Deeper into the mystery!
Creative Staff:
Story: Dan Sheppard, Cody Andrew Sousa
Art: Cecilia Lo Valvo
Colors: Dee Cunniffe
Letterer: Dezi Sienty
What They Say:
Reality begins to unravel as the darkness within the house begins to consume everything in its path.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The opening installment of Sonitus was one that I found appealing for a few different reasons. It took my back in time with the newsprint side since I hadn’t bought a physical comic in forever and especially one with this kind of paper. I loved the look of it that reminded me of the old pre-Vertigo style books and some of those early works. And I got a lot out of something that was out of HP Lovecraft in how it told its tale with a sense of creeping darkness and mystery with just enough near-jump scares to deliver it home just right. It was an interesting book that didn’t reveal too much but just enough to get me to come back for more.
This installment gives us a little more background as we learn that our leading character is named Ben. We get a flashback that shows the last time he was here at a party in high school where his friends were struggling a bit with the drinking and the like. What made it memorable, in a mixed way, was that he and Claire lost their virginity in the upstairs of the house on a ratty old bed as she took ecstasy with him. The memory sticks and the narration talks about how bad things went for everyone after that, including a death, while making a focus on how Ben always just craved some alone time. That’s an area that he talks about how other women never grasped but he also talks about how he never felt anything like he did with Claire toward them, giving her a deeper resonance in his life than one might ordinarily place.
The bulk of the issue is in the present day though as we get Ben making his way further into the house and trying to connect back to it in a way. The narration works well to explore some of his residual feelings from the past while also upping the creepy factor as he moves through it, which brings us to some really disturbing visuals that could just be what the swamp brings to life or something more. Hints of the darker supernatural side are scattered throughout and that adds some nice little chills toit as you wait to see if that’ll be the moment that something happens or if it’s just something to unnerve us a bit more. Again, there are no issues here and Ben is climbing higher into the house but it’s the kind of chilling journey that clicks for me in a really simple kind of old school literary horror way.
In Summary:
Cecilia Lo Valvo again takes this simple story and elevates it into something chilling and disturbing with the layouts and the detail we get in the strange backgrounds and things that exist in this house. Which Dee Cunniffe then makes even more frightening with heavy use of dark and earthy tones that has all the hallmarks of a proper horror story. There’s a good pulpy kind of feeling to this that really captures while also being light of story. It’s about the mood and tone of what’s happening and how it’s unfolding that’s enticing and can be a hard sell in general. But it’s the kind of book that at the price point that it’s at and a short run that makes it a worthwhile property to sample and engage in while waiting to see if the finale will deliver something truly chilling.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Alterna Comics
Release Date: April 25th, 2018
MSRP: $1.50
