Written by Rick Remender and Seth Peck; Art by Francesco Francavilla; Lettering by Ed Dukeshire; Cover by Kieron Dwyer; Published by Image Comics
And so we arrive at the final installment of this masterfully woven supernatural thriller. I’ve reviewed the previous three volumes here recently, and anyone who’s read those reviews can tell that I’ve been in for surprises from issue to issue. To recap: a girl named Danni and two friends, Sheryl and Matt, pick up a hitchhiker, Dalton, on a road trip and Matt catches a glimpse of a malevolent Indian spirit and totals his car in the town of Sorrow, Nevada. What we have learned over the course of the series is that the spirit is that of a dark shaman called White Crow, who has cursed Sorrow, causing the spirits of Sorrow’s past Indian inhabitants to take hold of anyone who now ventures through the town. This was caused by a spell White Crow cast to gain power and revenge on the white man. One of the Native-Americans, Rita Talltree, breaks the circle before the spell can be completed, and this is what doomed the spirits of Sorrow.
Danni has wandered into this madness and is trying to survive and escape with Dalton. Sheryl and Matt have already been possessed, Matt by White Crow himself. Danni finds that she was destined to be drawn to the town as she is Rita Talltree’s granddaughter, and only she can now complete the circle. Thus White Crow and his minions of possessed and deformed townspeople are in hot pursuit of her. The deformed people are kept in a church basement and are apparently the descendants of Native-Americans that were the victims of radioactive testing by the government after World War II. This plot point reminded me of the original Hills Have Eyes film, though the creatures that Dalton comes upon in the church are far more grotesque than Wes Craven’s cannibal family. They are more akin to the nightmarish Un-Men from Swamp Thing – both Berni Wrightson’s and Steve Bissette’s renderings of them.
As the tale of Sorrow closes, a lot happens at a rapid clip. Danni and her ally Aponi battle their way out of the shelter Danni placed Sheryl, who unfortunately is by now possessed herself and not in the best of physical shape, let us say. Her entrails spilling out and crucified on barbed wire she nonetheless pelts Danni with a slew of profane invective detailing just how disgusting White Crow will dispatch Danni. Aponi ends this outburst by burning Sheryl’s body to death, but then he is slain by the brutish “Black Dog”, who captures Danni. Tied to a pole, she is being prepared by White Crow to “complete the circle”. Dalton, however, causes a distraction by burning the town’s unctuous sheriff to death (or his body anyway since the spirits can hop bodies). Danni skewers Matt/ White Crow in the head and she and Dalton flee a cavalcade of grotesqueries set free from the church.
Sorrow closes with Danni and Dalton, having hot-tailed it out to the highway, getting picked up by a trucker and seemingly to safety. But unfortunately a completely unforeseen twist ending makes their future safety a bit doubtful. I was genuinely surprised by the ending, so I suppose I’m not completely jaded to this type of tale. Sorrow has been a wild ride, with each issue providing a startling reveal, as the reader learns alongside the characters more and more just how hellish Danni’s situation really is. Masterful plotting and superb art have been the engines driving this superb title towards its disturbing conclusion. Fans of suspenseful horror who enjoy the classic tropes of such a tale but also desire plenty of morbid twists and turns should definitely check out Sorrow.
