Anthology comics, though of course they exist in the US, were the main way most British kids experienced comics as we grew up in the 70s and 80s (and prior to that). Whether they’re humour comics such as the still-alive, octogenarian Beano, sci-fi titles such as 2000AD (itself still going after 47 years) or multi-genre stuff such as the more recent Quantum, anthologies, rather than single-character titles, seem to be what most Brits reach for when it comes to comic consumption from their country of origin.

It’s an area which seems to be undergoing a little bit of a renaissance over here too, with a few titles that are rejuvenating the sector. The aforementioned Quantum is one, and its availability in mainstream, national stores such as WH Smith has really helped it to reach an audience starved of such content. Though Shift has disappeared from local stores for me, it’s another title that has produced some fantastic material for readers since the first issue was published in 2020.

It’s the first issue that I’m belatedly taking a look at in this review, and I have to say that I’m really impressed. There’s an impressive array of very well known creators involved, and the strips rarely play it safe, either from a stylistic point of view, or from the viewpoint of the subject matter. Sometimes both!

First up is To The Death, by veteran creators Simon Furman and Geoff Senior, both very well known for their UK Transformers work back in the 80s. This is the first part of a story that starts off as a rather Starship Troopers-esque tale, but morphs into something more, with our human characters questioning the need for the war, which they don’t even necessarily grasp the point of, that they’re in the midst of. Furman’s writing is excellent, even though his style is quite old school, and Senior’s dynamic, pencils-and-paint art style is a great fit for the material.

Jim Krueger and Steve Yeowell’s Foot Soldiers tells a post-superhero tale with an impressive gimmick: it’s told across a massive, unfolding, single piece of art. Though this could have fallen prey to feeling a bit style over substance, it’s a compelling read, though there doesn’t yet seem to be much justification for its admittedly ambitious, and well implemented, gimmick.

Chris Geary’s mostly wordless Kora tells the story of a woman who crash lands on a hostile planet, and documents her struggle to survive. It’s another title that’s impressively implemented, and it’s good to see yet another somewhat experimental style being utilised in the launch issue of a new anthology.

Speaking of unusual techniques, Soulwind makes incredible use of white space and sparse black ink to tell its tale, with creator Scott Morse only shifting into more traditional comics panels in its final sequence.

Martin Stiff’s Tiny Acts of Violence tells a devastatingly harrowing story that’s far more grounded in reality than other stories in this issue.

Shifter is another strip with an exciting gimmick; this time, the beautifully painted artwork can come alive, thanks to an app and AR elements on several pages. Though at least one of these pages gets a little over ambitious (in trying to let you fly a drone over the landscape projected from the page, using your mobile device; it didn’t work properly for me at all), the interactive elements such as ships and creatures are really well done, and you can even use the same app to have a beast bursting from the front cover of this issue. The story itself is intriguing, and sets up some interesting stuff, but doesn’t reveal enough for us to truly understand what’s going on by the final page.

Finally, there’s Hungerville, a story which sees a ruthless robot hunting down a tax dodging Professor to retrieve a massive debt; but his target has no intention of going down quietly.

There’s also a number of interviews within this issue of Shift; it’s packed full of content and some really interesting, unusual stories, a number of which have some truly unique touches that make this a great magazine to get hold of.

Though physical media is struggling at the moment, with rising costs and fierce competition for shelf space at retail, Shift does an awful lot to remind readers why physical media deserves to be kept alive. It’s an excellent start to the anthology series, which admirably refuses to play it safe with any of the varied stories it features, and I’m looking forward to finally catching up with the rest of the issues; I’ve got a lot of work to do in that regard!