In 2024, the small indie comic label Time Bomb produced a bimonthly British sci‑fi anthology comic called Quantum.
Up until then, Smith’s was where I went for Batman reprints. But with the Batman Panini reprints cancelled (again), I gave Quantum a go. For a while, I loved heading into WH Smiths and finding the latest issue wasn’t out yet — going back later in the month… but you knew when it was in. Some of these stories were completely different to what I was used to reading.
I’m sure we’ll come back to a few stories from the anthology, but here’s one that stood out.
Death and Taxes, in issues 4 and 5. Written by Katie Cunningham with art from Tom Newell. The main premise: what if we achieved immortality, but the government owned your body after death — making the undead work forever.
It feels like a play on real life, where we all work for the majority of our lives in the hope of eventually receiving some peace in retirement. I also remember looking at our UK government at the time (though it applies to them all) and thinking… I wouldn’t put it past them.
The main character, Blodd, is written incredibly well in my opinion. She feels layered without being over‑explained. The tone of the story is dark and serious, particularly in contrast to some of the more out‑there sci‑fi stories in the book. Sadly, it only ran for two parts — but as a concept, it was terrifying.