Stickleback (comics)

Infobox comic book title
title = Stickleback


caption =
schedule = Weekly
format =
publisher = "2000 AD" (Rebellion)
date = 2006 - 2008
issues =
Steampunk = y
AltHistory = y
multigenre = y
main_char_team =
writers = Ian Edginton
artists = D'Israeli
pencillers =
inkers =
colorists =
creative_team_month =
creative_team_year =
creators = Ian Edginton
D'Israeli
TPB = Stickleback
ISBN = 1905437749
subcat = 2000 AD
sort = PAGENAME
nonUS = y

"Stickleback" is a steampunk/alternate history comic series created by Ian Edginton and D'Israeli and appearing in "2000 AD".

D'Israeli has used a new style for this series, compared to his usual clear line/vector work. His main influence has been Alberto Breccia, [ [http://disraeli-demon.blogspot.com/2006/09/first-results.html D'Blog of 'Israeli: First Results ] ] in particular "Perramus". [ [http://disraeli-demon.blogspot.com/2007/01/alberto-breccia-me.html D'Blog of 'Israeli: Alberto Breccia & Me ] ]

Publication history

The series currently consists of two stories, both of which started with a double, 10 page, feature in the end of year special issue and which was collected into a trade paperback in August 2008.

Characters

*Stickleback, the eponymous and semi-mythical villain who runs a criminal gag of outcasts including:
** Little Tonga a pygmy with a blow-pipe, similar to the character of Tonga from the Sherlock Holmes novel "The Sign of the Four"
** Mister Peepers and Mister Lug, siamese twins. The former has large ears and the latter has complex binocular spectacles
*Detective Valentine Bey, "The Dark Detective" the policeman on his trail.
*Sergeant Leonard Chipps, his assistant
*Chief Constable Delius Lime, their superior

Plot

The story opens at some point in the mythical past. Gog and Magog (the defenders of London) are getting old and so they agree to letting a druid sacrifice them so that they can defend the capital forever.

The story moves forward to a Victorian era London where Abdul Alhazred is conducting a séance. However, it appears to be more hypnotism than Spiritualism and the medium is trying to extract information from his clients. Luckily the guest are undercover police officers but an attempt to arrest the villains reveals them to be clockwork automata. They were all created by Prof. Philo Thynne who left his position at London University's Mechanical Engineering Department to run the scheme, not for his personal gain, but to build a device to protect him from Stickleback, with whom he had previously had some kind of contact.

In a series of events a clockwork cow explodes and derails a train with a mysterious cargo, Chief Constable Lime pulls Bey off the case and the latter is kidnapped by a couple of witch doctors. Bey is delivered to Stickleback who reveals that, although his criminal organisation has yet to be targeted, there is a mysterious well-connected group, called the City Fathers, had started taking out various criminal gangs with the intention of taking over London. Stickleback claims that Chief Constable Lime is one of them and that he needs Bey's help and so sets him free, with all the evidence collected by the gang.

Collected editions

The stories have been collected into a trade paperback:

*"Stickleback" (by Ian Edginton and D'Israeli, trade paperback, 132 pages, August 2008, ISBN 1905437749) collects:
** "Mother London" (in "2000 AD", prog 2007 and #1518-1525, 2006-2007)
** "England's Glory" (in "2000 AD", prog 2008 and #1567-1577, 2007-2008)

ee also

*List of steampunk works

Similar work by the same team include:

*"H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds"
*"Leviathan"
*"Scarlet Traces"

Notes

References

*comicbookdb|type=character|id=25236|title=Stickleback
* [http://www.2000adonline.com/?zone=thrill&page=profiles&choice=STICKLE "Stickleback"] at 2000AD online

External links

* [http://scarlettracesannotations.googlepages.com/stickleback Stickleback annotations]