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Strange Embrace Spotlight

I met David Hine at the New York Comic Con this year and he's probably one of the nicest people I've met in a long time. This ties into this spotlight review how you ask? Well, after gaining a copy of his work Strange Embrace, it's interesting to see what can come out of the mind of some people.

Strange Embrace is a tale full of betrayal, discovery, paranormal powers and much, much more. It's like the twilight zone, the outer limits, a Tim Burton movie and the mind of some of horror's best visionaries all came together and meshed in a very interesting way. It's dark and definitely a mature read that pushes the comic book genre back into the days of the horror comics.

A story like this helps show that comic books aren't just capes. It also shows exactly how the genre can be used to tell amazing, dark and different kind of stories.

Another highlight of the book comes from the fact that this is all David Hine, art and story. I embarrassingly enough didn't even know Dave was an artist as I only knew him from his writing. Going the way of Mike Allred,Will Eisner and the legend Jack Kirby is always a positive in this industry and I think it gets you more attention.

In the book itself, we follow thee different characters throughout the tale. A young man named Alex who has very strange powers, a boy named Sukumar who just wants to go home to his family and a man named Anthony who holds a very dark secret that spins everything together by the end of the story. Alex is linked to everyone throughout the story as an almost cryptkeeper character who walks us through, basically, the entire story. It pulls you in right from the start and never lets go. There are a few different time periods that we go through within the story and several different locations, all of which are expressed beautifully through the art.

Alex is a slightly tragic character that I'm not sure if your supposed to even like. He's selfish and does things that no normal person would do. There's a scene towards the beginning of our story that changes his life for good. I really do find him a unique character that I couldn't predict throughout the whole tale.

You don't find the truth out about Anthony until the very end and you just feel sorry for the guy, especially in light of what he was put through.... he didn't marry for love and had an overbearing father.

The themes faced throughout the book really make you think heavily and there are plot points that honestly catch you off guard. It's surprising where things head at certain moments and when we get the full story to exactly what's going on it's well worth the trip.

There is also a brand new collected edition put out by Image and it's one of the better presentations of a graphic novel that I've seen in a long time. No slipcase, which honestly works a lot better in my mind, and the binding is wonderful. The pages are also thick allowing for the content to hold up over time. It's a beautiful collection that even holds some of Dave's classic horror stories from magazines early in his career. My favorite example here is the story of a weird man and a little girl. The man had a collection of rare bugs and it was cool to see where the story went (wont spoil it for anyone).

At the end of the day this is a series that everyone should have in their collection. If you love the comic book medium, enjoy good storytelling and want to be caught off guard, then definitely pick this up. It goes with possibly one of the highest recommendations I could possibly give and I found myself more pulled in then I have been in a long time. David Hine is an expert storyteller who I'd put right up next to Tim Seeley as a new master of horror in the comic book field.

Eric Ratcliffe is a young writer/pop culture journalist/interviewer currently working on pitching a project named the Hunter chronicles. When not reading his weekly stack Eric can be found watching dvd's, playing on his 360 (gamertag: Zack Hunter) or just surfing online trying to find a scoop or two. Brand new to the Comic Related family, Eric is a fun new voice. Eric shops at TJ's Collectibles. Visit them on the web at www.tjcollect.com!