| Title: | Texas Chainsaw Massacre |
| Contributors: | Dan Abnett Andy Lanning Wes Craig |
| Publisher: | DC/Wildstorm |
| Issue #: | 1 |
| Year: | 2007 |
| Pages: | 32 Pages |
| Age Rating: | 13+ (Language, Violence, Gore, Adult Themes) |
| Story Grade: | B |
| Art Grade: | B |
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This series is a follow-up companion of sorts to the 2003 reboot of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The events in this series are supposed to take place one year after the events in that movie. They pay some homage to the movie; like a scene from the film is shown as a flashback in this issue. It involves Erin running over Sheriff Hoyt with his own squad car.
But in one of the homages they tried to pay, they messed up, and in a true fan's eyes, messed up in an obvious way. In a flashback scene in the book Erin cuts off Leatherface's right arm with a machete. In the same scene in the movie, Erin used a meat cleaver to cut off Leatherface's arm. It's nothing more than a continuity issue. But if you are going to pay a homage, make sure you get it right or you might upset the fans rather than win them over.
The story kicks off into high gear from the get-go. Sheriffs are in hot pursuit of a semi-truck. They shoot out the tire and arrest the crazy-ass driver. When they open up the back of the truck, they find a dead young man hanging like a fish on a hook from the roof. From there, the blood and carnage flows and the mystery and plot deepens.
The artwork is standard fare for horror; blood gore, some violence. But it is the tonality of the book that does a great job of painting hopelessness. The colors are muted for the most part, earthy tones flow across most of the surfaces. Grass is mostly yellow, trailer home and cars are rusty and dirty. Even the green in the trees is muted to the point that they can't bring life to these pages. And that's the point of the art in this book; you're meant to feel the hopelessness of these Texans. And it works for me.
I know I wouldn't want to live in place that was muted like that, where the volume on everything was turned down to two. First off, I would be bored as hell in a place like that. Secondly, I would not trust a living soul in a place like that. Now I have been to Texas before and it can be lush, vibrant and colorful. But I have also been down near the border towns, where it is flat for hundreds of miles and the only sign of the Mountain, nay Hill I say, of any sort is a landfill. So I know places like this exist in Texas, I have seen them. I would have to say that Lanning and Craig nailed the feeling of these small Texas border towns in their art.
All in all I grade this book a solid B. It's a great start to a follow-up story to the 2003 remake of 1974 original. The artwork is fun, dark and lifeless, as should it be in a desaturated world of cannibalism.
Until next time... Here's to hoping Leatherface finds some sun screen.
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