Creative Staff:
Story: Adam Cheal
Pencils: Russ Leach
What They Say:
In this very British Horror, a Victorian London gentleman (Theodore Paulsen) receives a mysterious offer of employment and is lured to the sleepy town of Fenton’s Green. He becomes trapped in an inescapable nightmare and must fight for his freedom and sanity. However, he may be the greatest evil of all. Read the events as they unfold in terrifying and dramatic fashion. Every turn of the page will bring you one step closer to the truth and deeper into the realm of horror.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Sometimes interesting books can come your way where you know nothing about it ahead of time and that can kind of free you from overthinking it. It’s like going into a TV series or a movie without a trailer or promo and just having the title alone to guide you. Terminus at Felton’s Green is one that doesn’t tell you too much about it, but you can glean a few pieces from it from the outset with its Victorian England setting and just the kind of tone it sets from the cover. Having previously not read anything from the writer or artist here, it was definitely curious to see what kind of presentation we’d get and while this particular time period isn’t exactly my thing, it’s very well executed and hits the right kind of classic horror spot that you’d get from something like Tales from the Dark Side if it was set in the late 1880’s.
The story focuses on Theodore Paulsen, a doctor who has found himself in a spot of trouble over the course of his business as he’s now ready to get the hell out of London. With some decent setting as to what life is like during this place and time with its wealthy and its poor and the way there’s such poverty about it, Paulsen comes across as the kind of type who is doing the hard work and ending the suffering of people who need such help. But you suspect that it’s not something that goes over well with the authorities for obvious reasons and after some time doing this kind of business, as we see through several flashbacks, Paulsen is now hightailing it out of town to a place called Fenton’s Green. He’s gotten a mysterious invitation from someone claiming to be just a friend who thinks he can find a bit of respite and work out in the countryside and away from all the problems that his work has caused for him.
What proves to be a problem though is that the train to Fenton’s Green has been reserved for a special party, so he’s unable to get there when he needs it the most. Of course, he’s not going to stay so he slips on board and while it’s obvious that he stands out, he does manage to hang on for the journey itself. But it’s at this point that through some amusing conversation with a woman named Jayne Sheldon that we get the feeling that all is truly not right. The talk of a festival, special guests and so forth are intriguing clues, but it’s when we see how the world looks when Paulsen’s rose colored glasses are skewed to the side a bit that does it the most. These people are anything but, and his journey is one that is taking him to a far more dangerous and interesting place.
Terminus at Fenton’s Green gives us a decent story of a man who will be known differently in the years to come as he struggles with a past that pushed his already unsettled mind in a bad way, leaving a wake of chaos behind him. But it also draws in the supernatural side as we get to see the way demons can other creatures from the pits of hell utilize those like Paulsen for their own ends. In a way, if you viewed this as an hour long standalone drama episode, it would have a good bit of tension to it as it reveals itself, the characters and what’s truly going on at Fenton’s Green. Both Adam Cheal and Russ Leach convey this world well, especially the shift in style from the present and its grimy look at London to the sketchy flashbacks and then to the brightly colored imagery of those from hell. The visual design definitely sets each reality in its own right and allows it to stand on its own but also blend into the larger narrative. Thankfully, even though it takes place in 1888, the dialogue is easily understood – though the text isn’t always easy to read with the style, particularly for the supernatural creatures, but that simply gets you to slow down a bit and savor the panels a bit more.
The book hits about eighty pages total with the main story broken into three chapters, providing a decent if predictable arc once you get into it, and it comes with some good extras as well. We get a few pages of bios and a sketchbook of different pieces of the work and a few pages that shows the way it went from sketch to final colorized product. There’s also a ten page or so bonus story called Lycan Island which provides just a touch more supernatural horror.
In Summary:
Terminus at Felton’s Green gives us a pretty fun little Victorian era supernatural story where the details are teased out slowly. You can pick up on some of them easily enough and the way it comes together works well to show each of the reveals as they happen, the disbelief from Paulsen and the admittance of what’s going to happen even as he struggles against it. Cheal and Leach work pretty well together here as we get a solidly structured story that flows well and makes sense from panel layout to dialogue all while using good designs and some solid coloring style to add just a bit more atmosphere to it. I had no idea what to expect going into this book but I’m definitely glad it came across my desk as it was an enjoyable read.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Markosia Enterprises
Release Date: March 15th, 2014
MSRP: $15.99
