The most frightening horror stories play upon primal fears or fairy tales from hell. As we approach Halloween I’m sharing some scary comic book tales you should try and here’s why you should dive into The Wake by writer Scott Snyder (Batman) and artist Sean Murphy. This is one of my favorite new series of 2013.
The creators of this Vertigo book spared the tights and turned up the creep factor! No superheroes here. This is the kind of graphic storytelling you share with non-comic book fans to demonstrate why you love the medium. It’s a tense tale worthy of The X-Files or Torchwood.
After a brief glimpse at a post-Apocalyptic future the story turns to Gig Harbor, Washington where we immediately fall for the hero. Dr. Lee Archer is a marine biologist who pops off the page but soon we learn she has a haunted past and is willing to accept an offer from Homeland Security.
The secret mission to investigate strange whale songs leads Lee and other recruited scientists to a strange oil rig under the Arctic Ocean off Alaska. Snyder and Murphy then reveal a chamber of horrors inside the underwater facility. The Wake #1 is a tense, smart adventure with a main character you immediately root for and an eerie mystery with echoes of Lovecraftian pulp.
The most recent chapter to hit comic shops, The Wake #4 was the most intense chapter of Scott Snyder yet. Scientists are called to a covert underwater oil rig to investigate an ancient life form. Mermaid from hell? Creature from the Black Lagoon on acid?
What’s more dangerous than one of these ravenous mer-monsters on the loose in a sinking underwater rig? A whole legion of them. Lee Archer and the survivors fight it out against a relentless army of these scaly, smart zombies. Murphy’s savage art matches the intensity of the monstrous marauders and feeling of the dark deadly ocean crashing in on the humans as they’re snatched by teeth and tides.
Snyder is telling a horrific thrill that’s smart scary. just when the humans score a victory for you cheer for he unveils an a huge “oh —-!” cliffhanger at you. This is the stuff of cinema nightmares that Guillermo del Toro should be directing!
By Editor