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[5 Skull Comic Book Review] “The Fade Out” #2 Achieves Perfect Balance

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Fans of Brubaker and Phillips can expect a truly authentic experience from their books.  No matter the setting, time period, or genre, Brubaker’s expertise on every subject he writes about practically bleeds off the page, while Phillips classic style yet nuanced style drives home that the books the create together are the real deal.  “The Fade Out” #2 balances with noir sensibilities of issue one with the studio era context of the book to substantiate the style and tone of the book while moving the plot forward appropriately and developing our cast of archetypal characters in an honest way.  “The Fade Out” is a perfect balance.

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WRITTEN BY: Ed Brubaker

ART BY: Sean Phillips

PUBLISHER: Image

PRICE: $3.50

RELEASE:  October 1, 2014

Reviewed By Eric Switzer

I like that this issue puts an emphasis on setting.  That isn’t to say anything is missing in terms of story or character; all the “Criminal”/”Fatale” flavor is there, but issue 2 really brings you into the world these characters live in.  Too often I think setting is kept too much in the background; something to inform the visual style and frame the story being told.  The story in “The Fade Out” feels like something that it happening in a world that existed before the story began.  Part of that may be due to the historical context, but that doesn’t take anything away from Brubaker’s skill as a writer, the man does his research.  Furthermore the relationships between these characters and their pasts are present but overwhelming, the book introduces a lot of people and histories without being bogged down by exposition.  It makes one feel like the writer respects his audience.  Brubaker/Phillips are in an elite class, so pick up “The Fade Out” and get with the program.

Something clicked for me when I read this issue and I finally understand the brilliance of Phillips style.  I’ve always loved it in its muted tones and hard edges, I’ve felt it was wildly appropriate for the genre work these guys do and always consistent yet varied to meet the stories needs.  It is minimalist is a way, and it finally struck me how iconic his work has become.  Instantly recognizable and purposely so, I think, because while many artists have brilliantly creative uses for panels and layout, Sean’s are simple, balanced, and perfect for the kinds of stories being told.  I can’t help but stare in awe at a page depicting a emotionally charged fight between old friends: four panels, each perfectly square, within them a man bellows and thrashes at the open air, trapped in the panel.  It is really quite brilliant, yet easy to overlook.  The longer these guys work together the more substantial their work becomes, the more I realize how much there is to appreciate.

I really can’t recommend this book enough.  What they offer isn’t hugely varied from series to series, but it is always consistently well researched, well plotted, well executed, and well designed.  If you don’t like classic hollywood crime there is something wrong with you.

Eric Switzer  is an aspiring filmmaker and screenplay writer living in Los Angeles.  His work tends to focus on the lighter side of entropy, dystopic futures, and man’s innate struggle with his own mortality.  He can be found on twitter @epicswitzer or reached via email at ericswitzerfilm@gmail.com

 

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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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