Sparkplug Highlights: Gin Palace, Issue One

In this funny, sweet, and bizarre British anthology, a variety of stories and styles are presented for your reading pleasure! Gin Palace features seven different comics, all of which are pure entertainment. In Rob Jackson's two-part "The Ballad of Hatty Jack," a plucky young man in a parodic Victorian London puts on a giant hat to battle hat-based injustice wherever it is found -- and in part two, he pairs up with Murdock Bones, brilliant detective and master of disguise, in order to take down a nefarious organization! Dave Hughes takes on weird science in "Little Scary Monsters," while Simon M. details the love-hate relationship with his local pub. In Francesca Cassavetti's "Measuring Up," she examines her relationship with alcohol, from small child lulled to sleep by her parents' parties to alcohol-swilling wild child to grown-up mother at peace with her drinking habits. Ant Mercer presents a two-page gag comic about a terrible interview (and, later, another one about a certain Kennedy assassination), and Jarod Rosello contributes a wordless cartoon about a dog, a man, a cafe, and a rainy afternoon in "The Rain." Finally, Lee Johnson's "Sin Cat" is a jagged, trippy combination of drawings and collages that follows the adventures of the eponymous feline. With gorgeous full-color covers and forty pages of comics, you'll finish this issue raring to read more from these brilliant Brits!