Despite having honed an aesthetic that relies heavily on cute, streamlined cartoon characters–the kind you used to find on Saturday morning television–Jay Stephens has had one foot firmly planted in darkness throughout his career.
Take, for example, the first issue of The Land of Nod (Black Eye Books, 1996), which ends with the Magilla-like Space Ape Number Eight calmly (and off-panel) snapping the neck of the friend who betrayed him. Or consider Captain Rightful, who arrives well after whichever poor citizen is calling for help has succumbed to whatever has been plaguing them (most notably in the wonderful Land of Nod #2, now found in Black Eye's Dejects collection). Even some of Stephens' ostensibly happy-go-lucky Jetcat stories, particularly in the 1997-98 second Land of Nod series from from Dark Horse, have a tone of bittersweet melancholy to them. Read enough of his comics, and it becomes clear that he likes a good dose of black humor along with his sunshine and lollipops.
So perhaps it’s not too surprising to see that Stephens has gone into full horror mode in his latest series, Dwellings, first released as six stapled comic books from Black Eye through a variety of crowdfunding sources, and now reprinted as three 72-page 'prestige format' comics from Oni Press; it will next be collected as an all-in-one Oni hardcover in April.
The general conceit behind Dwellings is pretty basic: horror stories told in the visual style of your average Harvey Comics title circa 1965. Every character, regardless of what sort of horrendous act they might be subject to or engaging in, looks like Casper, Hot Stuff, Richie Rich, etc. Stephens even goes so far to add a slight Ben Day look to the colors, which are toned down just enough to suggest a faded, vintage comic found in a back issue bin somewhere.
Now, this sort of thing–mixing the cute and family-friendly with the tarnished and terrifying–has been done before many, many times, especially in comics, and usually only for shock value. But Dwellings works exceedingly well, mainly because Stephens plays it completely straight. There’s no wink to the audience here, no casual condescending tone or snarky asides, even in the fake ads that dot the comics, which promise that “YOU! Are not the only one with PSYCHOTIC DELUSIONS,” or that “[t]o be nostalgic is to truly RETURN HOME IN PAIN.”
Far from undercutting or mitigating the tension and horror, the cute and familiar art style drastically enhances it. The steadfast eight-panel grid so beloved in the Harvey era lets Stephens unfold his six stories at a steady clip, slowly ramping up the tension until each final, chilling revelation. And Stephens doesn’t pull any punches. Each story in Dwellings is a grim tale of innocent or misled people confronted with a variety of evil, supernatural forces. People are stabbed, shot, beheaded, disemboweled, hanged, eyeballs plucked by crows for their troubles. I can’t help but think how other contemporary horror comics that trade in a more realistic style fail to hit the mark.
All of the stories in Dwellings are interconnected to some degree. They all take place in the nondescript Canadian town of Elwich, which is not only cursed (or, “never meant to be settled,” as one, ah, character remarks), but also houses the lore of an old, rich family with dark secrets. There are also spooky woods, dangerous criminals and lots of crows. Each story's main character will typically make a brief appearance in another story, although the chronology is not linear; one guy who got his throat slit two stories ago might suddenly appear alive and well, so you don’t need to read the issues in perfect marching order to enjoy them.
A horror movie buff (check out Stephens' Instagram for Dwellings-like renditions of classic horror films), it’s clear Stephens has studied those old classics not just to mimic the obvious bits of set dressing but more importantly to perfect the pacing - to ensure that you are so thoroughly engrossed in the story that you’ve stopped noticing that artistic conceit, so when that bloody ax does fall, you’re taken aback, even though you were expecting it.
It certainly worked on me. At least one story (maybe two) kept me ruminating well past my self-appointed bedtime. I’m happy to say that I found the whole series to be unnerving and upsetting in the best manner possible. More please.
The post Dwellings #1-3 appeared first on The Comics Journal.
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.
No comments:
Post a Comment