Review: The Trip (OGN)

Review by Connor Russell: As the title suggests, this graphic novel is about a trip. A trip can be many things, and with the cover having a slight resemblance to The Scream by Edvard Munch, I had no idea what to expect when I started on this venture. In a nutshell,The Trip is a drug induced psych horror story and one executed well.

Like most horror stories, the focus is on a bunch of college kids on a getaway trip. These kids are into drugs and such things but needed to get rid of the stash when pulled over by a police officer. At a cafe, one talks to a young Indian boy who says he has just the thing. Upon trying this drug, nicely named “Demon Weed”, the kids go through some terrible hallucinations, ones that bring forth their biggest fears. Now that Indian boy and his grandfather must track down and help the kids before they are driven to death by their living nightmares.

The Trip was written by Jesse Grillo, and I'll just say it now, I really liked his writing. The Trip has your general cast of horror kids, but they were presented well and not overly annoying. What I liked most was the layers brought into the main character of Karen. I won't really delve into it too much, not wanting to spoil anything, but the source of her fear is a confronting one and she has to face it more than once. I found the pacing was right; not dragging on the characters and their fears, deaths and character resolutions. Even though the story ended up being predictable as it went on and there were cliches, Grillo did a good job.

Now onto the art, which was done by David Brame. If art could be a genre, I would put this under the “grunge” category. Like its music counterpart, it is rough and messy and in some parts seeming a little rushed but it all comes together well. Oh and most of the line work was bold, but it works well with the style of the story. Heather Breckel is the colorist and she takes almost a flat color approach and like the pen work, almost seeming rushed in some areas. But it is pulled off well and definitely works well with Brame's work.

I found that the storytelling and artwork complimented each other really well and that The Trip was a good read. The book is heavy on the violence and gore and some of the language might offend some people, but isn't that the whole point of horror? To push boundaries and offend people? This could easily be translated into a movie, just saying. This is an advanced review (released in May), so if you guys are interested, be sure to pre-order it at your local comic shop or online.

Score: 4/5

Written By: Jesse Grillo Artist: David Brame Colorist: Heather Breckel Published By: Action Lab Danger Zone Price: $12.95 Release Date: 5/29/13