By Chris Tresson

Hello there and welcome to my review of The Belfry, a one-shot comic which is being released by Image Comics this week. Belfry is written and drawn by Gabriel Hardman, a man whose work I’m not entirely a stranger to. I’d seen Gabriel talking about this on Twitter and thought it looked interesting so when I found out it was out this week, I decided I was going to review it for Comic Bastards. Here we go…  

I quite liked this book. If I had to describe it to you, I’d say it’s like Lost with a bit of horror and heavy metal imagery thrown in. The one thing it makes me think of is the great moon hoax of 1835… purely because of the bat people, but these creatures are more like succubi. Excellent character designs though, and I really liked some of the poses of the creatures, I found myself saying to myself, “yeah, that’s how a bat-person would walk”, and shit like that because Hardman captures it brilliantly in the panels… 

…I realize reading that back that it sounds weird as fuck, but if you get the book you’ll know what I mean, haha.

So I liked the visuals and the overall tone of the book, and I liked the story, though I was left wanting a bit more of it than I got. I think there’s more to this story and Hardman could easily pitch this as a miniseries or even an ongoing depending on how much time he’d be willing to put into it. I think the main reason I like this is because I had a very similar idea to it one night when I was writing, haha. I’ll elaborate on that in the comments section if anyone cares to hear it.

I’d say this book is more of a visual treat than anything, the story is good but the artwork is absolutely fantastic and like I said earlier, I wanted more of it. For the price of the book, though, you can’t really complain with what you get. It does only feel like the beginning of the story and I hope Gabriel revisits the world of Belfry at some point in the near future.

Overall, Belfry is a good book and it’s definitely worth checking out when you head down to your local comic shop this week. A must for fans of horror, Gabriel Hardman and the one-shot comic format. If none of that floats your boat, get it on a whim and you’re bound to find something you like within its pages. But, if you’re like me, you’ll probably be left wanting more of it. There needs to be more of this world but if that’s ever going to happen… you need to get out there and buy the damn book.*

*Buying the book doesn’t guarantee Gabriel Hardman will make anymore Belfry related comics but it can’t hurt, surely? But then again, maybe Gabriel Hardman doesn’t want to make more Belfry comics... only one way to find out…

SCORE: 4/5

The Belfry (One-Shot)
Writer/Artist: Gabriel Hardman
Publisher: Image Comics