Connect with us

Comics

[Comic Book Review] “Gotham By Midnight” Staggers Into Horror

Published

on

“Gotham by Midnight” offers a devilish look at a different type of seedy underbelly of Gotham. The all too often neglected supernatural elements of the Batman universe are brought to the forefront here, and it’s a haunting reminder of just how sinister a place Gotham can be.

gaslight

WRITTEN BY: Ray Fawkes

ART BY: Ben Templesmith

PUBLISHER: DC Comics

PRICE: $2.99

RELEASE: November 26, 2014

The Batman renaissance continues this month with something slightly different than all the rest. This is a supernatural book more in the vein of Constantine than of Batman proper. However, you have a little bit of Gotham Central in the mix and a hint of The X-Files and you’ve concocted Ray Fawkes’ recipe for “Gotham By Midnight.”

And while all the ingredients are fantastic, the actual final result feels a little undercooked. It’s not an easy task to launch an all new storyline in an established universe. There is a lot of heavy lifting that needs to be done in order to service the story, and sadly Fawkes’ script concerns itself with the lifting more than anything.

There is a terrible amount of exposition. Even by first issue standards. The pacing is out of wack because of it and it all doesn’t really amount to much either. We’re introduced to the mysterious precinct thirteen through the eyes of newcomer Sergeant Rook. He’s pitted against our Midnight team. The people who clean up the more unsightly monsters in Gotham, or so we’re told. We don’t often get to see much in the way of creepiness in these opening pages. Instead there is a constant reminder of what could lie in wait, and Rook’s incessant disbelief that such a place or concept could exist.

Fawkes’ script is more concerned with telling rather than showing, a shame really, given the incredibly creepy talent Ben Templesmith’s pencils bring to the book. His moody use of color shows a Gotham unlike we’ve ever seen in the New 52. It’s awash in pale moonlight, dirty browns stain the walls and earthy tones constantly unnerve.

Templesmith’s fantastic character designs are as gaunt and unsightly as the city itself. Furrowed brows and pale skin are normal things here. Although one wonders if Rook is capable of smiling… Templesmith’s art does its best to bring the creepy factor up to ten whenever given the opportunity, but doesn’t really let loose until the final page.

“Gotham By Midnight” should be a worthy addition to anyone’s pullist because the premise is just so damn awesome. Yet, Fawkes fails to deliver on the promise of the premise here in the debut issue. He instead offers a by the books introduction to a world we’re already pretty familiar with. Despite this, the dialogue is pointed and chilling. The art is captivates in its depiction of the most horrific parts of the already dreadful Gotham, and Jim Corrigan is an irresistible protagonist.

 

I can’t wait to see more, if only because I feel shortchanged by this debut issue.

 

Comics

[Review] Graphic Novel ‘Tender’ Is Brilliant Feminist Body Horror That Will Make You Squirm & Scream

Published

on

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

Continue Reading