Refrigerator Full of Heads #6 (of 6)
(W) Rio Youers (A) Tom Fowler
In Shops: Apr 19, 2022
SRP: $3.99
It all ends here, as Arlene declares war on Erika’s biker gang-heads won’t just roll, they’ll jump, fly, talk, shout…sing?…as the full power of the Axe of Yggdrasil is unleashed across bloody Brody Island-as well as the full bite pressure of a certain great white shark head…
Refrigerator Full of Heads #5
Written by: Rio Youers
Art by: Tom Fowler
Arlene is stranded without her partner and June Branch is trapped behind enemy lines, a prisoner of the bloodthirsty biker gang that’s been turning Brody Island upside down hunting for magical Viking artifacts. But now that Arlene knows the Axe of Yggdrasil isn’t the only weapon available, it just might spur her to get creative…
Refrigerator Full of Heads #4
Written by: Rio Youers
Art by: Tom Fowler
Now that Cal and Arlene’s secret is out to the bloodthirsty biker gang scouring Brody Island for the magical axe in their possession, the heads are truly rolling…and if they plan to get out alive, they’re going to need an ally-someone who knows exactly what that axe can do! Someone like, for example, June Branch? Unfortunately, June is a little…tied up at the moment…
Refrigerator Full of Heads #3
Written by: Rio Youers
Art by: Tom Fowler
The truth behind the identities of seemingly squeaky-clean Brody Island vacationers Cal and Arlene is revealed…just in time for the bloodthirsty biker gang that’s taken control of Brody to learn what that axe they’ve been hunting for can really do! If the gang wants to achieve their goals, they’re gonna have to put their heads together-which isn’t so easy when their bodies are on the other side of the island…
Refrigerator Full of Heads #2
Written by: Rio Youers
Art by: Tom Fowler
It took Cal and Arlene one day on Brody Island to piss off a homicidal biker gang-and to find the magical axe so memorably wielded by June Branch one year ago. But what else have Cal and Arlene come to Brody to do? And now that you mention it…where is June Branch?
Wednesdays (and now Tuesdays) are new comic book day! Each week hundreds of comics are released, and that can be pretty daunting to go over and choose what to buy. That’s where we come in
Each week our contributors choose what they can’t wait to read this week or just sounds interesting. In other words, this is what we’re looking forward to and think you should be taking a look at!
Find out what folks think below, and what comics you should be looking out for this week.
Ant #1 (Image Comics) – A new ongoing from Erik Larsen? We’re definitely intrigued to see where he takes this classic character.
Batman #115 (DC Comics) – “Fear State” has been a solid event so far and this issue gives us a better idea of Scarecrow’s plan.
Batman Secret Files: Peacekeeper #1 (DC Comics) – Want to learn more about Peacekeeper-01? This is the issue to do so.
Catwoman: Lonely City #1 (DC Comics) – It’s been ten years since Batman and his allies died and Catwoman is just getting out of jail for the crime. It’s a very different Gotham than what she remembers.
Critical Role: Tales of Exandria #1 (Dark Horse Comics) – The popular roleplaying game group gets an all-new comic series diving deeper into the world they’ve created!
Death of Doctor Strange #2 (Marvel) – The first issue was interesting and a lot of setup for what’s to come. Here’s hoping it begins to pay off in the concept.
Destroy All Monsters: A Reckless Book (Image Comics) – This series of graphic novels have been fantastic so far and we’re excited to see the next chapter. If you’re a fan of crime/noir, check this out.
Dungeons & Dragons: Mindbreaker #1 (IDW Publishing) – IDW’s D&D comics are always entertaining for fans of the game and fantasy.
Eat the Rich #3 (BOOM! Studios) – A solid horror series taking on the wealthy.
The Essential Guide to Comic Book Lettering (Image Comics) – We’ll admit we could use a good dive into learning about comic book lettering and this seems like the perfect way to do that!
EXO: Legend of Wale Williams Vol. 1 (Dark Horse Comics) – If you’ve never gotten a chance to check out this indie comic series, now’s your chance. This is also a chance to check out the amazing African comic world, YouNeek YouNiverse!
Gunslinger Spawn #1 (Image Comics) – Todd McFarlane continues to expand his Spawn universe with this brand new series. What’s been released has been interesting so far and we want to see how each of these series are unique and also tie together for a shared world.
Hellcop #1 (Image Comics) – The Pan-Dimensional Security Cops, aka Hellcops, must deal with Known Reality Plane 1301-A, a literal hell.
Maw #2 (BOOM! Studios) – A solid horror series for the spooky season.
Nita Hawes’ Nightmare Blog #1 (Image Comics) – A new tie-in series to the praised series Killadelphia. Untold evil lurks the streets of Baltimore.
Not All Robots #3 (AWA Studios) – Robots have replaced humans in the workforce. A human family’s robot spends its time in the garage working on machines the family is pretty sure is designed to kill them. Great satire from Mark Russell and Mike Deodato Jr.
Nubia & The Amazons #1 (DC Comics) – There’s new leadership for the Amazons! Check out the new status-quo that has Nubia in charge!
Phoenix Song: Echo #1 (Marvel) – At the end of the latest Avengers storyline featuring the Phoenix, the cosmic force chose Echo as a new host. What’s next? We’ll find out starting here!
Refrigerator Full of Heads #1 (DC Comics/Hill House Comics) – Hill House Comics are back with this sequel to Basketful of Heads.
X-Men: Trial of Magneto #3 (Marvel) – The series has been an interesting one full of emotion and some solid action moments. There’s obviously a lot going on with someone pulling the strings and we want to see how this all wraps up.
Refrigerator Full of Heads #1
Written by: Rio Youers
Art by: Tom Fowler
Hill House Comics is back and heads are going to roll for making readers wait! The new wave of titles begins with a rancid return trip to bloody Brody Island. For a year now, the mysterious axe that unleashed pandemonium during the hurricane of ’83 has waited at the bottom of the bay but nothing that powerful stays buried. Brody Island has new visitors, and a new sheriff in town, too-not to mention a dangerous great white shark spotted in its waters-and when vacationing couple Calvin Beringer and Arlene Fields find themselves on the wrong side of Brody’s unsavory elements, their beachcombing will turn up something a lot sharper than sea glass… Crime novelist Rio Youers joins forces with artist Tom Fowler to unleash a gonzo grindhouse expansion on the lore of the original Basketful of Heads!
DC’s Hill House is the comic imprint launched by Joe Hill. Its horror theme kept the line focused on its initial launches. A new series, Refrigerator Full of Heads has been announced from writer Rio Youers and artist Tom Fowler. It’s the first in a new wave of Hill House titles from DC and continues the world of Basketful of Heads one of the initial launch titles.
Refrigerator Full of Heads launches on October 19th and will bring readers back to bloody Brody Island. At the bottom of the bay, the mysterious axe that unleashed violent pandemonium during the hurricane of ’83 has been waiting… but nothing that powerful stays buried.
With a new sheriff, new visitors, and a dangerous Great White Shark spotted off the coast, the pieces are all in place for terror to rise again when vacationing couple Calvin Beringer and Arlene Fields stumble onto the wrong side of Brody’s unsavory elements.
Refrigerator Full of Heads is an off-the-wall delight, with moments that could only happen in the panels of a Hill House comic. Readers will not want to miss where this story goes! Issue one of six will be available in comic book shops on October 19 featuring a cover by Sam Wolfe Connelly and a variant cover by Reiko Murakami.
With The Conjuring having its feet firmly planted in its own universe, it’s only natural comics got the opportunity to flesh out the franchise’s particular brand of terror. DC Comics has answered the call to do so with the launch of a new imprint called ‘DC Horror,’ which will premiere with a prequel comic to the latest entry in The Conjuring franchise subtitled The Devil Made Me Do It.
The series, titled The Conjuring: The Lover, will run for five issues and will set up the events that lead into The Devil Made Me Do It. It’s co-written by the film’s screenwriter David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick and author Rex Ogle (Death of Wolverine: Life After Logan), with art by Garry Brown (Babyteeth) and colors by Chris Sotomayor.
The story follows Jessica, a college freshman, returning to campus after winter break, that’s dealing with the anxieties of mounting schoolwork and grades, a sexual encounter with a guy she’s now regretting, and the odd feeling she’s being watched by something.
The idea shares some elements with that of The Exorcism of Emily Rose movie, in which the titular character starts manifesting “possession” symptoms while in college, throwing every single aspect of her life into disarray. In a sense, it’s fitting that the story echoes that of the aforementioned movie given its basis on real events, something it shares with The Devil Made Me Do It.
The third entry in The Conjuring series is based on the first legal case in American history to have a defendant claim innocence due to demonic possession at the time of the crime. The Exorcism of Emily Rose, on the other hand, is also based on the true story of Annaliese Michel, who underwent 67 exorcism rites in a year, which eventually led to her death. The cause of death was attributed to malnutrition. Her parents and the priest that conducted the exorcism were convicted of negligent homicide in the case.
How much of this case actually inspired (or not) The Conjuring: The Lover remains to be seen, but the premise promises a story worthy of the name that graces its cover. Additionally, The Lover will feature short back-up stories written by some of horror comics most popular creators, including Scott Snyder, Juan Ferreyra, Che Grayson, and Denys Cowan. These stories will focus on the haunted objects that resided in Lorraine and Ed Warren’s infamous artifact room (which is where they kept the Annabelle doll).
It bears mentioning that this new horror imprint might be riding on the shoulders of Joe Hill’s own recent horror imprint, Hill House Comics, which was headlined by Hill’s own Basketful of Heads comic, illustrated by Leomacs. The series that were published as part of the imprint received mostly universal praise and felt as if they belonged in the same habitat as DC’s classic House of Mystery comics.
DC editor-in-chief Marie Javins seems to be aware of this connection. In a statement she released on the new horror imprint, Javins said that “DC has always been the home of great horror comics and characters. DC Horror continues this tradition with new frightening tales from both well-known and new storytellers that will keep fans spooked and entertained.”
With The Conjuring possessing a well-established horror universe and DC recognizing the weight horror carries within its company’s history, it looks like this year is shaping up to be a good one for both veteran and emerging horror fans. The potential behind the new imprint for pulling in new readers, especially in the wake of Hill House’s success, seems to lean favorably towards success.
One thing’s for sure, if this move inspires other publishers to invest in their own horror imprints, they’ll be able to say ‘DC made me do it.’
The Conjuring: The Lover arrives in comic book stores and on participating digital platforms the same day as the U.S. release of The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It—Tuesday, June 1, 2021, with issue #2 available on July 6, 2021.
Plunge #6 might be the perfect example of a horror story fumbling the finale. I’ve loved this series up to this point. But, that love has also floundered a bit as it became clear the series was rushing to a Cthulhu-like ending. It’s a great concept and amazing ideas looking for a great story to carry them through.
Written by Joe Hill, Plunge #6 feels like a monster movie where they’ve built up to the monster, got to the point, and then said, “let’s blow the budget.” It’s an ending that’s predictable and anti-climactic in so many ways.
For those who’ve gotten to this point in the series, the giant portal has been opened and the intelligent space worms have skittered back through freeing what’s within. That, not surprisingly is yet another Lovecraft inspired being here to destroy reality. Little is explained and we’re just expected to roll with it as our rag-tag group has to figure out how to destroy it and save everything.
The comic feels like Hill had a limited number of issues, ran out of ideas, and needed a way to wrap things up. Where the series leading up to this has been relatively creative and creepy, the finale just delivers things we’ve seen time and time again. The creative of the previous five issues is out the window for a cookie cutter ending.
Hill also leaves so much hanging and unanswered. This being can eat reality, so isn’t the reality of where it came from destroyed then? Why do the worms want to go back? What are they other than other-dimensional beings? There’s just volumes of interesting material to mine and the series feels like it’s hampered by its six-issue run. It needed to wrap up and this was the easiest way to do it.
The art is the usual fantastic. Stuart Immonen delivers sites that truly feel epic and the lookers on do come off as they are witnessing something grand. That’s helped by Dave Stewart‘s colors and Deron Bennett‘s lettering. As a Cthulhu-inspired spectacle, the comic does rock. There’s some inspiring visuals and interesting spins to concepts in the art. But, it also emphasizes this is something we’ve generally seen so many times before. The creep factor of the previous five issues is gone and we’re delivered over the top monsters.
Plunge #6 doesn’t stick the landing. It crashes hard. The series was one full of mystery and such interesting concepts and ideas. The package just doesn’t come together and jettisons all of them for a standard ending that’s been done before so many times. I wanted to see how this series ended but when I got to the end, it actually lessens what comes before spotlighting that it was great ideas with nowhere to go.
Story: Joe Hill Art: Stuart Immonen
Color: Dave Stewart Letterer: Deron Bennett
Story: 6.75 Art: 8.5 Overall: 7.0 Recommendation: Pass
DC Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: comiXology – Kindle – Zeus Comics
