to push the boundaries of safe traditional magazines. Who knows? Maybe the time is right to bundle everybody’s differing ideas into one package and fuck the niche markets. HBVB has a massive potential as a new outlet for established and new talent and its bold graphic design and content is loud enough to be noticed within the mainstream and hopefully scare it enough to take notice.
Issue Three promises the return of the sequential pieces BOLT, MARALINGA, HEAVY ANGEL, BABALON SHOKK and HOLT which were a large part of the promotion of Issue One,
BRING ON ISSUE THREE.

Home Brew Vampire Bullets Issue One. REVIEW

Home Brew Vampire Bullets Issue One. 
Published by HBVB Editor: Garth Jones Available as 
digital download: Scribd ( AUD$6.99 )  P.O.D thru BLURB (AUD$34.99) 
Good previews available on both sites.

 

I suppose it’s a hallmark of the age we live in, the need to have something quickly, not to draw things out. The collective attention span of the Internet is short, to use a polite word. Where comics and magazines were once seen in the deep dark past as ephemeral, one has to think what digital downloads are going to be seen as in the next decade or so. I like my books and magazines and comics/comix.
I'm a tactile kind of guy but I'm also a realist who knows that the best new stuff appears on the web first and production costs for something to buy at your favourite shop are prohibitive for the small publisher. So if you want to wait a couple of weeks and pay through the nose to hold a book in your hand or have it now for next to nothing and still hold it in your hand albeit a tablet. That is a choice you have to make sooner than later.

There is a point to this babble.

Home Brew Vampire Bullets released its 60 page anthology in late September to a warm reception. It whetted the appetite for what was to come and at US$1.99 in 4 different formats it was a bargain to boot. It lived up to its promise of a larrikin publication inspired by ozploitation movies, good ol’ pub rock and the great underground press of the 1970s. Expectation for issue one (I speak only for myself here) was very high. Now I've got it and read it, I wish I wasn't so impatient. A good slab of issue one appeared in the anthology and kind of spoiled it a bit, thinking about this I thought maybe the publishers could have spread some of the singular pieces over the next couple of issues perhaps?. That aside (and the download problem I had, gallantly and quickly rectified by HBVB main man Garth Jones) the magazine itself is a beautifully designed piece of work , with excellent colour and graphics that makes you feel you are holding something of value (and at $34.99 P.O.D …..well, you are!)
Garth Jones as helmsman has done a truly remarkable job to give it a unique feel. The collection of artists and writers will no doubt help move some copies but its whether the stories themselves and their length as continuous pieces will bring people back. Christian Read takes a giant slice of the writers credits, a well known and respected figure he keeps it simple with R.S HELL and PALE MAGIC, stories with a haunting/poltergeist type bent. It’s when we hit BABALON SHOKK with (that man again) Garth Jones that we get into some meaty story line that leaves you wanting more. It’s just a pity the majority of it was used to heavily push the anthology. The prose pieces where enjoyable, though DINGOES was hard to read on my iPad due to background colours. But Micca Delaney’s words (or where they Scott Frasers?) kept me jumping hurdles.
Christian Read's DEVIL IN AUSTRALIA and Nick Lewis’ THE AUSTRALIAN MOTOR ENTHUSIASTS GUIDE are as good a  pieces of satire you'll see anywhere these days, both a highlight. The artist as story teller is carried by Scott Fraser in SHADOW RUMBLE, Simon Sherry with HEAVY ANGEL and Mathew Dunn's CEO.
The stand out pieces as sequentials are definitely MARALINGA , THE MANY HAROLD HOLTS OF SPACE AND TIME and BOLT These three stories will make me come back for more. The artwork in MARALINGA by Doug Holgate is a joy to look at and I found myself going over the landscape of a ruined Melbourne over and over again. The Ozploitation tag really hits high gear (and an R rating) with Mark Selan and Steve Martinez’s LUST OF CONVICTED VIXENS. This piece of sexy fun took me back to Slow Death Comix with Rand Holmes and Jaxon from the 1970s underground. Chuck in a few more stories about ignorant gangsters GUSTY SMYTHE and more devilish stories THE DEVIL IS IN THE DETAIL with some leftie political essays in some of the other written pieces (including some fun faux adverts) and you get a great mixture for a good solid read and at a 152 pages enough to keep you satisfied until Autumn when the next issue is due.
I know I'm greedy but I was expecting a bit more of the stories already featured in HBVB ZERO.

Doug Holgate's MARALINGA artwork

Simon Sherry's Heavy Angel artwork in colour

Mathew Dunn's CEO artwork

Home Brew Vampire Bullets

Home Brew Vampire Bullets
A quick review

Home Brew Vampire Bullets or HBVB is an anthology to prepare the unsuspecting public for the first real issue proper due to be published in many formats come November this year. It announced itself as the bastard child of such wonderful classics such as Metal Hurlant (no mention of the Nation Lampoon sponsored US version Heavy Metal) Tales from the Crypt, Oz Magazine and 2000AD (the earlier version , not the later I hope) and more current publications such as Alan Moore's Dodgem Logic.
 It promises a great collection - to quote: “uniquely Aussie myth spinning, prose, politics and pulp sound tracked by Rose Tattoo, soaked in Melbourne Bitter and dyed defiantly navy blue.”.
 It doesn’t disappoint, to a point.
HBVB has many talented people in its stable.
Those stories featured in this anthology which have made Issue one a promising "must get" are: The Many Harold Holts of Space and Time, Maralinga, Heavy Angel, Bolt and BABALON SHOKK. (see credits for artists in the contents screen grab below). All have the look of what I consider good adult entertainment. We have some classic faux ads, much in the tradition of 70s legend Tony Edwards Captain Goodvibes Collections and later days Chaser newspaper. The classic Martin Sharp style birth control advert is a killer. My only concern is that HBVB doesn’t try to be Ocker Aussie with a political correct and left wing leaning. The prose piece titled The Tachyon Tribulations of Dr. Radium read like a lefty Uni students whine because the election didn’t go the way he dreamed. As the Chaser Boys discovered it’s just as funny to see things from the other wing of politics as well. All up I’m looking forward to issue One and at AU$1.99 for a 4 different format (ePub, pdf, Mobi for Kindle and CBR for comics reader like Comic Zeal) from gumroad.com it’s a bargain to boot. A pdf only version is also available through scribe.com.