“Coffin Hill” #14 is completely badass from cover to cover. What starts off as a classic Manson-family type home invasion in 1970s Coffin Hill turns into a supernatural violent plea for help. This issue, an interim issue between arcs, is setting up Emma Coffin’s story and although she’s only in it for one panel, her evil permeates throughout the pages. And even though she is malicious as all hell, she is quickly becoming one of my favorite characters and I am so excited for the future of “Coffin Hill.”
WRITTEN BY: Caitlin Kittredge
ART BY: Ryan Kelly (guest artist)
PUBLISHER: Vertigo Comics
PRICE: $2.99
RELEASE: December 10, 2014
So like I said, it’s 1970 and Josiah the “Prophet” (a Manson-like figure) and his followers are traveling around the country killing under some false pretense of cleansing the world. They make their way to Coffin Hill where they run into more danger than the whole lot of them combined. When they tackle a home invasion of Coffin Manor they end up fighting for their lives.
But it’s not that simple. This issue also introduces us to a woman named Lorelei, a seemingly lovely lady just minding her business, reading Hansel and Gretel to an unseen person in the room with her. But once the home invasion gets underway, she quickly sheds the suit of innocence and starts kicking serious ass. Only… again, it’s not that simple.
She’s crazy. She’s not, indeed, just trying to protect herself. She has a very specific agenda. And when we start seeing her dead family members popping up all around the Manor, we realize that (you guessed it) it’s really not that simple.
This is honestly some of Kittredge’s best work. It’s trippy and twisty and changes directions every few pages in the coolest of ways. I can’t even say she keeps the reader on the edge of their seat because she keeps pulling the chair right out from underneath the reader. And not only is the story gloriously perverse and dark, it’s fun. It reminds me of some of my favorite classic horror films. Plus, home invasions gone wrong are always so much bloody fun. The body count in this issue is Tarantino-worthy.
This issue also showcases some of Kittredge’s best writing. Some seriously poetic stuff. There were moments of “fuck this and fuck that” which were totally needed, but then there were moments of pure gold—mainly coming from Lorelei. Philosophical and deep. I took my time re-reading over some of the basement dialogue between Karen and Lorelei because it was just straight up wonderful.
I was shocked not to see Miranda on this issue, but I absolutely loved Kelly’s art. It was impeccably dark, a perfect match for the issue, really heavy on the inking. In addition to this, Kelly channeled the 70s flawlessly. This was a great issue. It was brilliantly played out. Every sharp turn just made the issue better and better. And that last page… makes my lips curl up. This was a wonderful set up for what’s to come.
