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 By John Smith and Paul Marshall
What to expect: Mind-bending space opera from the mind of John Smith
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Review by Paul Stewart
Leatherjack is a story that in many ways harkens back to the old style of 2000 AD epic storytelling. When it appeared in the weekly progs it was worthy of attention for a number of reasons, particularly that it was far longer than most strips which run in the comic, especially for a newly introduced character. This may be testament to the faith held in John Smith to be able to deliver a weighty story which tantalises with its prosaic obscura and challenges with its conceptual ingenuity.
Leatherjack opens with Doctor Hedren visiting the library world of Shibboleth as it is being attacked by the Empire of Spinsters in a fleet of Censorships, spacecraft which look like scissors. As their name implies the Spinsters seem to be made up entirely of prudish elderly women (no doubt based on Mary Whitehouse) who travel about in floating teapots. The Spinsters seem determined to destroy anything that they don’t approve of, which seems to be anything they don’t control.
 Meanwhile Lord Qwish of the Khmer Noir hangs naked in the air, his bloated body riddled with cancer. He has a plan to achieve immortality through possession of the fabled Book of Sighs which is hidden away in Shibboleth. Entry into the insect-run library world is impossible outside of the archivists allowing entry. Qwish’s plan is to use a Trojan horse strategy, and enter Leatherjack in a disgustingly explosive manner teleporting in through the body of Doctor Hedren. Icky.
From there Leatherjack tries to steal the book from the library, in so doing sacrifices the world to the attack from the Spinsters, before teleporting back to safety. But something goes wrong, and instead of returning to Qwish he ends up in Antarctica on Earth. While freezing to death the stolen Book of Sighs starts to speak to him, and Leatherjack undergoes a spiritual awakening. And you can’t have a good spiritual awakening without much carnage ensuing as Leatherjack is targeted by the Spinsters and by Lord Qwish for his supposed betrayal.
Leatherjack explores some dark and disturbing themes, that the Khmer Noir has pursued the torture and abuse of children in order to create an army of guiltless and fanatical soldiers. The Book of Sighs is a mechanism to release those adult children of abuse with explosive consequences. This is a powerful idea of such suffering being released and unleashed as a veritable force of nature. Reliving Leatherjack’s childhood experiences of violence and degradation at the hands of the psychosurgeons is at times rather confronting.
When John Smith and Paul Marshall previously collaborated on the groundbreaking story ‘Firekind’ Paul Marshall’s artwork was truly breathtaking. The time and patience taken was reflected in the exquisite detail. By comparison Marshall’s artwork on Leatherjack feels a little more rushed and simplistic. Undoubtedly accomplished and powerful enough to convey the storyline well, there are times when it feels a little bit like comic art by the numbers and individual artistic flair becomes a little swamped in the core of illustrating this mini-epic.
 There is lots to enjoy in the design of the characters and setting of Leatherjack. The Spinsters ‘conethrones’ look a lot like floating teapots, and their dress harkens back to a matronly 1940’s style. Qwish is disturbing with his revolting naked body offset by a particularly large-eyed childish face. The soldiers of the Spinsters are the Expurgato, tall spindly, pointy-headed things which appear to only inhabit two dimensions. The Expurgato seem to be a part of the John Smith franchise of looming nasty inexplicable monsters such as the Herod in the Devlin Waugh saga and the similar beastie the Hronoth at the conclusion of Firekind. Perhaps most distracting in the character design is Leatherjack’s underpants which look a lot like a gas mask. The reason for this is not clearly stated however, disturbingly, it may be related to the systematic abuse of Leatherjack’s character.
The extra features of the graphic novel include two items of cover art, one by Marshall, the other by Clint Langley who is also responsible for the book’s explosive cover. The rest of the features show preliminary character sketches of Leatherjack and some draft panel layouts, that apart from a curious shopping list of words concerning football, do not allow much insight into the creative process.
 I am unashamedly a great fan of John Smith’s body of work. However it should be noted that his eldritch and disturbing style garners just as much confusion and revulsion as it does admiration. Some tire of the ‘gobbledigook and technobabble’ that characters spout effortlessly as they explain the weird concepts. It would be a valid criticism that many of these terms are created simply because they sound strange and cool rather than any key relevance to the story. Yet this also serves to take the reader out of familiar territory and into a new universe where you can’t necessarily take anything for granted. This stepping outside of the ‘comfort zone’ for the genre is what makes Smith’s stories both challenging and rewarding.
Leatherjack is certain not going to be to everyone’s taste. For those after a simple rambling action fest in a rich and unusual setting then there is plenty to satisfy. However the deeper levels of this story cannot be ignored, and there is a disquieting nature about this tale which can linger afterwards, making us mindful of the real vulnerabilities of children being programmed for war.
Translating John Smith
Sometimes it can be a little difficult to work out what is meant by the dialogue and description in John Smith stories and Leatherjack is no exception. The following are a few excerpts and their translations for those who need some help. After all, why say something simply when you can say it like:
“A rain of sparks behind the brow. White noise and doggerel and nursery rhyme jingles.”
Means: We didn’t get much out of him.
“Strobeflash of memories like x-ray plates spiraling through the dark. Lullaby-whisper of distant schoolrooms and bedtime stories and old wives tales.”
Means: I remember that I went to school.
“Damburst of propaganda substances in galleries and catacombs. Growth arrested at attack stage. Ecdysone and proto-hormones crash-metamorphising drones into soldiers.”
Means: Ants don’t like it when you kick their nest.
“Smell of lavender and aniseed and naughty, naughty girls…”
Means: ?!? (Honestly, I have no idea why the Dowager Khan said this as it lacked all context – isn’t it cool though?)
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