‘The Skullfucker’ Issue 2 (of 6).
Created by Warwick Fraser-Coombe.
Full Colour - 28 pages - Not For Children.
The Story - The mystery deepens regarding the new sex drug called Paragon and nightmarish creatures that seem connected to these unexpected deaths and suicides. A trashy tabloid newspaper journalist pursues this and other mysteries with little care for his own safety. He may take a step too far.
But maybe ..... ‘Everything will change by morning’?
The Review - I was lucky enough to have been sent an early review of issue two of The Skullfucker before it’s release at Thoughtbubble is a few days time. I really enjoyed issue 1 and this is a great continuation.
As soon as I hit the first few pages of the story that runs on through from the cliff-hanger at the end of the previous issue I know that I am back on the Fraser-Coombe rollercoaster ride. As I examine this many limbed demon/mutant/fever dream and how a man’s arm extends from where it’s groin should sit I feel that shiver. The hand is fully formed and twisted and tense and simply signifies the nasty/crazy/satirical/horror tone that follows.
‘.....after all, there’s more ways to skin a cunt.’
The creator of this tale never fails to go where it takes him no matter how dark. He allow himself and the reader to dwell in the stagnant and putrefying depths of human and society’s dark and dirty secrets. It is a detective story about the low-life’s of our country and is in so many ways and angles transgressively antiestablishment. Literally and figuratively flipping the bird at authority. The people are as bad as the madness of the beasts he crafts. Warwick uses visual, verbal and environmental prompts to push tone and story. It is a comic that sits in the here and now and plays with our fears by showing us a mirror to ourselves.
The art is photorealistic but uses this well and crafts around the real world prompts. It doesn’t overuse reference and you can see flourishes of the imagination alongside the models that Warwick uses. This is much more ‘realism’ than ‘photo’. Visually it wheels around somewhere between a coloured version of Strangehaven by Gary Spencer Millidge and how I imagine Clive Barker dreams.
The art shines with detail from the notes pinned to the journalists walls, to the many handed creature to the beams in the old English countryside pub. These added moments build the real world setting and the culture and sourness of modern Britain. They add to both story and the eager-eyed interpretation of the reader.
If I had one criticism it’s with the pages that are really text heavy. A couple of sequences describe over and over the deaths at the hands of Paragon and this was a little heavy going. For me maybe a sequence of images or newspaper headlines would have worked?
This book is not for the over sensitive but it most definitely was for me. Roll on issue 3.
Highly recommended.
You can find Warwick over at https://warwickfrasercoombe.blogspot.comand PM him for details. He’ll be at Thoughtbubble in a week and a half so pop by his table.
Many thanks for reading.
No comments:
Post a Comment