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Comic Con Exclusive: Severed #1

By Dan Horn
July 25, 2011 - 12:30

Written by wunderkind creator Scott Snyder and collaborator Scott Tuft with art by Attila Futaki, Severed #1 from Image Comics isn't due to hit stands until August 3rd, but San Diego Comic Con attendees were privy to an exclusive early release of the first issue of this period horror series.

When old Jack Garron receives an anonymous letter, his past comes flooding back as he recalls the beginnings of his "nightmare." In 1916, when Jack was only twelve, he left his home in Jamestown, NY, to start a life as a transient violin minstrel, just like his estranged father, guided by letters his dad had written him from Chicago.

Meanwhile, another boy, Frederick, is taken from an Illinois orphanage by a strange man, a traveling salesman for General Electric named Porter. Porter whisks Frederick off to begin his apprenticeship with GE, but when they arrive at a remote, abandoned trainer house, it quickly becomes apparent that there is something not quite right with Mr. Porter.

Jamestown had seen its first airplane fly over just five years before this story begins, and the theme of industrialization of the Northeast and Midwest takes center stage in this tale. Generators, automobiles, longer lasting light bulbs: they are all indicative of a time in American history when the country stood at the precipice of the machine age, a time where you could jump a train and take it to anywhere, be anything. It was a time of war and desperation, but also a time of romantic ideals and of great hope. In this case, the perfect foil for those hopes and ideals is the very terrifying Mr. Porter, a villain with a wry sense of humor and some salient dental peculiarities that preys on the young, the defenseless.

Severed is a classically tempered horror tale, just as much about the period and its lead's adventure as it is about its bogeyman. It's a literary thriller, admirably cutting against the grain of modern horror proclivities. This first issue is a wonderful taste of the unsettling and suspenseful things to come in the seven-issue series. Futaki's art perfectly encapsulates that cold, inhospitable landscape of the times, gorgeously illustrating Illinois and New York Autumns, while playing on a young boy's wide-eyed wonderment with a diverse palette. Pick this book up on August 3rd!

Rating: 9 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12