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Review: 28 Days Later #5

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As the 5th, and subsequently, final issue of the first act of BOOM’s ’28 DAYS LATER’ came to a close I found myself wondering: how dumb would you have to be to take a flight into zombie infested England with nothing but a camera and your shell-shocked buddy in tow? Alas, this is where we find ourselves as the arc draws to a close. Thus far the series from BOOM Studios has been pretty stellar, with the tie in to the first films characters the soul driving force behind my interest. But with this issue we are transplanted from the regular characters to the 2 journalists Clint and his buddy Derrek. Clint is trying to enjoy his vacation away from deadlines (oh yea, thought of that all on my own) and decidedly using the 2 weeks to drink himself into a comatose state. Sounds fair. Unfortunately the zombie apocalypse is ringing, and Clint decides to answer. (I’m on a roll here people) But first he has to stop by the bar and pay his alcoholic buddies tab, because after all what’s a journalist without his photographer buddy at his side? But it gets better. Derrek is not only an alcoholic (ordering 2 of everything he can get on the flight that has blood thinner in it.) But he also has post traumatic stress disorder from being a prisoner of terrorists who forced him to watch as his buddies were beheaded. Truthfully I can’t fault Derrek for drinking heavily. If my buddy pulled me out of the bar half drunk and told me we were hopping the next plane ride to Danny Boyle England then I’d be inclined to take a liquid wrecking ball to my liver too.

And this my friends is where we end up in issue 5. With two of the most inept leads I’ve ever read. I can understand coming out of a 2 week vacation for the biggest story ever, but to drop yourself in the middle of hell with an alcoholic as your sidekick? I don’t see an upside, especially when the military tells you you are almost guaranteed to die. Oh which reminds me, the military plays a pivotal role in this issue, too. It is revealed that they are pulling something even the guys at Guantanamo would frown upon using the virus, but not only that but they are using it on one of the men who decapitated Derrek’s buddies. This is an almost nonissue to the story as it is mentioned in one bubble and then forgotten. Almost as if it were just an attempt to draw a connection between the characters and the situation. Sadly it feels like a desperate one.

The entire issue kind of rolls to a dead stop in the end, as we are shown a glimpse of how these two and our regular characters will come together. The main issue I have with this story is that this was saved for the final issue of the arc. It almost feels as if issue #4 was the real ending, and that this is the start of the next arc. Had that been the case I’d have possibly enjoyed myself a bit more. But as it sits the issue did nothing more than make me laugh at the ridiculousness of the ‘heroes’ choices throughout. Giving us a back-story to Derrek was necessary, but I think it would have made more sense a few issues ago to do this.

To be fair the art is still great, with an amazing spread of a money shot from the streets of London that makes you stare at it for a good couple of minutes. I also appreciate the fact that we are finally seeing how other countries (IE-America) reacted to the infection for the first time, and I look forward to seeing that expanded on in the future. But as it sits this “origin” story just didn’t work for a ‘wrap-up’ to the first arc of an otherwise great series.

Rating: 3 Out of 5 Skulls

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[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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