THE LUDOCRATS

RELEASED OUT NOW! Publisher Image Comics

Writers Kieron Gillen,

Jim Rossignol Artist Jeff Stokely

Chaotic, weird and unashamedly filthy, the latest sci-fi miniseries from Image is an extended exercise in seeing how far non-stop colourful nonsense can go.

Hailing from the imaginations of The Wicked + The Divine’s Kieron Gillen and games writer Jim Rossignol, this five-issue saga follows Baron Otto Von Subertan and his sidekick Professor Hades Zero-K as they try to unravel the plans of the Eldritch Hyper-Pope. There’s a plot afoot to make the universe a more boring, less ludicrous place, but this central concept is just an excuse for an escalating series of bonkers set-pieces and off-the-wall gags.

Many of these are lively and attention-grabbing – especially an elaborate heist on a massive bug – and these first three issues are packed to the brim with inventive concepts, offbeat word-play and fantastically detailed art from Jeff Stokely. There’s also plenty of adult humour, over-the-top violence and eye-opening nudity, but the sheer commitment to fullthrottle “anything can happen” nonsense, combined with an absence of emotional depth, results in diminishing returns.

Like an elaborate comedy sketch that’s been unwisely stretched out to a full-length movie, The Ludocrats is the very definition of a comic that will either charm you silly or leave you bewildered and exhausted. Saxon Bullock