Review – Dogs of London #3 (AfterShock Comics)

Posted on July 14, 2022 in Aftershock Reviews

Publisher: AfterShock Comics
Writer: Peter Milligan
Artist: Artecida
Colours: Valentina Bianconi
Lettering: Rob Steen
Release Date: 13th July 2022

The swinging Sixties, Gangsters in the heart of London, a criminal empire, Sir Frank Babbs has seen it all, now living as a respected businessman and Knight of The Realm. Frank has it all, but Frank has more than skeletons in the closet and the secrets of the past won’t stay buried, and these secrets have teeth and claws that will rip his idyllic life to shreds if he can’t summon the Frank of old who used to run with the Dogs of London.

Okay, so I’m late to the party on this one. It’s been a very trying few months for me, which I won’t bore you with, but I’ve been entertaining myself with old familiar and comforting titles. Re-emerging into the world of exciting new titles, I was pleased to find Dogs of London #3 in my inbox, which of course meant I had to go back and read the previous two issues.

Going in blind, and having the first three issues to read in one lump has allowed me to really appreciate this supernatural noir thriller in a way that I just don’t think a single issue would do. I’m finding as I get older that I’ve got less and les patience with the monthly release of comics, and I’m much happier waiting for the trade paperback so I can sit down and properly enjoy a story. They talk about the impatience of youth, but they clearly didn’t have the mind of a nearly 50 year old comic junkie in mind when they wrote that idiom.

Dogs of London has a lot going on. The majority of the story so far is taken up with a high quality thriller spanning decades in the finest traditions of British noir; and while we’re winding our way through the lives of Frank, and the Dogs, we also get an intriguing supernatural tale of Nazi inspired genetic manipulation that enables Danny and the dogs to survive their murder and rise from the grave decades later.

The writing so far has been pretty good, I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve read so far, and even my increasingly impatient reading habits would be happy to read this as a monthly publication without losing interest between months. The artwork is also really good, it’s not groundbreaking but it is exactly what a noir thriller should look like.

So yes, this is a really good new title, and it’s one that I’ll definitely be grabbing when the collected edition comes out.

Rating: 4/5.

[PREVIEW ARTWORK – CLICK TO ENLARGE]