I’m not a big fan of horror stories. There are rare ones I enjoy but overall, it’s pretty rare for the genre. Black Friday #1 kicks off a new horror series from Scout Comics‘ Black Caravan imprint that takes the notorious shopping day and giving it a horror spin.

When you think of Black Friday, you don’t really think about the sales and deals as much as there’s the rush of the shoppers resulting in fights, chaos, and damage. All of it now caught on video for us to consume and be entertained by. It’s the perfect encapsulation of capitalism. Writer Jon Clark uses that already horrific day as the basis for his story.

We’ve seen the injuries and bloody mess that is the real life rush to consume and save but Black Friday #1 takes that up a notch adding a body count in one store. A clean-up crew is at work cleaning up from the day’s chaos when they discover something brewing in the spot where a costumer was murdered. The death and destruction has fed and awaken… something.

Clark does a fantastic job of building up the suspense and tension for the series. The story really progresses as it moves along. At first, we’re treated to a Clerks like story of a big box store employee who hates his job taking us through his life and world. From there, there’s a bit of inspiration from the “ghost hunting” genre of television series that has exploded. And from there, it transitions into a straight-up horror story. And it delivers the creepy.

A lot of Clark’s concepts are helped by the art of Travis Williamson. There’s some disturbing imagery in the comic that’ll unsettle readers. It never crosses the line to distract, instead Williamson focuses on small details that emphasizes what’s happening. Think of the concept of panning out of an image discover something more and then doing it over and over. That’s what Williamson does as he layers the gruesome discoveries by the store staff. Williamson has a Sam Keith style to it all too that exaggerates things in a helpful way. It’s very stylized in a good way.

The lettering choices by April Brown also helps add to the atmosphere of the comic. Narrative dialogue boxes are used heavily forgoing thought bubbles. The choice is important as the latter wouldn’t work with the imagery. It also gives us a running thought process as to what’s going on beyond the dialogue and body language.

Black Friday #1 is a fantastic start to the series. It builds the tension and ups the scare factor as the store progresses right until the final panel. It makes sure to deliver doses of humor throughout and presents the characters enough to connect and care about what happens to them. This is a horror story that’ll keep you bundled up safely in the cold months.

Story: Jon Clark Art: Travis Williamson Letterer: April Brown
Story: 8.25 Art: 8.25 Overall: 8.25 Recommendation: Buy

Scout Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review

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Purchase: Scout Comics