Coffin Hill, Vol.1 – “Forest of the Night” (Vertigo)

May 27, 2014 Civilian Reader Comics, Review Caitlin Kittredge, Coffin Hill, Inaki Miranda, Vertigo

An excellent start to a new series

Following a night of sex, drugs and witchcraft in the woods, Eve Coffin wakes up naked, covered in blood and unable to remember how she got there. One friend is missing, one is in a mental ward-and one knows that Eve is responsible.

Years later, Eve returns to Coffin Hill, only to discover the darkness that she unleashed ten years ago in the woods was never contained. It continues to seep through the town, cursing the soul of this sleepy Massachusetts hollow, spilling secrets and enacting its revenge.

Set against the haunted backdrop of New England, COFFIN HILL explores what people will do for power and retribution.

Collects: Coffin Hill #1-7

In Coffin Hill, novelist Caitlin Kittredge (Black London series) has written an engaging, eerie, and above all superb tale of witchcraft, childhood mistakes and family legacies. Inaki Miranda – perhaps best known for work on Fairest – realises the book beautifully. This book doesn’t really need much of a review. If you are a fan of horror, suspense, witches, and weirdness, then this is a great book for you. I really enjoyed this.

Book starts with Eve Coffin basking in unwanted attention after solving a serial-killer case as a rookie cop. Unfortunately, when she returns home, she stumbles across an altercation between her roommate and a disgruntled, armed boyfriend. Leaving the force, she returns to her childhood home of Coffin Hill, and almost immediately finds herself embroiled in a weird, supernatural case linked to certain events of her childhood.

As events in the present get progressively stranger and more dangerous, Eve must overcome local suspicions, and a potentially homicidal old acquaintance. All the while navigating the emotional battlefield of reuniting with an old flame. Who, as it happens, is now sheriff and investigating another strange disappearance in the woods…

Coffin Hill has a superb opening story-arc. It is a brilliant mix of suspense, supernatural, crime-thriller, and the beginnings (potentially) of a family saga. There are, of course, hints to larger and greater things, none of which are resolved here. This is ok – after I turned the final page, I was definitely eager for more. The artwork is stunning, and Inaki Miranda is probably one of my favourite artists working in comics. The images are clean and brilliantly composed, while the colouring makes the book both moody and strikingly vivid.

Very highly recommended. This is a must-read new series.

Upcoming: “Coffin Hill” #1 (Vertigo)

September 13, 2013 Civilian Reader Comics Caitlin Kittredge, Coffin Hill, Cover, Cover Art, Dark, Dave Johnson, Gene Ha, Inaki Miranda, Supernatural, Vertigo

I’m really looking forward to this. Out of all the “bigger” comics publishers, I am really falling for a lot of Vertigo series. COFFIN HILL, which will be published on October 9th 2013, looks like yet another series that will appeal to my (rather dark, twisted) taste.

The cover is by Dave Johnson, and the variant by Gene Ha. Inaki Miranda, who handles art duties on this title, is an awesome artist, and one of my favourite recent finds – she worked on Lauren Beukes’s excellent run on Fairest, and put together some of the most striking panels and full-page spreads I’ve ever seen.

Coffin Hill is written by Caitlin Kittredge (who I have no experience reading). Kittredge is the author of the Black London series.

COFFIN HILL stars Eve Coffin, a rebellious, teenage lowlife from a high-society family with a curse that goes back to the Salem Witch trials.

Following a night of sex, drugs and witchcraft in the woods, Eve wakes up naked, covered in blood and unable to remember how she got there. One friend is missing, one is in a mental ward—and one knows that Eve is responsible.

After a stint as a Boston cop that ends in a bullet wound and unintended celebrity, Eve returns to Coffin Hill, only to discover the darkness that she unleashed ten years ago in the woods was never contained. It continues to seep through the town, cursing the soul of this sleepy Massachusetts hollow, spilling secrets and enacting its revenge.

Set against the haunted backdrop of New England, COFFIN HILL explores what people will do for power and retribution.

Count me very much looking forward to this. This sounds great. As a bonus, here are the covers (without text, etc.) for the second and third issues:

Fairest, Vol.2 – “Hidden Kingdom” (Vertigo)

June 27, 2013 Civilian Reader Uncategorized Adam Hughes, Andrew Dalhouse, Barry Kitson, Bill Willingham, Eva de la Cruz, Fables, Fairest, Hidden Kingdom, Inaki Miranda, Vertigo, Volume 2

Writer: Lauren Beukes (#8-13), Bill Willingham (#14) | Art: Inaki Miranda (#8-13, finishes #14), Barry Kitson (#14) | Colors: Eva de la Cruz (#8-13), Andrew Dalhouse (#14)

Rapunzel lives one of the most regimented lives in Fabletown, forced to maintain her rapidly growing hair lest her storybook origins be revealed. But when word of her long-lost children surface, she races across the sea to find them – and a former lover.

Collects: Fairest #8-14

Ever since I bought Fables Deluxe Vol.1, I have been in love with Willingham’s fantasy series (and everything connected to it). Then Fairest started in 2011, and I found a new comic addiction. This second collection collects award-winning-author Lauren Beukes’s run on the series handling writing duties. And it’s absolutely superb.

[NB: There are some slight spoilers in the review!]

Very strong start, as we are introduced to the key players – Rapunzel and her four-times-a-day hairdresser (it grows at a frightening rate). A flock of origami cranes comes crashing through her window, with a cryptic message about her kids… Nobody believes her children survived childbirth, but she’s always maintained that they have, and is determined to find out what is going on. So, with the help of the Fables’ most flexibly-moral character, Jack, she heads off to Japan. Along the way, and across the book, we get snippets of Rapunzel’s past, pre-Fabletown life. As far as I can tell, this is set a little bit before the main Fables storyline kicks in.

It has an extremely strong opening chapter/issue, and by the end of that chapter, it was already one of the best-written comics I’ve read in a long while. Beukes definitely has the skill for writing both award-winning novels and damned fine comics. She keeps things fresh, while also remaining true to Fables creator Willingham’s sensibilities and tone (sort-of – I haven’t read anything else in the series that leans more towards horror…). The whole story is great, featuring Asian Fables, some pretty inspired creations and interpretations, a dash of horror.

The artwork throughout is wonderful – it is sharp, vivid, detailed, and utterly eye-catching. And the bezoars! The artwork connected to them… Yikes! Some of the visuals were reminiscent of Japanese/Asian horror movies, actually. Damned creepy. Beukes writes wonderful characters, and the art team does a wonderful job of bringing them to life on the page. It is, like volume one, a beautiful comic to look at, too.

With excellent pacing, engaging and interesting characters, a blend of fantasy, horror and historical story-telling, and a bitter-sweet ending, “Hidden Kingdom” is quite brilliant. It has everything I want in a comic.

The book includes a stand-alone tale at the end, written by Willingham. It’s kind of fun, actually. It’s more on the bizarre/weird side, focusing on the non-human Fables. Princess Alder (a dryad/tree nymph) is having a bit of difficulty settling in to life at the Farm – she has rather more liberal relationship mores, for example, which has got some of the male Fables all excited and exploitative. Reynard the Fox decides to show her that not all men are pigs, and they go on a date. They like each other a lot. But then, during the dinner, he makes a discovery and a mistake that he can’t move past… The story is an amusing side-bar to the main Fables story, and comes complete with an ominous post-script. (Nefarious things, they are afoot!)

Overall, another great volume set in the expanding Fables universe. Very highly recommended. This is easily one of my favourite comic series, and Beukes’s story is one of my favourites. I really hope she’s asked back to write more in the future.