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Modbird Myths #1 - 2
Alterna Comics and Hard Way Studio |
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I'm going to be very clear from the first few words of this review... I love this series! I'm not even going to hide how much I enjoyed the initial two single issues of Morbid Myths. I almost certainly rank it among my top 5 finds of 2007 and I will be buying each and every issue as they come out. It has a home on this reader's pull list!
As a bit of a disclaimer, I'll also state from the start that Alterna Comics and Hard Way Studios are part of our creator community and members of the Comic Related family. Making that disclosure, I counter that they didn't solicit the praise I'm offering and I can also say, as a proud supporter of small press, that I paid for the copies I'm using for this review as I wanted to sample some of their work and support their publishing efforts.
Morbid Myths is an anthology series filled with tales of horror and dark humor. The series sports full color covers and black and white interior art. For this series, Hard Way Studios teamed up with Alterna Comics to release the title and the resulting work is solid.
Here today, I'm reviewing the first two individual issues of the series. Since my grabbing these, Morbid Myths has moved to a trade paperback format for current and future releases. The series will come out on a tri-annual basis with the equivalent of four issues in every trade. Volume 1 is in February's previews.
Okay, now that housekeeping is out of the way, I'll jump in with both feet and tell you why I think this series is so strong...
First, it is a horror anthology that doesn't rely explicitly on blood and guts for its punch. It weaves together tales that are fun, tension building AND creepy.
I think it can be all to easy, as a writer, to rely on pure shock storytelling when it comes to horror. It's a much harder goal to approach a tale with creativity, a bit of humor and an erie enough tone to score with the reader. Here, the creators shoot and score.
Morbid Myths follows in the proud tradition of EC Comics, Tales from the Crypt, Outer Limits and even the Twilight Zone by presenting a series on stand alone stories (or myths) overseen by a narrator and presented for your enjoyment. It diverges from some of these past classics, by presenting a slightly lighter tone allowing humor to play a role in the telling. The combination works.
In the series you have a guide named Job who walks you through the stories of Morbid Myths. Job is instantly more likable that the Crypt Keeper and a bit of a mash-up between the Phantom of the Opera, Rod Serling and your favorite, unexpectedly creepy uncle. He's there just enough to introduce the stories then backs out of the way allowing the story itself to do the heavy lifting.
Issue one contains a single main myth and a smaller back-up vignette. Issue two splits the content pretty evenly between two myths.
Art, ink, tone and storytelling... This series scores above expectation in each arena.
When I opened the first issue of Morbid Myths, I was greeted by an art style that was clean, crisp and fully detailed. I would put it up against many (if not most) of it's mainstream competitors. It is detailed, cleanly drawn and inked in a way that gives the characters presented a very real and appreciable quality that is so necessary when bringing a reader into a horror tale. You have to care about the characters for a story to work and here the art works to the distinct advantage of the story.
How about that story? In these first two issues there are essentially three main stories. Each one, to me, proved that the writers can pull off a different kind of tale.
In issue #1 we see the tale of an occult librarian who routinely has to go out to collect her books from beguiling necromancers and weekend occult-a-holics. This quiet little grandmother narrates the tale and presents such a fine level of humor that I honestly walked over to my wife and had her read a few panels I thought were particularly good. Her comment, "that's really great stuff!" I think, from an occasional comic reader, that is high praise.
That first story hooked me as the balance of humor and dark, dry horror was dead on. In the story there's a c'thulu-esqe critter that threatens the team and is dispatched, ultimately, by the quick application of knitting needles, yarn and soy sauce packets ... don't laugh, it works!
Here the writers prove they can pull off humor while still mixing it with the macabre.
Issue #2 proved to me that the series isn't a one and gone success story. The Box and Tourist Trap roll out a carpet of creep that showed off two distinctly different qualities. The Box proved the writers can build a story to a satisfying climax while maintaining a sense of mystery. in Tourist Trap, the team proved they can deliver a "jump back" moment on the printed page.
Each of these three stories proved to me that the writers have the chops when it comes to spinning a no frills tale of squirm-in-the-seat goodness and that, dear readers, is why I will be back with each follow-up issue. If these first two samplings prove a representation of what lies ahead, it's a great road to be on!
Check out a full preview of Morbid Myths #1 and #2.
Learn more by visiting www.alternacomics.com and www.hardwaystudios.com.
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