As the fall approaches and the cool air fills the night, we all start to think about what lies ahead. For many, Halloween is around the corner and horror movies begin to dominate our watching experiences. However, this year, the best scary stories won’t be on film, but will be told on black and white pages. That is because author, Cullen Bunn, releases his newest work, A Passage In Black.
Cullen Bunn may be most known for his works in comics. Currently he is writing Marvel’s X-Men, but has been working in comics for years not only at Marvel, but also at DC, Oni, and Darkhorse. However, he is no stranger to the horror genre as he is currently writing Harrow County which perhaps has the title of best ongoing horror comic being currently published.
A Passage in Black is collection of 27 short stories, which include 8 brand new, never published tales and 19 previously only available in small press.
If you are like me and grew up on Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series, you have been wanting to more of these tales since your childhood and every time there is mention of reviving the series or bringing it to screen, you scream in delight. If you are like me, then you know it has been awhile as well. And A Passage in Black fills that similar of itch of feeling terrified one moment and grossed out in another, whether by words or haunting imagines.
The themes of the tales are all over the place. There are stories if old women in the woods, cannibals in the country, and ghost children who come out in the rain. There are also completely absurd chapters than include mutant testicles and killer frogs. No matter your brand of horror, there are stories that you will enjoy.
Not only will you enjoy the actual stories, but Bunn gives readers a peak behind the horror show curtain. At the conclusion of most stories, Bunn lets the readers in on his inspirations behind them. Sometimes, it’s about a pond near his childhood home and other times it all started with one line or one small concept. While, some may wish to not know, you can read them as if you were watching directors commentary on a movie. It is not for everyone, but I will say, after reading “Cold Snap” I was glad to have it there as it may have been the scariest one in the world for me, a soon to be father and Bunn himself shares those reservations after writing it.
While A Passage In Black is certainly not a graphic novel, the book does include 23 illustrations to accompany most of the stories. These are certainly reminiscent in style to the Scary Stories, the art from Tim Mayer is the perfect pairing. All the illustrations are black and white and scratchy which gives it an unfinished look. The unfinished style is like looking at the difference of a brand-new home versus one that is decaying and run-down. It tonally made sense for the book and will help give you nightmares if you are reading before bed.
I promised to keep this review spoiler-free, so any more information would lessen the absolute joy I had while reading A Passage In Black. It is very hard to compare this full length book to what we normally review for this column, but this was the absolute best work I have read since launching the column.
This is a must own for any real horror fan.
A Passage in Black will be released THIS FRIDAY, October 6th from OmahaBound.comThere will be 100 limited edition hard covers available there or head over to amazon.com and order a paperback copy.
I implore everyone to order their copy.
And please check out the other works by the wonderful work from Cullen Bunn at cullenbunn.com and follow him on twitter at @cullenbunn. You can find Tim Mayer’s work over at timmayerart.com . And an additional thank you to Tim Benson at OmahaBound, who got this into my hands, and make sure to follow him on twitter @TBRAMBLIN to see all the great projects he has going on.
And if it was not obvious…
Ratings: 5 out of 5 (actually, can I give a 6 out of 5?)
If you like what you read, make sure to like it and share it on all your social media platforms. If you want to suggest a book to review, make sure to tweet at me @hebruise . Make sure to follow me and check out all my comics work at horror-writers.com (@horror_writers) and over at twoheadednerd.com (@twoheadednerd)
If you’re on this site, you loved monsters as a kid. Probably even had a “Monster In My Pocket” or two.
…or forty-eight
And during those days, you probably held that familiar Nintendo controller in your hand and threw down on some Zelda, Mario, or Metroid. But, as a monster lover, you inevitably found yourself playing one of the earliest horror games the NES had to offer.
Well, yeah, but… Man, did that game dash away the hopes of a fun weekend for so many kids.
But no, that’s not the game I was talking about.
How Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde got that same Nintendo Seal of Approval, I’ll never understand.
Released by Konami back in 1986, Castlevania was the go-to game for horror-loving gamers who didn’t mind getting their asses handed to them by the monsters they loved. And if you were just into challenging action platformers, Castlevania converted you into a fan of the macabre that was handed out in doses.
This should do you till the epicness that is Super Castlevania IV on the SNES.
Though the plots of each game took place over centuries, the premise was simple. Every hundred years, good begins to fade amongst the hearts of men, and Count Dracula wakes from his slumber inside his castle to spew forth unspeakable horrors onto all the neighboring villages.
LOOK AT IT! LOOK AT THE UNSPEAKABLE HORROR!
That’s where the Belmonts came in. A family of monster hunters and vampire killers, you would find yourself playing as one, armed with the weapon passed down through the generations and created for the sole purpose of destroying Dracula and all his evil minions. The “Vampire Killer”!
Okay look. I know it’s not the most original name, but this thing can hurt Death himself, so, you know, shut up
And the best part? Dracula had just about every known monster at his disposal. We’re talking Frakenstein’s Creature, mummies, evil knights, fish-men, zombies, werewolves, Medusas, skele-men, golems, gargoyles, hydras, demons…and a pair of dancing specters named Paula Abghoul and Fred Askare.
You thought I was joking, but there they are in the manual. Again, look, Death is also a boss.
The amount of lore that has built up through twenty-three games, spanning a timeline from 1094 to 2036, is staggering. And that doesn’t even count the “Lords of Shadow” alternate timeline. With this gothic treasure trove, you’d imagine someone would have tried to adapt it by now.
As much as I loved Captain N as a kid, that isn’t Simon Belmont anymore than that green guy is supposed to be Mega Man.
Well, after a decade of development hell, Netflix and Producer Adi Shankar have resurrected writer Warren Ellis’ adaptation of the game series from its tomb as an animated series.
And my God, is it good. It’s probably the best adaptation of a video game to date.
Sorry Mario. Now you’ll know how Luigi feels being in second.
THE STORY:
Based on “Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse”, the story takes place in 1476, a year after an event that promises to bring forth the vengeance of Vlad Dracula Tepes upon the nation of Wallachia. The misguided Church vow God’s divine intervention if all the non believers are dealt with, including a mysterious group seeking a legendary savior supposedly slumbering in the catacombs.
As the day of vengeance draws closer and the innocent suffer as horribly as the damned, the greatest chance at defeating Dracula is the last son of the family who were cast out of society for their ties to the supernatural.
Trevor Belmont.
What’s this in my hand, Dracula? Funny you should ask.
And when you take a story that is filled with every possible monster imaginable, there’s only one left to add. The most terrifying:
Thought that was gonna be a Kardashians joke, didn’t you? They’d already be dead in this world, and you know it.
One of the most interesting aspects added to the story is the looming threat of The Church and its belief that everything being done is right because it is in His name. And nothing is more dangerous than ignorance acted out with infallibility. In fact, that is the very thing that has ultimately set the nation up for its destruction.
The nation of Wallachia of course. Can you imagine if I was talking about the United States?
Can. You. Imagine?
But a chessboard, even one as beautiful as this one, is nothing without the chess pieces.
THE CHARACTERS:
What were once literally 2D characters on a CRT Television in your parents living room have been given a rich depth once left up to us gamers to provide.
Today, all we gotta do is hold the X button.
Our protaganist of this story is Trevor Belmont, current wielder of the “Vampire Killer” and all around nice guy.
I’m kidding. Trevor is an asshole.
[singing] There goes my hero!
Though rightly so. His family protected the lands for hundreds of years, keeping away the evils that lurk in the night and then were promptly thanked with accusations of being gold-seeking witches and warlocks.
You know, like this company of cash vampires is actually guilty of being.
So growing up and training your entire life to protect the ones who spit at you for doing so can leave you with a bit of hesitation to intervene. That and some razor sharp sarcasm. But our anti-hero is still a hero. And while his reluctance to help those who reject him exists, he never deviates from his purpose to defeat Dracula. He just wants a beer while he’s waiting.
But on the other side of the coin is Dracula himself. And right from the initial moments of the show, Dracula is given what he has been sorely missing from the main Castlevania series.
Humanity.
Dracula is no longer just a final boss inexplicably evil for the sake of being defeated. In the series, his 8-bit bones have been fleshed out into a cursed man inflicting his curse upon those that took his humanity from him. Much like Mr. Freeze in “Batman: The Animated Series”, he can be sympathized with in spite of his actions. And when you can question the actions of sending baby-eating demons into the homes of those who wronged you, maybe things aren’t so black and white in the show.
And as the whip’s end collided with Dracula’s face, Belmont whispered, ‘I’m sorry this has to happen to you’.
THE DIALOGUE
What is quite possibly my favorite aspect of the show, the dialogue exchanges are nothing short of superb. From the hilarious, sarcastic quips to the bone-chilling laments before both heartbreak and horror, all of it raises the stakes.
Oh ha ha. I’m trying to be serious here.
There are moments of sheer brilliance with the spoken word. The first episode alone will give you more goosebumps than…damn. I know there’s a good comparison there related to horror.
Nope. I’ve got nothing. Oh well. We all can’t be R.L. Stine.
THE ANIMATION
Spearheading the show is Powerhouse Animation. Their biggest project to date, the studio took most of their influence from the conceptual and promotional artwork of Castlevania, namely the PlayStation classic “Symphony of the Night”. The overall asthetic is as Castlevania should be.
Dark. Gothic. Audacious.
Bloody
It’s easy to mistake this show as anime. But unlike having the prevalent mark of every action super-stylized, Powerhouse has restrained themselves, giving each moment, each limited frame, purpose. The difference between how a drunken Victor in a barfight is animated and a sober (well, not so drunk) Victor killing a monster later on is very noticeable, and it should be.
By holding back the fluidity of skill behind the methodical, sometimes clumsy movements of being human, the impact of its revelation in the action scenes has much more impact upon the viewer. And this is proven with each fight Victor encounters with the supernatural, especially the one in the final moments of Episode 4.
Yeah, I’m not spoiling that one for you.
And just as the first season comes to a close, you are visually taught what it means to be a Belmont as Trevor accepts the challenge he was destined to face yet hesitated to admit was his.
FINAL THOUGHTS
See how I mentioned the season finale and Episode 4 pretty close to each other? Yeah, that’s because the first season is only four episodes at roughly half an hour each.
I know. I know. That’s the only real negative I have for the show is the pacing of each episode and length of the season. But, before you get upset, you should know two things.
First, when Warren Ellis was first working on this back in 2007, it was intended to be a direct-to-video animated film. And when you binge watch this (and you will), you’ll be quick to notice the pacing of each episode is corrected when viewed as a single movie. Ellis quickly learned that one movie wouldn’t be enough and planned it out to be a trilogy of films.
Second, the day Castlevania premiered, Netflix announced 8 episodes were already in the works for “Season 2”. You just need a little math to figure out that the other two installments are on the way, most likely completing Trevor’s tale in the Castlevania timeline.
And this time in between is what excites me most. Wondering what monsters we’ll see and how epic the journey through the mechanical labyrinth that is Dracula’sl castle will be.
But knowing that, even after the storyline of Dracula’s Curse is done, we could see each season following another game in the timeline, leaping across the centuries and seeing what a 100 years at a time does to all those involved with keeping Dracula inside his tomb.
This show has amazing potential. But for now, it’s a damn good start worth your time.
FEAR STREET! It’ll give you more goosebumps than Fear Street! That’s what I was thinking of earlier!
Nailed it!
My thanks to Shawn and Dusty for letting me write another article. I do love them so.
I have a survival-horror western out called “Year 47” on Amazon. You can pick it up here.
I’m no R.L. Stine, but Horror Writers themselves gave it “Novel of the Year” for 2016.
There is something different about Joseph, and I don’t like it. Knoxford is the kind of place that makes you think maybe God left it behind. And if you had the burden of dealing with Joseph, you might get a good idea as to why. Knoxford is a nasty, rural, mountainous area of loosely connected dwellings and the occasional coal mine. The people had the temperament of wolverines and the keen intellect of that quadrupeds stool. Among these corn-jack swilling salts of the earth, Joseph was the meanest and keenest of them all. Not that I had any choice in the matter when it came to dealing with him; he had the best moonshine around, all but forcing me to get it from him.
Well, at least he used to have the best. There has been something different about the brew and I suspect that it might correlate back to that devil himself. It doesn’t help that Joseph’s grandpa has been missing for awhile now and his excuses change every time I inquire. Not long after his disappearance was when I started getting reports that the liquor was different. Maybe that old pollock stuck his nose in something that didn’t belong. Now me, I am just a runner, but people are dying and I won’t have the axe fall on my head. This was the most reasonable explanation I had for myself as to why I was here at night spying on Joseph.
“Stupid old man. Sitting there screaming at me with words I can’t understand.” I froze in mid step. That was Joseph. I crept up to a hole in the wall and looked around. He was sitting on his porch with a pipe in his mouth yelling at the apple tree across the unkempt yard in an slurred, nasally voice. A blind man could see that he was beyond drunk.
“Now you’re silent, and I can finally relax!” He then formed a twisted toothy smile. “It’s a shame your old, sturdy bones put a chip in the head of my axe. I could have cut down that nosy bootlegger, asking about you.”
I was right, he did kill the old man. If he finds me then I will be next.
“Profit is profit. and no one gets in the way, of my money…” His ramble then came to a total halt before he spoke again with a completely changed demeanor. “Nooo. No. Not again.” He muttered this to himself multiple times in a tone of disbelief. Even from about fifteen feet away I could see the fear mounting in his dirty brown eyes. I followed his line of sight across the yard to the old apple tree and barely managed to stifle my scream.
Standing over a patch of unusually dry dirt was a shadow shaped like a man covered in rags. It was darker than the night yet translucent, casting a murky gaze on everything behind it. I glanced back at Joseph who was looking at his bottle of gin before looking away and shaking his head. He sat there for a moment in silence, as if gathering what resolve the mere sight of that wraith had not snatched away from him. He then stood up, threw the bottle across the yard and screamed “It’s been almost a year you dusty bag of bones! It’s all my money, now!” He then stormed inside the house and upstairs to his bedroom.
With great apprehension I looked back to the tree to see that the shadow was still there standing hunched over what I now assume to be the unmarked grave of Joseph’s grandfather. I watched as its shrouded ‘head’ glanced up to me before slowly disappearing.
Coming to the conclusion that Joseph was in the comforting embrace of a liquor coma for the night, I lit the lantern I’d brought and finished snooping around the barn. Despite feeling like a chilled brick was lying in my stomach, I decided to finish what I came here for. This hovel of a barn was dingy, dirty, and neglected. The only thing that seemed to be given any habitual level of maintenance were his distilleries. I found myself surprised at how expedient my discovery of his compromised distillery’s alcohol were. Stupid hick was cutting good shine with anything he could find that would not arouse a stink. It was bathtub gin at best, diluted poison at worst. I also saw that one of the half dozen or so distilleries was damaged beyond repair.
Now I know why the old man had to go. It was at this point that if my foresight was as eagle eyed as my hindsight, I would have left that wretched barn. I would have went straight to my car hidden over the hill and drove as fast as what bits of reason I had left in possession would allow me to go. I continued wandering around the barn a bit more until I came across the murder weapon. Hanging on the wall was a rusty, stained axe with a split head. Located right in the break, was a chunk of molding bone. For some reason I felt compelled to reach out and grasp the only unburied fragment of the old man. When it was freed from the defective axe and in the palm of my hand, I began to feel a prickling of hairs across my body. Eyes felt like they were inspecting every aspect of my being. I could feel my legs telling me to leave, quickly and pleading with my head not to look back.
It is here. The shadow wraith of Joseph’s grandpa is here! The lightless areas around this corner of the barn took on a solid form and seemed to creep right up to the edge of my lantern. Despite my entire body being seized by the cold sweat of terror, I continued on this strange and abhorrent course I was on. I took the chunk of bone in my hand, walked out of the barn and on over towards the apple tree. All this time, the darkness stayed right on my heels, just outside of the lantern light. The dirt under the tree looked not to have been disturbed for almost a year, yet no life grew upon it. I could not conclude for certain, but I had the distinct thought that no worms or other lowly beasts crawled beneath it. It has been nearly a year. I sat the lantern down, and began digging through the dirt with my free hand, keeping a tight grip on the bone fragment. It felt unnaturally warm. Finally I touched a burlap sack and stopped digging instantly. My body sensing the threshold of what it should be allowed to know. I then took the bone fragment and dropped it in the small hole then covered it up again.
Maybe now the old man can rest in one piece. I found myself transfixed in morbid curiosity as the darkness seeped into the dead earth. I should have turned back. I should have left this cursed backwater of America and found work running shine elsewhere. Yet the same steadfastness in the face of apprehension that drives us all on unfortunately had me seeing this macabre spectacle to the end. A minute passed, then another, then a few more before the unthinkable began to occur. A solid black ichor began to bubble up from the grave, slowly at first but quickly gaining momentum. Before I was even completely aware of it, the shadow was standing once more over the grave. This time though, its form was as opaque as the oblivion it spawned from. No face, no features, just a raggedy misshapen form. Rationality finally taking hold, I began slowly backing away from this being. A deep, barely audible drone emanated outward from as it as it darted towards the house where Joseph slept. I felt compelled to follow it up the stairs where the door to his bedroom flung open with a bang, waking Joseph from his sleep. I heard him scream as he jumped from his bed, making a thud as he pressed himself against the wall opposite the shadow wraith.
Before either of us could react, it dashed straight towards Joseph and engulfed him. The last thing I – and Joseph, for that matter – heard was the sound of an old man laughing. In about the time it took for the wraith to engulf Joseph it had seemingly dissipated into the darkness of his unlit room. All that remained of Joseph was a pile of mangled, charred bones. In the following minute, there was nothing but absolute silence. My breath was caught in my chest. Then, the laughter returned. Deep, malicious cackling emanating outward in volumes that rose and fell with little rhythm. The shadow wraith started oozing out of the walls like molasses and pooling together over the remains of Joseph. Realizing how finite the time was in my situation, I turned, bolted down the stairs, through the house, and out the door. I ran unaware into the opaque embrace of the night, never returning from the cackling darkness.
The Eyrie is an independent horror comic from creator/writer Thom Burgess and art by Barney Bodoano. The tale is one of a troubled photographer, enters into a creepy British town and creepiness ensues.
The overall story telling was well done and while not on a level of modern Scott Snyder horror tale like Severed, but compared to current horror anthology comics, it stands up and is on par. Most of the heavy lifting is done with Bodoano’s art, but Burgess does a good job of crafting a complete short story. Burgess does a good job collaborating with Bodoano and letting the art tell his tale without a lot of over narration. While not flawless, the dialogue comes across authentic.
Artist Barney Bodoano style seems to be clearly influenced by horror comic legend Richard Corben. It also is very reminiscent of the young adult horror books, Scary Stories. There is a lot to like about the art, but it is also very unpolished. There is a ton of incredible pencil work happening in each panel with plenty of scratch line work. Our main character in the story is full of emotional beats brought on by the art. The monsters created for this tale are simply wonderful and would fit perfectly into any classic horror tales from EC Comics or even Marvel and DC’s 1970’s run of comics.
The art is also delivered in a very simple grid panel layout. While not always a bad thing when done extremely well, in this context it was unimaginative for a tale that could have benefited from more sprawling panels and spreads. There are also some very weird perspectives throughout the book in those panels. The final critique would be on the hands of “normal humans.” While the elongated hands of the monsters worked in this story, there was a struggle to have professional and proportional hands throughout most the book. It was a very Rob Liefeld feet type of problem with the art, however, being this is an independent book, I am more forgiving of an artist still working out his style onto the pages.
Overall, Bodoano does a good job of carrying the story, setting the scene, and delivering some creepy atmosphere and monsters. While the art is not perfect, compared to monthly books being put out by Xenescope and Action Labs/Danger Zone, I’d rather read books like The Eyrie which are a labor of love and real effort being put into them.
While much of the focus of comics is focused on the writing and art, there are a lot of other components that go into a comic. One of these key components is the lettering. It may go unnoticed in a lot of issues, so when it stands out, it typically is because of incredible skill to weave it into the art or because it is jarring and bogs down the story telling. While no official lettering credit is given to the issue, art is credited to Barney Bodoano, we will assume that he had full control of this portion. Overall, the lettering was a very mixed bag through the issue. There were many times in this issue where it really felt that the lettering was a complete afterthought. It felt like copy and pasted into panels or simply shoved into them. While the placement was questionable, the execution of the lettering was proficient.
Overall, any fans of black and white horror comics should give The Eyrie a read. It has creepy and haunting art and a well plotted and told horror tale.
Ratings: 3 out of 5
If you like what you read, make sure to like it and share it on all your social media platforms. If you want to suggest a book to review, make sure to tweet at me @hebruise . Make sure to follow me and check out all my comics work at horror-writers.com (@horror_writers) and over at twoheadednerd.com (@twoheadednerd)
