Sometimes … the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
Creative Staff:
Writer: Joe Brusha
Artwork: Joe Sanchez Diaz
Colors: Fran Gamboa & J.C. Ruiz
Letters: Fabio Amelia
What They Say:
A man unknowingly takes the place of an escaped mental patient on a bus headed to an asylum. Now he must prove to the doctors that he doesn’t belong there. But how do you know you’re not insane when everyone keeps telling you you’re crazy?
Content (please note that portions of review may contain spoilers):
Norman never seems to be able to catch a break in life: his mother abandoned him with his grandmother when he was thirteen, she then dies three months later from a stroke, and he has been on his own ever since. Now a grown man and still down on his luck, this uneducated ex-con finds himself blaming everyone but himself for his current path, convinced those he calls entitled people have been holding him back. Through his wanderings he presently finds himself lost in the middle of a blizzard, huddling for warmth in a gas station, looking for an opportunity as he enjoys a smoke. However, it seems things have turned around once he sees a bus pull up and the disembarking passengers talking about going to Florida and going to see Mickey. Anyplace is better than his frozen wasteland, so Norman arranges for a seat on the outgoing vehicle.
Now hidden on the warm transport thanks to his liberation of a passenger’s clothes, all Norman has to do is remain inconspicuous until they arrive at the Sunshine State. The driver does a head count and decides all is right, and once the bus is in motion, the desperate man decides to take a nap. As the morning sun shines in his face, the frigid window and snow outside indicate that something is very wrong … and his fears are confirmed once they pass under a gated archway for the Eastman Sanatorium. Now frantic to get off the transport, he views the other tourists in a new light, revealing them as the insane people of this hospital. But as Norman screams in fear that he doesn’t belong here, all the staff sees is a new patient, and he receives a sedative for his troubles. Once he rouses from his forced sleep, all he can see are the pastel green walls and ceiling of a new room – his limbs, torso and head strapped to the bed. A nurse speaks to him in a condescending tone, glazing his statements that he doesn’t belong here. Time as no more meaning, all she is concerned about is making him feel better, even if it means some rather unconventional treatments.
In Summary:
As you first glance over this unusual story, you cannot but help to think of an equivalent tale for writer Joe Brusha’s escapade into a mental institution; while the subject has been broached several times in popular culture and movies, the most viable comparison for this exceptional narrative would be One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. But unlike the current trend of over the top gore, he goes with psychological thrills of the menacing, unseen and perceived horrors, which are much more effective than showing all the blood when it is not necessary. And although Brusha does not follow the novel exactly and contorts some of the thematic elements, enough of the chilling psychiatric treatments from the Sixties keeps the tale desperate enough that the reader eventually begins to sympathize with Norman. While we may not agree with his premise that entitled people are keeping him down, the condemnation of patients due to their previous diagnosis is disturbing in that the staff never listens to him, even if he does lash out and sound irrational. It is wonderful how Brusha also keeps the internal monologue going so we can hear Norman’s ravings, but at the same time, it is these feelings of persecution which make us feel a bit of compassion for him. All he was trying to do was find an easy escape from a hard life and yet, he goes to the wrong place in the wrong time and to a facility which has treatments that are not conducive to true cures. Shock therapy, constant drugs/sedatives and then ever worse, thankfully all of these treatments are things of the past, but the notion that they even existed are what makes this story so horrifying in the first place.
However, with all of the chilling overtones of sadism which are disguised as remedies, it is still the graphic drama which makes this narrative every bit engrossing with the appropriately retro-styled illustrations. Artist Joe Sanchez Diaz draws us into the issue from the start with the very noticeable hairstyles of both Norman and Keres, he with his slicked back pompadour and her signature crimson hair worn long with high volume. But those details do not stop and are amplified once the tourists come into the view with vintage clothing: a seaman’s knit cap, pea coats and outdated Hawaiian shirts, they all signal we are in the Sixties. He adds to the environment even more with comic books in the gas station and the Brutalist architecture displayed all over, but we do not become fully immersed until reaching the institution. It is here where the colorings of Fran Gamboa and J.C. Ruiz only add to the sickness of the story, both in the patients and the staff. But the most shocking event and chilling due to these two gentlemen’s talents is the electroshock treatment – the dark sinisterness of the room combined with the sickening florescent blue almost makes you feel the tension in the room and Norman’s body, twisting and contorting due to the therapy. Although this could have happened at any time period, it is the indoor sunglasses fashion statement by the malicious doctor and the overly exuberant usage of neon eye shadow of the nurse which makes us wonder how psychology ever got past this primitive stage which gives us the haunting thrill so appropriate for this excellent story.
With a weirdly twisted story of wrong place, wrong time – Brusha, Diaz, Gamboa, and Ruiz compose a tale which wonderfully fits in the Grimm Tales of Terror anthology. The magnificent choice of using psychological thrills instead of bloody spills only feeds into Norman’s delusions and then the Twilight Zone ending makes us wonder if this poor man ever had a chance within the story. But as we have gathered from other classics within this series, you never know until the end and by then … it is always too late.
Grade: A
Rating: T (for Teens)
Released By: Zenescope
Release Date: September 27, 2017
MSRP: $3.99
