I’m generally not a horror fan. It’s a genre I tried to enjoy when younger but it usually just kept me up at night lacking actual fun. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to appreciate it slightly more and some franchises I’ve come to love. Scream and Blair Witch are two franchises I can sit back and enjoy and I’ve expanded my horror reading as well with works by Junji Ito and more. So, I was intrigued to jump into Harrower #1, a new horror series from writer Justin Jordan and artist Brahm Revel. I’ve enjoyed other comics from the two and the idea of a new horror mythos from them was something I couldn’t pass up reading. And, I’m happy to say, Harrower #1 kicks off a new horror story I hope will turn into a franchise like what I’ve previously mentioned.
Taking place in a small New York town, Harrower #1 feels like what I like about recent horror franchises. It delivers mystery, some sin of the past coming back to haunt, a myth that spans generations, and scares and kills that aren’t over the top lingering on a gross out factor. It also slashes the quaint idyllic world so many long for but doesn’t exist waking us to a greyer and dirtier reality.
It’s Halloween, as so many horror stories are, and the myth of the Harrower lingers not just with the kids of the town but also its parents. Is this some story to unite everyone and scare them straight? It’s clear from the start, there’s more to the story hinting at a much deeper cult-like undercurrent that the adults know about and kids are blissfully unaware.
Jordan’s story and Revel’s art delivers a quaint town, much like that of Scream, where everyone is generally well to do and things are peaceful and in order. What’s to come will rock all of that causing everyone to be on their toes and readers to guess who won’t survive and what secrets will be revealed. It takes what I think works so well and packages it into a story that has aspects that are familiar but still very new.
Level’s art with lettering by Pat Brosseau hammers home that feeling that something isn’t right. While everything “looks normal,” there’s still an ominous feel to it all. The visuals deliver a haunting shadow of everything and like great horror franchises in the past your paranoia kicks in analyzing panels and characters to figure out who might be the killer.
Even with all of that, Harrower #1 delivers a killer ending that’ll leave fans of the genre, and readers as a whole, wanting to read the next issue immediately. It’s a fantastic wtf moment that opens so much as to where the series will go and what scares and kills are coming. The makings of a bloody good story.
Story: Justin Jordan Art: Brahm Revel Letterer: Pat Brosseau
Story: 8.5 Art: 8.5 Overall: 8.5 Recommendation: Buy
BOOM! Studios provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: Zeus Comics – comiXology/Kindle
