Image Comics 2018
Written by Jeff Lemire
Illustrated by Andrea Sorrentino
Coloured by Dave Stewart
Lettered & Designed by Steve Wands
The lives of a reclusive young man obsessed with a conspiracy in the city’s trash, and a washed-up Catholic priest arriving in a small town full of dark secrets, become intertwined around the mysterious legend of The Black Barn, an otherworldly building that is alleged to have appeared in both the city and the small town, throughout history, bringing death and madness in its wake. Rural mystery and urban horror collide in this character-driven meditation on obsession, mental illness, and faith.
I love when I come into a book where I only know the creators and nothing else. With the success these two have had with one another in the past you just know this new one is going to something good. But this, this surpassed any and all expectations and took me some place I never knew I'd go. Jeff really is pretty damn amazing as a writer and that he can cover any and all known genre’s and then some for whatever reason continues to amaze me. It shouldn’t at this point but then something such as this comes out and suddenly you think he’s barely scratched the surface of what he’s capable of. That is a scary thought.
I like the way that this book is being told, the duality of the stories and how we as of yet cannot really see how they can merge is fascinating. Also I think that both main characters can be seen as thoroughly flawed is a huge draw for me. While we don’t know enough about them to know if they are just damaged goods or something deeper but I am reminded a few things, such as mental illness let’s those with the affliction see things the rest of cannot or God looks after fools and drunks. Whether you believe in those or not there’s a modicum of truth about them and it certainly applies here.
Father Wilfred is already an interesting character. Old, weathered and cantankerous there’s a past he’s trying to hide desperately and yet he’s sent to Gideon Falls to serve in the stead of the deceased Father Tom. Be this penance or punishment we don’t rightly know at this time but from the way things are written it could be either or both. Norton on the other hand seems pretty straightforward which is almost always never the actuality of it. He finds things in garbage around the city then takes it home and finds a conspiracy in it. He was hospitalised for his illness and now is outpatient but still what he sees and how he sees it that’s something else entirely.
God Andrea has pulled out all the stops here with his work on the interiors. I mean the whole thing feels like it’s shot on old film. The grainy texture of the linework throughout is so amazingly rendered here and adds a whole different character element to the story. His use of page layouts so that we see these angles and perspective in the panels is sublime work and shows off one of the best eyes for storytelling in the business. Backgrounds or no the work stands on it’s own two feet and there’s no mistaking the scope of the world or the feel of the moment.
As the issues moves closer and closer to it’s last page we see more of a side by side comparison if you will of both men and what they are experiencing, presumably simultaneously, things get incredibly weird and it’s exciting. There’s something about the most unusual characters appearing in a paranormal thriller that is as far from normal as one can get. This might be my biggest surprise hit of the year.