Review by Frank Plowright

As a writer of some great Judge Dredd stories Michael Carroll knows his way around a cracking SF adventure, and his introduction praises Neroy Sphinx’s previous outing Back in the Game. Don’t worry, though, everything you need to know about the partially amnesiac conman is supplied in a timeline before the main event kicks off.

The basic premise is the gates of Hell have opened, and while for the time being humanity is safe on Earth, demons are gradually slaughtering their way across the universe. Daniel Whiston takes it from there building an epic via a series of connected chapters that can all be read as single stories. The first reintroduces amoral psychic Mr. Griffin, the man who’s manipulated Sphinx over decades, and Sphinx himself returns in the second chapter, along with warrior Fenris.

Loveable rogues are a minor SF tradition perhaps best exemplified by Han Solo, and Sphinx falls squarely into the category, with something likeable about him despite questionable deeds and a myself-first attitude to safety. And at the end of the day his purpose is to save the universe. Whiston further mythologises him by introducing each episode quoting from a biographical account originating far in the future and looking back. Sphinx is central to what becomes an ensemble cast featuring in consistently engaging stories.

Dave Thomson will become a better artist, and improves from start to finish during Playing to Lose. He tells the stories efficiently, stressing the right moments and ensuring varied viewpoints during conversations, while avoiding the easy option of continual talking heads. His future technology displays imaginative designs, the scurvy aliens are great and the reaction moments become less exaggerated the more he draws. To begin with the cast occupy too much empty space, but that’s something else that improves, as does the figurework.

Whiston plots the scams and robberies leading to a bigger goal exquisitely, fun prioritised, and the possibilities of the future are ingeniously employed. Tension and imagination increase toward the end after a shock is very well dropped, and a pleasing touch is the resolution being dependent on Sphinx’s personality. There’s a fine epilogue as well.

It’s been a long, strange journey over two volumes, but a greatly creative one.