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Review: Buzzkill # 2

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“Buzzkill” has a lot on its chest. Ruben pushes through his AA meeting in an attempt to walk away from his superhero past, but his past comes back to haunt him in a big bad way. This series continues to impress and surprise. The narrative kicks into high gear and still remains an uncompromising look at addiction. The incredibly visceral art by Geoff Shaw makes the whole thing amount to a fantastically paced mixture of superhero action and comedic insight on addiction.


WRITTEN BY: Donny Cates
ART BY: Geoff Shaw
PUBLISHER: Dark Horse
PRICE: $3.99
RELEASE: October 16, 2013

Donny Cates could have really taken the easy way out with “Buzzkill.” The premise alone is perfect to stake its claim in comic history. Instead of simply being the hero powered by drugs and alcohol, Cates opts for a more complex look at the effects of superherodom, and addiction itself. They are almost paralleled perfectly in the climax of the issue. Walking away from the addiction of one is walking away from the addiction of both. Each addiction will do its damndest to drag Ruben back into the depths of personal hell.

Ruben powers and past are the center of the story this month. We learn about how various substances affect him differently. He derives diverse abilities based on his abuse of choice. It’s wonderfully simple and incredibly engaging to deepen Ruben’s powers and addiction.

Cates even treats us to a multitude of off the wall super-villains. The tropes of the genre come bursting off the page, but are beat back with incredible writing. The book teeters on the edge of becoming a parody of the genre, before delving right back into what makes it original.

Within this moment of near parody, Shaw’s art hits with full force. Ruben finds himself drinking again, and attempts to stand up for himself after having his ass grafted to the pavement. The visceral nature of Shaw’s line work and the jagged paneling makes the fighting seem sloppy and unrefined, like the action’s had one too many drinks. There is a certain edge to the art that throws you in and holds you down. Shaw’s work not only compliments the script but also makes it better.

The reveal of the new character is handled in a wonderful way. Cates use of the fixtures of addiction is the most alluring part of the book. Shaw’s depiction of Ruben and Doctor Blaqk’s first meeting is genius. The facial expressions tell you everything about the moods behind the words. I found myself completely in love with a character who had only been introduced a page before, it’s a hard task to pull off but Cates and Shaw make it look easy.

“Buzzkill” is unlike anything else you are reading. It’s intelligent, action packed, and offers a realistic look at addiction. By the end of the issue you’ll find yourself fighting off the shakes in anticipation of your next fix.

Rating 4.5/5 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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