‘Scotland Yardie’ Review (Knockabout Comics)
Written by Bobby Joseph | Art by Joseph Samuels | Published by Knockabout Comics
Usually the last thing I want in my comic book or graphic novel is politics… Usually I am looking for a book that takes me out of the real world a little bit and gives me some surreal fantastical story… Usually. When I read the write up and blurb for Scotland Yardie I decided, to hell with my usual. This book sounded like a story that was pulling all the real world issues from my nations heartland and poking them with a bloody big stick with a nice big tongue planted firmly in its cheek.
Its hard to actually boil down what Scotland Yardie is in a simple synopsis for you guys but I am going to try. With crime, police corruption, racism, unexplained deaths, Brexit, mass immigration and a new strand of a highly addictive drug named Blue Chicken at an all time high, the Metropolitan Police decide its time to project a good image for themselves and have there yearly ethnic recruitment drive. However with this years drive not going well they have one of the baddest bad boy police officers transferred over from Jamaica, a man whose hardcore methods are matched only by his weed smoking ability’s while getting the job done.
Obviously though the tight arse white boys running the MET can’t have Yardie running amok around South London so they team him up with the biggest wet blanket officer they can find and this is where we spend our story in a clash of worlds and personality’s. Oh, and more background cameos than you can shake a stick at.
British writer Bobby Joseph has brought back one of the breakout characters from the short lived publication Skank Magazine from the 1990s. A magazine full of diverse characters that was aimed primarily at black males. After 20 years Joseph has brought the famed character back to life in his first graphic novel. On Illustration duties we have Joseph Samuels who is doing a fantastic job of creating exciting and story driving images to the Nerve-Touching at times close to the bone dialogue.
Personally this book was right up my street, when I say I dont really like politics and real world stuff in there, its a completely different matter when those issues and events are being put out there with an extremely clever, insightful and well thought out satirical view. Nothing in this book is an accident, Joseph has an extremely keen sense of satire in a way I have rarely seen (think Chris Morris of Brass Eye) and leaves nothing on the table to be discussed. No subject seems taboo from the recent spate of celeb pedophilia to the blatant racism and police corruption that still goes on today and the much discussed Brexit results, but its all done in a clever cheeky way, its not dark or scary, it just is what it IS.
Side Note: Let me know if you spot all the movie scenes and characters or references to real world people, there are hundreds of them which is another part of the fun.
Scotland Yardie is strong recommend from us here, It is funny as hell when it needs to be and pokes a bit of fun at events ripped straight from your news screen. I had a lot of fun reading this and occasionally thinking ‘Shit did I just read that’. I feel like this is a must read for young adults upwards and I mean of any race (it applies to all of us) and I hope you will give it your time.
Best of all you will love the little 3 page extra story where we are given the story of how Scotland Yardie was created, kinda making me feel a bit sorry for Joseph Samuels but I’m sure its all part of the fun!
Scotland Yardie is available to buy now in all good comic book stores and apparently some bad ones…
