Review: Robbing Hood by Markosia
How about a crime thriller twist on the Robin Hood legend, swapping tights for suits and merry men for grizzled gangsters set in 60s Britain with black and white art that hits the bullseye? Well, it's a sure shot you want Robbing Hood by Andy Winter and Mick Trimble by way of Markosia.
Andy Winter is an award-winning comic book writer based in Southend-on-Sea, currently publishing through British indie publisher Markovia. His previous comics include Blood Psi, Scoregasm, Hushers, Peter Pan 2 and the award-winning one-shot Hero Killers.
Mick Trimble is an artist from Birmingham. He was the artist for the Arts Champion campaign for Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, has drawn sketch trading cards for Marvel and Dynamite Comics, and his previous comic book work includes Septic Isle, Bloodfellas, Hunter, Hunted and Gabriel.
Markosia was established in 2005 and is one of the UK's leading independent publishers for graphic novels. They produce a diverse range of comic books, graphic novels, children's picture books and prose novels that cover all genres. Well worth getting acquainted with introductions made, let's see what this one's like?
So, let's start with the art. Mick Trimble presents a really cool presentation of monochrome art to capture hardboiled crime noir aesthetics of cinematic quality. Mick's skill for character expression really stands out on this, working on idealistic format comic book visuals that really emphasise the cinematic quality and nature of this story.
Mick's talents further impress when it comes to violence and action, with some vivaciously visceral moments. The art of Robbing Hood also has a wonderfully classy undercurrent that puts one in mind of the black and white movies of the 50s and 60s. It's counterintuitive to the gritty subject matter and helps emphasise those moments, but the art just projects this element of essentially classiness or a dignified air.
Another standout element of this art is the approach to light and shadow work, which obviously, when dealing with black and white art, needs to deliver with strength and balance, and boy does Mike strike it well with panels deserving admiration. There's clever use of white lines on black to create magic moments of majesty.
How about the once upon a time stuff then?
Andy Winter has written a tale of Robbing Hood that deviates from the fairytale and mythological legend norms associated to create a unique take of 60s set hardboiled crime gangland, gritty, brutal reimaginings. This is a story full of surprises with clever twists and tweaks of the well-known legend and its characters that form together to create an entertaining joy ride of a crime caper.
There's an added depth to this Robin Hood with the inclusion of WW2 veteran status with nods to PTSD. This, along with turning the legend on its head by making him a victim and philanthropist, creates an engaging and sympathetic character that you can root for like all good leading men. I don't think this one is asking much of a reader; it's a simpler creature built for entertainment, so what makes it special is how well it delivers it.
The opening "Ballad" performance and Interludes sections are great examples that what this story gives is a really interesting, clever use of the medium to throw strong storytelling full of entertainment and intrigue to its audience. The fun to be found in the ending as well was truly impressive, to bring things back to their roots, so to speak, and hitting a satisfying conclusion shows a talented writer executing a bullseye on entertainment.
For fans of the legend of Robin Hood, reimaginings, hardboiled crime stories, gangsters, 50s/60s crime movies, 60s Britain, Hitler face masked gangs disrupting attempts to regenerate poverty stricken East ends by PTSD suffering marksman, gender swap, clever name tweaks, swapping tights for suits and back again and visceral action take a shot at Robbing Hood.
To get your copy, you need the Markosia website here. Once you've secured your copy, it's well worth digging around the site as there are so many gems to find.
For more Andy Winter, you should check out his website here.
For more Mick Trimbl,e it's a very good idea to follow him here.
Review: 4.2/5
