Writer: Christopher Bunting
Artist: J.L.Czerniawski
Publisher: Mohawk Media
Price: £15.99 Limited to 4000 copies!
Review by: Stephen Crowther

FIRST NAME MR!
MIDDLE NAME PERIOD!!
LAST NAME “T”!!!

As Fractal’s resident aficionado of Lawrence “Mr T” Tureaud, there was no way on earth I could turn down a chance to check out this book in advance. After all, I am the owner of that hallowed piece of clothing “the Mr T Sweater Vest” which has adorned many a comic book creator. I was the first person I know of to own a “Mr T in your pocket”. Heck, I’ve even got the crazy Mr T Duck, which makes a fleeting appearance in the GN. Like many other kids who grew up in the 80s, T was a childhood hero. Seeing the resurgence in popularity that he has experienced in recent years fills my heart with that warm Saturday teatime glow. Only yesterday, I turned on the TV and was met with the full force of T in a Tank advertising Snickers. If it wasn’t for my firm opinion that mixing peanuts and chocolates is Wrong, I would have kicked the diet to the kerb and rushed to the corner shop to get one. Anyway, I’ll quit my jibber jabber (heh) and get on with letting you know about the comic.

Author Christopher Bunting isn’t a stranger to the world of T. He also wrote the last series to star our hero. About 3 years ago, short-lived Brit comic company APComics managed to get 2 issues out before they collapsed. I never got round to checking these out and thus hang my head in shame. But who cares what I may have thought. The man himself obviously approved as he’s let the British writer have another go at capturing him in 4 colour glory.

The story itself is split into 4 chapters, each separated by a question and answer session with the man himself. This gives the over-riding impression that it was originally designed to be released as individual issues. Obviously, somewhere down the line, they thought it best to jump straight to an original graphic novel release. As someone who has been purchasing more and more of my monthly comics in trade or hardcover, I applaud this bold move.

One thing that I immediately noticed was that Mr T himself is credited as the Executive Editor. Together with his introduction and the interviews, this makes me feel that he’s has been pretty hands on with the production. Reading through, I certainly got the vibe that our writer had communicated with our hero enough to get into his head somewhat. There wasn’t the slightest problem imagining Mr T himself speaking the lines that Chris Bunting put into his mouth. I also felt that Chris spiced his dialogue with just the right amount of “fools” and “jibber jabbers” without going too overboard. It would have been all too easy to over egg the pudding somewhat with too many utterances of his most famous catch phrases.

As we start out, Mr T is operating as the ultimate bodyguard for hire. As his business card says, “Next to God there is no better protector than I”. This is no stretch of the imagination as T was the bodyguard of many a movie & sports star before his acting career took off into the stratosphere. Now when we meet, T is doing his work in familiar attire. However, by the end of the first act he is kicking ass and taking names decked out in a nice riff on one of the X-men movie outfits. It’s a new look for our hero, but one that sits nicely with previous incarnations of his persona. Plus it’s made of one of those useful fictional light weight bullet proof materials, meaning Chris can jack up the action even more!

We follow T on a mission that drags him all the way from the U.S. to the UK. I was most pleased to see Mr T stopping around my home country righting wrongs. God bless Mr Bunting for using the inevitable pun “as they say in England. It’s T-Time”. One of a few laugh out loud moments in the book. That it comes at a point when Mr T has been spiked with a hallucinogenic and is followed by him meeting a familiar rubber duck makes this little sequence a joy. Before long we meet what could be the “big bad” that may just have been the one behind the scenes pulling the stings. The chav antithesis of our hero takes the form of a certain old comrade of our hero and goes by the name of “Mr C”. What our author was not to know was that this is what most of my co-workers call me and I don’t know if I can let them ever do that again now!!!

The art from J.L.Czerniawski makes me think he would be at home working on one of the Marvel Adventures line of books. He has employed a similar fun and energetic style to a lot of the guys Marvel uses on their kid friendly books. Here we see a solid, colourful, “cartoony” style, that doesn’t skimp on the detail. Perfect for this kind of fun funny book. It adds to the overall “all ages” feel, which means I’d be happy passing this one to a younger reader, especially one new to comics.

The book just oozes fun and frequently had me grinning from ear to ear. A few subplots lay the groundwork for future T-stories, so I have my fingers crossed that these boys get the success they deserve! At the end of the day, all I can say is that I pity the fool who don’t buy this comic! (Sorry, couldn’t resist).