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| Image from Two Animators! LLP |
I started this comic reviews blog back in February of this year, 2014, with two goals in mind. The first goal was to give honest reviews of the comics I read based on my general interests, so I wouldn't be reading comics that weren't within the realm of what I might like and therefore not be a negative-ninny all the time. I would also write about my experience in the world of comics, based on zero influence from others. I don't get free previews of comics. I don't get any kickbacks from publishers, event organizers or store owners. And I don't want any. So any feedback I give remains untarnished by offers of wealth and free swag. It's just my own biased opinions.
The second goal was to provide some insight into the world of comics from a fan's point of view. I am not an industry insider. I don't own a LCS. I am not a professional writer working for a huge publishing house. I am just a guy sitting his Hulk Cave expressing is personal views on the world of comics around him.
And since beginning this journey back in February I have gained followers who read on a regular basis. I have made friends. I have pissed people off. And I have made it to my 100th post in just eight months.
So to celebrate this 100th edition of Honest Comic Reviews I thought I would do something special to celebrate. And since this momentous occasion is happening in the spookiest month of the year, I though I would make the celebration fitting to the season.
In celebration of my 100th review I present you my top ten list of Horror Comics I have read and reviewed in the last eight months. At the end of this list is a complete review of my #1 Horror COmic Series of all time... stay read on, have fun and enjoy.
No 10 - 51 Serif St
If you haven't read this self published work of art, you are missing something special.
This is the story of man, committed to an institution located at 51 Serif St, who believes he is in control. It is very reminiscent of Cuckoo's Nest in that both protagonists believe that spending some time in an insane institution would be easier than the alternative, prison, but they are wrong. But that is about the only similarities to Cuckoo's Nest.
Full Review Here:
No. 9 - Creepy
Each story is written and drawn by different writers and artists which gives each story a unique style not only in prose, but in art as well. The stories in Issue #1 include; "The Curse", "Hell Hound Blues", "Chemical 13", "All the Help You Need", "Loathsome Lore" and "A Creepy Classic".
From cursed blues-men to zombie's in the holocaust to alien visitors, this book covers the gambit of narratives.
Full Review Here
No. 8 - Night of the Living Deadpool
I wasn't disappointed in this four part mini-series.
The story revolves around Deadpool waking up from a food coma to find the zombie apocalypse has begun and that he might be the only survivor... or is he? This difference between these zombies and Romero's zombies is that in Deadpool's world, the zombie's can talk. They are apologetic for what they are about to do. They warn you to run away and ask to be put of their misery. This is particularly baffling to Deadpool and intriguing to me.
Full Review Here
No. 7 - The Last Zombie
As one lone outpost in New York loses communication with the remaining outposts that are spread across the country a small band of soldiers lead one scientist on a quest from Colorado to try and reunite him with his love while trying to figure out what went wrong in New York.
Full Review Here
No. 6 - Rachel Rising
Full Review Coming on 10/28
No. 5 - Planet of the Living Dead (Series)
The premise of the overall story arc goes like this; war is waged for hundreds of years against the undead. And now humans have finally confirmed the origin of zombies is "this" planet. So now mankind will make one final strike, in an attempt to wipe out the zombie plague once and for all.
This series, written by the artist for the series "The Last Zombie", Joseph Wight and Wight takes a human interest story and throws zombies, war and space at it making it a fantastic sci-fi, horror joy ride.
Read Full Review
No. 4 - Girls
The story is about a guy who lives in Pennystown (pronounced Penis-Town). This guy seems to always misread women's cues, basically thinking that all women want to have sex with him and this ultimately leads to trouble. One night after getting kicked out of a bar he stumbles across an woman, naked and wounded, in the middle of the road and he takes her home and there is no misreading the cues that this "girl" is giving. From there things go hell for the entire town real quick.
The story is a cross between Stephen King's "Under the Dome" and John Wyndham's "Village of the Damned". The key to remember here is this book was published a few years before Stephen King's novel, so they didn't appear to lift any themes from him at all, but makes me wonder if King might have gotten some inspiration for his novel from this series, because there are some similarities.
Read Full Review
No. 3 - The Hills Have Eyes: The Beginning
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 ties into the movies for fans, but stand on its own for people not familiar with the films.
Read Full Review
No. 2 - Nail Biter
This book hooked me from page one and never let go. Even though the dialog is a little forced, like Williamson is trying to squeeze all the "Schwarzenegger one-liners" he can into a panel, the overall plot and story are great and I think or at least hope Williamson's writing will even out a bit over time.
Read Full Review
No. 1 - Crossed
| Title: | Crossed |
| Contributors: | Garth Ennis Jacen Burrows |
| Publisher: | Avatar Press |
| Issue #: | 1 - 9 |
| Year: | 2010 |
| Pages: | 198 Pages |
| Age Rating: | 21+ (Language, Violence, Gore, Rape, Sex, Nudity, Violence Against Women, Violence Against Children) |
| Story Grade: | A+ |
| Art Grade: | A+ |
This is the story a small interchangeable members of a group of survivors as they make their way from the Southern United States to Alaska. One character narrates many aspects of the story, but this doesn't read like a typical narration story, rather he just injects his thoughts and mental processes as narrative dialog around why certain things happened. And there is a lot that happens through out this series.
And by insane wild people, I mean the victims of this outbreak run around, usually naked or at least mostly naked and they rape, eat, beat and mutilate potential victims, each other and themselves when there is nothing left to do. The victims communicate through vulgar, offensive lyrics and melodies. And their wild-eyed faces are marked with a cross from ear to ear and forehead to chin by what appears to be like a flesh eating virus.
Garth Ennis is an absolute master of brutal honesty in this book and not just for the shear shock and awe of it, although there is a lot of both, shock and awe, in this series. Ennis has found a grotesque line in which to balance the reader between caring for these surviving characters while hating the horrendous acts of violence they commit in the name of survival. It is such a razor-edge line to walk, but Ennis pulls it off. I can assure you that many readers would likely abandon this series after a few pages of the first issue, and the rest of the them likely just after Issue #1. My wife won't read it after seeing just a few pages.
So, here is the main issue with this book. Outbreaks, like the one portrayed in this book, with rapid symptom onset, will likely be easily contain due to the fact that identifying the issue will happen so fast. An entire town is infected in less than an hour, alarms are raised and government containment and cleanup commences, like the movie "Outbreak" with Dustin Hoffman, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Kevin Spacey.
The real threat for widespread infections is a disease that takes days or even weeks to show symptoms. In this scenario, a man, or woman, Patient Zero, is on a Flight from New York to London and has the early stages of the flu. Patient Zero lands in London. Patient Zero has infected dozens on the plane, some of who transfer to other planes. The baggage handlers, ticket collectors, flight attendants, etc. get infected handling Patient Zeros bags, tickets, and empty soda cans. The employees of the airline handle other peoples bags, other peoples drinks, other people's tickets on other flights who then fly to other parts of the world, get infected and spread the disease, so on and so forth. The spread in this scenario becomes exponential. Check out this short video below.
But the way Ennis addresses this problem with the story is perfect; he doesn't. Ennis has some dialog through the series that clearly states that nobody in that world knows what caused the outbreak and that thinking about it was a waste a time because there was nobody left that could ever figure it out. Instead of wasting time on how it happened people need to focus on how to survive. This is great storytelling for two reasons.
The first reason is that the unknown is a hell of a lot scarier than the known. HIV for example. In the early days of the disease, very little was known about it and the public was very afraid. And while this lead to some wild speculation and the spread of misinformation (like it was a homosexual disease and that you could catch it from kissing, etc.) as well the mistreatment of those with the disease. The unknown is scary for people. It frees their imagination to do its worst. So by not explaining the source of the outbreak Ennis allows the reader to come to his or her's own conclusion and that conclusion would be based on each individual's biggest fear which is a lot scarier than Ennis ever could have come up with.
The second reason why Ennis' choice to not explain the outbreak is so great is that as human beings we pride ourselves on knowledge. We, as a species, know a lot about a lot. But Ennis, through this writing, is pointing a bony finger at mankind and saying, "You don't know shit about shit and you never will!" This is so damn scary because if we don't understand something we can't defend ourselves from it. If we don't understand it, we can't reconstruct it and therefore we can't deconstruct it. Ennis does this in two ways; The first, which I discussed above is that we don't know how it started. The second is that we are unable to find a pattern in the insanity of the Crossed, as they are simply chaos incarnate. If we could identify a pattern we could build a defense around, without pattern, there is no predictability. Without predictability there is not defense.
Take a pen and begin making random dots on a blank page. In a minute, or less for most people, you will begin making your "random" dots in an actual pattern like rows, lines, shapes, etc. Don't worry, it is just the way our brains work. And by making the Crossed truly unpredictable, Ennis has made them into something we can't classify or bring order to and therefore, we can't understand them.
And that, to be honest, scares mankind the most.
If you are looking for one of the best stories written, that is also matched with a grotesque representation of the human condition, then this series is likely for you. If you are squeamish or are easily offended I would steer clear of this series. I grade this series a rare A+. Ennis and Burrows have created a series that I hope never gets made into a movie because there isn't a director around that could do it justice and definitely not a studio around that would allow it to be done right.
So what did you think of this top 10? Agree? Disagree? Don't Care? Share your thoughts on books listed or series that I just reviewed below in this list in the comments below.
Until next time... Let me know what your greatest fear is in the comments below.
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