By Koppy McFad
July 18, 2008 - 23:55
Gotham City's mysterious defender, Simon Dark battles an murderous cult-- then suddenly falls through a hole and finds himself besieged by monsters.
This is an oddly intriguing comic, mixing comedy with horror. The cultists, despite their murderous intentions, sometimes act rather clownish. And the monsters, despite their big teeth and bulging eyeballs, actually look rather funny. Almost like drawings from a children's book. Simon Dark certainly doesn't seem very scared of them. Of course, that is because his face appears to be an expression-less mask.
There is some excitement, some thrills and spills in this story. But to even care about these characters, you have to know what is going on and sadly, the creative team makes no effort to fill anyone in. A newcomer to this series would be totally lost. And if he tried to piece things together from the contents of the book, he might be forgiven for thinking Simon is the villain. (He is killing people rather casually, isn't he?)
The art has a unique style, like it was put together with old photographs of actual people rather than looking like the typical comic book, showcasing unrealistic beings. Of course, sometimes these photographs aren't too well lit or well posed but that appears to be the effect the writer was going for. It takes some getting used to and some readers may not have the patience to get used to it.
This book has a lot of promise, especially for a title with a completely new character who is not tied into the whole DC-Crisis thing. But if the creative team makes no effort to attract new readers, it will likely not survive for long, regardless of the star-stature of its writers.
Rating: 6 /10