THE OCTOBER FACTION No. 3, December 2014 |
Despite the fact Steve Niles’ narrative for “Issue Three
of “The October Faction” initially starts off slowly by focusing upon Geoff
taking his first hesitant steps towards developing a friendship with Phil the
Jock, this twenty-page periodical’s storyline soon starts to produce plenty of
sinister shenanigans and spine-chilling skirmishes. Indeed even a scene as sentimentally
sedentary as Frederick’s bedside vigil for his badly battered wife somehow
manages to become something of a grisly gore-fest as the elderly monster-hunter’s
‘rose-tinted’ recollection of their “great first date” gruesomely features a
few gratuitously graphic panels of the couple brazenly blowing the brains out
of some flesh-eating zombies. “Brakka! Brakka! Brakka!”
Such a pervading sense of the macabre within this title’s
writing has already seen the New Jersey-born novelist being hailed as “the King
of Horror in our comic book world” by the likes of “Kick-Ass” co-creator Mark
Millar, and the American author seemingly lives up to such a prestigious
accolade once Miss Vivian rather foolishly decides to “walk home” alone during
an eerily forlorn night and is consequently stalked by the sinister-looking Robot
Face. It’s certainly hard to believe that the hearts of many of this
publication’s 6,445 strong audience didn’t start beating faster when the Frankenstein-like
automaton confronted the isolated Gothic adolescent and menacingly mouths “Your
father… Killed my father.”
Fortunately Niles seems just as adept at penning action
as he is creating an aura of foreboding mystery, and the subsequent fist-fight
between the red-eyed, hoody-wearing Dante and the Lycanthrope
Lucas is as engrossing as the brawl’s numerous punches look powerfully painful…
Although even this wonderfully ‘over-the-top’ contest between two supernatural ‘heavyweights’
surprisingly pales in comparison to the utter shock experienced when Frederick
encounters Merle Cope in the Allan Household living room and casually shoots
him dead for having beaten up Deloris.
Ultimately however the success of this “perfect book to start the Fall” arguably rests upon the shoulders of Damien Worm and his “healthy serving of muddy hues, expressive inking and horrifying ghouls.” The hauntingly blue visuals created by the digital artist during Vivian’s ill-advised night-time jaunt through the local park induce a genuine atmosphere of claustrophobia. Whilst his decision to use grey tones for Frederick’s fearsome flashback immediately draws the eye to the illustrations’ crimson balloons, zombie clown nose and scarlet splattered brains.
Ultimately however the success of this “perfect book to start the Fall” arguably rests upon the shoulders of Damien Worm and his “healthy serving of muddy hues, expressive inking and horrifying ghouls.” The hauntingly blue visuals created by the digital artist during Vivian’s ill-advised night-time jaunt through the local park induce a genuine atmosphere of claustrophobia. Whilst his decision to use grey tones for Frederick’s fearsome flashback immediately draws the eye to the illustrations’ crimson balloons, zombie clown nose and scarlet splattered brains.
So, obviously a big improvement over issue #2. Good. What did worry me the most about your review was the very low number of buyers. 6,445 is very low, in my opinion. But I guess other comics with even lower figures still carry on so maybe I'm being too pessimistic.
ReplyDeleteHi Bryan. Very much an improvement and #4 continues this trend fortunately too. I wouldn't be too worried about such a seemingly low audience for an "IDW Publishing" title, as the most they tend to generate is around the 18k range; and that's currently for their "Back To The Future" tie-in title. If it were a "DC Comics" or "Marvel Worldwide" title then you're quite right it'd be gone... as has sadly just happened to "Howling Commandos Of S.H.I.E.L.D."; despite a 12k audience.
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