The first teases of mystery.
Creative Staff:
Story: Jeff Lemire
Art: Andrea Sorrentino
Colors: Dave Stewart
Letterer: Steve Wands
What They Say:
The lives of a reclusive young man obsessed with a conspiracy in the city’s trash, and a washed-up Catholic priest arriving in a small town full of dark secrets, become intertwined around the mysterious legend of The Black Barn, an otherworldly building that is alleged to have appeared in both the city and the small town, throughout history, bringing death and madness in its wake. Rural mystery and urban horror collide in this character-driven meditation on obsession, mental illness, and faith.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
While I tend to not read everything a writer does as there’s only so much time and money, I’ve been enjoying a hell of a lot of Jeff Lemire’s work the last few years. I wasn’t enamored of his work at DC Comics but I had fallen in love with Descender when that debuted and I wanted to see some of his creator owned work and I’ve been raving, like most everyone else, over the Black Hammer universe. I’ve had less exposure to Andrea Sorrentino outside if I, Vampire but I knew that his style would click in a big way for a project like this based on the previews and what kind of story it seemed like it wanted to tell. What I found was that this is going to be one of those series that I’ll really need a few issues to connect with as the opener didn’t quite scratch an itch.
This issue doesn’t exactly ask a lot of questions but presents some aspects of a familiar world that will become something more. We’re introduced initially to a guy who’s what you would think of as a crackpot where he’s collecting trash in the city, labeling it, and trying to understand it as part of some larger master plan. Sorrentino creatures a really engaging and creepy world for it to exist in and the details and layouts are really something else with what it does to draw you in. But there’s just not much here to latch onto other than the teasing mysteries, which is fine. It just didn’t have a story hook for me to connect with. But there’s a rawness about it, the story of someone who sees something else that others don’t and simply moves forward to figure it out has plenty of easy potential.
More interesting is the story of Father Wilfred, a pastor that’s been assigned to a country town called Gideon Falls. The previous pastor there of thirty years, Father Tom, passed away and Wilfred’s senior is sending him there even though Wilfred really just wants to stay at the seminary after recently settling in and watching to teach. What we get is the curiosity, one that I can envision in peak TV form done really well, of Wilfred heading to this place, dealing with the unsettling nature of not knowing what happened to Father Tom, and some of the initial people that he meets that feel like they’re just about to step left into another world altogether. It takes a surreal supernatural turn toward the end, introducing us to a darkness out there and a breathtaking panel of The Black Barn that will become a focal point, but it’s just that first blush introduction and uncertainty rather than a whipsaw of demanding you come back for more based on what we get here.
In Summary:
Gideon Falls presents us with that creeping unease about what’s going to happen. We get two character introductions of note from very different places and dealing with very different things that leaves you wondering at the connection and how it will all come together. It’s more about mood here than details, though there’s a lot of dialogue that works very well to flesh out certain aspects of Wilfred that was surprisingly welcome. But in terms of story I’m just in that state of unease and uncertainty as to what it’s about and whether I should come back for more. Lemire has certainly earned a lot of trust with his original works and Andrea Sorrentino has put together a fantastic looking book. But things just feel unevenly weighted right now and that has me feeling more cautious about it than I might be otherwise.
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 17+
Released By: Image Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: March 7th, 2018
MSRP: $3.99
