Never By Night: Disturbing Passages Into The Unknown - SnowyWorks [Part Four]

NEVER BY NIGHT: DISTURBING PASSAGES INTO THE UNKNOWN, October 2024

Rather neatly rounding off this anthology title’s “brand-new collection of horror stories”, Jonathan Chance’s “This One’s A Winner!” originally seems set to focus upon the trials and tribulations of weak-willed ex-smoker Don Patterson. However, that particular notion is soon dispelled once the man’s fairly run-of-the-mill family arrive in Las Vegas, and he mysteriously disappears during the dead of night whilst the others are fast asleep; “I’m so sorry to say he isn’t there either. Can we call the Police for you..?”

What then follows is the wife’s intriguing search to find her husband, and discover just what trouble he has gotten himself into. This investigation is as enthralling as its end is gratuitously gruesome, and soon reveals the magnificent metropolis to be a much more corrupt and sinister place than its mesmerizingly bright lights initially suggest. Indeed, the notion that the evil mastermind behind Don’s departure even owns the very hotel in which the story’s central protagonist dwells is enough to cast a shadow of doubt as to the sincerity of every character the woman encounters – in particular the occasionally unhelpful attendant on reception.

Perhaps this tragic tale’s biggest draw though lies inside the impressively large, freshly-built casino known as The Odyssey. Up until this point in the yarn, there is always the distinct possibility that poor Don might actually still be alive. But once his wife and children begin innocently playing some of the gambling machines, that likelihood is quickly put to bed in a genuinely terrifying way. Indeed, the notion that it is Patterson’s entirely innocent kids who begin finding their father’s numerous body parts is super-shocking, and leads straight into a wonderfully chilling one-liner by the heartless murderer behind the mutilated man’s demise.

Definitely imbuing these pulse-pounding proceedings with a distinctly clean-cut look is the pencilling of Fernando Damasio. Admittedly, some of this story’s later panels might strike the odd reader as being a little less physically animated than perhaps the emotionally-charged script requires. But the artist’s straight-lined style certainly makes it clear just what is happening, and perhaps most importantly, what bits of Don are unceremoniously discharged from out of the arcade apparatuses whenever his family hit the jackpot.

Written by: Jonathan Chance, Illustrated by: Fernando Damasio and Colored by: Roman Stevens