By James Herbert & Ian Miller (Pan Books)
ISBN13: 978-0-33032-471-7
In the early 1990s, many British publishers, fired up by the mainstream sales of Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns and Maus, dipped their corporate toes in the waters of graphic novel publication, with varying degrees of commercial and aesthetic success. Macmillan, through its Pan Books imprint, was one that took it all very seriously and it’s a crying shame that it was so lacking in rewards for its bold efforts.
This slim apocalyptic tome went with an already popular property. Horror author James Herbert began his writing career (twenty four novels and counting) with The Rats (1974) following up with sequels Lair in 1979 and Domain in 1984. The three novels told of a post-Holocaust Britain where mutated Giant Black Rats have risen as humanity declined. In The City (technically Herbert’s 17th book) – and more of an episode than a narrative – an armoured figure known as The Traveller fights his way into the devastated ruins of London. The decimated Capital is now the undisputed kingdom of the rats and their truly monstrous queen, and the lone human is on a mission of murder, but he also has a secret personal purpose for going into the hellish ruin.
Dark, simplistic and terrifying, the story is elevated to nightmare heights and depths by the astonishing, grotesquely beautiful art of painter and illustrator Ian Miller. Armageddon has never been better realised, the skies have never looked uglier and ruins never more familiar. His mutants are appalling to see and his intense line-work and domineering colours will haunt you.
Horror is tough to write and nearly impossible to illustrate. This book manages to tell no real story and make it scarier every time you return to it.
©1994 James Herbert. Illustrations ©1994 Ian Miller. All Rights Reserved.