Being obsessed is never a good thing … especially when you can’t see what’s happening in front of you.
Creative Staff:
Writer: Pat Shand
Artwork: Alessandro Miracolo
Colors: Marco Lesko
Letters: Fabio Amelia
What They Say:
A seemingly innocent prank turns a group of friends against each other when a young girl seemingly becomes the host of a malevolent demon. One-by-one, as her friends are taken under the demon’s hypnotic thrall, Claire must figure out how to survive when the evil turns its attention to her! Nothing is as it seems in this brand new standalone horror story.
Content (please note that portions of review may contain spoilers):
Freemont College of the Arts is a typical institute of higher learning, with people helping each other on a student project film, and self-proclaimed podcast sensation Allie is aiding with the make-up special effects. It is here where friend Kim approaches with an idea for the term project, since both are Communications Majors they could team up to come up with something fresh; while the upperclasswoman only wants to use her current online popularity as subject material, her compatriot is sure a cooperative effort would make for a better assignment than her solo effort. Besides, she already has classmates Eliza and Christine onboard for the team-up, so why not give it a try? After all of these thinly veiled attempts of flattery, Allie finally gives in and the group meets up in her dorm room for a late night think tank.
After much arguing about off subject matter, the girls finally get serious and try to come up with an idea for the project, all to no avail; even Kim’s proposition of using a zombie prank challenge as the basis is quickly shot down by a series of jeers, much to her disappointment and chagrin. But even after that dismal failure, Eliza still manages to resurrect the premise and pitches a proposition of filming a supernatural podcast, interviewing students who have had spiritual encounters. While the others seem a bit skeptical, enough are convinced even if they can’t find good content, they still will get enough hits to make it go viral – and so they proceed. Eventually, they decide to use the old slumber party game Light as a Feather, Stiff as a Board as the first experiment, filming as Kim volunteers to be the subject. Now that the internet divas have begun, it won’t be long until they can start making fun of this flop, right?
In Summary:
(I forgot Pat Shand is still doing freelance stories for Zenescope, even after his magnificent tenure of creating great series.)
I have always liked writer Pat Shand’s fulfilling character based narratives, but sadly, this single story issue falls short of all expectations. The main actors are the primary reason this tale is a disappointment, centered around self-proclaimed internet divas, people so concerned about becoming popular nothing else matters, and their world revolves around adding new followers to running totals; then to rub in the shallowness of their own personalities, the use of Twitteresque summaries outlining their achievements only makes them appear to be even more egotistical. While I can understand a need for attention, it does not help the story by dragging it down to their level of triviality, all in an effort to make something that will go viral. However, there is a disconnect in the story: how can a simple children’s slumber party game lead to consequences of the narrative – this fact is conveniently glanced over. Also, this is supposed to be a horror story, but as it slowly progresses, all I can think of are teen scream movies in which the victims are chased down all to the delight of the audience. Even after the tale ends and you go back to notice the details, it does not help some of the clues which Shand sprinkled throughout have bolder lettering, thus making them an afterthought blinking lights to those who keep an eye out for such things. This could have been a more developed tale, but in the end, all we are left with is something which is more comical than terrifying.
Normally if the story itself suffers, the artwork would be there to rescue the issue from being a complete waste, but in this case, neither the illustrations nor coloring help much within this bewildering tale. Although artist Alessandro Miracolo’s drawing technique adds to the campiness of a teen scream horror movie feel and the colors of Marco Lesko uses gives us the impression of a film student trying to imitate special effects via cheap film gels, there are faults; while Miracolo at times tries to imitate The Blair Witch Project camera point of view positioning and close-ups, it is Lesko’s altering of the colors in sickly tones which help to magnify the desperation of the actors, but there are times in which his choices make them appear jaundiced, even in the dark. However, if the reader pays attention to the narrative’s dialogue, you can tell when the story deviates from what is supposed to be a displayed as a normal issue and then becomes something it is not. While it does work at times, when the artist unintentionally switches back and forth between camera angles, the storytelling becomes confusing, especially if you re-read the issue and try to figure out where the narrative shifts. I can appreciate this attempt of trying to draw a story within a story, but for all the hard work, the constant repositioning of an audience’s viewpoint makes it more complicated than valiant, and in the end, the endeavor is more trouble than it was worth.
Sadly, I am sorry to say, after all of these stumbles, what we end up is a story which is silly and superficial. While it might have had some greater underlying intention, when two artistic perspectives are carelessly intermingled, any literary value it had is quickly lost. The concept of showing how vain and egocentric people can be to be popular by showing off is an interesting moral lesson, but with a strangely fitting tangential tale and poorly executed graphical positioning, this tale of terror quickly looses its punch. This is a shame for it was better executed, this issue could have been transformed into an acceptable story, instead of becoming a train wreck.
Grade: C+
Rating: T (for Teens)
Released By: Zenescope
Release Date: August 16, 2017
MSRP: $3.99