Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writers: Michael McDermott (ed.), Jeff McClelland (ass. ed.), et al.
Artists: Jonathan Brandon Sawyer, Christine Larsen, et al.
Release Date: 21st January, 2015

Take IDW’s stable of writers and artists. Give them free reign to fill 200-odd (some very odd) pages with whatever they want. And it gets you the brilliant, brain-melting vision that is Imaginary Drugs.

This is a relentless rush of a ride. The title is all too apt, because this will take your brain to some strange, wonderful, and harrowing places. There’s so much here I really don’t know where to start; though not the first to attempt such a project (there’s shades of DHP and 2000AD here), the breadth and scope is staggering. Almost every story is entirely self-contained, though many you find yourself desperate for more: McDermott’s opening tale has overtones of Jim Butcher’s Dresden, throwing us into a city of urbanised fae, while Christine Larsen’s darkly whimsical tales (often without dialogue, or at least comprehensible dialogue) are a regular treat scattered throughout the issue. There’s savage space opera and sinister superheroics, weird fantasy and surreal comedy.

Sure, there’s the occasional damp squib in here, but it’s more because of the highly compressed nature of some of the tales that you’d otherwise see gather steam. It’s a bit frenetic, overwhelming at times, but these are niggles. I’ve been really impressed by IDW’s output over the last year, and 2015 looks set to be another belter. It’s a great book to dip in and out of, a hallucinogenic coffee table read, and well worth giving up your cash to your local purveyor of paper crack.

Rating 4/5.

The Writer of this piece was: Sam Graven
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