What is it about ghost stories that intrigue us? Is it the mystery, the out of control elements, the danger or is it the unknown? Whatever or whichever it is, ghost stories aren’t going away anytime soon. In the spooky month of October, IDW have a book, Dead Seas due out on December 21st, that is being described as “The Poseidon Adventure meets The Haunting of Hill House”; truly a nightmare of sorts before Christmas.
In world where ghosts are real, people can still be the truly scary monsters. Gus, an inmate, who along with various cellmates are “invited” to board a haunted ship to recover ectoplasm, which has a range of medicinal benefits. Of course, where there is ectoplasm, there are ghosts, who are more than a little feisty at being trapped on the boat. A true supernatural thriller, where the horrors of previous actions can haunt as much as the ghosts, with the carrot of hope dangled for Gus and his gang.
Cavan Scott is a New York Times best selling author having worked on novels and comic books. Looking at this first issue, it’s easy to see Scott as a novel writer given the amount of verbiage on show. This isn’t a bad thing, in this case; there is a lot of preamble to get through prior to the main event. Scott works hard to get the reader to care about Gus, which at this point is up in the air, with him being in prison and all! There is a cast of characters from guards, prisoners and the daughter of the big cheese. Through in ghost hell bent on killing all before the, all trapped at sea and you have mother of all tinder boxes.
The art is provided by Nick Brokenshire who has a heavy ink hand which goes hand in hand with a kind cartoony style that belabours the horror intimated from the script. With the book having more than a passing focus on people rather than the ghosts, at least at this early juncture. For a mature themed book, the colors are a tad bright. Still Brokenshire juxtaposes these colors with some very imaginative ghostly designs. Brokenshire also looks to add nuances to the ghostly goings on, hinting at a darker danger lurking. Shawn Lee adds the letters with a heavy font that matches the art and does well to ensure that the text heavy elements do not affect the art or pacing.
An interesting start to ghostly shenanigans that could scare up some new takes on established tropes.
Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars
Overall – 4 Stars
Written by; Cavan Scott
Art & Colors by; Nick Brokenshire
Letters by; Shawn Lee
Published by; IDW Publishing
Dead Seas will scheduled for comic book shops December 21st
Diamond Order Code:
OCT221706