IDW Publishing 2016
By Max Millgate
Lettered by Shawn Lee
Englishman Eddie's Neale's promising career as a footballer was cruelly cut short with the outbreak of World War II. With his plane shot down over Germany, Eddie had been lucky to escape with his life, but was thentaken to 'Lungotz Luftzig', a P.O.W camp within the walls of a medieval castle and run by the sinister 'SS'officer, Kommandant Von-Kleist.It wasn't long before unexplained incidents began occurring within the castle, fear spread and the body countbegan to rise. Something supernatural had been unleashed!With the help of two resourceful nuns, Eddie had attempted to escape and swim for freedom, only to encounter a deadly horror in the ice cold waters! Saved from a watery grave by a passing Nazi Patrol boat, against all the odds Eddie is somehow still alive, but now once more recaptured!Punishment: the much harsher conditions of Solitary Cell No. 9!
I think what Max is doing here is really quite good. After being picked up by the boat last issue, recaptured, Eddie is put into solitary confinement. This makes the Mother Superior rather happy that her plan is going according to plan. Confused? You should be because it was her plan that got him out then recaught. There’s a method in the madness though and I kind of like that Max doesn’t do things traditionally here it’s outside the box thinking that makes things that much more interesting.
This issue we also finally learn the legend of the castle. European castles that are this old all have legends surrounding them so it’s always interesting to hear a new one. Max doesn’t disappoint us either with how this legend goes. I like the fact that Herr Kommandant actually listens to Kurt’s legend this time around. It’s pretty amusing to see his reaction to it as well considering Hitler and Himmler believe in all that occult “nonsense” as he puts it.
What would the issue be without another murder that can be attributed the legend? This time around Herr Kommandant cannot deny that the legend is indeed true. I love how it all comes about too and with only one more issue left in this story it’ll be interesting to see how Mother Superior plans on using Eddie in her plans to overcome the terror of the castle.
Got to give Max some major kudos for doing the art and writing chores here. His style for this is great and really on point. I love the difference too when we see the legend compared to the current happenings it adds that Grimm Fairy Tales feel. The way he uses page layouts through angles, perspective and backgrounds to control the flow of the story and give off that mood, tone and feel is great to see.
With a surprise ending this issue i’m more excited than ever to see how Max is going to end all this next issue. This has been one of those old timey feel stories that would have made the black and white late movies more fun to watch that’s for sure.