By Dustin Cabeal
Listen… I’m all in on this crazy shit. I was basically all in when I read “Evan Dorkin,” but after the first several pages, I’m all in. I have no idea if this is a mini or continuing or one of those limbo series that will be picked up for more depending on the popularity, but comics like Blackwood have been missing in comics and more so missing from Dark Horse. I feel like Dark Horse at some point didn’t like their identity in comics and sought something different. Honestly, I don’t know what others think of them anymore, but horror themed comics of this quality are hard to find outside of Dark Horse.
Even though it’s not labeled as such, Blackwood has almost two epilogues. The first gives us a window into the drama and danger that’s bound to arise in the story, while the second is far more Shakespearean in its presentation. After that, we meet a woman with white hair riding a bus that’s stopping in Blackwood. She’s given a warm welcome by a local and runs into another student heading to the same alternative college. Someone from the school picks them up, and they head over to get the rest of the students before heading to the school. At this point, it feels a little like Harry Potter, but a lot like manga. Neither of those is a bad thing to be like.
The story narrows its focus on four students. Wren, the white-haired girl, Reiko, Dennis and Stephen all end up living together in the attic of the dorm. After some rough introductions, the quad heads to bed to sleep off the first day. Our Shakespearean epilogue comes back into play as the character introduced invades all of their dreams, shooting them all up and out of bed. Let’s just say; it doesn’t get less weird after that.
You may have noticed that this review hasn’t touched on the supernatural/horror element of the story that I initially praised. That’s intentional. It would be like me telling you all the jump scares of a Hollywood horror movie. That and one of the moments is a major driving force of the story. The horror is spot on and sure to please anyone that’s a fan of the genre.
When I saw Fish’s name in the title, I wondered how her style would look with the obvious horror theme. While I wasn’t expecting it to look like her work on Archie, it was surprisingly perfect for the horror style. The characters had a wide range of designs making them feel authentic. The horrorish designs were different and very stylized. Now, I won’t go as far as to say it was “so fresh” or any of that crap, but it worked for the tone set forth by the narrative. The coloring was sharp and set the mood as well.
Dorkin’s writing is masterful. He makes this story look effortless which is impossible given how many layers are presented in this first issue. He gives a sense of the type of characters we’re going to be following while also building the supporting cast as well. This is one of those stories you instantly want to share with a friend and compare notes. The dialogue is believable; even Wren’s as she’s a bit angry and everything out of her mouth is snappy. With the setting being in college we can only hope that he’s built a story that can last the same duration of time, but we’ll see.
It’s been a long time since a Dark Horse title got me excited to read more. Like I mentioned in the beginning, it seems like they’ve been searching for an identity and while they’ve expanded what they publish, not all of it has been a good fit. Blackwood feels like a Dark Horse title from beginning to end and has me wanting to read more of it. With titles like B.P.R.D. being scarcer and scarcer and Harrow County ending, Blackwood is a great replacement for anyone’s reading list.
Score: 5/5
Blackwood #1
Dark Horse Comics