Chillers #1

Chillers appears to be one of those special Halloween release issues, one that give six different teams a chance to tell a short story and get people hooked on what they have to offer.  Just looking at the front cover it catches your eye because of the bright red background and the dark black mass right up the center.  It really reminds me of some Mark Rothko’s works with two colors competing against one another.  Oh and the smoking samurai on the front is interesting and eye catching as well.  I’m not going to review all six stories, but I will highlight two that I particularly liked.

Our first spooky tale is called “Monster Hunter.”  The Warlock and Sorcerer clans have been protecting mankind for generations.  But now, at the end of the 20th century, few remain and a great battle is coming.  A door is about to be opened and only the last of these two powerful clans can protect the world from the demons and monsters about to arrive.  I’m not really sure what to make of the story.  There are only 8 pages to it and we don’t have a lot of information or time to figure out what’s really going on, because 4 of the 8 pages deal with a battle between the Sorceress and the demons.  So there really isn’t much of a chance for a story to be told.  Also the writing seems kind of weak.  I mean some of the spells cast are “Entrap thine enemy! Evil contain!”  Not exactly the most interesting spell in the world is it?  The artwork isn’t bad and is heavily influenced by manga, especially Usagi Yojimbo.  The one problem that I have is that they’ve crammed so much into the panels is that it’s a bit overwhelming.  Its like they’ve been taught not to leave any white space so everything is filled in, which makes it challenging to concentrate on the characters.   I think the story has potential, but I really need to see a full issue before knowing for sure.

The second story is “GD Minus 18: Night of the Gobs.”  In this story two young girls are getting ready for Halloween, but before they head out they need one more special item.  Their father has a bag that always weighs the same no matter how much you put into it.  But they make the mistake of looking inside of it and weird demon duck creatures escape and begin eating the house!  They must stop them from wanton destruction before they eat their home.  This story I like just because it’s a lighthearted funny story that doesn’t take it self to seriously.  The artwork really reminds me of the webcomic “El Goonish Shive” (the current years) and it has a nice playful quality to it that goes along well with the story.  And…you know what I don’t really need to analyze this one anymore, it’s funny, quirky, well written, and well drawn.  Go read it.

Like any comic where you have so many different stories and art styles you’re going to have some good and some bad ones.  And to my pleasant surprise there are some really nice beginnings to stories here.  My one regret is that some of them only have a few pages to tell a story and I’m left wanting more (and I want to know more than just a few pages worth at a time.)  I really hope that some of these guys get to continue their stories.  So I’d recommend picking this issue up to see the variety and if some of these stories have their own series, go ahead and buy those as well.