Image Comics 2021
Written by Doug Wagner
Illustrated by Daneil Hillyard
Coloured by Dave Stewart
Lettered by Ed Dukeshire
As Walter continues to go even deeper into the sunflower death cult's underground gore bunker, his serial killer friends decide to split up to sew their unique brands of chaos. New wickedly disturbing monsters are revealed on both sides. Who wins when the criminally insane take on pure evil?
The more we see of this series the more disturbed it gets but also the more completely and utterly fabulous it gets as well. I shouldn’t be this enthused about a book featuring serial killers but by god what these boys are doing with this not only brings a genuine smile to my face but in the end it's just a feel good kind of story. After reading this through the first time I was able to go back and read it again and pick up the signs that I missed, or were right under my nose. That Doug is able to do that is amazing to me because it is something that more likely than not anyone should be able to spot and wonder about. But you get so caught up in the fabulousness of this book that sometimes you don’t see the forest for the trees.
Everything about the way that this is being told is phenomenal. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is exquisitely rendered. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter continues to flesh them out as people magnificently. I could talk for days on end about the characterisation here and not once get bored it’s just that singularly incredible. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story, the revelations and twists along the way we’re made to feel like a part of this story.
How this is being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen is magnificent to see. How all this adds such great depth, dimension and complexity to the story is so exciting to see. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is impeccably achieved.
The interiors here are amazing to see. Sure it has this very comic book style oriented artwork but it works for this series and it works extremely well. The house could use more detailed backgrounds but we’ll let it slide. The work we do see enhances and expands the moments beautifully and how they work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is phenomenal to see. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a masterful eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show a sensational eye for how colour works and how to maximise their effects. The creativity and imagination that we see throughout is stunning and it just amps up the whole crazy factor way past ten on the dial.
I love how we see Vic throughout all this as well. She went from reluctant prisoner to caring about Walter in the span of three issues and I think as she begins to learn more about him, his predicament and that he genuinely considers Dennis his best friend, honestly it’s heartwarming. There is so much going on here with Walter and his little family which now includes Vic and by extension Dennis that is completely unexpected and the impact that it has on the reader is a shock to the system. With some of today's most inspired writing & characterisation wrapped up in these stunningly brilliant interiors this is going to change how you see the world around you.