Longbox Junk Halloween - Daphne Byrne #1

Welcome to the Longbox Junk 2021 Halloween Horror Party!

It's the last week of October.  There's spirits in the air and not long until Halloween, but there's still time enough for a look at some more of the spooky stuff lurking in the dark corners of my comic book collection! 

This year, I've departed a bit from the bargain bin to spotlight some of the NEW horror to be found in your local comic shop.  Nothing older than 2019.  So far it's been a pretty good haul of Halloween goodies!  I'm really liking this new resurgence of horror comics we're experiencing right now.

So let's keep the party going with a bit of gothic horror, shall we?  

We shall! 

SPOILER ALERT! This series is complete and has even already been collected in a very nice hardcover, but it's still pretty new, so I'll keep spoilers to a minimum.  If you want NO spoilers, just scroll on down to the "Conclusion".  END SPOILER ALERT!

DAPHNE BYRNE #1

DC BLACK LABEL (2020)

CHAPTER ONE - CHOSEN

SCRIPT: Laura Marks

PENCILS: Kelley Jones

INKS: Kelley Jones

COVER: Piotr Jablonski

THE COVER:

I like the drab, sort of grim nature of this cover.  It's detailed enough that it looks almost like a creepy old time photograph.  It certainly advertises the gothic horror this series well, but honestly, there's not much here to grab attention beyond the tiny splash of color in the staring eye of the supernatural being in the background.  Not a bad cover, but I wouldn't call it great either.  Let's get inside!

THE STORY:

In 19th century New York City, Daphne Byrne is fourteen years old and having trouble fitting in with the other girls at school, being of a scientific mind and also dealing with the recent death of her beloved father.  

A supernatural chain of events is set into motion after being invited by her mother to a seance, attempting to contact the spirit of the deceased patriarch of the Byrne family.  During the seance, Daphne uses trick questions to prove that the medium is a fake, upsetting her mother.

Despite the fakery of the medium, Daphne did indeed feel a supernatural presence, which later manifests itself as a horrific nightmare where she is led into a realm of demonic beings by a spirit claiming to be her friend.  When Daphne wakes up, she is certain that it wasn't just a dream!

To be continued. . .

THE REVIEW:

This introduction to this tale of gothic horror and the supernatural is a fantastic start!  It features well-drawn characters slowly being pulled into a world of darkness and it immediately captured my imagination like a good horror story should.   The whole setup is intriguing and leaves me wanting to jump right into the next issue to see what happens next.  

The faded Victorian setting is as much a character as any other, and provides the perfect background for this grim tale. . .the world of an industrial revolution sharing the human stage with a prevalent belief in spiritualism and mystic forces is an inspired choice of setting.

As far as the art goes. . .

In my extremely humble opinion, Kelley Jones is a living legend when it comes to comic horror art.  I haven't seen much of his work lately, so it was a VERY nice surprise to see that he's still out there doing what he does best.  I'm a little iffy on most of Jones' non-horror work (the man CANNOT draw automobiles), but when it comes to a story like this, he was the perfect choice of artist.  His dark and nightmarish art style beautifully compliments the gothic grimness of the narrative.  

CONCLUSION

DC's Black Label serves up another horror hit!  With well-written characters inhabiting a world on the edge of conflict between the industrial revolution and belief in the paranormal, this gaslight gothic tale of the supernatural is a great Halloween read!

Throw in the twisted, nightmarish art of comic horror master Kelley Jones and this is a comic I can heartily recommend to any horror fan!  From page one to page done, this one's a winner!

Up Next. . .

It's probably THE hottest horror title on the shelves right now.  The "value" of the first handful of issues has gone through the roof, so this one ain't exactly what you'd call Longbox Junk.  I'm talking about BOOM! Studios' horror hit "Something is Killing the Children".

Let's take a look at the first issue and see if it lives up to the hype.

Be there or be square!

Longbox Junk Halloween - The Nice House On The Lake

Welcome to Longbox Junk, the place to find all the comic reviews you never asked for!

It's October!  There's a chill in the air that means it's time for some spooky fun here at Longbox Junk! This time of year, I like to take a look at some of the darker comics in my collection as we head toward Halloween.  

Last year, I had a lot of fun spotlighting some of my older Halloweeny (Is that a word? It is now!) comics and threw a big handful of Longbox Junk Halloween Retro Reviews into the candy bucket.  This year, I'm going to do the opposite and check out some new stuff. . .as in nothing older than 2019 stuff.

Rummaging through my collection for some dark and spooky modern comics to review, I realized that sort of out of nowhere, horror comics have been making a comeback. . .and in a big way!  As I look at some of the "Values" of these comics, I have to say that I'm a bit surprised!  A lot of these new horror comics are NOT Longbox Junk at all!  

As a big fan of horror comics in general (just hit the "Halloween" label on the quick link bar to get an idea of what I mean), I couldn't be happier to see them coming back so strong.  Maybe not so happy about jacked-up back issue prices, but if that's what it takes to keep new horror comics coming, who am I to say?

But enough introduction! Let's get this Longbox Junk Halloween party started!

First up is an offering from DC's Black Label.  Looking through the stack of horror comics I've pulled from my collection, I realize that they are pretty heavy on the Black Label imprint, so credit to DC where credit is due for keeping the horror comics alive and kicking.  Don't get me wrong. I've got some stuff from other companies too, but DC is definitely coming on strong with the modern horror.

Ready? Let's take a look!

SPOILER ALERT! The comic at hand is still ongoing (it's on issue #4 as of this writing).  I'll keep spoilers to a minimum, but there will still probably be a few.  If you don't want ANY spoilers, just skip down to the "Conclusion". END SPOILER ALERT!

THE NICE HOUSE ON THE LAKE #1

DC Black Label (2021)

SCRIPT: James Tynion IV

PENCILS: Alvaro Martinez Bueno

INKS: Alvaro Martinez Bueno

COLORS: Jordie Bellaire

COVER: Alvaro Martinez Bueno

THE COVER:

It's dark.  It's moody.  It's creepy!  This is the kind of cover that makes you wonder just what the heck the story is about.  It's simple, but it grabs your attention.  Very nicely done.

THE STORY:

A mysterious man named Walter invites a group of ten friends and acquaintances to a luxurious lake house for a relaxing week.  But after they arrive, they soon discover that things are a little TOO perfect.

When they finally hear news from the outside world, the group is horrified to learn that they have been living comfortably while an apocalyptic disaster is destroying civilization, and that the United States has ceased to exist!

When they demand answers from Walter, he tells group know that he has chosen them to be safe, that they will be living there for the rest of their lives, with all their needs taken care of.

After giving them this startling information one of the group attacks Walter, but he reveals himself as some sort of inhuman being and vanishes, leaving them to wonder what happens next. . .

To be continued.

THE REVIEW:

Allrighty then. . .it's the end of the world as we know it.  This issue was mostly introduction until the shocking events toward the end.  It makes a lot of use of "social media" to tell most of the story, but where something like that would be awkward elsewhere, here it fits very nicely with the young, hip group that the mysterious Walter has chosen to ride out the apocalypse at the titular Nice House On The Lake.

I found the story very well written, the large cast of characters are varied and interesting, and the big twist was a genuine surprise.  I was thinking this was going to be some sort of murder mystery or revenge tale, and we get a full-on apocalypse!  Very well done. 

 Fair warning, though. . .there is literally not a single page in this comic without at least one F-Bomb (I had to edit one to post it for this review).  It matches the young crowd of characters, but if you don't like a lot of cussin' in your funny books, you probably won't like this one much.

The art isn't the best I've seen in a comic, but it fits the ambiguous nature of the story, being nicely detailed in places and very sketchy and unfinished in others.  See the page I scanned below for an example of both in one place.

CONCLUSION

Overall, I found Nice House On The Lake to be a great introduction to a story that seemed like it was going to be one thing and turned out to be completely different.  It has a large cast of diverse and well-drawn characters that are thrown together in an almost unimaginable situation. The writer gives them all pretty realistic voices, but be warned about the large amount of profanity in this dialogue-heavy tale.

 Going forward, the series digs into the characters and the central mystery, doling out little bits in each issue that keeps me wanting to see what happens next.  It's not traditional horror by any means, but horror for today's social media obsessed generation.  The only monster to be found (so far) is the unknown.  

It's a dark, character-driven mystery with a horrific angle, and it has me hooked and waiting for each issue to come out!  Give it a try if you're looking for a horror story that's different and unpredictable.

Up Next. . .

What happens when a mysterious silver coin seems to be the answer to a young musician's dreams?

Well. . .I'm reviewing the comic for the Longbox Junk Halloween Horror party, so you can probably guess it ain't gonna end well.  It's Image's "The Silver Coin".  Let's check it out!

Be there or be square.