(Nothing kicks off your saturday better than receiving a review from a critic that really takes his time to consider the material before him. JeffR from the aussie horror site www.scrayminds.com has turned the knife back on The List and disected it to within an inch of its life. It is so heartenening for The List team to have our work appreciated right down to its deepest level. Enjoy:)

Review

“The Angel will understand that my violation of the list was not intentional.” - Son

The second Volume of Paul Bedford’s The List is like finding a blood coated meat cleaver on your kitchen table that you vaguely remember from a nightmare set in an abattoir you had the night before. It’s stark, uncompromising in the morning sunlight streaming through the curtains, and it does promise you dark secrets that you may not want to unravel. This graphic novel probably wont appeal to balanced minds, just as well then that horror fans tend so be slightly unhinged, this one is for us brothers and sisters, lets continue our trip to enlightenment.

Paul Bedford’s writing skills are to the fore early in Volume II. He simply lines up the big goal posts and kicks a major with apparently very little effort. You have to admire a writer that’s not giving anything away in terms of quality regardless of the medium he or she are writing for. Without giving away any spoilers here, may be saying that a lot in this review, the first panel of Volume II reprises the last panel of Volume I, there’s an inherent conflict that needs to be resolved, and Bedford takes time out of his busy schedule to get that done and dusted. The Son is in a rebellious mood after getting his list out of synch and is asserting himself against his father’s dictates, the list is his own after all. In a normal family, perhaps like one appearing on Neighbours, the Son would have stomped out of the house and hooned off to the nearest milk bar after an argument. Thankfully in The List the family isn’t anything like normal, arguments are likely to have fatal consequences dependant on Angel dictates.

It’s at this stage that we start to see the strength in Paul Bedford’s writing and his vision for The List. Having asserted himself, the Son must re-integrate his father, the enlightened being, into his fantasy. If you haven’t picked up on it yet, The List is less supernatural religious allegory, and more Psycho Roos bounding around the top paddock. In short the Son’s psychosis can not be allowed to shatter, else it’ll all come tumbling down, the structure of his world view must remain unbroken and unblemished. Without giving anything away Bedford accomplishes this, it rings true, and you the reader are not getting short changed by a simplistic solution.

Having established the home environment is a charnel house, did I mention Mom? - if not I’ll leave that as a discovery for the reader, Paul Bedford turns his attention to moving the plot along and furthering our understanding of what the quest might involve. The Son runs into a duo of would be rapists in a rain swept park late at night, who thankfully are going to provide the means for him to get his list back on track. We learn the road to enlightenment is paved with pain, the Son makes your typical avenging Angel look like a Tellytubbie, once a commandment from the list is meet it must be removed from the list (ouch!!!), and the Son is coming onto the radar of the authorities.

You get the feeling Paul Bedford is sharpening his knives in Volume II ready to take his pound of flesh, yes there will be blood, in the second half of The List. I’m pretty sure we are still in the shallow end of the blood pool at this stage with new depths of insanity and depravity to swim through in the next volume. For sure the Writer has the reader hooked and it’s going to be with some unease I’m sure that we’ll wait for future offerings from The List.

Naturally the reader is left with a few things to ponder while waiting for Volume III to hit the streets. Who is the “unknowing successor” and is an Angel motif a continued symbol for the Son’s unbalanced view of the world? I am also still wondering if the Father is the root cause of the Son’s current mental instability, in which case sign on the suicide dotted line, or is just another element in it? Guess more will be revealed in due course, just as this instalment threw a reddish hued light on the mother’s “sacrifice”.

Henry Pop and Tom Bonin remain dedicated to bringing the story to life in all it’s harsh tones, neither artist is taking a backward step in lifting the shroud from The List, and are depicting each panel as vividly as possible. This graphic novel is getting down and gory, I hate to think what the two Artists would come up with if they decided to get the crayons out and go full colour. Special mention of the full page panel when we finally meet mom, and the inserts proving our darkest thoughts in this direction were spot on. The panel is impactful, necessarily blood splattered, and one hell of a jolt that will have you sitting up and taking notice. There’s a reason for that “Mature Content Warning” appearing on the front cover.

Wayne Nichols throws another superb cover at us, in a stylish noir fashion. There’s something about Nichols work that speaks above the simple depictions used. I’m guessing it’s due to the Artist’s ability to slice directly to the heart of the matter and leaving the viewer to join the dots. Nichols is ahead of us at this stage of our road to enlightenment.

A couple of readers have written in wondering about the content of the graphic novel. Thought I had it covered people, try to keep up please. Warning: Adult language, horror themes, and extreme violence. That good enough for ya? This isn’t a Walt Disney shrill the rubes duck outing, this one’s coming at you from the dark heart of horror, if that doesn’t appeal then go read Twilight or something similar.

Summary Execution …

I simple devoured Volume II, it’s a page turner folks, and had to go back and force myself to slowly read through it a couple of more times to get the full nuances and jive to the excellent artwork on display. The book is deceptively simple, a second reading will inform you that there’s a lot more happening here than it would first appear. I’ve got the feeling I’ll review each Volume as they are released and then do a review of the entire graphic novel, start to finish. That way I get to read The List again and again. The List Volume II: An Honouring of the Third Commandment is available from the official site for $16.50 AUD. This represents extreme value for money as you get 72 pages, a 250gsm colour cover, and 100gsm pages. Anyone else thinking collectors item? Actually the site itself, we’ve linked it, is worth checking as it’s updated regularly with news items and about anything to keep the ever expanding fan base happy with life.

Volume II of The List continues the story and dark themes of the first volume. You are going to need to read them in sequence so if you haven’t read the first Volume than make it a double purchase with Volume II. Believe me you will not want to wait on delivery times after reading the first release, yes it’s that good. The road to enlightenment is painful, and that pain for us the readers is waiting on the next instalment. My first commandment is to read all four Volumes, make it yours!

ScaryMinds Rates this read as …

Paul Bedford and team are rocking the house down.

(Nb: please note that the references to the cover for Volume 1 being done by Wayne Nichols refer to the reprinted (re-edited) edition, not the original printing with the cover by Tom Bonin. The reprinted version also has some colour pages, which are also referenced below. Paul.) 

A Son inherits a list of commandments from his father, who apparently proceeds to commit suicide as the last commandment of his own list. Mum has already become the sacrifice as The List takes a trip down to religious fanaticism central. In case we aren’t getting how serious this is the Son starts inking his list of commandments into his chest.

Various wicked looking blades are apparently the tools the Son will need to complete his commandments and he collects a large kitchen knife, a cut throat razor, and a curved dagger. He apparently will need more “tools” but is pretty certain that the “Angel” will provide them.

While attempting to gain access to a night club the Son battles an over zealous bouncer with fatal consequences for the bouncer. Unfortunately this throws the Son’s list of commandments out of order, which is apparently a bad thing.

A cliff hanger ending will have you sweating on getting your hands on volume two. Ready to check out extreme Jesus camp?

Review

“I said that I must enter … for I am a purveyor of justice” - Son

Paul Bedford’s The List promises to be a dark ride into the depths of religious mania judging from the first of four volumes. The graphic novel is stark, foreboding, and has the impact of a sledge hammer to the skull. If planning on delving into the world of The List then don’t take that decision lightly, the book is taking no prisoners, is unapologetic in content, and lurks in the dark undergrowth ready to snatch unweary travellers from the lighted and well trode path of popular fiction. In short The List is unrelentingly harsh in it’s horror trappings, and that’s just the way we like it. Let’s break it down and get you on the road to enlightenment.

Structurally the first volume is broken down into a serious of parts that get us out of the station and along the tracks to fun times in fine fashion. “The First Passing of the Birthright” sees the Son receive his list from his father, who apparently commits suicide as his final task on an individual “quest”. I’m saying “apparently” here as Paul Bedford’s story is not as clear cut and simple as it first appears. Paul, and I’m assuming here, is after a much darker tale than simple religious paranoia gone wrong. Even at this early stage there’s a hint that not all is as it seems. “An Honouring of the First Commandment” see’s the Son collect the “tools” of his own quest, and given we’re talking some wicked looking blades the quest promises to be a blood soaked one. “An Honouring of the Second Commandment” reinforces the thought that Paul Bedford is going to be taking no prisoners with this graphic novel, the violence screams off the page. We round out with further hints that the Son might have a few Roos loose in the top paddock, and I was left scrambling for the second volume with the final panel of The List volume 1 throwing an apparent supernatural twist into proceedings.

Paul Bedford’s narration is misery in the extreme, nothing unnecessary is being thrown at the reader, which is kind of chilling in itself to be honest. About everything is from the Son’s POV, so we are talking twisted sister here, with the odd bit of dialogue coming from other characters where required. If you have a problem with the f bomb then The List is going to have you blushing like your maiden aunt at a strip show. Hey Sex and the City dropped the “c” word on prime time, Pandora’s box well and truly opened friends and neighbour, and I’m pleased to see characters using some strong language when faced with the chaos of horror. Anyone else wondering how many New Yorkers go to finishing school after the oh so polite drawing room saga that Cloverfield turned out to be? Two thumbs up to Paul Bedford, if some maniac with a blood soaked jacket was headed my way I might drop the odd expletive as well to be honest.

Needless to say Paul Bedford’s story is intriguing, full of subtle nuances, and likely to be one twisted hay ride. Excellent stuff, someone should pick up the script the graphic novel is based on and make the movie. Dexter Morgan and Hannibal Lector have nothing on the Son. Paul Bedford penned the script as well.

Wayne Nichols created the distinctive and impactful front cover. I’m basing that opinion on online images of the cover as my review copy, thanks Paul, actually sported the cover of volume 2. There’s definitely a religious spin to things going down, but as stated above that could well be misleading. Enlightenment may not be what the Son thinks it is. Suicide for example is a mortal sin, hardly the action that’s likely to have the heavenly glee club clapping and screaming for more. Nichols artwork for the cover continues the stark nature of the graphic novel and remains a fitting introduction to the world of The List.

The majority of the actual panels in the novel proper are two tone black and white pencil and ink illustrations. It’s a forceful presentation of the subject matter. Characters are well conceived and the presentation is superb. For flashbacks, necessary to flesh out the story line, we have a taupe background colour. And before anyone asks my wife made the call on the taupe as I had no idea. Overall if you have read U.S publications like Eerie then you will be hip to the groove here.

In the final wash up The List volume one leaves a lot more questions unanswered than it attempts to close out. There’s a strong hint that the Son might not be the most balance person in the world, he see’s people who aren’t there, and what is presented as fact might actually be a smoke screen for a far more disturbing concept. As the volume closes out Paul Bedford has the reader hooked and ready for more.

Summary Execution …

I read through the first volume a few times as it’s not giving up it’s secrets without a struggle on the part of the reader. That’s a good thing for readers who don’t wish to be spoon feed everything. The storyline is engrossing, and disturbing, and the artwork presents the bleak tone of an urban nightmare. With three volumes to come, The List has me ready for more. The List can be sourced direct from the website The List. Currently volumes one and two are available with the third volume in production. The graphic novel site itself is worth digging around as there’s plenty of information to be gleaned on the background to The List.

If you like your horror reading dark, taking no prisoners, and ready to assail the senses then dive on into The List. It promises to become a classic of Down Under graphic horror and is one not to miss. The road to enlightenment is not going to be easy folks, but it’s going to be one hell of a ride.

ScaryMinds Rates this read as …

A solid eight and a solid start to proceedings. Order your copy today!

The List Process.

Here are the thumbnails of the first few of pages (click on thumbnails below). What I do is I open the script in Word, and then I print it out the script so you get 2 pages on a single page. I work directly on the scripted page. It saves paper, and I don’t have to flip between pages. Also, doing more than one thumbnail on a page helps with the storytelling relationship between the pages, and makes it more cohesive overall.

Nifty fact #1: I work in traditional media, even though I am reasonably good in digital (I paint in digital though, but the main work is done on paper first). It feels better, and with art, that is what I usually go for. For me, the result doesn’t matter as much as the process. Somehow, it always works out with producing the results in the end.

You might notice the thumbnails are pretty weird. Thumbnails are meant to convey layout only. I used to do more detailed ones when I started working with Paul, but that was more the fact that we haven’t worked together before, so putting more detail in was a way to get across what I was doing visually to Paul. The script writing probably changed as he got more familiar with my work.
Now, thumbnails are purely for organising what Paul has written in the script into a storytelling format, and design purposes. It’s a planning stage. I figure, that if you put too much detail into the thumbnails, you might as well be doing the finished page.

Nifty fact #2: Oh, and the lame offhand comments written on the thumbnails are there for my own interest/amusement.

Page 3 is a finished page (below). I pencil fairly sparsely typically, because I’m used to inking my own work, and I do all my detail in that stage. But as of the last volume, I am working with Tom Bonin. Working with an inker changed my pencilling process somewhat. I had to put all the detail, as well as pencil the entire page. What I used to do was pencil the foreground and ink it, and then do the background objects in layered order. Now it’s all done at once. It feels weird doing what every other conventional penciller does.

I’ve also included a close up of my pencils (below). I’ve sharpened it up in Photoshop a bit to make it more crisp for intertrons viewing. As Tom is inking this, I usually leave the scans unaltered. He’ll then use whatever process he has to transfer it to paper.
Tom would probably have his own preferences on how he wants to reproduce copies of my pages to ink, and therefore altering my pencils post-scanning would just end up being a pain in the arse for Tom.

Page four (below) has been scanned prior to its completion just to further show how I work pencilling. If you take a look at the thumbnails for this page, the layout is roughly the same. But you still have to transfer it to a page. In this stage I chose the main things to draw and position them roughly how I want them to appear on the final page. I then adjust the layout slightly to accommodate. Thumbnails are a good indication of how the page should work, but it is by no means final. Layout is an art in itself, so my advice to anyone doing comics is to treat it with care.
Working on paper on the physical page also visually helps with composition. It’s hard for this to be replicated in a digital canvas for some reason (zooming out is not the same as standing back), so I can’t imagine myself working entirely on a computer.

Nifty fact #3: The List is a sausage-fest. Even as heavily silhouetted, as this female character is, I’ll draw the detail in, if only for the fact that it’ll be a while until another chick is in this damn script.

Cheers,

Henry.

It was a great pleasure to receive the first pages of Vol III from The List’s concept artist and penciller Henry Pop a few days ago. As much as I love any pages that come through, for some reason the first pages of a new volume seem special. Maybe because it’s a sort of milestone; a confirmation that the series has done well enough to warrant a third volume (of the four). In this unstable industry of Aussie comics where many series die out after the first or second volumes and are never heard of again, it is nice to know that the readership and critical acceptance of The List are strong enough to charge past the halfway mark with things only getting stronger as they do so.

With regards to this penultimate volume, we will be handling things a little differently: at Henry’s request this website will act as a kind of ‘Developer’s Diary’ where we will show the process of this volume’s creation from script to finished product (while being careful not to give anything away as we do so). To kick things off we have uploaded the script and pencils of pages 1 and 2 of Volume III, and when our inker, Tom Bonin, works his magic on said pages, these will also be displayed.

Any comments you may have are more than welcome, as in the end we are doing this to show you, our readers, what goes into bringing this crazy tale from our minds…into yours:

First up, of course, is the script:

________________________________________________________________________________

THE LIST

Vol. III

An Honouring of

Commandment IV

Author: Paul Bedford

Pencils: Henry Pop

Inks: Tom Bonin

© Copyright Paul Bedford 2009. All Rights Reserved.

‘The List’ is registered with the Australian Writers’ Guild.

________________________________________________________________________________

The List. Volume III. Paul Bedford.

PAGE ONE (five panels)

Panel 1. Night. The rain has stopped. The blood splattered Son (especially his face) is making his way along the street which leads away from the park (the entrance of which can be seen in the b.g). He looks absolutely haggard – his head hangs low as he walks and his arms dangle loosely at his sides.

Panel 2. Close: his feet catch on each other-

Panel 3. -he lurches sideways, on course for a nature-strip rooted tree-

Panel 4. –and collides with it (his side strikes the trunk).

SON 

OOF!

Panel 5. His legs crumple as he begins to slide down the trunk.

SON (whisper)

OHH…

________________________________________________________________________________

The List. Volume III. Paul Bedford.

PAGE TWO   (three panels)

Panel 1. Collapsed at the base of the tree with his head drooping forward and his eyes half closed, the Son mumbles to himself.

SON (whisper)

I KNOW YOU EACH WATCH ME - AND THUS, HAVE SEEN ME FALTER…PERHAPS YOU EXPECTED ME TO DO JUST THAT…

SON (whisper)

…FOR NO GREAT THING IS EVER BORNE WITH EASE.

Panel 2. Close on: The expressionless Son.

SON (whisper)

OUR FAMILY WAS CHOSEN FOR THIS TASK FOR WE WERE DEEMED WORTHY, AND I AM SOON TO PROVE THAT WE WERE RIGHTLY CHOSEN.

Panel 3. Side View: The saddened Son has lifted his head to look to the Heavens.

SON (whisper)

MOTHER, FATHER. YOU NEED NOT LOOK AWAY IN SHAME, FOR

I WILL NOT FAIL US.

________________________________________________________________________________

Next step, Henry’s rendering of my words into pics…

Page One

Page Two

Tom’s Inks will be up soon to complete the process. I suppose sending him the pencil’s might help that happen…

Thank you for your continued readership and support.

The List Team: Paul, Henry and Tom.

The following review is extracted from a long running Amercian site with a massive follwing, Comicsbulletin (.com) . A huge humber of people will see this review (site averages 125,000 hits a day), so it’s good thing he had a lot of good things to say about it (always a risk having a review done). I was stunned at how succinctly his comments reflected all I had sought to inject into The List:

“My favorite comics writer is the late, great Steve Gerber. The thing that made Gerber great is that he never flinched from exploring the darker side of humanity, of looking with a clear eye into the worst that humankind could bring. Whether it was facing the absurdity of modern life, exploring life after a Columbine-like killing, or facing the labyrinthine complexities of the human mind, Gerber was a writer devoted to finding profound insights into reality inside the medium of comics.

One of Gerber’s most profoundly interesting series was Foolkiller, a miniseries from Marvel that explored, with a straight face and a complete lack of moral judgment, the inner life of a Punisher-like vigilante. In the series, readers saw the Foolkiller’s obsessions, his extreme moral judgments of others, and his insane obsessions with justice. It was an incredibly intense comic, made all the more so by the fact that readers were invited to live inside the head of the vigilante.

Paul Bedford’s The List reminds me of the best of Gerber. Bedford, along with artists Henry Pop and Tom Bonin, explore the insanity and motivations of their protagonist with an unflinching eye. The protagonist is obsessed with honoring his father by drawing blood in an effort to honor the Biblical Commandments. He has the Commandments tattooed onto his chest, and in order to complete his honoring of the Commandments, must cut them out of his flesh after he has done so.

Precisely his motivation for doing so is vague and reflects his insane mind. In the first few pages, the protagonist’s father appears before the protagonist, as if in a vision. Father and son fight, father howling “I will have no son of mine shaming me before the angel” as the son carves words in his own flesh. It’s a profoundly disturbing scene; as readers we have no way of knowing if this scene is literally happening or if it’s all inside the son’s deranged mind. Is the blood on his stomach real, or is it symbolic of his inner agony?

And perhaps more disturbingly, is an even spookier scene with the mother meant to be taken literally or as a symbolic representation of the son’s inner turmoil? It’s said that children must kill their parents in order to truly be free; is writer Bedford implying that readers should take that truism literally in this case, or that we’re seeing the idea explored in symbolic form?

Reading this book forces the reader to explore layers within layers within layers. We wonder about the literal versus the symbolic and the pursuit of higher truths versus insane obsessions. What does it mean to truly honor one’s parents, and is a child fated to always be a symbolic instrument of his parents’ obsessions? And what is the role of that person inside his society?

Bedford only breaks the wall of internal monologue on one of the last few pages of the book, as we see a TV report of the central event of this issue. The events are horrific, but the page is captioned “the unknowing successor.” Will the events spark a copycat? Are the mad obsessions and angers displayed in this book fated to happen again? Should one of the prices of a civil society be the tolerance of a certain level of incivility?

These are profound thoughts for a comic. It’s great to see a creator like Paul Bedford explore the darker sides of humanity. This is a thoroughly dark and disturbing comic book, but it’s also deeply intriguing and thoughtful.

Rating: 4 Bullets (out of 5) .”

Finally Volume II of The List is set loose!

This instalment plunges the reader into the story proper, partly revealing in blood soaked detail the true depths of madness and despair that this family’s Birthright entails…all sprinkled with a light garnishing of subtly placed clues, so keep a keen eye out for them.Check out the nifty cover by Wayne Nichols (www.wnichols.com):

This volume, foreworded by my good friend and fellow creator Mr. Bobby N.(www.bluetoaster.com), is now available for sale both from stores across Australia (see the ‘Retailers‘ tab) and from this very website (see ‘Online Store‘ - just to your left, yes, that’s it, click it. Ha!). If you are under 15 please ask for your parent’s permission before purchasing due to the explicit content in this book.

The Launch!

This Volume was launched last month to a full house at a very cool little bar (Loop Bar) in Melbourne. The lively night was brilliantly MC’d by Avi Bernshaw, speeches were given by  The List’s penciller Henry Pop and myself, an audio visual presentation (thanks to Trev Wood) on a large screen accompanied by the thumping music of The Mark of Cain (compliments of John Scott - thanks John) pummeled the audience and the copies of the first edition (a few copies still available) where signed and sold. All in all a bloody great night! Thanks to all attended.

Here are some photos of the night (thanks to CC for being photographer on the night!). Click on the pics to enlarge:

This image was displayed on the bar’s huge screen as punters rolled in:

Mc Avi had the crowd both enraptured…and a little frightened. ;^) A job brilliantly done.

The List’s Penciller, Mr. Henry Pop - quite a cool pic, agreed?

…and then yours truly had his turn to spout on

Here’s a couple of still shots from the a/v presentation (close your eyes and imagine the image spinning onto the screen accompanied by driving, menacing rock):

…and finally here’s a couple of pics of the crowd (thanks to those who took them - mainly Bobby N and Trev Wood):

A great night is planned for the release of the second instalment of The LisT!

Held at Melbourne’s very cool Loop Bar, the night will be MC’d by OzTAKU’s Avi Bernshaw and include a brilliant audio visual presentation put together by Mr. Trev Woods, as well as speeches guaranteed not to bore you - and beer on tap if somehow they do!

Lastly, it’s on a Saturday night, so you can let rip a little. All are more than welcome (yes, even if you don’t buy it of course. Ha!) so please come along and join in the revelry, it’d be great to see you there. Yeah, I’m talking specifically to YOU!

Kind regards,

The List Team (Paul, Henry & Tom).