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Review: Image Comics’ Haunt #4

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As a young lad growing up back in the glory days when reading comic books and horror movies made me an outcast to everyone outside of my family and my only 2 friends outside of that circle, I was caught up in McFarlane-Mania just like the rest. His work in “SPAWN” caused a taboo fascination in my adolescent mind for the satanic, grotesque, and often sultry images he depicted. I read the comics, I played the awful video games which by my own admission remain a guilty pleasure, and I watched the animated series on HBO whenever they decided to play it, staying up far beyond my bedtime. My loyalties knew no bounds. Of course, then I grew up and discovered true masters of their art such as Bendis, Moore, Gaiman, and later Robert Kirkman. So imagine my excitement when “HAUNT” hit shelves for the first time. “Haunt” bridges a definitive gap that in my mind was in dire need of filling. For all his accomplishments, for me the point of greatest weakness for Todd McFarlane is his writing. He has always stood to me as one of the coolest and most twisted minds of his generation, but as a story teller he always seemed to lack that extra push. Where he has always been strongest, in my opinion, is his work as an artist. As an illustrator McFarlane possesses one of the most unique and interesting styles out there. The trick is putting an equally talented writer behind him to fill in the bubbles. Enter scribe Robert Kirkman (“WALKING DEAD”, “MURDERER”) whose accomplishments as comic book writer continue to grow exponentially by the month to month issue he releases in any one of the various series he pens. And “Haunt” is one of those titles that is quickly putting him at the top of everyone’s pull and hold list. Together the two are near perfect together. But if ever there was a hiccup in the short life of the series it was this month.

In issue 4 of the chronicles of Haunt, our hero finds himself in a familiar situation: toe to toe with Cobra. This issue doesn’t particularly offer anything new or dynamic in regards to the series. Haunt continues down the road that has been set before him, saves woman in distress, fights baddy, ect ect. The main issue with this month’s installment is it’s a stopgap. All the pieces are in place, all the fireworks are primed and ready to go off, but at the end of the wick is a dull hiss. In fact, even the rematch between Cobra and Haunt is anticlimactic, ending with nothing more than one combatant running away with a swiss-cheesed face.

The money shot at the end of the issue is quite good, and definitely gets the reader ready to read the next issue that will act as the final curtain for the flagship arc of the series, but the problem is that that is the only truly good exchange in the whole issue. Besides that we are simply fumbling towards the conclusion, finding answers to questions we had already gotten answers to the issue before, and for all intents and purposes waiting.

The good news is that all the usual suspects that make this title so good are back. The crisp and cool art by Ottley, the stylistic cover from McFarlane, the interesting dialogue from Kirkman, they are all present. It’s too bad they didn’t have anything to do this issue. Oh well, there’s always next month.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Skulls

Comics

[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream

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Tender Beth Hetland Graphic Novel

Beth Hetland’s debut graphic novel, ‘Tender,’ is a modern tale of love, validation, and self-destruction by way of brutal body horror with a feminist edge.

“I’ve wanted this more than anything.”

Men so often dominate the body horror subgenre, which makes it so rare and insightful whenever women tackle this space. This makes Beth Hetland’s Tender such a refreshing change of pace. It’s earnest, honest, and impossibly exposed. Tender takes the body horror subgenre and brilliantly and subversively mixes it together with a narrative that’s steeped in the societal expectations that women face on a daily basis, whether it comes to empowerment, family, or sexuality. It single-handedly beats other 2023 and ‘24 feminine horror texts like American Horror Story: Delicate, Sick, Lisa Frankenstein, and Immaculate at their own game.

Hetland’s Tender is American Psycho meets Rosemary’s Baby meets Swallow. It’s also absolutely not for the faint of heart.

Right from the jump, Tender grabs hold of its audience and doesn’t let go. Carolanne’s quest for romantic fulfillment, validation, and a grander purpose is easy to empathize with and an effective framework for this woeful saga. Carolanne’s wounds cut so deep simply because they’re so incredibly commonplace. Everybody wants to feel wanted.

Tender is full of beautiful, gross, expressive artwork that makes the reader squirm in their seat and itch. Hetland’s drawings are simultaneously minimalist and comprehensively layered. They’re  reminiscent of Charles Burns’ Black Hole, in the best way possible. There’s consistently inspired and striking use of spot coloring that elevates Hetland’s story whenever it’s incorporated, invading Tender’s muted world.

Hetland employs effective, economical storytelling that makes clever use of panels and scene construction so that Tender can breeze through exposition and get to the story’s gooey, aching heart. There’s an excellent page that depicts Carolanne’s menial domestic tasks where the repetitive panels grow increasingly smaller to illustrate the formulaic rut that her life has become. It’s magical. Tender is full of creative devices like this that further let the reader into Carolanne’s mind without ever getting clunky or explicit on the matter. The graphic novel is bookended with a simple moment that shifts from sweet to suffocating.

Tender gives the audience a proper sense of who Carolanne is right away. Hetland adeptly defines her protagonist so that readers are immediately on her side, praying that she gets her “happily ever after,” and makes it out of this sick story alive…And then they’re rapidly wishing for the opposite and utterly aghast over this chameleon. There’s also some creative experimentation with non-linear storytelling that gets to the root of Carolanne and continually recontextualizes who she is and what she wants out of life so that the audience is kept on guard.

Tender casually transforms from a picture-perfect rom-com, right down to the visual style, into a haunting horror story. There’s such a natural quality to how Tender presents the melancholy manner in which a relationship — and life — can decay. Once the horror elements hit, they hit hard, like a jackhammer, and don’t relent. It’s hard not to wince and grimace through Tender’s terrifying images. They’re reminiscent of the nightmarish dadaist visuals from The Ring’s cursed videotape, distilled to blunt comic panels that the reader is forced to confront and digest, rather than something that simply flickers through their mind and is gone a moment later. Tender makes its audience marinate in its mania and incubates its horror as if it’s a gestating fetus in their womb.

Tender tells a powerful, emotional, disturbing story, but its secret weapon may be its sublime pacing. Hetland paces Tender in such an exceptional manner, so that it takes its time, sneaks up on the reader, and gets under their skin until they’re dreading where the story will go next. Tender pushes the audience right up to the edge so that they’re practically begging that Carolanne won’t do the things that she does, yet the other shoe always drops in the most devastating manner. Audiences will read Tender with clenched fists that make it a struggle to turn each page, although they won’t be able to stop. Tender isn’t a short story, at more than 160 pages, but readers will want to take their time and relish each page so that this macabre story lasts for as long as possible before it cascades to its tragic conclusion. 

Tender is an accomplished and uncomfortable debut graphic novel from Hetland that reveals a strong, unflinching voice that’s the perfect fit for horror. Tender indulges in heightened flights of fancy and toes the line with the supernatural. However, Tender is so successful at what it does because it’s so grounded in reality and presents a horror story that’s all too common in society. It’s a heartbreaking meditation on loneliness and codependency that’s one of 2024’s must-read horror graphic novels.

‘Tender,’ by Beth Hetland and published by Fantagraphics, is now available.

4 out of 5 skulls

Tender graphic novel review

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