So lets go through this sumbitch, story by story.

We begin with “Be Our Guest”, a two-pager appetiser story. It is a nice enough story, with some obvious short-comings. Whilst George McVey’s artwork is reminiscent (to me at least) of an early Brian Talbot, one can’t but help think that he is an artist, first and foremost. The story seemed a little over-written - like an old 1960s comic. The twist did its job quite well, seeing as how I didn’t predict it.

Next up, we got our selves another short little number that goes by the name of “Language Barrier”, also by George McVey. This story has all the same strong and weak points that are evident in the first story, being written and drawn by the same person. McVey’s artwork has its own charm, one has to say. He doesn’t try to mimic someone else’s style, but simply draws in his own. This story left me a little shell-shocked. The twist ending comes out of nowhere, without any foreshadowing and is only loosely connected to the theme of the anthology. As this is early days however, that is forgivable.

The third tale is “Red Meat” by Robert McCarthy. Again, artwork is handled by good old George McVey. McCarthy’s style of writing is a lot less in your face when compared to McVey’s. He explains less and shows more. The story was nicely written, the twist (which doubles as a moral too) was an intriguing one, but unexplained. The last panel made me smile, I have to admit.

Fourth in line is “Last Call” by… well you should know by now. George McVey surprised me with this one. It wasn’t over-explained like his first two stories, nor did he hit me in the face with a hidden twist. Instead, McVey delivers a tale which is well-drawn, nicely-written and funny. It’s not all roses though. The story didn’t really need to be so long, it could have been written in a third of the length it was. The introductory section, whilst funny, was unneeded. Once they arrive at the place where they meet a rather strangely (and conveniently) named Shaitan Damballah, the story speeds up.

Finally, we have “The One Shoed Rascal Eats Pastry” by Michael Marcus. That’s right, here’s one that McVey wasn’t involved in. Seeing as how this is a comic book review, I won’t tarry long on this one, (it’s prose fiction). What I will say about it is it’s a nice, short, well written story. And very, very strange.

Overall, although there is quite a few flaws in the stories, they all carried with them that weird charm that comes with reading independent comics. On second thoughts, IF-X is more of a British-style underground comic anthology than an independent one. 2000AD didn’t become a comics giant over night, and H!M looks like a publisher you should be watching out for in future. At half the price of all of your mainstream brain-poison, this is definitely worth a look for any fans of good ol’ fashion themed indie comics.