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[Advance Review] “Harrow County” #3 Is Heartbreaking

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“Harrow County” #3 builds off the previous issue’s reveal to offer the darkest look at human nature yet. Perhaps what could have been easily written off (but shouldn’t be – mind you) as a Southern Gothic comic builds to its most shocking moment this month. Emmy’s past horrors are nothing compared to what Cullen Bunn throws at her this issue.

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WRITTEN BY: Cullen Bunn
ART BY: Tyler Crook

PUBLISHER: Dark Horse Comics
PRICE: $3.99

RELEASE: July 7th, 2015

Small towns – or rather isolated places tend to talk a lot about the people who reside within them. This creates a distinctly predatory environment where people are consumed for entertainment. It’s clear that Emmy is pursued because of what she can say. Words carry a lot of power against superstition and despite the ending of the last issue, this time around it’s human evil that poses the largest threat.

It would be easy to write off “Harrow County” as a typical monster filled affair. Here, though – in a world populated with unsightly horrors Bunn shows that man is the greatest monster of all. It’s a lesson that was present on almost every page of issue one. But, something that seems like an afterthought in issue two. This sleight of hand is a great tactic to show the reader the brutality of the world they’re in.

Emmy definitely shines through once again. This is mostly due to her perseverance in the face of danger. She continually gives echoes of any horror movies final girl. Yet, she’s about ten years younger than the average horror protagonist. It’s a unique and refreshing perspective that allows Harrow County to stand out.

Bunn layers his script with huge implications of the looming truth that has yet to be revealed. After the final page of this issue the reader has a much better sense of why Harrow County is such a fearful place. There are still plenty of questions left on the page. And really only half answers offered, but they are captivating in their emotional complexity. It’s an assurance that the story is in good hands from here on out. The script is afraid to linger in small moments to create something more than little girl versus monsters.

Now, Tyler Crook is becoming a quick standout for artist of the year on this book. Despite his insane process (which I’ll continue to praise until I’m dead) he manages to convey the most emotional moment of this issue with an irresistible simplicity. In a series known for grand and colorful displays of horror – Crook takes his talents and centers them on the human eye. He epitomizes the most horrific part of the issue around these “windows to the soul” and you feel it all. You can’t help but feel shivers up your spine in the climax of this issue. And, for an artist with his talents this reduction to a more complex human feature was not only needed but packs such a gut punch that his panels will linger with you for days after you close the final page.

With a narrative that only gets stronger with each separate issue “Harrow County” is easily the best horror comic on the stands. It reminds us what we’re scared of and it isn’t afraid to show us that even the most horrendous creatures can be beautiful.

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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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