This week’s Wednesday Comics Reviews is split between a new volume of Creepshow and a new D&D comic! Plus, The Prog Report!
Creepshow, Vol.5, #1
Writers: Tyler Boss, Lorenzo De Felici
Art: Francesca Ciregia, Lorenzo De Felici
Colors: Brad Simpson, Lorenzo De Felici
Letters: Pat Brosseau
Publisher: Image Comics/Skybound Entertainment
Review by Clyde Hall
As The Creep himself might opine, stealing from a children’s charity is no laughing matter. “Clown Town”, the first story in Creepshow, Vol. 5, #1, proves it just might be the stuff laughter is made from, though. Horrific, macabre laughter, but still. This tale written by Tyler Boss would have fit right in among the quaint and curious video vignettes of forgotten lore presented in the original Creepshow film. And that is no minor achievement.
For such a tale, it helps having a despicable villain and not the garden variety kind. You need a sorry excuse for humanity the reader doesn’t long to see simply lose. We want to enjoy having such antagonists pay up for their dirty deeds with a pound of flesh, a gallon of blood, and choking on a syrup of ipecac cocktail. Boss brings us such a contender in Terry, running a children’s entertainment charity for hospitalized youths. Terry, a boss who skims off donations they receive meant for making sick children happy and who takes advantage of bereaved mothers by bedding them when they are at their most vulnerable.
Terry, who seldom clowns for the kids anymore himself, but relies on the long-suffering clown performers working for him. Decent sorts like Jellybean and H.B. (Handsome Buffoon). Despite Terry’s deep diving into the waters of greedy and amoral sociopathy, the elder performer Jellybean believes that, if only he could manipulate Terry into making a child laugh again, the rot in his boss’s soul would evaporate. In the end, H.B. has other ideas on how Terry might serve in making happy childhood laughter that lasts.
Artist Francesca Ciregia packs the “Clown Town” car with plenty of poetically rendered panels. She makes you love the world-worn humor and optimism of old timer Jellybean, admire the joyous pantomime Pierrot of H.B., and loathe Terry even more for his perpetually lecherous smirk. The smooth flow of illustration combined with a taut rising tension of narrative make this a sinister S’mores combination I can’t resist. It’s exactly the sort of story I read horror comics for.
With a differing but no less classic horror comic approach, “The Poke” is the second story of the issue and is written, drawn, and colored by Lorenzo De Felici. It’s a strange one, the kind of strange that used to make us wonder exactly what pharmacopia flavors the creative team was noshing. A man out walking his dog discovers a finger. Not a detached one, so far as he knows, but it’s hard to tell. Because this finger’s the size of a skyscraper and is poking the Earth. The finger kaiju rises into knuckle-level clouds, past the atmosphere, and into space.
As crowds and the media outlets gather, it becomes apparent that the cosmic finger also comes with a terrible virus. Not the ‘makes you unwell and talking to Ralph on the big white phone’ kind. The kind that makes you suddenly bloat up and explode like an overfilled hemoglobin balloon. The finger’s cordoned off, hazmat suits are donned to protect those studying the deadly virus, but no containment or preventative measures remain effective long. Come into the vicinity of the finger wearing shirtsleeves or full-on bioweapons CRBN suit, it doesn’t matter. You’ll soon explode. And the space plague is spreading.
The only humans unaffected by the fickle finger of fatality are astronauts manning the International Space Station. But their new relief crew arrived already exposed, and soon only a single EVA-suited astronaut remains alive. With earth quickly becoming a global, blood-spattered graveyard, he decides to use the orbiter space craft to trail the finger back to its origin point, hoping to discover answers. Maybe solutions. Or at least the punchline of a gallows’ humor horror yarn.
The tone is wicked middle school humor, and it’s absolutely appropriate in emulating past tales found in the pages of classic horror magazines like Creepy and Eerie. It’s part body horror, part sci-fi acid trip, and all groanaable in the conclusion. But the groans only come from the adult portion of our psyche, while making our twisted inner child cackle shamelessly. And if you haven’t heard such gremlinish mirth in a while, you’ll find its return as comforting as the start of a new Halloween season.
De Felici handles earthbound elements and settings well enough, but the spaceborne sections feel like his true graphics element. His storytelling in those portions especially enters an eerily trippy finality frontier. Trippy the way a cosmic biology dissection class might use Lovecraftian Old Ones as their vivisection specimens.
Which makes it two swings and two home runs over the headstones for this initial edition of Creepshow, Vol. 5. The creators make two stories in 32 pages work better than many modern horror anthology efforts attempting to wedge three smaller stories into the same space. Like sneaking a second corpse into a hidden compartment underneath a casket half-couch and its primary occupant feels less crowded while serving deliciously devious purposes. Focusing on twin tales of terror in this title allows exposition enough to make both more unnerving and easily more satisfying. This book is officially my best spooky season read so far this year. Make a place for it on your paranormal Halloween pull list.
Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft #1
Writers: Amy Chu
Artist: Ariela Kristantina
Colorist: Roman Stevens
Letterer: Haley Rose-Lyon
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Review by Jared Bird
The legendary scholar and monster hunter Rudolph Van Richten has gone missing. In his absence, the dark and savage realm of Ravenloft has begun to fall apart, ravaged by creatures of the night. As one of his apprentices searches to find out why, and if she can fix it, the hunter becomes the hunted in this brand new Dungeons & Dragons miniseries from Dark Horse Comics.
Set in the titular D&D setting of Ravenloft, one of the most popular settings in the entire table-top playing community, the series follows Ez D’Avenir, one of Van Richten’s proteges, as she searches both for Rudolph himself and for answers as to why the world of Ravenloft is coming apart at the seams. Despite the ties to a pre-existing setting, this story is entirely beginner friendly, focusing on telling what is advertised as a “genre-bending mystery” in the world of Ravenloft as opposed to progressing any larger franchise plot threads. That’s entirely the right call here, and most of this first issue serves as an introduction to the style of that particular world, without necessarily getting bogged down in the expanded lore of details. The simple premise hooks the reader well enough on its own, particularly if you enjoy dark or gothic fantasy settings.
Written by Amy Chu (Carmilla: The First Vampire), the debut issue’s script is unfortunately the weakest element of it. Much of the dialogue here is stilted and awkward, and the narrative voice never quite matches with the tone of the artwork or the larger setting. As it goes on, the writing finds its footing and starts to move in step with the rest of the larger comic, but by that point the first issue is already nearly at an end. We don’t necessarily get a great idea of who Ez D’Avenir is as a character, or her goals and desires, which makes the larger narrative feel like it lacks stakes and any motivational drive. The villain, Viktra Mordenheim, is quite compelling, but in a silly, campy Frankenstein-rip off way, not in any way more meaningful or substantial.
The art, courtesy of Ariela Kristantina (Wolverine), is one of the stand-out elements of the debut issue. Whilst some moments are lacking in detail or character expression, it’s for the most part energetic and fun, with great action scenes that are clear and easy to read, and fun gothic colors thanks to colorist Roman Stevens. The artwork is at its best when it leans into the pulpy, gothic atmosphere, evoking classic horror films and works of gothic paintings, whilst adding fantastical elements more in line with classic D&D.
Overall, Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft #1 is a fun but flawed debut issue for the brand-new miniseries, held back by a slightly awkward script that fails to work as best as it possibly could. With energetic artwork that leans into the pulpy, gothic roots of the genre and the Ravenloft setting, it’s a good starting point for those curious about the titular realm of Dungeons and Dragons, making for a good stepping stone for those who want more of the setting or alternatively, to get more into playing the table-top game itself. Hopefully as the series goes on, the elements come together more cohesively to truly craft a story that can show how interesting the world of Ravenloft can be.
The Prog Report
2000AD #2498 (Rebellion): The highlight of this week’s issue was, for me, Rogue Trooper: Run Amok by writer Andi Ewington, artist Nicolo Assirelli, colorist John Charles, and letterer Rob Steen. It’s a relatively self-contained story, wherein Rogue Trooper is trying to escape captivity, aided by an unlikely ally (who I am keeping secret, despite it being on this week’s cover, but ANYWAY). Conceptually, it’s really nothing all that unique. I just thought the execution was very well done, right from the poetic opening line, “The sightless eye of the black hole watches the endless war raging across Nu Earth below.” Nicely done. This week’s cover (above) is by Patrick Goddard. 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!
