BRUTE! by Malcolm Bennett and Aidan Hughes

Promising Sheath-busting romance!!! Two-fisted action!!! and Hard-boiled adventure!!! this is a compendium of ‘pulp nasties’ from the cult BRUTE! comic book of the 1980s. The stories were highly stylised pulp fiction, loosely based on films and observations of contemporary British life, all illustrated by Hughes’s distinctive artwork and driven by hard talking dialogue.


An admirer of Hughe's work with rock band KMFDM, I first discovered BRUTE! through his website, then somehow tracked down this collectors’ edition second hand. I’ve never seen a copy since, so I’d rather this one didn’t get left in the pub... As it happens, the public house features regularly in the comics. This excerpt comes from the episode PAC-MEN!:

WANTED! P.A.C. – MEN! The Pub Action Committee NEEDS YOU! Enrol Today!

Unemployed Noska sees the ad in the job centre window. And applies!

“We are the Pub Action Committee and we are looking for good, war-waging commandos for our squad. We’re brutal messy cruel and vengeful. But we’re fair. We have to be. We’re talking ALCOHOL!”

Job taken! His mission? Recently people have been staying at home, not drinking:

“We must get these people away from the TV and BACK INTO THE PUBS!!!”

On his first night, Noska is sent out with the platoon:

“Right men!” barked the Squad Commander, resplendent in his Kronenbourg Combat Kit. “Let’s get out there! If anyone resists, subdue him and administer this!” He lifted a half-gallon flagon. “This is pure spirit, Gold Label and Scrumpy!”

But Noska’s squad find two old folk who won’t drink! His parents!!!

“Mum! Dad!” he croaked. “OH NO!” Noska’s parents were later committed to a new anti-TV. wing at the centre, while he was jailed for conspiring with known health freaks.

Now that’s a lesson to us all. OFFICIAL!!!