If you’re looking for a book that’ll make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, The Darkness: Close Your Eyes is not the book for you.  That said, if you’re a fan of a depressing story with great, gritty storytelling, definitely check this one-shot out. When it comes to life, Adelmo Estacado has been dealt a cruel hand.  His father raped his mother and died after carving his name into her chest with a piece of glass.  Now I’ve never read The Darkness before but I have played the first game, so I’m guessing he died because the Darkness overtook him.  Adelmo’s mother recovered, but is now virtually a vegetable and needs Adelmo to do everything for her.  Adelmo’s mother has met a man named Julian who she fell in love with and now the three live together.  Julian is a crude and abusive man; the first time he talks in the story is when he tells Adelmo to feed his “whore mother.”  Adelmo says the best advice Julian ever said to him was to close your eyes because “it will hurt less.”  Now, Adelmo is about to turn twenty-one but he doesn’t believe he’ll live to see that day.

Adelmo works fourteen hours a day, six days a week in the oil rigs to support himself and his family.  He’s also in love with the daughter of the man who owns the oil rig.  However, Martin Caye knows of Adelmo’s father and is hesitant to let Adelmo marry his daughter Emma even though Adelmo is a respectable young man.  Emma is the one ray of hope in Adelmo’s otherwise dismal and bleak life.  Whether or not he will be able to even live to marry her or even be able to is definitely worth the read to find out.

I liked the art in this issue a lot as well.  There are few colors used other than a muted palette, making the bleak and dreary setting all the more believable when matched with the downright depressing writing.  There are a few bursts of color here and there and when they are used, they really pop-but I don’t want to give away why they appear so I can’t say much more about that.  Overall, I really think this is a great story regardless if you’ve read The Darkness before or not.  Personally, I’m now very interested in going back and checking out the series after reading this one-shot.

Score: 4/5

Writer: Ales Kot Artist: Marek Oleksicki Publisher: Image/Top Cow Price: $3.99 Release Date: 6/4/14 Format: One-Shot, Print/Digital