3 out of 5

Pat Mills has a way of writing that always make me feel like I missed something.  Even when I’m there from the start, his generally large casts and the world-building he does – mixed with whatever politics of the day are motivating / enervating him – add up to stories that I have tough keeping track of.  That might be because I don’t always care for the direction he takes them, and so I check out, but it’s also frustrating because there’s generally a core concept I enjoy, and when he gets a little punchy with his writing, he’s quite hilarious.

17th Century alterna-London zombie hunter Defore is another example of that, as the ridiculous crew who joins the titular lead in his ‘reek’ slaughtering are all amusingly dumb and silly, and artist Leigh Gallagher’s rendering of the gore and characters is fantastic, and the snipes Mills takes at nobility via the super-powered upperclassmen Vizards are amusing, and it should really all boil down to storylines about offing a particular badguy or whatnot, but… I still have so much trouble staying tuned in.

The Damned sets Defoe and team against reek-raiser Faust, but the geography of it never quite lands – the group is constantly assaulted, but it feels, at the same time, like they’re wandering freely – and the back-and-forth allegiances are too whimsical to really feel like twists.

The London Hanged starts out as a “mystery” to resolve who the new baddie is who’s raising reeks once again, and then shifts into a hunt of the Vizards, with neither side of the story holding much weight, and Defoe’s “I’m done with this” attitude confusing with the way he continues to not be done with it.

In both cases, the core plot is interesting enough, but Mills wanders all over it, settling down for pages here and there of great entertainment – whether that’s an action setpiece, or some amusing patter between Defoe and Gallowgrass – and, again, Gallagher’s work is a joy through and through.

The stragglers of strips collected here (which were previously not collected) also include a Mind Wars special, finishing up that set of reprints, and some Gallgaher-arted Past Imperfect’s, plus a previously published interview with the artist.