The Watcher #1 - Zenescope Entertainment

THE WATCHER No. 1, August 2019

Described by “Zenescope Entertainment” as “Disturbia meets The Conjuring” in its pre-publication release, this supposed “horror thriller” comic penned by Victoria Rau (from a story by Ralph Tedesco) arguably contains far more snores than scares with a narrative that predominantly focuses upon the educational life of Erica as opposed to anything particularly petrifying. Sure, the reader is permitted a fleeting glance into the teenager’s “ongoing bouts with sleep paralysis”, and a grotesque splash-page nightmare scene of a demonic fiend pinning the comic’s young protagonist to her bed. But such insights into her haunting by an evil entity are frustratingly few, and instead this book’s biggest shock is just how much time is spent watching adolescents brazenly talk about boys, girls and sex.

Similarly as snooze-inducing is the “Peek-a-Boo” writer’s insistence on presenting several sedentary sequences featuring the suburban home-life of this tale’s Catholic Deacon and his family. A brief comprehension as to the domestic bliss (or otherwise) of the lead character is debatably a staple ingredient of any successful fright-fest. However, on this occasion these politely-spoken, dialogue-driven disclosures deliver little to advance the plot, and simply slow down an already pedestrian paced thirty-page periodical; especially when amidst the dining room discussions Rau subjects us to a bizarre interlude where the ordained minister spurns his wife’s bedroom advances due to it being “the Feast of Saint Leo after all.” 

Mercifully for those bibliophiles anticipating at least a smidgeon of the Pennsylvania-based publisher’s trademark gore though, a double-helping of gratuitous death does strike towards the very end of this comic, as “two of Erica’s high school friends are brutally murdered”. Yet despite its over-the-top theatrics, and a palpable sense of terror in Stacy Green’s final moments, it is rather hard not to shake the impression that the blood-drenched cliff-hanger has been bolted onto this mini-series’ opening instalment simply to inject it with some otherwise entirely-absent superfluous slaughter.

This particular ‘not for the squeamish’ segment also provides artist Julius Abrera with an excellent opportunity to draw something more dynamic than girls simply wandering around in college uniforms or lounging about a bedroom together eating popcorn and drinking hot chocolate. Eye-wateringly violent and prodigiously pencilled, the suddenness of poor Derek’s demise is only bested in the ‘gruesome stakes category’ by the bodily mutilation which follows…

Story: Ralph Tedesco, Writer: Victoria Rau, and Artwork: Julius Abrera