Misty 2

Misty #2

by Malcolm Shaw, Mario Capaldi (Illustrator), John Richardson (illustrator)

THE SENTINELS

Two identical tower blocks, known as ‘The Sentinels’ to the locals, stand tall
over the town of Birdwood – but only
one is occupied while the other remains
mysteriously empty. When Jan Richards’
family lose their home they decide to
hide out in the abandoned block so they
can stay together, only to be sent into a
parallel world where the Nazis conquered Britain in 1940.

END OF THE LINE...

Ann’s father was one of a group of engineers believed to have been killed
whilst working on an extension to the
London Underground. But when she and
her mother are invited to the opening of
the new train tunnel, Ann discovers a
mysterious time portal through which
several workers are being kept as slaves
by an evil Victorian called Lord Vicary.

Genres: Comics, Horror, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Suspense

112 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 16, 2017

Reviews

[Grace Harwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hurray for Rebellion Publishing for buying the rights to this iconic comic series and reprinting them. I grew up with Misty comic and absolutely loved it (although it wasn't always that easy to come by in the rural place I grew up in, and I generally had to wait until Xmas to get the annual). With this in view, both of these stories were new to me (although, simultaneously not new to me - anyone familiar with Misty will know that the stories were generally borrowed from established horror writers. So, for example, "Moon Child" which features in the first volume of this collection, was nicked from Stephen King's Carrie).

In this one, the two stories are "The Sentinels" (basically a re-writing of Phillip K. Dick's "The Man in the High Castle) and the tale of two sinister tower blocks. In one, families are very happy. In the other, no one will live because people keep disappearing. It turns out that in the second one, there is a gateway to an alternative future - one where the Nazis won the war and everyone lives under the oppressive dictatorship of Hitler.

In the second story, "End of the Line", a Victorian madman discovers the secret to longevity and transports his entire household into the London underground and forces them to work there for him forever, living on mushrooms to extend their life. When he runs out of workers, he starts to kidnap other people from other lines, including the father of Ann Summerton, who catches a glimpse of him, during a ride on the underground. She then must try and find ways to free him and the others held captive (including all of the original workers, who now have weird eyes because of the mushrooms they've spent the last century eating). All's well that ends well, of course, including finding a home for the weirdos (who are rescued by "medical experts" and will "probably [be] move[d] to some remote island". How very comforting for them.

I love what this comic does - I love the exposure of social issues of the time through a comic book (much as Mills & Boon romantic novels do). Originally published in 1978, the first story highlights the housing crisis in Britain and how lower class folks often had their children taken into care, simply because the council couldn't find a place to live for them together and there was inadequate housing after slum clearances (as in the brilliant but heart-breaking Cathy Come Home). The second story highlights the human cost of technological and industry advances from Victorian times through to the present day. The artwork is fantastic (if a bit samey - I couldn't help but notice that Jan in first story looks precisely the same as one of the bullies from "Moonchild" who comes to a bad end at that Carrie-style prom night). The main thing for me though is the nostalgia value. This is a golden opportunity for me to revisit stories I loved as a child (and who knew I had great taste in literature, even then). I reiterate - hurray for Rebellion Publishing for reproducing these books for a whole new generation of readers (and giving the old ones a second chance at enjoying them again).

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought these to re-read after I had read the original comics when I was 11 & 12.

[Adam Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rather enjoyed these two stories from the Misty Comics. I think i preferred The End of the Line to The Sentinels but both were enjoyable stories with two fiesty girls as the heroines of the piece. These wouldn't have been for me back in the day but I think that I would have enjoyed them at the time.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

More fun gothicness from the late 70s British comic. This time, an odd Hitler Wins tale and a quite good story reminiscent of a few Twilight Zone episodes mashed together with a Victorian twist.

[Alex Sarll]

The Sentinels is classic Misty, mixing what were seen as stereotypically girls' comic concerns at the time (fitting in at school, coping with family upset) and genre scariness. Specifically, a tower block which serves as a gateway to another, darker world. It's a set-up which could easily lend itself to a Sapphire & Steel story, but there are no enigmatic cosmic enforcers to help here, just humans muddling through, baffled or tempted into terrible decisions. Grounded in social realist concerns (Jan Richards' family are only in the block in the first place because they have to squat after being made homeless, and the council waiting list is too long), it also has a real knack for making the right decision to ensure the story lands, right back to the title. After all, the Sentinels are twin blocks, and as we're repeatedly told early on, one of them is happily inhabited; all the spooky stuff happens in the other, deserted one. So in that sense, you don't need two blocks at all for the story. Yet somehow, and I think this would have held true even before twin towers carried the mortal echo they do now, The Sentinel wouldn't be half so unnerving, and nor would the visual of a single looming block. As is, a very simple set-up and a story that's incredibly straightforward by parallel world standards still retain a real ability to chill. I'm also fascinated by the creative team being Malcolm Shaw and Mario Capaldi, which obviously I keep wanting to amend to Malcolm Tucker and Peter Capaldi by way of another parallel worlds story.

Shaw likewise writes the collection's second serial, End Of The Line... (yes, the ellipses are part of the title, though I'm not altogether sure why), though the art there is by John Richardson. The H is important; this is not the same guy known for being short on Taskmaster and doing a piss-poor faux-reality show with his wife. Though initially the art here has some of the same 'Why did you think that would work?' quality I associate with the namesake. Still, after a while the wonky likenesses and weird perspective start to feel like they might be a deliberate decision; certainly they support the mood of life running off the rails and everyone thinking the protagonist is mad. That's young Ann Summerton, her father believed dead in a cave-in during construction of the Tube's new Windsor Line. Which...that's the surname to match the forename of Crossrail's 'Elizabeth Line' AKA, isn't it? Not a bad guess for saying this came out in 1978. See also the fact that this line is apparently faster and comfier than the rest of London Underground, and that its West End station, while called George Street, looks an awful lot like the remodelled Tottenham Court Road. The only obvious difference – assuming that we leave aside artefacts of the time such as paper tickets – is that by the time of the story, the line is actually open for use by passengers. Reading this 44 years later, that detail necessarily feels as outlandish as the 20th century moonbase in Space: 1999, but thankfully the rest of the story is far closer to the bounds of believability, a Death Line riff with the tunnels haunted by Victorian ghouls, survivors of an earlier tunnelling attempt, the Prince Albert Line (hur hur) who have been kept alive through a method anticipating the current vogue for fungal horror. Likewise anticipating the turn British politics was about to take, but even more so the likes of that ghastly squit Rees-Mogg in our own time, their leader thinks British society has been going wrong since the Industrial Revolution and is kidnapping surface folk, enslaving them in furtherance of...well, it's not exactly clear what; to some extent making them toil and suffer seems to be its own reward, which certainly fits with the welfare policies of his kin in power nowadays. And of course Ann starts to piece together what's happening, and that her dad is not dead but one of the prisoners. But this being a Misty strip, nobody believes her – even Ann's mum. Not helped by the fact that she has a new suitor sniffing around, one who Ann is convinced is only really after the insurance money for the supposedly dead dad – which if anything seems an optimistic diagnosis on her part, given how much 'Uncle Neville' looks like a classic nonce. Compared to The Sentinels, this story has much more sense of being made up as it goes along, but especially in horror, the breakneck feverishness of that isn't necessarily a failing.

And filling out the back of the book, a brief guide to amateur phrenology, by way of reminder that the seventies were wild. Though to be fair this was at least a publication for kids, and the piece is probably about as sound as half the stuff Psychologies now pushes for adults.

[Mel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first Misty comic I read and I was so impressed. Both these stories were about girls who witnessed something horrible, and were wanting to fix it but no one would believe that it was actually happening. Considering they were written by men, they seemed to understand the frustrations of young girls, but also the joys. As both girls made a really good friend on their adventures who helped them with their problems. It was all the lovely feminist things you'd expect (or hope to find) from a modern comic, not one from the 70s.
The first story was about a homeless family that was forced to squat because otherwise the children would be taken into care. Yes you read that right. Kids comics, focusing on the housing crisis of Thatcher's Britain. The evil was one of two tower blocks, one good one empty. It was one of the best social commentary comics I've read. And then the Nazis showed up. But it was a fantastic story.
The second story was about a posher girl whose Dad had been killed on the job working at building a new underground line. But then it turns out she saw him in the tunnel. Her dedication to finding out what was going on, and her desire to save him was inspiring. She was SO full of agency in the face of oppression. And by her actions was able to save him, and everyone else. The social commentary was a bit more blatant in that the villain of the piece was Victorian landed gentry.
But still two excellent stories. Definitely the one of the 3 I would most highly recommend.

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never read much of Misty when it first came out, though my sister loved it.
The two complete stories in here are good, without really being original or even really that exciting. They read a lot more like mid 70's action comic stories altered a bit to be more girl friendly, which of course it pretty much is as Misty was out from 78-80 ish.
There is nothing wrong with this to a degree but at that time I was reading/had read Action/Battle/2000AD and they were a lot more exciting, but then they didn't have the female touches (or what they considered female touches back then)

This volume is a good read. The stories are a bit different, while also following the tradition of basing the stories of other media, but while enjoyable it doesn't make me want to try either of the other volumes.

I gave this three stars as it is certainly worth a read but isn't enjoyable enough to be more than just above average.

[Sanjeev Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another two excellent stories in this volume. I wish both stories were longer.

The second story, End of the line, was brilliant. Based on the less well-known Hammer Horror film Death Line, (one of my favourites) the story goes much deeper into characterisation with a more sophisticated, and equally sinister, plot.

The sentinels was a delight to read. It has a gritty social commentary about families living on the poverty line whose desperation leads them to decisions others wouldn’t take. This gave it a real human edge. There are so many directions this could go in and there was the possibility that it could continue.

The art added dimension and depth to the stories.

You’ll have to search far and wide to find two equally gripping stories.

Highly recommended!

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once again great weird stories, showing how Misty was one of the best British comics of all time.

The first story involves a homeless family who move into an abandoned tower block that is a portal to a parallel universe where the Nazis won World War II.

The second seems to be a riff on the '72 film Death Line. When a girl goes to investigate her dad's disappearance she discovers an immortal Victorian aristocrat has created an secret realm in the underground with people he kidnaps to be his slaves.

Both are incredibly impressive.

[Stratospherus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stories in one package.

Nah, this wasn't my cup of tea. The premise in both stories came intriguing, but as they progressed on, the effect of being hooked up got shattered into tiny little pieces.

In the first story, a girl discovers a gateway in empty block tower to an alt dimension where Nazis have conquered Britain. It starts strong, but then descends a basically spy adventure, with pretty bleak, if not bittersweet ending.

In the second story, a different girl sees images of her deceased father underneath London in tube rides. Only to discover that father suffered fate worse than death.

Like I said, the idea in both worked me into it, but once the plot develops enough, the effect of chill and suspense is watered down. Protagonist in both stories is likable, you really feel for their troubles, if only plotting was a bit beter. The 2nd story is imho superior than the first, but it ends on a pretty rushed note, after pages and pages of slow build-up. Shame.