Have you ever picked a comic based on its name alone? Not knowing anything about the title and you end up taking a chance on it because it sounded cool. Then when you got the title home to read it, it wasn’t what you thought. That’s was my experience with Video Nasty. It’s 1983 and in Kettering, England a man makes his way home, down the street on a dark and rainy night. He cuts through a park minding his own business until he is overcome with the sense that he is being followed. Suddenly from the shadows the man is attacked viciously with a knife by an unknown assailant.
Next day at the park the remains of the man’s body are discovered by the park’s patrons, soon the police are canvassing the park. Soon Detective Gorely is on the case and discovers what could be the murder weapon, a knife decorated with Nazi propaganda.
Once the news gets wind of the incident they chalk it up to horror movies and the deviants that watch them. This unfortunately doesn’t help local horror fan and film maker Allan Derry, who happens to have a film releasing and this could ruin everything. So Allen takes his films future into his own hands and makes preparations to find his own press.
Now Detective Gorely sits in the prison waiting to interview a known skinhead who could have some information. But he could be up against a brick wall. Back at the police station Gorely checks in with his supervisors and updates them on the case. Disappointed with his progress, the chief gives Gorely two options, break the case or update the resume.
In London, Allen meets his media connection by the name of Sam Robson. The two men converse and Allen explains that all he wants to do is present his side of the story and challenge all of the detractors.
Meanwhile, Gorely is doing some research by gathering some horror movies from a local video store by talking to the store owner. Trying to get a sense of what he’s up against and possibly some new leads. At a local pub, Allen finds out that the deal that he made with Robson may be not what he wanted.
Okay, sure I thought Video Nasty was going to be about some sort of VHS, demonic, crazy balls-out horror fest. It’s not, well at least not what I thought before reading the series. But with comic books you can never rule anything out.
First off let me get the painted covers by Graham Humphreys, they are awesome as hell! He is well-known for his movie poster work like Return of the Living Dead, Evil Dead 1&2, the first five Nightmare on Elm Street films and so much more. The man is a complete artistic talent. His work adds to that and the basic overall presentation of the book is just cool. Oh and of course it looks like a VHS box and that’s awesome.
As for the narrative, it keeps an interesting and decent pacing with the two leads in Gorely and Allen. The parallel stories involving the two men are well done. With Allen fighting the censorship of horror movies and its portrayal in the media while keeping his own investment out of the fire. Then there’s Detective Gorely dealing with crime that could be possibility influenced by the horror genre thrusting him hopefully deeper in a world that he doesn’t quite understand. Neither guy knocks it out of the park in the likeability department but there still time for the fellas to win you over.
Logios’ art works really well for the narrative. It matches the feel and vibe that’s slowly unfolding. The build to the first murder works very well to grab your attention and pull you into the narrative.
There are a few ways that Video Nasty’s experience can go and that’s a really good thing. Between the art and the story it has just enough to keep you coming back. So get a little nasty yourself and pick this series up.
Score: 3/5
Writer: Mario Covone Artist: Vasilis Logios Publisher: Reaper Comics Price: £3.50 Release Date: Issue #1 is out now issue #2 out 04/16/2014 Facebook Page