Wednesday Comics Reviews: EYE COLLECTOR #1, a wolf man, and more

In this week’s Wednesday Comics column, an excellent debut with Eye Collector #1, the Wolf Man finally comes to the Universal Monsters comics, and more! Plus, The Prog Report!

The Eye Collector #1

Creators: Jonathan Ball and GMB Chomichuk
Letterer: Lyndon Radchenka
Publisher: Image Comics

Review by Khalid Johnson

I had to read this one over a few times because it’s trippy to say the least.

I am still getting my head around it, not to mention my eyes. Created by Jonathan Ball and GMB Chomichuk with letters by Lyndon Radchenka, The Eye Collector sells on strangeness and how its team experiments with the comics medium. There’s this sense of cryptic atmosphere from the first page where the art gives a snapshot of the lead characters here overlayed on very technical drawings of the Apollo 10 and it’s trajectory.

These overlays of almost blueprints feel at home throughout as visual connection between the pages elevate the disorientation that I felt. Pair that with what felt very close to photographic approaches to the astronauts and their shuttle, and it feels almost like knowing too much.

This first issue of The Eye Collector is uncanny, as the trip we go on with the characters (the crew of the Apollo 10 mission) takes them to the moon and back, with the art bending and contorting, especially our titular cosmic figure. It’s a horror — too many teeth, spindly limbs, a haunting smile — and where the dialogue doesn’t exposit much, we get a tense sense of who the Eye Collector is.

By the end of this comic, I had more questions than answers, and like one of the astronauts, I had to make sure I hadn’t hallucinated it. In the creative teams’ notes at the close of the issue we’re let in on the process and the knowledge that all 12 issues were done before The Eye Collector #1 was made available, and I can’t help but wonder if over the course of the fun run, the disorientation begins to feel natural.

Universal Monsters – Blood of the Wolf Man #1

Writer: Joshua Williamson
Artist: Leomacs
Colors: Pip Martin
Letters: D.C. Hopkins 
Publisher: Image Comics – Skybound

Review by Clyde Hall

One strength of the Universal Monsters series is its approach for expanding thematically on the original Universal film monsters. Whether by continuing their stories, showing the happenings of the film from a different character’s point of view, or using the supernatural elements of these films for a more modern examination of the mythos, Image/Skybound has had more hits than misses with the titles. 

Blood of the Wolf Man premieres this week, and the tone is skillfully fitted to the first cinematic appearance of Lawrence Talbot’s tortured lycanthrope by writer Joshua Williamson. Adam Yaeger is a college freshman, one attending university based on merit and artistic talent unlike many of his classmates whose parents are simply footing their tuition. It immediately establishes Adam as ‘other’, as different. As an outsider. And it does so with a situation reversal of the Talbot character in the film, a son returning to his home in Wales after a lengthy absence, including earning a university degree in the States.   

Both Talbot and Adam are dealing with the loss of an older brother, the son-and-heir sort of sibling which leaves them at a disadvantage dealing with their still-grieving fathers. Which in turn solidifies a tragic past as possible foreshadowing for even more tragic continuations where the Yaeger fortunes are concerned. In the first issue, that ominous pall settles over Adam when a vicious, animalistic rampage at a college party leaves many fellow students dead or injured. Yet Adam emerges unscathed. 

Which leads to a reunion between Adam and his father, Henry, and an eventual retreat to the equivalent of an ancestral Yaeger manse. In this case, the family hunting lodge that’s acing financial difficulties and an uncertain future. Again, parallels with the first Wolf Man film abound. 

Recapturing the movie’s mood is furthered by a somewhat vague notion of time period. The Universal Monsters shared cinematic universe played rather loosely with setting when it came to eras or years. Many of the films had a rustic European backdrop which seemed more 19th than 20th Century on the surface yet were never nailed down by specifics. The title would seem to take place, based on details like rotary phones and period vehicles, in perhaps the 1970s or early 1980s.  

All these touches by Williamson help channel and update themes of the original film into a more energized, modern tale with a younger protagonist weathering familiar dark circumstances. Like Larry Talbot, our hero seems at first personable enough and coping with his challenges well. Until very quickly, catastrophic forces begin twisting his destiny. As Adam starts believing he’s responsible for the college party bloodbath, we see the similar tortured shadow of Larry descending over him. 

One drawback for updating the time period even with temporal vagueness intact, however, is its cost in practicality. The Wolf Man movies were always more atmospheric and eerie than masterpieces of logical fiction. People acted and things happened as the plot required more often than as how logic might dictate. But suspension of disbelief regarding 1970s America requires greater reader cooperation based on what this issue presents.

Hospital reps and EMTs call and inform Henry that his son is at their facility and that he should respond but refuse him any details regarding Adam’s condition or the circumstance of his admission. That fuels a 100 mph run to the Emergency Room meant to build tension. But all I could think of was what harm there was in telling Henry that Adam was stable, but given the circumstances, he should respond.  Were I the Dad walking in after a high speed race to the hospital only to be met by a smiling nurse assuring me my son’s just fine, unharmed even, after their detail-free summons? We’d have had words. It comes off as a clunky and invalid attempt at building suspense. 

The questioning of Adam by Detectives Coates and Morrow continues the clunkiness. Henry trying to block or cover anything Adam’s pondering about his culpability in the incident tracks. But less so the casual investigative approach to a case with many dead or seriously injured kids and a single unharmed one. An unharmed one who is of age, who seems willing to share details, but whose father forbids it. Many parents, apparently ones with means and influence getting their kids into this college, are going to be demanding answers from the detectives and their superiors. Letting a primary witness, if not suspect, go without a more formal interrogation feels logistically weak in a modern story. 

It might work as part of an AIP drive-in horror feature like Count Yorga, Vampire. But not a Universal horror property. Building the sense of foreboding in ways mentioned earlier, high marks. This approach, problematic.

Artwork by Leomacs conveyed the 1970-1980 vibes well. The fact that Adam is open and glowing in visage while his college cohorts more grounded, less idyllic, helps the miasma gather around our hero more effectively when it comes. The action sequences are cinematically gruesome and flowing for a monster smorgasbord POV effect. Choosing that framing keeps the Wolf Man a bit more under wraps than other choices, but this early in the series it’s probably the right call. One can hope, however, for future issues with at least one transformation sequence of human to lycanthrope rivaling the classic Jack Pierce cinematic visuals.

The first issue ends with a grisly discovery in the Yaegar home, surrounded by the forested expanse of the hunting lodge. Woodlands occupied by wolfpacks who hold a brooding vigil on the comings and goings of the humans in residence. It’s an appropriately ominous payoff for all the buildup the  creative team’s put into play for Universal Monsters: Blood of the Wolf Man. It’s a textured variation which fans of the original films can appreciate, yet one equally independent from the source material as its own standalone horror title. The premiere balances thematic promise against a few rough narrative patches. We’ll see how these creators smooth them beneath full moon cycles in the months to come.

Mind MGMT – New and Improved #1

Cartoonist: Matt Kindt
Publisher: Oni Press – Flux House

Review by Jordan Jennings

Heard of Mind MGMT before? Well forget it. As that was a lie and this is the truth. Mind MGMT was just a series of lies told to influence you into a sense of security. Ignore the past. Embrace the now. This is Mind MGMT – New and Improved #1 from comic auteur Matt Kindt. 

This debut issue is one part meta analysis of relaunches and new reader entry points, one part X-Files governmental procedural, and one part damn fine comic. Kindt quickly throws the reader into the bizarre with the opening statement on the credits page where it reads like a stream of consciousness through the lens of the in-universe of the Mind Management agency. From there we get a look at our partners as they work to solve the mysterious death of a podcast host. This is where Kindt’s knack for dialog really shines. Not only does Kindt have a great way of weaving in exposition throughout the dialog, he also has a great sense of rhythm as the two characters banter back and forth in an entertaining and engaging way. 

The murder mystery plot is delightfully strange as it is captivating. The plot also serves as an excellent structure to pull in different character beats through the interviews and investigations. The back portion of the issue serves as a look at the Mind Management power structure and gives new readers a look at lore of the world. Also, I personally loved that Kindt connected it to the ramblings of one of the agents at the start of the issue.

Kindt’s art style is unique and wonderful. The character designs find this bizarre line between cartoony and realistic that just captivates the eyes. Kindt’s ability to instill emotions into his art is top notch as it takes advantage of the more cartoony qualities allowing for greater expression. This is not even getting into how he is able to convey something strictly not visual like scent memory onto the page with these sticking images that take advantage of the color design. Another example of Kindt’s talent to show the other senses in a visual form is with the artistic shorthand for white noise of a crowd, as shown on the cover. It is nothing short of masterful. 

This is a great new start to an already great series. Matt Kindt has quickly moved up the ranks of must read creators for me and I think if you love quirky comics with a unique voice and a dash of the X Files, you are going to love this comic.

The Prog Report

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  2000AD #2486: This week we get the finale of Silver – Book Three: Malignant by wrtier Mike Carroll, artist Joe Currie, and letterer Simon Bowland, and it is consequential, to say the least. Regular readers of this section know that I am absolutely enamored with the artwork of Currie, but that’s not to say I don’t also enjoy the writing of Silver, which often feels both surprising and audacious. This week’s finale is one of those surprising and audacious bits, really accelerating the stakes of the story, which already felt quite high. It also ends on a great, sort of classic action movie kind of beat that I appreciated. This week’s issue overall is a bit of a table setter for next week’s bumper issue, and I’m excited for that as well. This week’s cover (above) is by D’Israeli. As always, you can pick up a digital copy of The Prog here. And it is also now available weekly in US comic shops! —Zack Quaintance

Column edited by Zack Quaintance.

Read past entries in the weekly Wednesday Comics reviews series or check-out our other reviews here!