Over the years, The ABC Warriors line-up has changed considerably, with new characters coming and going as their never ending war through time and space racked up casualties, and this is where the creators involved in this special take their lead: each story is dedicated to an individual Warrior, both past and present, with a collection of stories that will leave your Thrill Circuits tingling long after you've closed the comic.
Myself, Chris Askham and Bolt-01 take on Joe Pineapples, the ultra-cool assassin with the interesting wardrobe in a story called Tin Man:
Joe Pineapples: former member of the X-Terminators - the cadre of elite assassin robots - and one of the most deadly beings in the galaxy. Cool and calculating, he is a literal killing machine that nothing and no one can stop. But perhaps there's something that can make him pause...The ABC Warriors have always been some of my favourite characters in 2000AD, and, in my opinion, their second adventure, Black Hole
by Pat Mills, Simon Bisley and SMS, is one of the single greatest strips that ever appeared in The Galaxy's Greatest Comic. So, when I heard about the special, I knew I had to try and be involved in it, because, frankly, when am I ever going to get the chance to write any of those characters? In a shameless attempt to land a place in the comic, I submitted two scripts, but only Tin Man was picked up for the special (the other one, Broken Dreams, will be appearing in another issue of Zarjaz, due later this year, with art by my Babble collaborator Bryan Coyle), which was cool with me, as Joe is one of my two favourite characters from the series. So, yeah, I am one happy geek at the minute.Not content with pulling together the cream of small press talent for the issue - and me - the Zarjaz editorial team have managed to get a pretty scrotnig cover for it from current ABC Warriors artist Clint Langley (with a new logo by Michael Carroll):
Zarjaz #11 - The ABC Warriors Special features work from Matt Soffe, Kevin Levell, Rich Clements, Dunk Nimmo, Dave Evans, Eric Moore, Matt Badham and Gibson Quarter, and is available from the FutureQuake Shop, priced £3.00 (plus P&P) Earth money. And if that wasn't enough, you can also grab your copy from your local Forbidden Planet International store and now Orbital Comics in London! So go and do yourself a favour and discover why Zarjaz is, indeed, The Galaxy's Greatest Fanzine!
Remember, for all your Zarjaz - and Dogbreath - news, check out The Quaequam Blog - but remember to set your browsers for maximum Thrill Power!
For now, though, let's leave the final word to Hammerstein:
