Following his destruction of the City Fathers of London, Stickleback continues his campaign to claim the ancient metropolis for himself, ably assisted by a cadre of freaks and malcontents. But now a new threat has arisen, one with dastardly designs far beyond those even the Pope of Crime himself… AMERICANS!
Stickleback appeared in 2000AD in British comic anthology 2007, and I storytimed the first part here earlier this week . It's another yarn by Ian Edginton and frequent collaborator D'Israeli, the team behind Leviathan. Just as Ampney Crucis Investigates (storytimed here at the weekend ) and Leviathan () were excellent inspiration for pulpy Call of Chulthu games, Stickleback is an ideal basis for adventures in steampunk and neo-Victorian settings like Malifaux, Deadlands, Unhallowed Metropolis, Smog 1888 and Fallen London while this story adds more direct links to more eldritch entertainment.
While the first story introduced the setting, and focussed on Stickleback as an antagonist, this sets him up as our protagonist going forward. More attention is given to his motley band of goons, who themselves could be used as models for PCs in your own games. Finally, the story itself is less of a mystery and far more of an adventurous, action-packed romp – perfect!
Apologies for not carrying on with this like I meant to earlier this week, but my ISP decided to just switch off the tubes for the day. It was tremendously inconvenient timing. There's an outside chance they'll do it again, just in case I suddenly vanish.
Aaron Myers
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Matthew Cook
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Isaac Bennett
Jiangshi, the Chinese Hopping Vampires. Just as a stake to the heart can immobilise but not kill their western counterparts, so a taoist talisman to the head can stop them.
Zachary Gutierrez
Stickleback, like a lot of the work by the artist and writer, has a tonne of jokes in the background, like the giant Olmec head from the Simpsons here. I'll do my best to catch them, but I can't promise anything!
Ayden Martin
>Weedy Scottish sawbones I think that's a Jack the Ripper thing, but I'm not sure.
Bethlem Royal Hospital, better known as Bedlam, is the world’s oldest psychiatric hospital. Founded upon the site of a medieval abbey, Bedlam is synonymous with madness and uproar. A grim fate awaits this unfortunate inmate who is, in fact, a time traveller from a Judge Dredd strip by the same writer and artist!
Anthony Hughes
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Christopher Scott
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Noah Sanders
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Henry Richardson
William Cody, otherwise known as Buffalo Bill, was a frontiersman, soldier and businessman who capitilised on his legend as a hero of the Old West. In his later years, he toured the world with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, which basically created or popularised all of the clichés audiences know and love about the era.
Annie Oakley was, again, a real person, a famous sharpshooter who toured with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. She was played by Betty Hutton in the film “Annie Get Your Gun”, based on the musical of the same name by Irving Berlin en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Oakley youtube.com/watch?v=2fW5Z2z6pXM
Egg Shen is a character in Big Trouble in Little China. That guy's definitely not the real Egg Shen. youtube.com/watch?v=mIfPtiIXLWI
Juan Cruz
The Trotter Brothers are clearly related to Rodney and Del Boy Trotter from the 70s BBC comedy Only Fools and Horses, just as are Steptoe and Son (which was remade in the US as Sanford and Son). Fletcher and his sidekick are probably Fletcher and Godper from the prison Sitcom Porridge youtube.com/watch?v=VEsxfpK_8L0 Fun fact: Godper (the younger one with the thick midlands accent) is played by Richard Beckinsale, Kate's dad!
Kinvig's much more obscure even for Brits, that's from a 1981 sitcom about an electrical repair shop owner who thinks he was visited by aliens.
Ethan Jenkins
There’s many, many references in the next few pages. How many can you spot? He says, desperate to find a way to save some time by not writing them all out.
Elijah Adams
Thank you OP
Landon Harris
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Camden Murphy
Alien, pokemon, discworld on this one?
Tyler Cruz
And thank you, Anonymous! I forgot to ask if people could occasionally comment or simply bump from time to time as I cannot!
Technically this nursery rhyme shouldn't exist in this form given that Teddy Bears didn't come into vogue until long after the Victorian period.
The Library of the Brotherhood of the Book was first introduced in another of Ian Edginton’s comic 2000AD stories, The Red Seas, about a band of pirates. Much like the libraries of Discworld, the Brotherhood’s Library is an L-Space nexus of many realities, times and dimensions. This means that while Stickleback and the Red Seas are linked which you already knew if you read Ampney Crucis the events of one story do not necessarily affect the other.
Orlando Doyle was the main villain in the first Red Seas story.
Colton Ramirez
The apostle Judas was paid 30 pieces of silver for betraying Christ.
The Green Eye of the Yellow God is a 1911 poem by J. Milton Hayes which became a music hall staple, written for and performed by actor and monologist Bransby Williams youtube.com/watch?v=E1IacBE11Yo - recording by Williams
>There's a one-eyed yellow idol to the north of Khatmandu, >There's a little marble cross below the town; >There's a broken-hearted woman tends the grave of Mad Carew, >And the Yellow God forever gazes down.
Lincoln Rodriguez
This is an interesting Latin phrase, for those who can speak the lingo.
Nicholas Adams
"Horsefeathers" was a colloquial American expression/euphemism for "nonsense" or "horse shit" in the 1920s and 1930s. The Marx Brothers used it in this context in their film of the same name youtube.com/watch?v=29E6GbYdB1c
Hunter Long
Little Davey Moyes has a tendency to have horrible fates befall him in Edginton stories. He's also the first Stoker in Leviathan: Fortunate Son.
Adam Peterson
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Mason Foster
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Nathan Sullivan
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Ethan Adams
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Ayden Johnson
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Joshua Clark
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Hunter Garcia
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Sebastian Foster
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Austin Harris
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Dylan Jones
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Joshua Scott
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Austin Collins
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Levi Clark
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Jeremiah Perez
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Nathan Green
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Justin Jenkins
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Juan Barnes
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Eli White
Charles George Gordon (also known as Chinese Gordon, Gordon Pasha, and Gordon of Khartoum) was a British Army officer and administrator who became Governor-General of the Sudan in the 1870s. When the Mahdi Revolt broke out he was sent to Khartoum to evacuate any remaining soldiers and civilians and return with them. After helping some 2,500 people escape, and in defiance of his orders, Gordon remained behind with a small force of soldiers and non-military men. He led a defence of the city for nearly a year without help from the British Government. After tremendous pressure from the public a relief force was eventually despatched – it arrived two days after Gordon’s death and the fall of Khartoum.
Justin Watson
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Andrew Bailey
Richard Sharpe is the protagonist of a series of historical novels by Bernard Cornwell, charting his rise through the ranks during the Napoleonic Wars He played for TV by Sean Bean. youtube.com/watch?v=JyYlmtHvYcY – Sharpe’s Sword, 1995
This is all very familiar if you’re even vaguely familiar with H. P. Lovecraft, but it has particular resonance for readers of Ampeny Crucis Investigates.
Luis Scott
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Colton Martinez
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John Bennett
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Andrew Mitchell
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Adam Walker
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Hunter Myers
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Nathan Flores
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Carter Cox
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Kayden Myers
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Brayden Bell
Alright that's a pretty rad story user. Thanks for sharing.
Glad you liked it, user. The first two stories and the Christmas special were collected in a single volume entitled "England's Glory", while the later ones (some of which I will be able to do later tonight, fingers crossed) are in "The Number of the Beast".
Cameron Stewart
Well, the first Sunday in Advent is in a week and I've just seen The Muppet Christmas Carol so I'm well up for this short - Stickleback: 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas.
Having a few issues at my end, but we live in hope that they will resolve themselves soon.
Cooper Cooper
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Connor Wilson
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Jeremiah Green
Again, if there's anybody out there reading along please pipe up from time to time.
Elijah Long
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Hudson Bell
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Easton Price
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Noah Turner
FAAAASSHOOOOM!
Jacob Mitchell
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Elijah Parker
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Jack Rogers
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Jacob Robinson
You may have noticed that there's minimal commentary on this one. That's not because there's nothing to say, but purely so I can get it finished more quickly in case there's an outage at my end. I may be able to point out some pertinent bits and bobs later.
