Black Mask Studios 2017
Written by Mark L. Miller
Illustrated by James Michael Whynot
Coloured by Dee Cunniffe
Lettered by Jim Campbell
On a journey to track down the grave of their estranged father, Maribel and Anthony find their way to the Malort Cemetery, a strange, seemingly abandoned field of mostly unmarked tombs. There they encounter an eccentric clan of grave-robbers who've devised a highly-addictive drug made from human remains--and the fresher the corpse, the stronger the dose. What started out as an attempt to reconnect with the past becomes a descent into a psychedelic, neon-colored nightmare, will Maribel and Anthony find their way through the hallucinogens or will they become the next hit?
Well I’m always on the lookout for something outside the box and incredibly interesting and from what I am seeing here this certainly fits that bill. Not surprising though because Black Mask tends to put out some of the more cutting edge books in the industry. The way that this series opens is not only creative but I have to say it borders on historical, after all I wasn’t there but the explanation of those visions seems actually credible.
The second part a little less believable but incredibly fascinating nonetheless and I have to say that personally I’d love to see both of them explored further as they could very well make their own horror tales. Specially the second one and since I am talking about this that means what Mark has done is ignited that spark in the imagination which is essential to excellent storytelling. I love that this sparks my creativity and imagination in ways I hadn’t expected or even dreamed this is the direction it could go.
So when we meet Maribel and Anthony they are in a car travelling to see their father’s grave. The dialogue is what really catches your eye. there’s an emotion behind it that I wasn’t prepared for and the fact that Anthony feels like he really needs this while Maribel has spent her life messed up because of him well it’s an interesting dilemma in their dynamic. Still the relationship between siblings no matter how different they are or how much the disagree and fight is one that stronger than most people realise.
Whynot’s work on the interiors here is pretty interesting in its own right. There is this nice amount of work that is in the details and yet there’s also this very unique style to the way he brings people to life that not quite battle each other but oddly compliment each other. Dee’s colouring by the way is exactly what I expect it to be and that this is night time and swirling blues and blacks and all the combinations in-between really just add so much to the creep factor. The way that page layouts are used with their angles and perspective show a nice eye for storytelling. The utilisation of backgrounds make things even more intense and serve to heighten the tension which is where the anticipation of chills is high.
So what should have been a visit to a quaint old time cemetery at night is never going to be what it should be. Well then again its exactly what it should be inherently creepy and the literal stuff nightmares are made of. Only once Mark gets going man he gets going because it’s like all the tropes about this particular subset of the horror genre are all here. Though honestly with the way they are fleshed out it is abso-freakin-lutely perfect. I mean this whole thing it just flows with exceptional skill and talent that you see what you expect and don’t mind it.
Though what happens at the cemetery is far from what you’d expect and that twist in the story is what makes this unique and original. If you are a fan of horror, good storytelling and interesting artwork you need to be reading this!