By: Mark Ambrose
Title: Gideon Falls #1
Author: Jeff Lemire
Artist: Andrea Sorrentino
Colors: Dave Stewart
Lettering: Steve Wands
Publisher: Image Comics
Date Released: 07/03/2018
The Review:
Jeff Lemire has become Canada’s own modern
equivalent of Alan Moore, albeit less cantankerous. Splitting output between the big two (most
notably on Marvel’s heralded “Moon Knight”) and independent publishers, the writer/artist has
equal facility with reality grounded dramatic fare (the essential “Essex County” trilogy), vast sci-fi
epics (“Descender”) and superheroes
both mainstream and esoteric (his key work in the “Valiant Universe”). With “Gideon Falls”, his newest creator-owned
project at indie behemoth Image Comics, Lemire
invokes the creeping dread of his best efforts to tell his first “all out”
horror tale.
“Gideon Falls”
splits its focus between two figures: Norton, a disturbingly devout acolyte,
donned in a surgical mask, sorting through debris for some unknown purpose, and
a priest, Father Wilfred. Wilfred seems,
at best, uninvested in his calling, pulling slugs from a flask as he drives to
his new home and parish: “Gideon Falls”. His predecessor, Father Tom, died under
mysterious, possibly grisly circumstances, that his committed parishioner,
Gene, doesn’t want to discuss. Norton,
meanwhile, expounds on the nature of evil with his therapist, Dr. Xu; he’s
growing more convinced of the literal existence of the Devil. The sympathetic, realistic doctor advises
that his collection is mere garbage and a symptom of mental illness. If Norton cannot reassert his hold on
reality, she will institutionalize him… again.
Norton and Wilfred have converging experiences
around the vision of a nightmarish location: the Black Barn. Wilfred’s is quite visceral, while Norton’s
is more tenuous – is he manifesting this dark locale? Recalling an event already lived by the
priest? The timeline here is rather mysterious
but that’s one of the best parts of a comic debut: what has already been mapped
out by the team in question? What will
spiral out in the telling? Lemire has
been remarkably open in the past, responding in letters sections,
enthusiastically pursuing new tangents in fictional universes (like his
terror-tinged superhero story “Black
Hammer”, or “Sweet Tooth” – which
may be the final, underappreciated Vertigo masterpiece). But for a first issue, “Gideon Falls” has a hell of a hook.
A great deal of the burden falls on artist
Andrea Sorrentino, whose sketchy, scratchy linework conveys stress – mental and
metaphysical, as the landscape around the Black Barn seems shattered. Like fellow Canadian (and occasional
collaborator) Matt Kindt, Lemire suffuses his stories with slow dread,
punctuated by horrific, startling violence.
Sorrentino’s depiction of ritualistic violence on the page is shocking
without hedging into schlocky splatter.
It makes me dread what could come in future installments.
Special mention should be made for colorist
Dave Stewart, an industry unto himself.
He has been a lynchpin in Mike Mignola’s “Hellboy/B.P.R.D.” Universe, brought vivid, hallucinatory beauty to
Moon & Ba’s “Daytripper”, and
worked with master monster illustrator Eric Powell in his “Goon” series. His work here
evokes the great American flyover country, with muted earthtones, juxtaposed
with dirty grays of Norton’s urban wasteland.
The charnel house reds splattered across the final pages are the work of
a true master, and colorists will be studying at the feet of Stewart for
decades to come.
In short, “Gideon
Falls” is a great monthly comic to hop onto for SLUDGELOLRD
acolytes. Whether delving into Norton’s
filthy urban decay or Father Wilfred’s profane, sacrilegious journey, this is a
work that could be soundtracked to Godflesh or Sunn O))) – a droning, apocalyptic vision that could go
anywhere, but will likely plumb into the darkest depths of human and demonic
blasphemy.
“Gideon Falls #1” is available
here
