The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning Graded A-

Title:	The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning
Contributors:	Jimmy Palmiotti Justin Gray John Higgins
Publisher:	Fox Atomic
Issue #:	TPB
Year:	2007
Pages:	112 Pages
Age Rating:	18 (Language, Violence, Gore, Nudity, Sex)
Story Grade:	A
Art Grade:	B

This is a great comic for anyone who is a fan of the films and would like to read the prequel to the remake or is a fan of horror comics in general. This book does a great job setting a up a complex story where the reader gains compassion for the Sawney Bean family and an understanding for why they are the way they are, much the same way Rob Zombie did for Michael Myers in the reboot of Halloween, almost making them an anti-hero of sorts.

The story ties in to the movies, but doesn't waste a lot of time retelling the movies, but rather spends a few panels explaining why the scenes of movies happen, from the Sawney Bean family's perspective. This approach allows the book to not only tie into the movies for fans, but also allows it to stand on its own for people not familiar with the films.

The artwork of this book truly puts the "graphic" into the graphic novel. While it contains a fair amout of violence and gore, it is not gratuitous as it generally fits into the story and propels the characters and the story arc. The violence is primarily between the townspeople and the military, but it does occasionally involve children, so consider yourself warned.

This book also contains a couple of continuous pages of nudity (boobs) and a sex scene (a single panel) as well as an alluded to, but never fully realized rape scene. So the nudity and sex isn't spread throughout the book for parents concerned about minors reading the book, and while the sex scene isn't overly graphic, it doesn't leave much to the imagination. Like the violence, the sex and nudity isn't really gratuitous, as it does contribute to the advancement of the main character's motivations and the story arc, but it is there.

All in all, I would give this book an A-. The story's wonderful approach to telling the story of a formerly misunderstood family of cannibals combined with the artwork, which is good, but could have been a little darker and more complex for my taste, makes this a great read. All in all, if you are a fan of the movies, this is a great book to supplement those stories. If you are fan of horror comics, this is a great stand alone comic.

Until next time, happy reading.