Devil's Due/1First Comics 2017
Written by Dan Schaffer
Illustrated by David Miller
Freust begins to peel back the layers of The Pit, the secret mental asylum housing the world's most dangerous supernatural killers. But the deeper she looks, the darker it gets. After her first encounter with Inmate Eleven, Freust begins to learn parapsychiatry, determined to protect herself from the inmates' powers and give them the care they deserve. But when teenage telekinetic psychopath Missy Li attempts to melt Freust's brain, she realizes this job going to be a baptism of fire.
Evelyn's first day on the job isn't going to be what anyone is expecting it to be. I am so enamoured with this book as there is such a great old school horror that is mixed in with the supernatural in ways that seep into your bones. Once you start reading this there's no escaping from it and much like the characters that inhabit this book you can't explain away what effect that it has. The way this book is put together, using words and illustrations, is pretty darn spectacular I really like the way it flows through the issue with nice amount of story revelation and character development to really make you feel immersed in what's going on.
Let me just talk a minute about David and the work he's doing here. The very first page is a Freakin stunner! It is gorgeous, creepy, enchanting and all around the kind old school horror that came from the black & white comics of the past. The fact that it also feels a lot like the films I saw on television as a child well that just makes it all that much better. I mean seeing the horror reminds me of the first horror I remember seeing and that this work from David evokes those memories within me well that is priceless. His use of page layouts through angles, perspective and the utilisation of backgrounds well it all comes together beautifully. Then of course there is his imagination and creativity on display here and the overall effect is that he really makes this book what it is.
Dan’s characterisation here is utterly fantastic and the way he brings these characters to life is beyond expectation. The nurse is one of my favourite people I mean behind that rough exterior is a woman with a heart of gold whether she thinks so or not. Then there’s Evelyn whose own personality we see start to grow, evolved and change as she’s thrust into this new world of madness. The subject matter is so foreign to her and she has to find a way to adapt. That Dan can show us the forward progress and then take a few steps back is amazingly well done.
So that Dan is able to both weave the supernatural horror aspects to the psychological ones here shouldn’t go unnoticed. Half the real scares come from the anticipation of what’s to come rather than seeing it happen. Her interaction with the staff and patients showcase how the unexpected can be much frightening than seeing something happen in real time. I love that about this book that we can not only shiver in anticipation but creep you out with what we see back to back, side by side.
The idea that Evelyn slept with a patient who then took a chunk out of her leg Hannibal Lecter style and lost her license isn’t overly original. Her estranged father who left and gave her not only abandonment issues but forced her decision to kind of follow in his footsteps is the basis for a great story in and of itself. That Dan took that extra step further and brought to Frankenstein’s castle well that just made the story damn near perfect.