The October Faction #6 - IDW Publishing

THE OCTOBER FACTION No. 6, April 2015

Whilst most decidedly not the “macabre-action” issue advertised by “IDW Publishing”, at least not once Deloris Allan has disarmed an axe-wielding Robot Face, kicked him out of an upper storey window and finally beaten him unconscious using a nearby tree. Issue Six of “The October Faction” does at least finally provide some explanation as to the mystery surrounding the comic book series’ unusual title, as well as addressing just why Fred and his wife are “both blonds” and their children dark-haired. However the fact it takes creator Steve Niles almost half the length of this twenty-page periodical to provide such answers must surely have frustrated many of this magazine’s readers, especially when such exposition occurs during an infuriatingly dreary dining room discussion.

Unfortunately, this instalment’s laborious, arguably undisciplined, plot development is not particularly surprising considering the horror novelist’s “very strange” admission that whilst penning his scripts he finds “some of the stuff” he has the characters doing ‘surprising even him’. Indeed the new Jersey-born writer has confessed to having no “detailed outlines… [as to] how things turn out” and firmly believes that “part of the fun of this is [his] only having a loose idea of where I’m going to be going.”

So disconcerting an omission regarding the narrative’s attention to detail presumably therefore explains why Dante, having only just tried to kill the retired monster hunter, his wife and Geoff with an enormous double-edged medieval weapon is inexplicably untied, illogically handed a glass of wine and then nonsensically welcomed into “The October Family” during an emotional teary-eyed toast; “That’s the plan? The whole plan? He tried to kill me!”

Damien Worm’s unique artwork also seems to suffer during this lamentably incongruous ‘domestic reunion’. Poignantly passionate when depicting the sinisterly tense confrontation between Robot Face and Frederick, and then dynamically charged whilst illustrating Deloris’ subsequent impressive smack down of the homicidal teenager. The Spaniard’s breakdowns throughout the entirety of the Allan’s red-hued evening meal appear shockingly poor and arguably even lazy, as the same panels focusing upon the cast’s fraught facial expressions are re-used repeatedly; perhaps occasionally with the odd panel showing some discernible movement of the eye.

Writer: Steve Niles, Illustrator: Damien Worm, and Color Assistant: Alyzia Zherno

The October Faction #5 - IDW Publishing

THE OCTOBER FACTION No. 5, March 2015

Having “got like five different storylines started in just the first issue”, Steve Niles dedicates the better part of this title’s fifth instalment to exploring Robot-Face and his misguided revenge upon Frederick for supposedly murdering the youth’s father. In fact “The King of Horror” spends over a third of the twenty-page periodical’s narrative alone simply portraying a fist-fight between Dante and the elderly Monster Killer’s overconfident son Geoff, after the “Warlock” discovers the grotesquely disfigured adolescent ‘stalking his sister’ in the grounds outside the Allan Family house.

Such a concentrated focus upon two supporting cast characters could potentially have proved rather tiresome to the 4,933 collectors who bought “The October Faction” in March 2015, especially as it soon becomes clear that Deloris' smartly-attired offspring is badly outmatched in the strength stakes by his mechanical opponent; “Maybe the ‘killing’ part was a bit much.” But in truth the rain-soaked brawl actually provides the New Jersey-born screenwriter’s storyline with some much-needed action and adventure, after it becomes a little too ‘bogged down’ in Vivian’s sentimentality towards her white-haired Dad, and the depressing revelation from Lucas that unless he “stay[s] a wolf man forever” he’ll die of “aggressive and inoperable” stomach cancer.

Lamentably however, once Robot Face does best Geoff, courtesy of a swift right uppercut to the jaw, the rather sedentary pace with which this edition began frustratingly returns anew and despite the Scream Awards-attendee providing a macabre insight into “the recently deceased” Merle Cope’s resurrection process, the opportunity to depict Dante violently breaking into Frederick’s home, overpowering the capable maid Saunders and menacing his helpless captive with a double-bladed axe is side-lined in favour of a dialogue-heavy depiction of Vivian collecting her parents from the local hospital... Although admittedly, the final page's cliff-hanger showing the startled family discovering their boy helplessly chair bound does prove to be an impressively appropriate climax to the book.

Providing plenty of atmosphere and colour to the proceedings, Damien Worm’s illustrations are arguably not consistently convincing either. The fight scene between Robot Face and Geoff is extremely-well pencilled, with Dante’s glowing red eyes looking especially menacing amidst an almost exclusively blue palette. Whilst Cope’s painful blood transfusion, carried out by his repugnant ‘sister’ Opal, looks suitably grim and objectionable with all it’s washed out amber hues. Yet the scenes depicting Lucas’ conversation that he needs some “basic blood tests” and Deloris’ collection from the infirmary seem rather lifeless and dispassionate…

The variant cover art of "THE OCTOBER FACTION" No. 5 by Damien Worm

The October Faction #4 - IDW Publishing

THE OCTOBER FACTION No. 4, January 2015

Whilst this particular twenty-page periodical still contains plenty of “werewolves, robots and dead men, Oh my!” it does so by having its narrative focus far more upon dialogue-driven exposition than action. In fact, besides having Frederick forcefully “wham” Merle Cope’s head with a shovel when Vivian spots the fiend isn’t quite dead and Robot Face punching out Lucas’ passenger car door when he hears his “Dad worked with the man who stole you and hurt you”, very little of note actually takes place within this “ongoing comic for some time.”

Fortunately for its 6,044 strong audience however, Steve Niles’ storyline still manages to retain its enthrallingly macabre atmosphere through the use of plenty of black humour, such as the Allan children’s wide-eyed horror at the realisation that they must secretly bury a corpse in the middle of the night, and another pistol-pulverising flashback to the elderly Monster Hunter’s yesteryear when he killed Dante’s maniacal father. “The master of comic book horror” even manages to throw in a disconcertingly grisly cliff-hanger by having Cope claw his way to the surface and walk amongst the woodland (with his rotund sister) as one of the living dead; “Well, come the hell on. I ain’t got all stinkin’ night!”

Issue Four of “The October Faction” is additionally noteworthy for co-creator Damien Worm’s colourful breakdowns. Described as having “the surreal style of Ben Templesmith” the Spanish painter’s decision to shade the bloody scenes set within Frederick’s home with a wonderfully warm palette of deeply rich reds, really helps emphasise the fact that a brutal murder has taken place there, as well as the fact that Vivian and Geoff’s hearts are clearly pounding having witnessed the head of their household callously, and without warning, shoot a visitor dead right in front of their adolescent eyes.

The artist is similarly as effective when depicting Lucas’ seemingly genuine attempt to befriend Robot Face after the pair’s previous altercation. Indeed, despite the older man desperately trying to show the mechanically-disfigured “kid” some kindness by feeding him cheeseburgers after he discovers the teenager hasn’t “eaten in years”, the coldl blue hues chosen for the scene set within the lycanthrope’s automobile really helps exaggerate the aura of isolation surrounding Dante. Little wonder Niles enjoys working with Worm when he “can just let the pictures tell the story.”

The variant cover art of "THE OCTOBER FACTION" No. 4 by Damien Worm

The October Faction #3 - IDW Publishing

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.

Writer: Steve Niles, Illustrator: Damien Worm, and Letterer: Shawn Lee

The October Faction #2 - IDW Publishing

THE OCTOBER FACTION No. 2, November 2014

It seems highly unlikely that Eric Powell, creator of "The Goon", had this particular edition in mind when he boldly stated that “if you’re looking for mystery and atmosphere of a dark nature, [then] The October Faction is the comic to add to your reading list!” For whilst Steve Niles’ twenty-page long narrative concerning “the Allans of Gristlewood, USA” starts well enough with a Seventies flashback of Frederick and Lucas (the Lycanthrope) confronting a genuinely scary-looking axe-wielding maniac. The Horror novelist’s writing soon becomes rather bogged down amidst some of the more mundane elements of modern-day family life, such as the “retired monster-hunter” having to endure a tediously long-winded argument with his two adolescent children over supper; “You can at least hear him out, Dad. Some parents would be touched their kids want to follow in their footsteps.”

Admittedly this rather tiresome dialogue-heavy sequence is initiated as a result of the white-haired Patriarch being rather dramatically half-throttled to death by an apparition Geoff has kept trapped in an upstairs wardrobe. Yet even this sinisterly surreal scene is seemingly played for laughs as opposed to creating any aura of fear with its “ectoplasmic residue.” Indeed, Frederick’s urgent pleas to “get it off me!” as the ghost wrestles him to the ground, followed by a heavily sarcastic “don’t wait for her to take it! Shove it in her face” when his daughter impotently stands by holding a hand-mirror, are incredibly amusing… And a far cry from the “downright creepy” experience many of this title’s 7,174 readers were probably expecting.

Eventually, towards the end the comic, Niles does rather laboriously try to bring back this publication's promised pervading sense of mystery. But disappointingly, would should presumably have been a nervy, frightening revelation that the estranged Mrs Allan has been inexplicably attacked and hospitalised, instead simply becomes an overly long bed scene where Deloris’ “stressed” husband once again starts momentarily bickering with his offspring about his past, whilst simultaneously threatening the local Sheriff Chambers.

Damien Worm’s ordinarily “gorgeous” artwork also infuriatingly takes a seemingly sudden turn for the worse during Issue Two of “The October Faction”. Initially “lavishly crafted” and full of “dark… seductive tones”, the Spanish painter’s uniquely angular line work appears half-finished and almost amateurish in style by the time Frederick takes his brood “down for dinner.” In fact, by the end of the comic a good deal of the breakdowns depicting its lead character are so poorly rendered that they’re arguably unrecognisable as belonging to the “Monster & Madman” mini-series illustrator.

The variant cover art of "THE OCTOBER FACTION" No. 2 by Damien Worm

The October Faction #1 - IDW Publishing

THE OCTOBER FACTION No. 1, November 2014

Created by “30 Days Of Night” writer Steve Niles and “Monster And Madman” artist Damien Worm, this inaugural issue of “IDW Publishing’s ongoing horror series” must surely have intrigued the vast majority of its 9,181 readers upon its release in October 2014, as its sinisterly chilling plot concerning “a former monster hunter named Fred Allan who wants to keep his family from falling apart and stop his kids from following the same path he did” is wonderfully intriguing, and promises plenty of vampire-slaying and werewolf-killing in future editions. Indeed the horror novelist’s narrative, which initially focuses upon young Geoff informing “knuckle-dragging” High School bully Phillip that the Jock’s three dead friends will haunt him until he’s more pleasant, is enthrallingly disturbing right from the start, especially when the artwork depicts the grisly remains of Mark, Jonah and Rick clawing at a whitening “Phil”; “The dead do not like liars… Rick wasn’t driving. You were. You were drunk. You killed all your friends, and they are very upset with you.”

Even more enticing however has to be “freak-job” Frederick’s meeting after “almost forty years since we worked together” with ex-partner Lucas, even if the long-time friends’ conversation in itself isn’t all that riveting. What is though is the incredible flashback scene concerning the Harlow Family investigation that their reunion entails. For whilst the white-haired teacher discusses his investments, failing marriage and the fact his children “aren’t kids anymore”, the New Jersey-born writer takes the opportunity to depict the death-dealing duo in their prime blasting away fanged fiends with pistols when they’ve left the holy water in the car, tackling a horde of furry beasts on a dilapidated porch and dodging huge swinging scythe-shaped pendulums in the home of a homicidal maniac.

Far less action-packed, yet equally as unnerving, is Niles’ depiction of the precognitive Miss Vivian and her brother's successful ‘secret project’ to both summon an apparition using a magic circle and then contain it inside the closet. Just why the siblings wish to impress their father by snagging a “pretty upset” spirit “wandering around the house” is not entirely clear. But then again neither is Deloris’ visit to an isolated storage bay and her secretive unboxing of the seemingly long-dead Robot Face…

Arguably this twenty-page periodical’s most unsettling strength though is Damien Worm’s horrendously hair-raising “under-drawing”; a style that makes “The October Faction” look ‘like a horror comic as opposed to a superhero book’ with its venomous vampires, grisly head-shots and freakish phantoms. In fact the technique is so “perfect for horror” that at times the panels actually appear photorealistic and many fans of the Spanish painter must have been heartened by this title’s American author promising, during a pre-publication interview, that he was “going to keep that guy busy for a long time.”

The regular cover art of "THE OCTOBER FACTION" No. 1 by Damien Worm