[Ojay]

Septic Isle by Andy Winter and Mick Trimble
Requirements: CBR Reader, MB
Overview: In the 70s and 80s, Jacob Marley was MI5's most feared and revered agent. But he turned his back on Queen and country to pursue a more peaceful existence. Now, 15 years later and with his life collapsing around him, Marley is back. His mission? Take down a ruthless neo-Nazi terrorist organization that has declared war on Britain's Muslims!



Septic Isle

Andy Winter story, write
Mick Trimble pencil, art
Declan Shalvey Cover
Published by Moonface Press. 2008.


Mick Trimble Talks (Interviewed by Kelvin Green):

"Actually, I'm worried that MI5 have a file on me in real life because of the search terms I put into Google when I was researching this book! Amongst other things, I've researched Islamist suicide bombers, the 7/7 attacks and the MI5 building itself (which I got wrong and had to re-draw! Google is not infallible, kids!). I also looked at the neo-Nazi sites Andy mentioned and it really is sickening what's out there, but this book had to look realistic, not fantastic, so the research had to be done. I'm just worried about the weird clicking noise my phone now makes whenever I make a call!".

Reviewed by Tonya Crawford on Jun 26, 2008.

In the wake of the July 7th bombings in London one old spy comes out of retirement. Does he still have what it takes?

British writer Andy Winter takes a look at terrorism – a rather homegrown kind – and what it means for one old soldier. There are questions raised of intolerance and hate, of pain and healing, and when someone may be over-the-hill.

Jacob Marley was one of MI5’s top agents in the 1970’s and 1980’s but he tired of pain and the blood and the death and he got out – got out to try to build a happy life with a wife and a daughter. His life was crumbling before the bombings of July 7th but a tragedy that day destroyed what he had left. Now, at nearly 53 years old, he’s looking to get back in the game. MI5 is willing to give him a chance because they have a problem… one of their agents sent to infiltrate a neo-Nazi group has instead gone native… in fact, he is heading the organization and has begun a campaign of terror bombings of London Mosques. A campaign made all the more horrifying because he is kidnapping children of Muslim families and then threatening to kill the children if a family member does not act as a suicide bomber. Of course, Marley is not going in alone – he’s been assigned to Maggie Firestone, a visiting agent from America’s Homeland Security Division. Maggie has her own wounds to heal and is out to prove something just as much as Marley is. Can these two agents handle their pasts while they deal with the present? If they can’t they’ll end up dead because their opponent is young, strong, smart, and knows the game just as well as they do.

Septic Isle is certainly a very clever idea and Winter takes a very ground level view of the story. There are no fancy James Bond gadgets here, almost no John Woo style impossible action sequences. This is spy drama at a gritty, street level and, most of all, this is a character drama. It is not so much what Marley does here that drives the story as why he does it and what he hopes to accomplish. Along the way the reader is left wondering if Marley’s cure will end up being worse than his condition. Likewise, Winter goes out of his way to emphasize that the villain of the piece definitely sees himself as the hero of his own story. That being said, the tale does have a few flaws and problems. Maggie and Marley’s relationship feels rushed and a little too easy. Maggie identifies Marley’s problems and diagnoses them without ever having seemed to say more than a few words to him. The story also feels like it jumps awkwardly from scene to scene in a few places and the revelation of a mole in MI5 feels a bit tacked on rather than an organic outgrowth of the story. Overall, it simply feels as though this was a much bigger movie and some scenes got left on the cutting room floor in order to bring down the running time.

The art provided by Mick Trimble is good if still looking for a little polish. His figures occasionally move stiffly or look a bit off-model from panel to panel. Still, one has to give him credit for making these characters look real. Marley, among other characters, displays a receding hairline and rather ordinary build. Indeed, all of the characters have that ordinary appearance of any man or woman on the street – which emphasizes the basic plot that anyone could hold these views; anyone could become an agent of hate.

The words on the cover proclaim "Britain is Broken" and Septic Isle is a study in that brokenness. Not just of a country, but of all the various human beings in this story. Everyone here is either broken or breaking and fixing the cracks is no easy task. In fact, it may prove impossible.

Download Instructions:
Septic Isle

Mirror:

Septic Isle