Plunge #5
Written by: Joe Hill
Art by: Stuart Immonen, Dan McDaid
The crew of the Derleth have been generous hosts. They’ve given Moriah, Bill, Gage, and the rest of the MacReady’s crew several incredible gifts. They’ve solved problems humanity has grappled with for ages, shown us ways to power the entire world for generations. And they’re offering even more. All they want is one teensy-weensy little favor in return from the MacReady’s crew: open the hatch.
Locke & Key #1 Facsimile Edition
(W) Joe Hill (A/CA) Gabriel Rodriguez
In Shops: Jun 24, 2020
SRP: $3.99
Relive the first issue of this masterpiece of modern graphic fiction in this facsimile of the ultra-rare first printing of issue #1! Perfect for long-time fans and brand-new converts!
That was not what we were expecting. Plunge #4 delivers a lot of reveals and some teases as to what might be coming in this fantastic, and creepy, horror series. Is it a horror series? More sci-fi/horror series as revealed in this issue. Written by Joe Hill, Plunge takes place on a remote island with a salvage crew exploring what happened to a wrecked boat and its missing crew. That crew is alive decades later and full of secrets of the universe.
Plunge #4 is the big reveal issue giving us such a better idea as to what’s going on and what the mysterious worms are. It’s an issue that will make some reader’s stomachs churn with images that make you uneasy but at the same time it’s hard to look away. For me, it’s the right amount of disturbing.
It’s difficult to really review this issue without spoiling it. So, to keep it broad the reveals are really interesting and ominous. You know there’s more to it but not quite sure what that is. You also know that whatever the worms want, it’s probably not good.
And while Hill delivers all of that, he also delivers some fantastic dialogue. The issue has some shocking moments and those are enhanced by the lack of real action but it’s the dialogue that stands out. The reactions feel right in a movie sort of way. There are some smart-ass quips but generally, they’re perfect for the moment. The flow is fantastic making the issue a page-turner. That dialogue extends to the characters who do play stereotypes but each role enhances the overall story and enjoyment. None of those stereotypes are distracting at all and help drive the narrative.
The art by Stuart Immonen is fantastic. Along with colors by Dave Stewart and lettering by Deron Bennett, the art brings the perfect amount of unease. Some bugs get to me and issue delivers just enough of that for me without getting me to completely put the comic down. It shuddered a bit and my stomach churned a little but the visuals are never over the top. Stewart’s colors help with that delivering a sickly palette to Immonen’s designs. The comic feels cold and wet perfectly matching its setting.
Plunge #4 is another fantastic issue and the series as a whole is amazing. If you’re a fan of horror with a slight sci-fi tinge, it’s well worth picking up and getting. This is a comic that’s exciting to pick up and see where it’s going and what twists it has in store.
Story: Joe Hill Art: Stuart Immonen
Color: David Stewart Letterer: Deron Bennett
Story: 8.25 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.25 Recommendation: Buy
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: comiXology – Kindle – TFAW – Zeus Comics
Plunge #4 (of 6)
(W) Joe Hill (A) Stuart Immonen (CA) Jeremy Wilson
In Shops: Jun 24, 2020
SRP: $3.99
Moriah, Bill, Russell, and the rest of the MacReady’s crew get an unexpectedly intimate tour inside the minds of their eyeless new friends. Meanwhile, Lacome does the math and comes to an alarming conclusion.
Dying is Easy #5 (of 5)
(W) Joe Hill (A/CA) Martin Simmonds
In Shops: Jun 17, 2020
SRP: $4.99
From the powerhouse team of Joe Hill (Locke & Key) and Martin Simmonds (Punks Not Dead) comes the final chapter in the inaugural Syd “Sh*t-Talk” Homes mystery!
After a final confrontation with the killer of joke thief Carl Dixon, Syd Homes can finally take off his shoes and relax as an innocent man. But if dying is easy, then detective work is hard-and there are a few more twists to go before this case can be solved…
Basketful of Heads deserves to be mentioned along the same lines as Meir Zarchi’s I Spit On Your Grave and Park Chan-wook’s Lady Vengeance, movies that flip the idea of revenge on its head. These films create characters that match male violence with a unique female resolve to return it in kind, and then some. Joe Hill and Leomacs’ story about a girl with a magical axe and the means to use it on corrupt and evil men does precisely that while also adding a thing or two to make the violence on display say more than it’s usually allowed to.
This seven-issue series, largely inspired by the aforementioned films plus a healthy dose of EC Horror comics, sets its aims on a cast of evil men that try to keep lead character June Branch from rescuing her boyfriend—a police officer named Liam that threatened to expose the corruption behind Brody Island’s own police force.
Issue #7 brings things to an already expected final showdown with the biggest and baddest cop of the bunch, but it does so with an unexpected twist. I won’t spoil it here, but Hill and Leomacs wade through lesser known waters to look at different kinds of evil and just how well they work in tandem even when they’re not directly related. Just how severely the men who succumb to these evils should be punished is a question that is answered as clear as an axe to the neck. It makes you think on what’s tolerable and what shouldn’t be.
That the final confrontation has echoes of Cape Fear in it and how it plays out also adds to the overarching sense of discovering new roads towards retribution that deal with the bad things we’ve yet tired of facing.
As has been the case throughout the entire run, Leomac’s art and Dave Stewart’s colors continue to bring out every ounce of 70s horror the story taps into to the forefront without letting those same elements overpower the narrative. There’s a sense of impending blood-letting that is carried by the colors that crescendos to the point of complete synchronicity with the unraveling of the story.
Letterer Deron Bennett continues to take advantage of every opportunity to give the SFX and the text a life of its own. Bennett does an amazing job of giving everything a very rhythmic and animated quality, with sounds bleeding into the background and speech bubbles threatening to burst with the violence behind some of its lines. Basketful of Heads had a team that understood the story and what it needed to shine.
If the first six issues didn’t make it clear enough, Hill’s script set out to make the story’s message crystal clear in its conclusion: bad men make the world a horrible place, and they’re good at it. The talking heads of evil men hound June almost constantly and each new male character that emerges into the story is always just shy of having a sign over his head reading “bad man about to get chopped.”
Much like the EC Horror comics of old, the message is spelled out without an ounce of subtlety in the process. While it’s an interesting message to keep exploring (being that it’s timeless, unfortunately), I did feel it tried way too hard to make sure everyone got it. It’s classically moralist—a true ‘good vs. evil’ story that’s comforting to have around when grey areas get too muddy—but by the final pages I was getting a bit impatient with it as I had got it from the first issue onward.
Fortunately, this doesn’t interfere with the enjoyment of Basketful of Heads. The final moments do a great job of bringing everything full circle and the twists and turns in this final issue do bring new things to the table in terms of who also deserves the axe but doesn’t always get it. It’s worthy of discussion and it invites a controversial opinion or two. I guess that’s the thing about stories with axes. No matter the cut, they always leave a bloody mess behind.
Story: Joe Hill Art: Leomacs
Color: Dave Stewart Letterer: Deron Bennett
Story: 9.0 Art: 10 Overall: Buy and read it to your axe
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: comiXology – Kindle – TFAW – Zeus Comics
Basketful of Heads #7 (of 7)
(W) Joe Hill (A) Leomacs (CA) Reiko Murakami
In Shops: May 27, 2020
SRP: $3.99
It’s time for a final swing of the axe. In the darkest, coldest hours of the night, June Branch finds herself up against the deadeyed killer who abducted her lover…and comes face to face with some truths even more horrifying than a basketful of heads.
Creepy, weird, WTF, that’s all that can describe Plunge #3, the horror comic by writer Joe Hill. The revelations in the issue are both plentiful and scant as the comic builds mystery upon mystery like a puzzle being formed.
The story follows a salvage crew sent on what’s clearly a shady recovery mission by a corporation. It’s very ALIENS in that way. Where they believed that the crew had perished, we learn here that’s not the case after being teased the last issue. What happened in those 40 years? I couldn’t tell you as Hill delivers a comic that feels like rambling after rambling and that’s kind of the point.
What Hill has done is put the reader in the position of the salvage crew. We’re not a casual observer but an active participant learning as they learn. There’s little more that we know and instead and treated to their reaction because it’s our reaction. The issue will leave you scratching your head, maybe less so if you’re really into mathematics. If not, there’s Wikipedia.
The art by Stuart Immonen with color by Dave Stewart is fantastic. It really nails the unease of the issue. While not quite in the “scare” camp, the design and color choice definitely has a sickly feel about it. That look enhances the atmosphere for the reader building upon the riddles and questions that Hill has laid out. It also made me feel a little ill at times with its general septic look. Deron Bennett‘s lettering stands out as those discovered have a very specific speech pattern and lettering to enhance their condition.
Plunge #3 is the issue that took what I thought was a pretty straightforward horror story and instead through an equation into the mix that left me scratching my head. As a single issue it’s maddening. It leaves you with so many questions. As part of the whole, I’m sure it’ll be excellent. It’s definitely not an issue to start with and not one you can read on its own. By this point of the story, you’d expect some questions and mysteries would be answered by Hill has taken the formula and mixed it all up.
Story: Joe Hill Art: Stuart Immonen
Color: Dave Stewart Letterer: Deron Bennett
Story: 8.0 Art: 8.75 Overall: 8.15 Recommendation: Buy
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Plunge #3 (of 6)
(W) Joe Hill (A) Stuart Immonen (CA) Jeremy Wilson
In Shops: May 20, 2020
SRP: $3.99
The long-lost crew of the Derleth emerges from the wind-scoured stones and twisted pines of the Sinnikik atoll, looking not a day older than when they disappeared 40 years before. They come bearing impossible, dizzying gifts for their rescuers. But at what price?
IDW Publishing teams up with Humble Bundle to launch Joe Hill’s Locke & Key & More by IDW Humble Comics Bundle, beginning today!
With this “Pay What You Want” promotion, readers pick their own price for a captivating selection of Joe Hill’s finest comics work, including Locke & Key, Dying is Easy, The Cape, Tales from the Darkside, and more, while also supporting two important charity organizations with a portion of their contributions: Book Industry Charitable Foundation and DonorsChoose!
The retail value of the comics in this bundle is as much as $177. However, the value of the Humble Comics Bundle format is that readers can make a minimum $1.00 purchase to attain a basic tier, then increase their contribution to attain upgrades to their bundle.
The $1 Tier includes:
The $8 Tier includes:
The $15 Tier includes:
Joe Hill’s Locke & Key & More by IDW Humble Comics Bundle runs for three weeks from May 13 through June 2.
