Comics
Review: Haunt #5 AKA All Hell Breaks Loose!
To avoid sounding like a broken record, because I’m pretty sure that by now you all know that Kirkman and McFarlane’s “HAUNT” is fantastic, I’m going to avoid the whole ‘if you’re not reading this, then you’re missing out’ speel that people will usually feed you, and just jump into the review. No need for thanks. It’s all in a days work my fair readers, all in a days work.
When we last left off in “HAUNT” issue 4, our half-dead brothers Daniel and Kurt had just beaten the living hell out of Cobra, and in effect saving Kurt’s widow from being the next casualty in the ongoing war between The Agency and all those who covet the notebook. Meanwhile the mysterious (and sexy) Mirage revealed that she had the notebook and was willing to Price Is Right it to a certain white haired hulk before she decided to take her chances with Mobster Ebay. Ya follow?
So our story picks up here. Cobra is in the hospital, and he is obviously not going to be leaving anytime soon. His boss on the other hand will be making the pick-up from Mirage ‘personally’ (of course we all know a Mobster’s idea of personal means that they will have an entourage bigger than Jay-Z at The Grammys, and with twice the firepower) along with an entire troupe of Agency agents who have been tipped off as to when and where the exchange is to be made. So you can probably gather that the brothers Haunt won’t be to far behind.
In my review of issue #4 I said that the pawns were all in place for a huge meltdown within the series, and I wasn’t lying. By page 4 all hell has broken loose and the heads are quite literally rolling. It’s important to overstate the prevalence of Ryan Ottley’s amazing contributions to this series as this will, in effect, be his last issue. The pencils are beautifully done, depicting to the readers a firefight that even The Boondock Saints would envy. I will go as far as to say that this is his strongest issue yet, and it is sad to see him depart the dream-team at Image, but an understandable departure.
As the body count rises we begin to learn the truth behind the sorted lives of all the major players. The mole within The Agency is finally reviewed to be Morgan, who uses her last moment of ambiguity to blow Director Stantz’s brains out and get away with the notebook in hand, leaving no trace of her comings and goings behind, and as an after effect allowing Tosh to move into the now vacant seat. It is also revealed that Kurt and Mirage were lovers, causing yet another rift between the two siblings. What ensues between the two is a dialogue that is easily the most telling of any that we have witnessed so far, and the high point of the issue. Kirkman is allowed to do what he does best, and that is to write real human emotion and situations. The disconnect between Kurt and his wife Amanda is outlined very believably, as Kurt tells his brother that he began to view her life as something infinitely more miniscule than his own. That Mirage offered him what she never could, and that they had planned to run away together on stolen cash. Of course Kurt dying threw a wrench in those plans, and now Mirage is simply trying to pick up the pieces and get out while she still can without meeting a similar fate.
Obviously this is a heavy issue to read. There is a lot of character development crammed into the 32 pages Kirkman was given, but as always he seems to pull it off well. And unlike an episode of “LOST” we aren’t given 1 answer for every 10 frigging questions posed. The loose ends left in this issue make for some very interesting possibilities in the future, and the proposition Director Tosh serves to Daniel is one that promises to change the series forever.
All in all “HAUNT” issue #5 is all readers could have expected from the final issue of this arc. The dream-team at Image has done something these past 5 months that not many can accomplish within a years worth of story. They have introduced us to an entire world of characters with tangled, dark lives that are inherently human while at the same time existing in a world of macabre fiction. Whatever the future holds for Kurt and Daniel it is hard to imagine it not being a bright one.
4 Out Of 5 Skulls
Comics
[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream
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.
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