Darkness on multiple levels.
Creative Staff:
Story: Joe Pruett
Art: Szymon Kudranski
Colors: Guy Major
What They Say:
It’s dark. You’re alone. Then there’s a knock. You open the door to nd two seemingly normal kids. They ask to come in, to borrow your phone to call for a ride. You nd yourself overcome with an intense fear that you can’t explain. And then you notice their eyes…black…SOLID black. You want to run, but now they’re inside. It’s too late. They have you.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The latest first issue out of AfterShock Comics has arrived with BEK, or Black Eyed Kids. Sticking to my routine of not reading about these new series ahead of time and purchasing every first issue the publisher puts out this year has worked well. While not everything is a hit since tastes vary, I’ve been introduced to some really neat books that I’ll be revisiting down the line in trade/sale form to see how they suss out after a few issues under their belt. One of those will definitely be this book. Horror is hard to do in general no matter the medium because there are things you expect out of it and at the same time those expectations can feel like cliches. With comics, it’s not that it’s harder but it requires a different skill set to bring across. Pruett’s script here sets everything up with intrigue, but it’s the strong combination of Kudranski and Major that sells it.
The premise here is one that works to introduce the unknown into a normal world without actually revealing anything. It’s all about tantalizing with a mystery even while not really saying what the mystery is. Across a few different places within the same small town, we see a family that has a teenage son named Michael that sleepwalks and is now talking about how someone is coming, but with nothing definite. We see a convenience store where a hooded young man enters, gets a pack of smokes and promptly kills the clerk and a customer with a gun. And we see a middle-aged man, watching Silence of the Lambs at home alone of all things, who lets a couple of young men into his house to use the phone as they claim to be lost and need to contact someone. All of these events are dark moments made creepy by the presentation of the offenders with all black eyes, hence the title of course.
All the events are connected and there’s a lot of smaller moments that add to each of these plot points that makes it even creepier as it progresses. It’s that slow build that works well to set the tone and mood in a very good way. While Pruett teases us with the script, you can see this being the start of both a movie or TV series easily, it’s Kudranksi and Major that make it enticing. It’s very easy with books lathered in darkness to wash out the artwork but the pair here manage is far better, giving it a rich and deep tone throughout with plenty of detail. There’s a weight to the artwork and designs that really takes it to the next level. It’s the kind of presence where even if the story itself falls apart along the way I can see myself sticking with it easily because it creates such an engaging atmosphere.
In Summary:
I haven’t read any of Pruett’s work since his old Negative Burn days at Caliber, which was such a weird heyday in itself that I still remember it well over twenty years later. Black Eyed Kids is full of potential with what it delivers here. I’m not ready to oversell the book at this point because there’s pretty much all mystery about it with what it really wants to be, but it does a lot of very good things with its debut here that should hook fans of this genre in general while also drawing in others. I’m very tempted by this book based off the first issue and will definitely be keeping a close eye on it. The team here has put together a strong opener that deserves to be checked out.
Grade: B+
Age Rating: 15+
Released By: AfterShock Comics
Release Date: April 20th, 2016
MSRP: $1.99
