REVIEW: GIANT CLAM #3 By Ralph Kidson

Ok, so art wise, Ralph isn't Robert Crumb or Dan Clowes. But for Giant Clam Comics, he certainly doesn't need to be. Ralph's drawings fit the adult humour of his comic perfectly. Basic, yet expressive funny art meets great laugh-out-loud dialogue, inventive off-the-wall ideas and good 'natural' storytelling, structure and comic timing  throughout it's 64 pages.

One of the funniest comics i've read in a while, Giant Clam #3 has an eclectic mix of ideas; from observations on the depressing nature of local papers, to verbal slanging matches between elephant and giraffe on the planes of Serengeti, which has the tone of  town-centre tribal shennanigans on a Saturday night.
God and Jesus playing table-tennis next to a disgruntled Dave Lee Travis reading his paper; "He's a funny fucker innee?" remarks an intimidated god in a whisper to Jesus.

Middle-aged overweight goth comics geeks fantasising about being Keanu Reeves. Handy suggestions for schizophrenics, and an extremely rude Robin. There's Dalek and Cyberman meeting up for a nice chat and slagging off the David Tennant regeneration of the doctor; "Since when did Timelords wear bloody hair gel? He must spend a Frigging hour and a half teasing his quiff before leaving the Tardis"

My favourite strip involved the 'Spacelink Express' journey around the galaxy in the style of a tedious train journey. In this story Ralph really has fun with lots of different sci-fi characters ( for example i thought that 'Space Hitler' pushing the refreshment cart was a stroke of genius...check it out to see what i mean).

Look, I'm really not doing this justice here, let the comics amuse and charm you themselves. Contact: ralphiek@btinternet.com for a copy