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REVIEW: Only in Whispers #1 - New horror anthology from Free Lunch Comics
Only in Whispers #1
Review by Dave Baxter, posted February 04, 2008
Words: Steve Kanaras and Andrew Pollock
Art: Matt Ryan, Stephanie O’Donnell, Anthony Summey, and Andrew Pollock
Publisher: Free Lunch Comics
Price: $3.95
Release Date: Now! And Forever!
With a theme of supernatural and sorcery-laden tales, Free Lunch Comics publisher Steve Kanaras pens a trio of dark-tinted tales, collaborating with a veritable showcase of up-and-coming small press artists, to produce a fat first issue to a new anthology which includes a short prose story (to spotlight Kanaras’ literary chops) and, additionally, the first chapter of a new stand-alone Witchhound serial written and drawn by the inimitable Andrew Pollock. It’s a noteworthy launch, if oddly narrow in subject matter. Let’s take a look-see at the stories as they’re offered:
After a one page I-am-your-host introduction a la The Crypt Keeper (a thing that’s become compulsive with anthologies of this sort), the book opens with a story titled Entangled by Kanaras and artist/Free Lunch Comics president Matt Ryan , a modern update on the classic “don’t take things from a witch’s garden” Rapunzel scenario. A luckless writer finds a journal written in blood, which she whisks away from her neighbor’s backyard, pouncing on an opportunity to scope the item’s history and write a non-fiction book of serious cash value. But the keeper of the journal is far from approving, and what follows is a truly horrific revenge tale. Perhaps the most Creepshow-like in make, Entangled is one of the strongest of the anthology, with dynamic art by Ryan that proves more than effective when the final page of horror comes a-callin’.
A three page short prose story follows, written by Kanaras, titled The Quiet Wager. The wordsmithery here is surprisingly polished—an absolute rarity to find in an otherwise comic book script scrivener. Nearly every anthology out there boasts a short prose piece or two, and nearly every one of them proves teeth-grindingly painful to read, but not so for Kanaras’ proffering. TQW follows an inordinately odd set-up of two sorcerers (I think they're sorcerers), one young and learning, one older and entrenched, and an unspoken wager they hold with each other over the younger sorcerer’s eventual fate and fortune in love. At least, as mentioned above, I think that’s what the story’s about. As much as I was able to enjoy Kanaras’ style, the coherency of his plot was decidedly lacking, the story difficult to grasp in full. Even with multiple readings (and it’s quite short, allowing for an easy repeat if required), I couldn’t quite follow the details, or, if I did follow the details, the details seemed arbitrarily arranged and not entirely fitting to the subject matter. Still, it’s a story that’s left an indelible impression, and one I can’t stop thinking upon or trying to figure out in full. So: Clarity = poor. Intrigue = extremely high.
Next up is One Nibble at a Time by Kanaras and Stephanie O’Donnell. A man dabbles in sorcery to win the heart an undying infatuation, only to fall into a bizarre pickle of a situation: the love of his life and the demon that makes it all happen demand his time and affections in equal measure! And of course, when a demon is your conflict of interest, love doesn’t conquer all! Nibble is a sweetly conceived piece, with a demon awesome in its everyday grotesque lewdness as sketched by O’Donnell, though the piece’s tacked-on framing sequences cause the end to fall far flatter than it should. The meat of the matter, however, is tasty stuff.
The Conscript by Kanaras and Anthony Summey hits fourth of five, and might be the story that spawned this issue’s gorgeous cover by Phil Hester, though if it is, the event on the cover won’t happen until the story continues on to its next installment. However, there’s no “to be continued” at the end of this one, but the story doesn’t come to any sort of satisfying end, and indeed the “arc” of this tale is one hardly worth telling on its own, seeming to go nowhere in particular and end capriciously. If it wasn’t for the fact that I caught onto the character on the cover to (possibly) mirror the main character within Conscript, I would have had to call this tale a complete failure. As it stands however, if it is only a beginning to a longer, continuing epic, perhaps it holds merit.
The story: a warlock circa 1776, by bewitching the son of a prominent German aristocrat, secures passage to the New World, but not before leaving a “gift” behind for the man’s family. An interesting and obviously researched premise, the story unfortunately meanders in odd sequences of unnecessary dialogue between unimportant supporting staff before simply trotting to a close, no real character or understanding of the point or purpose of the piece understood or even hinted at. The art by Summey is clean and expertly detailed, but it’ll take future installments (if any!) to bring about a final judgment. On its own, this was plain old vanilla WTF territory.
Closing the first issue, then, and saving the day from the oddity of The Conscript, comes Anthony Pollock’s The Wailing, a first chapter to a new Witchhound adventure. Pollock’s art is gloriously dark, gothic, and nearly woodblock in its precision; definitely the strongest entry within Only in Whispers #1. Having secured a short run of his creation online (http://www.wickedsmash.com/), Pollock brings his cultured skills to a multi-parter pitting Witchhound against a banshee and all the wonderful Hellboy-esque action this entails. It’s only the first chapter, but it alone will have me back for OiW #2.
Final verdict? Good stories and good art, but while Kanaras is no slouch in the scripting department (and a damn fine prose penner to boot!), his stories seem far too narrowly focused on witchcraft and sorcery, and for an anthology that’s supposedly about the supernatural as a general field of play, I hope for a much broader scope in future issues to come. Stories that push the boundaries, in subject and style, but stories that also maintain the quality of this first issue’s entries.
A solid, strong start, certainly nothing tired here, which is the downfall of most anthologies. But it’ll need more and even stronger entries to keep issue #1’s momentum a-chuggin’. There’s little limit where the supernatural is concerned, and if Kanaras and Co. can get into the sheer depth available, Only in Whispers will prove a flawless flagship title for Free Lunch Comics’ new publishing direction.
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