Zenescope Entertainment 2015
Written by Lou Iovino
Illustrated by Cristhian Crizam Zamora
Coloured by Fran Gamboa & J.C. Ruiz
Lettered by Fabio Amelia
A smart college student begins to change who she is in order to garner the attention that comes with traditional beauty standards. But as she drifts further from herself, will she end up attracting the wrong kind of attention?
I love the idea, concept and whole premise of this story I just wish it had more time to fully develop into something truly frightening. With each story being a one-shot maybe this series should be double length or at the least thirty six pages to allow us to get the full effect of a truly creepy, horrific and terrifying tale. Just something to ponder because the story ideas are perfect for the series I just wish they had more time to really be fleshed out more.
Nerdy smart girl who works in the medical examiner's office while going to school has that blonde, bubbly and sexually active roommate is something that could very well go Single White Female on us. Then after Jess has a blowup with her latest boyfriend Brea gets her on a dating site that her boss uses. Oh the perils and pitfalls of online dating are a horror story all their own but I digress. Add Corpse Beetles into the mix and suddenly well things can go any number of routes here. This is all kinds of awesome because it means as a reader you aren’t sure where it’s really going to go, sure you have an idea and the cover leads you there but all in all it really helps let the imagination go wild.
Now i’m sorry but Keres showing up here isn’t at all necessary. I don’t even get why she’s a part of the series to begin with. Personally she doesn’t add anything and with limited page counts as it is well she takes up too much space, though this issue it’s kind of spot on with her just delivering the beetles.
So the online dating site the girls are both a part of, as Brea seems to be more involved in getting Jess a date than she should be is a nice set-up. Though to be honest I’m not sure where the change in personality for Brea comes in it’s like i’m missing something that happens to make her go that route. I mean we see some scenes that perhaps could indicate that but they aren’t filled out enough to give us a credible reason for it.
Really what happens in this is great as Jess gets this whole treatment and Brea suffers for her role in it. Of course I kind of expected what happened to happen. That was fairly obvious to me. Expectation versus reality here was a little disappointing and I strongly urge a revision with more pages to really flesh out the story. I love that this has what a horror lover wants but it really is too short to fully realize it.
I am extremely impressed with Zamora, Gamboa and Ruiz’s interiors here. I love the way the characters look, the page and panel layouts plus the aftermath of seeing the beatles work was superbly done. They bring the apprehension and creepiness you need for the story to the page.
With just a bit of tweaking this could’ve been one of those out of the ballpark homeruns.