A comic about imperfect superhumans (secretly about disability).

Zip #5 is coming soon!

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New to Zip? Start reading issue one of the comic online, for free, here!

Synopsis

Unnoticed and marginalised, they took to acts of heroism to give themselves a sense of purpose in a society that seemed to have no place for them.

​ZIP is among these heroes. Her superior speed makes the rest of the world appear as if it moves in slow motion. It makes fighting crime easy, but living a normal life a desperate dream.

In her care lives her ancient ancestor: a genius who achieved immortal life long ago – but at the price of having his mind broken.

Zip shoulders the burden of knowing that the only way to end his suffering is to find a way to kill him: but can it be done? And what if his secret for eternal life should fall into the wrong hands?

Pages 1-5 of issue one

Page one. Comic panels of a superheroine in a costume modelled on a tracksuit and goggles. She is running at super speed after a car, and narrating in caption boxes. “Civilisation was never built for superhumans. And that’s why my life sucks. I’m sorry if that sounds melodramatic. But it’s true. I’m in my 20s. But assuming I don’t get hit by a truck or something, by the time I’m about 40, my heart will pack in. It just beats too fast. Making friends is hard when everyone else talks in slow motion. And the amount of food I need to recharge my body is insane, and it’s all down to these stupid superpowers. Yeah, that’s me. Call me Zip. I dress up and I fight crime. Or sometimes, I chase after idiots driving way too fast in the middle of Bedminster. I can’t run away from who I am. Actually that’s pretty much the only thing I can’t run from, and I can’t lead much of a normal life either. So I do this. It… it gives me a sense of purpose… I guess.”
Page two. Zip approaches the reckless driver’s window, but he is shocked to see a woman effortlessly running as fast as a sports car. Zip speaks out loud now. Zip: “Hey fire! Where’s the buddy? Oops! I meant to say, well you know what I meant.” Reckless driver: “Huh?” Zip: “Ugh. Too fast for you right?” Each word in Zip’s next sentence is elongated by adding many vowels, “hello road user. You have far exceeded the speed limit.” Reckless driver: “Aiieeee!” Zip: Wait! Don’t swerve! Brake! Emergency…” The car crashes. Zip narrates with another caption: “So, uh, before you judge me too harshly. I would just like to point out that I have to live with these powers all the time I occasionally forget that all the regular people out there aren’t expecting to see women running around at 60mph.” Scene change: a hospital exterior. Zip speaks to a nurse from somewhere off panel inside the building. Nurse: “And your name is, miss?” Zip: “Zip.”
Page 3. An A&E ward. Zip is being interrogated by a nurse. The nurse is trying to pry information from Zip about her involvement in the accident. Zip is mostly concerned with figuring out if the man who was in the car crash will be okay. After the nurse confirms he probably will, Zip leaves before she can stop her. In narration, she reveals that her real name is Allison, and that the reason she is nicknamed Zip is that “it’s the sound I make when I run past you."
Page four. Scene change. Two men have parked their black van in front of a rundown office building. They are moving some strange electronic equipment into the building and wondering out loud what the "boys at the lab" have sent them to set it up for. They only know how to set the apparatus going, and how to monitor the readings it gives, but not what the experiment they are running actually tells the unseen scientists they are doing all of this for. One of the men remarks that he is surprised that the grid will handle the amount of power the equipment requires, and his colleague reassures him that although local substations might experience a brief spike, it'll go unnoticed.
Page five. Zip jumps down from a roof towards an open window high up in a tower block. She climbs through the window iand calls out to someone. Zip: “Grampy! I’m home!” Zip: “The police scanner was going crazy today!” Zip opens the sliding door to a large cupboard. She is carrying a bowl of soup with a spoon in it. Lying inside the cupboard is an ancient man, staring into space, frozen in a petrified gaze. Zip: “I had one tiny slip up, but those are happening less and less. I just miss the days when you came out patrolling with me. Anyway, I made you some soup.” Zip holds the bowl of soup in one hand and guides a spoonful of soup to Eternity’s mouth in the other. Zip narrates again: “This is granpy. Well, actually he’s my great, great, great,“ Eternity in the middle ages, mixing strange chemicals in beakers and vats in a steampunky lab. Zip’s narrtion: “he’s been alive for a while, put it that way. He was a scientist that discovered a way to make himself immortal.”

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Zip is funded through Kickstarter, with our latest issue being funded at 112%! You can follow writer Mike Scrase’s Kickstarter creator profile here to be notified about campaigns for new issues.

Our reviews

“Love the art in this”

Gail Simone

Rating: 5 out of 5.

“One of my favorite new comics”

Amazon review from Apparition Writer

Rating: 5 out of 5.

“a comic that I can’t wait to read more of.”

COMIC NEWS UK

Rating: 5 out of 5.

“Excellent comic. Really love where the story is going. Love the artwork.”

Amazon review from Ahmed

“REALLY ENJOYING THE EXPERIENCE OF READING THIS. GOOD, DENSE BUT WITH FLOW, FEELS LIKE A PROPER MEAL.”

CLAIRE NAPIER

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Discover the comic’s origins: read free in quality resolution!

Zip

Zip is published by Markosia in the United Kingdom. © Mike Scrase 2023. ISSN 2976-8721 (print) 2976-8721 (online). No similarity between the names, characters and institutions depicted in Zip with any real life names, persons, or institutions is intended. Any such similarities are purely coincidental. Zip’s Kickstarter rewards are printed in the UK by Stuart Lloyd Gould. You can find our press kit here.