The horror (comics)! The horror (comics)! #6
Back again, the horror franchise that inexplicably keeps churning out entries which other people inexplicably keep taking a look at, often in the misguided belief that maybe this one will be better.
Spoiler alert, it won't be.
But we'll do it anyway!
So, yes, this is my first piece in this series, making me the Mark Hoffman/Amanda Young to Matt's John Kramer. So let's get started:
Gideon Falls
During lockdown, our favourite comic book store, Chaos City Comics, have started an online store. It would have been rude of me not to partake so I order Gideon Falls Volume 1. An ongoing comic since 2018, next week sees #22 come out and I cannot wait to catch up.
There is definitely a Twin Peaks vibe to the looming, ominous presence of the Black Barn in Gideon Falls- but not to the point of imitation or to give you the sense that you've seen this all before. This isn't gory horror, it's all about building atmosphere and looking into the nature of evil (I can almost hear Matt mocking me with an "elevated horror comic?"). This is a really great comic- the story is intelligent and layered, the characters fully formed, and the artwork is stunning.
Artist, Andrea Sorrentino described one of the characters, Norton (obsessively searching for evidence of the Black Barn) as containing the worst of himself and writer Jeff Lemire: Sorrentino's nihilism and Lemire's obsession.
If you like your horror intelligent, atmospheric and to creep up on you and slide under your skin, then you should join the search for the Black Barn. It's brilliant.
We're sticking with Image for next week's installment and I think it might be one of those that prompt the question: "Is it horror?"
Yes. Yes, it is.
It's:
COFFIN BOUND
As always, remember to support your local comic book store and while you're at it, checkout illustrator Luke Ridge who gave Matt the initial suggestions for this series. From here on in we're picking our own, wandering blindly around the badlands of horror comics without our guide.
