Down These Mean Streets A Man Must Go

"There's a lot of loot in alien artefacts."

Writer: Eric Saward

Format: Comic Strip

Released: September 2020

Series: Lytton #1 

Featuring: Lytton

Synopsis

Ex-soliders. Mercenaries. Businessmen. Swapping shooters for suits, it's 1975, and Lytton and his long-time batman Wilson run the Jazz Soiree Club in London's West End. A classy affair in the otherwise seedy environment of Soho, the duo inevitably incurs the jealousy of the criminal underworld who want a piece of the action. What rivals can't buy, they'll take. But every man has its price, and it's good business to be civil. After all, Lytton needs a rare piece of kit. Extraterrestrially rare. But how far will he go to obtain it? London is about to find out.

Verdict

Down These Mean Streets A Man Must Go was a very good comic strip story to kick off the Lytton comic range! I'm a big fan of everything Cutaway Comics are doing in bringing us unique comic strip adventures from a wide variety of characters, and whilst I'm not fully integrated into things yet as I've only managed to blog Eldrad Must Live!, I'm very excited by the idea of Lytton having his own range. He made such a big impression in Resurrection of the Daleks and it's really no surprise that he was brought back in Attack of the Cybermen. He had a big role in each adventure so it was really intriguing to go back into his past here and learn of a near-death experience he had in 1968, before catching up with him properly in 1975. The London setting of Soho was perfect for Lytton and it just seems like the kind of district and place you'd expect him to hang around. He had a reputation in the place and owned a strip joint which again just felt right for this character. His relationship with Wilson was unexpected and I liked the idea of Mr Shend trying to buy him. Initially, Lytton was not going to entertain the idea of selling a person but as the comic strip developed he got more likely to accept, especially when the offer reach one-and-a-half million! That was such a lot of money for 1975 and I'm intrigued to know just why Shend wants Wilson in his own service so much. I don't know a lot about this man but I want to know more which is commendable to the writing. When it comes to a comic strip, it's not just down to the writing though and even though the artwork at times is a little questionable when it comes to human likeness, I thought the style was excellent. It felt right for the setting and just the feel of Lytton's character who is obviously the familiar one from the Doctor Who Universe. One thing I wasn't expecting from a Lytton story was to have him in parallel worlds! That has a lot of potential and I wonder as the chapters go on if that will have more significance for whatever the end goal might be. His search for a positron molecular condenser was good and I just enjoy the idea of Lytton wanting extraterrestrial technology. It's nice to know how much he values Wilson for saving his life, but we've seen what Lytton is capable of and what his motives are on screen so expanding upon that in his own series is something I'm really looking forward to exploring. Mrs L looked quite the part and no expense was saved in drawing her to look impressive, and Lytton wanted to make sure that she got the information he needed was great. Her fate at the end was a very good cliffhanger though! I didn't see that coming. The bust up with Lytton and the four guys was decent and Shend being involved in helping was nicely done. As a whole, this was a strong start to the range and I'm looking forward to see where things move from here! Overall, a good read.

Rating: 8/10