Comics
Review: ‘Memorial: Imaginary Fiends’ #1
Memorial: Imaginary Fiends #1 is a pleasant nostalgic trip to the past, a reminder of child-like wonder and youth. At its center, this is a whimsical, yet dark tale about rediscovering your lost imagination.
WRITTEN BY: Chris Roberson
ART BY: Rich Ellis
PUBLISHER: IDW Publishing
PRICE: 99 cents
RELEASE: March 20, 2013
In her childhood, Margaret Campbell loved to draw adventures with her pet dragon, Knock-Knocks. Even though Margaret has grown older and has children of her own, her mind has reverted back to her youth and has been stuck there. At a nursing home, Margaret’s son, Jonathan, tries to understand what she means about a magic pen and a mirror. Behind the mirror, Knock- Knocks is trying to get out and warn Jonathan. Something evil wants to pass through into his dimension and kidnap the children.
What I liked about writer Chris Roberson is how he asks readers to remember their childhood. There is a fondness in Roberson’s writing about searching for an adventure. At its core, this is about believing in fantasy where dragons are real and can talk. There is an interesting emotional theme about letting go of your childhood and moving on. It’s time to grow up but what if you don’t have to? What if your imagination is trying to tell you something, warn you about the future?
Artist Rich Ellis keeps the fantasy aspects grounded in reality. The dragon can walk on two legs because Knock-Knocks used to be a toy. Ellis transitions between past and present, depicting Jonathan in his family life. As an adult, Jonathan lets his daughter have her own imaginary friends. In a flashback, Jonathan remembers how he used to be like her. Ellis keeps readers in Jonathan’s mind, letting his imagination fly when he used to travel into space and be an astronaut.
Though I wish the issue could have lasted longer (it’s only 10 pages), “Memorial: Imaginary Fiends” #1 sets up an endearing tale about children and their imagination. The final page also ties in rather nicely with Roberson’s original “Memorial” series from 2012. This is about recapturing a forgotten moment in youth, which feels real to a child but fake to an adult.
3.5/5 skulls
Reviewed by – Jorge Solis
IDW Dark and Paramount recently joined forces to launch limited comic book tales set in the worlds of Smile and A Quiet Place, and we’ve learned today that they’ll continue hanging around in those franchise universes with two brand new limited series tales.
Entertainment Weekly has exclusively revealed this afternoon that IDW Dark’s Any Given Smile debuts in September, while A Quiet Place: Rising Tides arrives in November.
First up, from writer Stephanie Williams and artist Pablo Collar, Any Given Smile puts a football-themed twist on Parker Finn’s successful Smile movie franchise.
The five-part limited series is “set in January 1995, during the American Arena League football championship game in St. Augustine, Florida. The rising superstar of the Sharks, backup quarterback Dupree, is feeling the pressure from his teammates, the fans, and also the city’s gambling underworld, to whom he owes a considerable debt. Meanwhile, a sports journalist investigates a string of suicides that may be connected to the big game. At the very least, they are connected to a sinister entity that preys on the minds of its victims.”
From writer Declan Shalvey and artist Luke Sparrow, A Quiet Place: Rising Tides will also be a five-issue limited story. The comic book tale “brings the creatures to the Florida Keys, where a father-daughter duo attempt to survive on water in a houseboat.”
EW further details, “This tense family reunion coincides with the arrival of the vicious creatures that hunt through sound. Grace and her dad find safety on the open ocean, but she’ll have to make landfall sooner or later; the father’s oxygen tank and their supplies are running low, while a hurricane swiftly approaches.”
Learn more about both comic books over on Entertainment Weekly.
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