By David Hine & Mark Stafford (Soaring Penguin Press)
ISBN: 978-1-908030-276 (HB)
Win’s Christmas Gift Recommendation: Dread Delight for Darkest Nights… 9/10
Happy DÃa de Muertos…
I’d planned to make this new release part of our annual Occultoberfest, but fortunately, my review copy didn’t arrive in time so now it gets an extra chance to impress as it now stands out even further from the pack.
In luxurious and sturdy hardback (and digital) compilation The Bad Bad Place, material originally created as a serial for Soaring Penguin Press’ excellent comics anthology Meanwhile… has been modified, tweaked and at last completed for the delectation of fans of bizarre black comedy, gross Lovecraftian horror and uniquely British macabre tomfoolery…
Before we get started, I must acknowledge that I’ve known all involved in the project for many years – although I trust they’ve either forgotten or at least forgiven me for all that’s occurred (they know what I mean and you’ll never know…), so any thoughts of nepotism, favouritism and dishonourable conduct should be redirected to modern political and commercial life, where they properly belong…
This wry but effective pastiche of Chthonic horrors is the morbid brainchild of Dave Hine (Strange Embrace, Spider-Man: Noir, Batman, X-Men, The Bullet Proof Coffin) and Mark Stafford (Cherubs!) who have wrought previous similar graphic marvels together in The Man Who Laughs and Lip Hook.
The unease begins in ‘Warning Signs’ as a gaunt and ragged town crier accosts a young woman in the strangely deserted new town of Faraway Hills. Jenny is forthright and determined and refuses to obey old Ned Trench‘s admonitions that she should flee for her life…
Over a nice cup of tea, the rank, decrepit dotard – and former town crier – details how the rapidly-built modern conurbation was situated over the ruins of a Victorian village that had died in mysterious circumstances, and how, one night a plot of vacant land was suddenly filled with long-vanished Castavette House and the much-neglected grounds which had once dominated the ancient hamlet of Crouch Heath…
With rumours flying about and the town council dithering, events took a while to kick off, but when they despatched a flurry of official forms to the mansion in ‘Going Postal’ the postman was never seen again.
Those that knew him privately thought it was no less than he deserved. Later investigations proved they weren’t wrong…
In ‘The Lottery Winner, the Minstrel and the Narcissist Who Would Not Stop…’ a trio of friends trapped in a love triangle are declared to have also suffered dreadful fates after passing the gates of the House, seduced by mystic music and the promise of tawdry pleasures within…
Ned and Jenny’s discourse takes a dramatic turn in ‘Close Up and Personal’ when the aged doomsayer describes the fate of a young photojournalist and she reveals her own intimate connection to the missing snapper…
The incredible truth of Trench’s origins comes out in The Truth, the Whole Truth and Anything But…’ as Jenny learns how and why Crouch Heath disappeared from the map so long ago, thanks in large part to the manorial family’s devotion to vile elder gods and the innate casual cruelty of their all-too human neighbours…
A bereaved and vengeful mother literally wedded to ancient monsters takes her revenge in ‘Let Not Man Put Asunder…’ before more ghastly secrets are shared in ‘The Birthing’, so by the time Jenny gets ‘A Short History of the Twentieth Century’ from Trench’s weirdly skewed perspective, the anxious listener fully appreciates the lack of ‘Logic and Proportion’ exercised by the mistress of Castavette House when the entire population of Faraway Hills invaded the grounds of the returned estate, seeking unearned rewards and illicit gratifications…
The arcane malign saga concludes with the unwise expression of Jenny’s own ‘Heart’s Desire’, but just as all hope seems lost in the bowels of the House, there comes an intervention from a most unexpected quarter…
Afterword ‘The Good Good Place’ then offers context and background on the creation of this macabre treat courtesy of author Hine, whilst creator biographies plus a moody graphic gallery turns up the tension tone to round out this exemplary example of pictorial gothic terror.
Mordant and moody, occasionally deliberately daft and always deeply disturbing, The Bad Bad Place is a treat no terror-seeker can afford to miss.
This edition © 2019 Soaring Penguin Press. Created by and © David Hine & Mark Stafford.