Sometimes small towns have things to hide for good reason … for it’s best not to disturb the past.
Creative Staff:
Writer: Joe Brusha
Artwork: Allan Otero
Colours: Fran Gamboa & J.C. Ruiz
Letters: Matt Krotzer
What They Say:
Urban legend tells of a satanic cult that performed rituals in the Ohio woods at the turn of the century. The rituals became more and more disturbing and eventually led to the ultimate evil … a human sacrifice. Legend states that the cultists were so successful that they opened a portal that leads directly to hell. Now, twenty years later, the last surviving victim of the cult has returned, but something immensely evil has arrived as well … an entity known only as the Shadow Man.
Content (please note that portions of review may contain spoilers):
Something is coming for Sandra in her dreams, a sinister presence that will not let go as it opens more doors to her forgotten memories. The nightmares are filled with blood, shadows, dead bodies and a feeling of dread and helplessness. These images are terrifying but at the same time, they seem familiar – with everything leading her to that one place that everyone tells her to avoid: Satan’s Hollow. That forbidden area keeps drawing her back, but as her husband, John begins to doubt her sanity by saying that he saw nothing there, something in her mind is pulling her to explore the area even more.
Even as she delves into the local scenery, the residents deepen the lore by relating tales of how the Hollow is cursed; of course, when you have a place that the grown-ups tell you not to go to, teens will inevitably flock there to see what is so bad. But, when you find decomposing animal corpses and there are rumors of human sacrifices, the line between truth and fiction begin to blur. Although a reporter did post an article that there were murders committed in Satan’s Hollow, the police told him to retract the story, which he never did. So, now Sandra has a new lead to uncover, but how can she if the sheriff is investigating into the new missing people, including his deputy. It appears that someone or something is still interested in the tunnels, but what are they really trying to hide?
In Summary:
As if the settling in period wasn’t scary enough, but now writer Joe Brusha is beginning to twist the Lovecraftian lore even more with his literary knife. The expansion of the theme that the protagonist is somehow involved in the plot due to a family legacy has now started to rear its grotesque head. The memories that were alluded to in the first issue are now beginning to become more ingrained into the story with Sandra’s nightmares now haunting her and hopefully we should be in for an even more frightening stories in the future. But the incorporation of her dreams now encroaching into daily life and becoming her obsession makes the story even more satisfying as she is seems to be teetering even more on the ledge of sanity. To see her personality slowly breaking down when even her husband is starting to lose belief in her makes her an even more unstable and thus, is turning her a classic tragic heroine, one that everyone loves to cheer on – since you can’t help but root for the underdog. Brusha is wonderfully turning this horror tale into a classic Lovecraft story and you can’t but help to suffer with Sandra through all of her doubts – a great way to involve the reader.
And now that we have reached the midpoint of the story, the art of Allan Otero is showing even more of the Lovecraft influences. As any fan of that genre would know, a majority of those stories involved the Cult of Cthulhu and Otero’s depiction of the Shadowman seems to be drawing from that tentacled figure, while not dependent on a physical form, its tenuous nature still evokes the same horror. The otherworldly frame echoes from some forbidden realm and of course, as with the mouth agape his wisps of darkness resemble the same wriggling appendages that framed the ominous mouth. But his influence not restricted within the Hollow for you can see his wicked hand as it is choking the life from Blue Ash, with everyone touched by him now reflecting a menacing shadow that no one but the reader can now see. This terror is but a nuisance when compared to what is happening within the tunnels themselves – with every passing night, the dark master’s realms is expanding, with delightful results for us.
But the effects of Otero’s work are made even more effective by the phenomenal colors displayed by Fran Gamboa and J.C. Ruiz. The effective use of a full monotone palette brings everything to life, the dreary cast over each page makes the lighter tones more forceful and the darker ones more pronounced. Your vision becomes accustomed to the gloom and when something brighter is presented, it has the reaction of drawing the eye to the area, like a moth to the flame. This is especially useful when there is a scene which the artistic team wishes to draw attention, like the numerous splatters of blood or those figures drawn to it. Everything is made powerful by this technique, and therefore, it makes the story all the more frightening.
The beauty and shadows of Satan’s Hollow are drawing us ever deeper into the community of Blue Ash – and with each step we take, we fall further into the madness of the story. The team of Brusha, Otero, Gamboa and Ruiz are making us wish we could leave this sleepy town, but the curse which has become an obsession for Sandra now has a hold of us too. There is no telling where it will take us, but the adventure will surely become a nightmare for us all.
Grade: A+
Rating: For Mature Readers
Released By: Zenescope
Release Date: May 25th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
