Creepy Critique: Caliban #1

Caliban #1 (Avatar Press)

GOD DAMN THAT WAS GOOD! I mean, HOLY S#!^ THAT WAS A FREAKING GORE-GEOUS COMIC! Growing up as a kid of the late 80’s and early 90’s nothing terrified me more than a movie where there was no hope at all. Movies like Alien and Event Horizon take place in deep space, and even if you win, you still loose because you got nowhere to go. The atmosphere is just dark from the get go, and add to the mix this low lit, huge metal machine that is lugging your ass through space, it’s terrifying.

So when this book was solicited, I was sooooo ready for it. I knew it was something I had to read, and needed to have in my hands. The Terror Cover, by interior artist Facundo Percio, alone had me pulling the measly $4 out of my pocket. Oh and did I mention it’s written by Garth Ennis? So needless to say, I had some damn high hopes for this book from the get go.

Issue #1 just nails it right out of the gate. The crew members who “stays awake” and pilot the ship explain how it all works in this universe. They explain how they basically drive people who are in stasis to planets to mine them, then leave. How they have to have a certain mental toughness to do what they do, and not everyone can hack that. The best lines in the book were, “ If it all goes wrong. If you hit trouble, out there in all the uncharted nothing. We will do nothing more than write you off.” UGH my damn fear of hopelessness came streaming back to my head on that. This book is going to go nowhere happy, and it terrifies me.

I won’t ruin anything for those of you who made the mistake of not buying this issue yet, but trust me, every page is worth 10x the cost of the paper it is printed on. There is a big mystery on top pf everything else that will have you screaming you need more. In horror comics it’s hard to setup a scary/creepy atmosphere, because you don’t control the sound and light around the reader when he/she is reading it. However this book gave me a HUGE jump moment, that sent my heart straight down to my stomach. So many props go to Percio, for that page alone.

Overall this book has all I could ever want to find in a great horror comic. The story by Ennis lures you in and it does not let go. The GORE-Geous artwork by Percio will leave your eyes craving more and more. I can not wait for the next issue to come out, so until that happens, I will sit here, and wait as patiently as I can.... ARRRRGH!!!! I NEED MORE!!!!!

Dying Breath 5.0 out of 5.0