James Tynion IV, who has been on a horror hot streak since his breakout comic Something Is Killing the Children, understands the magic of Halloween and has assembled a murderers row of talent for Exquisite Corpses, a high-octane miniseries about a sadistic battle royale that descends on a quiet American town.
The series was created by Tynion and artist Michael Walsh, who are both credited on every issue, but in a nod to the traditional style of the ‘exquisite corpse,’ they hand off each issue to a different writer and artist, including names like Adam Gorham, Becca Carey, Che Grayson, Claire Roe, Gavin Fullerton, Jordie Bellaire, Marianna Ignazzi, Pornsak Pichetshote, Tyler Boss, and Valentine De Landro.
At a high level, Exquisite Corpses is about a death game held every five years on Halloween, hosted by the Thirteen Families, the wealthiest families in the world that secretly run everything, to determine which family will have the seat of power for the next half decade. The twelve competing families; the previous winner does not compete; each selects a killer to represent them in a last-man-standing fight to the death that takes place in an isolated small town.
In keeping with tradition, each family draws a weapon that their killer will need to use throughout the night, and side bets are placed on everything from who dies first to who can rack up the most civilian kills.
Three Stories Collide in One Deadly Battle Royale
What’s really smart about this setup is that it allows for the story to be told on three different levels that are all happening simultaneously. There are the citizens of Oak Valley, the tiny Maine town that this year’s game takes place in, who are going about their Halloween without any clue of what horrors are about to lay siege to their town. Also on the ground are the twelve killers, each with their own flamboyant style and specialty to make them as dangerous as they are memorable.
Then you’ve got the families, with centuries of bitterness and rivalries between them, all watching the proceedings from a distance, cackling as their puppets dance on their strings for them. It seems like this may be an overwhelming amount of characters, but as the plot goes on and deaths pile up, the focus on a specific core set of people becomes clear, crafting strong arcs to bring it to its conclusion.
The heart of the story lies with the citizens of Oak Valley, because in a world of masked killers and obscenely wealthy sociopaths, they are easily the most relatable. While there is a large set of characters, including a conspiracy theorist who is constantly trying to make what’s going on fit with one of his theories, the two biggest characters in terms of narrative impact are Laura and Audrey. Laura is a former combat medic turned EMT who tries her best to play hero as the bodies start piling up, and Audrey is a desperate mother trying to race through the town to find her kid. Her son Jason is out trick-or-treating with Craig and Xavi, a couple that got stuck watching him after Audrey was pulled into work at the last minute.
Everyone’s desperate bids for survival feel so human when stacked up against overwhelming odds created by a system that’s playing with their lives for its sick enjoyment. It’s clear that not everyone is going to make it out of this one alive, so when they get a moment of victory, like taking out one of the killers, it feels all the sweeter.
Every Killer Feels Like the Star of Their Own Slasher Film
The families are the complete opposite. Despite having a lot riding on the game in terms of money and power, they are watching from their ivory tower, completely untouchable. While these characters can often blend together, the standouts are New York, who is the loudest and most arrogant of the bunch, South Carolina, who has more stake in the game since her sister is their family’s competitor, and Massachusetts, who is trying to avenge a long string of losses. What becomes interesting is how invested each of them is in the contest. For the three families I mentioned, it’s the only thing that matters, but for others it’s literally just a game.
They send their killer in there just to rack up kills for side bets without any desire to actually be named the winner. Even compared to the terrifying psychopaths that enter the game, the cold callousness of the Thirteen Families is the true horror of Exquisite Corpses.
The flashiest and most eye-catching bunch of characters in the comic are of course the killers competing in the game, each with their own gimmick and visual hook. Since many of them die fairly quickly in the battle royale, they don’t all get their time to shine, but they are given the exact right amount of personality both in art and writing to make them command the page when they show up.
Some of them, like the Lone Gunman, have a bit more of a sympathetic background (at least for a stone cold killer working for the worst people on Earth), but others are nearly completely inhuman, like the bunny-mascot-costume-wearing Rascal Randy. They each feel like they could be the villain in their own slasher movie, so it’s fun to see them clash in dynamic and interesting ways.
Brutal Action Meets Stylish Horror
When it gets down to the action, it highlights the raw brutality of the book. The comic doesn’t shy away from gore, with bloody battles that leave plenty of civilian collateral in their wake. It’s clear some of the characters are trained killers, and fights between people like Fox Mask Killer and Pretty Boy make for dynamic and exciting panels. Despite liking the gimmick of continually switching up writers and artists, the change in visual style, though subtle, does get a bit distracting from issue to issue, which makes me wish Michael Walsh had handled it all the way through, but maybe that’s just because I think he’s one of the best artists in horror comics today.
The thirteen-issue series takes you on quite a wild ride, with plenty of twists and turns that keep you on your toes. Even if you want to place your bets on a killer at the beginning, you’ll likely have a hard time guessing how this story reaches its conclusion as all three layers of the story converge in surprising ways. Not only are there some extremely disturbing moments; the scene where Jason interacts with one of the killers known as “Gamer Kid” is particularly upsetting, but the ending reminds us that even if normal people can eke out some sort of victory, it’s still only by playing by the unfair rules that are created to benefit those in power.
Exquisite Corpses is presented in three volumes, collecting all thirteen issues and telling a complete story, but there have been a few spinoff miniseries that have launched recently to flesh out the eclectic killers. Comics focused on Rascal Randy, Fox Mask Killer, and the Lone Gunman have been running for the past few months, adding additional context to the main book. Given how iconic many of these designs are, it’s perfectly natural that fans would want to see more of them, and there’s no doubt that a whole group of writers is available to continue building out this universe.
If you find yourself at the local comic shop looking for a Halloween read, Exquisite Corpses is one hundred percent the book for you. Its complex web of characters presents a bleak look at society, portraying the calculating way that those in power play with the lives of everyday folks for their benefit and amusement. Not only does it have astute social commentary, but it dresses it up with flamboyant serial killers and exciting action, with disturbing twists that will keep you guessing until the shocking end.
James Tynion IV is a huge name in horror comics, and Exquisite Corpses might be his best book yet.
Exquisite Corpses is available through Image Comics. You can read the first issue here.
