Finally for this week, Paul Grist's Burglar Bill.

This story actually first appeared back in 1990.  At that point it was supposed to be the beginning of a six-issue miniseries, but the publisher decided not to bother, so only the first issue came out.  Grist, of course, is currently working on Jack Staff - which managed to ship its first Image issue before concluding its self-published run, an impressive feat - but he's decided to put out the unpublished miniseries.

Going by the clothing, by the way, I'm assuming that this is actually a reprint of the version from 1990 and not just a reuse of the same title - even though the copyright warning says 2003.  The layouts are just as striking as we're used to with Grist, however.  Fashion trends aside, it doesn't show its age badly at all.

Stephen Hills is a neophyte police constable on his first night.  Having learnt everything he knows about the police from the television, it's just starting to dawn on him that it bears no resemblance whatsoever to the reality, where people will look at him strangely for saying "Alright, chummy, you're nicked."  His partner is a dangerously lunatic, and his police force have just launched Operation Longwave, a campaign against stealing car radios which exists solely because somebody sold the chief inspector a stolen radio.  Fortunately for Stephen, his town does at least feature a masked burglar who carries a sack around.

It's surprising this book has been in limbo for so long - it's good stuff, full of character and humour.  And it's got a great central thread of poor Stephen steadily realising that not everyone shares his innate respect for the uniform - which even he's starting to have second thoughts about.

Definitely worth picking up.

Rating: A

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