When someone warns you to stay away … I would heed their advice before something happens.
Creative Staff:
Writer: Joe Brusha
Artwork: Allan Otero
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):
Sandy and John are becoming more familiar with the people of Blue Ash after their arrival in the small town. When one of the boys lost in the woods is found, they visit the family and offer their condolences. But it seems that their sympathy is lost when the discussion wanders toward the obvious culprit, the forbidden tunnels which the teenagers were lured towards – Satan’s Hollow. The appeal for that haunted location is what has become the center of the whole mystery, and it is the aura of the local stories which attracts the children; the history of that area being the haven for devil worshippers and the lore of it also being the place for a gateway to the underworld brings the foolish to test their courage. But even the terror of human sacrifice and it being guarded by a demon named the Shadow Man is not enough to deter the curious for even more are lost by the temptation of being able to see the unknown.
However, when Sandra remembers finding a small personal video camera in her search for the boys, the enticement of viewing what the lost ones saw is too much to bear; but, the film she sees makes her all the more inquisitive as to what they actually saw – brief images of fleeting apparitions and nondescript phantoms make no sense and only feed her desire to explore the tunnels. Then when a nosy neighbour pays a visit and sees the featureless pictures displayed on the screen, it is all too much as they consider that they only way to settle the matter is to explore the area themselves. But will this decision be a beginning to further adventures or is it the end to their snooping into matters which no mere mortal has any business into their intrusion? All the folklore surround the site should be fair warning, but the prying eyes of undeterred may be punished for their lack of discretion and for some, the price may be too high.
In Summary:
Joe Brusha marvelously continues his mesmerising twisted tale of local folklore enshrouded by the taint of truth. The oppressive mood he has cast over the story serves to urge the narrative along as the reader is slowly drawn into the reality which was Sandra’s life when she returns to her long forgotten home. The memories are slowing revealing themselves as Brusha unfolds them gradually, almost as if the lost children’s excursion is a repetition of our protagonist’s past; the overlap is a brilliant way to expose us to the trauma while at the same time, it keeps the tension obscured, just out of reach as she is trying to uncover the truth while attempting to remember her own history. And yet, it all comes in small flashes, slowly in as if on little cat feet. This is how a great horror movie should be set up, not with extreme scares and pools of blood and gore, but subtly, like the fog.
And all of that effort would be for naught if not for Allan Otero’s sombre method of illustrating the story. Each panel and page build the atmosphere, the previous one compounding the drama and the restlessness build as we delve deeper into the mysteries of Blue Ash and Sandra’s past. No detail is left undisturbed, from the expressions etched into the inhabitants’ faces, the background images as someone unfolds the town’s history or the horrors when they finally decide to visit Satan’s Hollow itself – this is where his imagery is at the gloomy brilliance. Even before you step inside, that shroud of Shadow Man over the entrance sets the mood of what is yet to come, and then Otero lets the horror escape. The interior is a foreshadow of what is to come, the bone chandelier, reminiscent of the Sedlec Ossuary, the dark phantoms looming just out of eyesight, and then the true terror is released.
However, those fantastic drawings would fall flat if not for the tenebrous colours of Fran Gamboa and J.C. Ruiz. The muted overtones enshroud the story as a whole with a depressing aura that brings something more than what Otero’s artwork could bring by itself. Every page is covered in an appropriately sedate sepia film, bringing to the overall mood of the work down to the level of a classic horror movie, the astringent flavour is set without the need for overt violence, just the tease of what is to come. Both illustration and colour work together to create a setting which neither could accomplish alone and yet, the mélange of these techniques evolve all into a world which is greater than either would be separately.
Satan’s Hollow is illuminating the classic horror story into something wickedly delightful and ominously depressing, but both are in balance to create something which is evocative of a new terror standard. Brusha and Otero are able to express themselves without overexposing the reader to anything too traumatic, and still the tension of a great psychological thriller is still in place. The scenes are cleverly crafted to build upon the lore of Blue Ash with the truth still waiting to be revealed. I cannot wait for the next issue.
Grade: A+
Rating: For Mature Readers
Released By: Zenescope
Release Date: April 27th, 2016
MSRP: $3.99
