Image Comics 2017
Written by Cullen Bunn
Illustrated by Danny Luckert
Colours and Letters by Marie Enger
In an effort to rid himself of the sinister force that is plaguing him, Adrian submits to another past-life regression. But the presence that has haunted him is tormented by an even greater evil, and to free himself, Adrian will need to damn another poor soul forever. Even if Adrian makes peace with the sins of the past, the hidden evils of the modern world are poised to strike against him.
No one does modern creepy like Cullen does and in all honesty it kind both fascinates and creeps me out all at the same time. That he can so fully think of these worlds, these scenarios and execute them so that we as the reader can enter in such a way as to be riveted despite or because of the horrors that await inside well that takes real talent. Each issue of this that comes out makes me excited to see what’s going to be revealed, how far back do his memories reach or is all because of this one ceremony performed at this one time that is the root cause? Well yeah it’s the last one but still that I as a reader have these questions wandering around in my head well yeah that’s a sure sign of the power of storytelling.
I really like the interplay here between Detectives Padilla and Graymercy. Their working alongside each other as well as their very different belief’s make them an odd couple along the lines of Mulder and Scully which makes for some interesting dialogue. Also that Graymercy sees more and believes ore than he let’s on is interesting to me. They really are an integral of what is happening in this story and their roles shouldn’t be underrated.
So this issue Adrian is under, hypnotised, and going back to the beginning of when this madness in his life started. It’s both hella creepy and mega interesting in the aspect how Cullen writes it. Well okay credit has to go to Danny too because it wouldn’t fully work without the two of them working in concert. I love Adrian’s experience while he’s under and how the past life that got caught up with cult of sorts has somehow been able to find him and re-enact the process with a new host body if you will. It has this whole your never safe from your past element that too many people are running from and/hiding from.
Speaking of Danny’s interior artwork while it’s been solid the entire time the way he imagines the stairway to hell and everything else we see has this creative beauty that is dark and mysterious. It brings those crazy ideas and feelings to the forefront and the different in line weight and colouring for past and present versions of the body holding the soul well just bring a quality to this that elevates the series. The use of page layouts as they utilise angles, perspective and those backgrounds are beyond imagination and expectation. Oh and those naked people yeah wow with the Spider all of it together was one of the most memorable moments in comics for me visually.
I was pretty impressed with the woman who put Adrian under this time and the actions she was willing to take should it have all gone wrong. I mean obviously she understands what is going on here more than she’s telling and if that bodes either well or for ill remains to be seen but it’s just another growing factor in the book. I like they, Adrian and Delilah decide that he’s got this whole thing behind them when in reality it’s only just getting started.
It seems to me that learning about all this was only the beginning of what’s still to come. We’ve see how the past worked out for Adrian and how it’s affecting his present. Only the cult that his former life committed to wasn’t a one man deal it had seemingly hundreds of members. All of whom may have been either reincarnated or could have had their lives extended. Either way the threat these people face is far from over and I love that, I freakin love it!
The blend of conspiracy theory and horror wrapped up in this whole idea of regression and pst lives that are brought into this well it just takes all these ideas and puts them into a blender and creates the best smoothie flavour ever! This is why Image is the home of imagination.