During the month of Halloween, Dark Horse Comics is on a mission to remind us that they’re the place to go if you’re into horror. Dark Horse is releasing something from every sub-genre of Horror and I couldn’t be more terrifyingly happy about one story that could fit them all. Colder is a story that rides many sub-genres all the way to a disturbing but satisfying ending.
There’s a little Psychological Horror, a dash of Supernatural Horror, and Dark Horror. There’s some Hauntings and Gore, as well as a pinch here and there of the Occult. It’s a true Cross-Genre horror story in the vein of the FX television series American Horror Stories. Sure it’s not the same story as American Horror Stories, but like season 2 of the popular show, it starts in an insane asylum and from there it goes in every direction you couldn’t possibly have anticipated.
Despite the Cross-Genre of the comic, most of the book is psychological and follows the mental trauma of Declan Thomas, and his kind and lovely caretaker. Declan starts as an inmate in the asylum when a tragic accident during testing on patients sets the asylum on fire. The asylum is full of the insane and the evil, both who die in all kinds disturbing ways. It’s the insanity that attracts the villain, Nimble Jack, from a parallel dimension of horror to the asylum. Jack has the look of a casually dressed hipster in Goth makeup but that façade only hides the monster until later.
Nimble Jack craves the psychosis swimming around the dark edges of a persons mind. When he feeds off of the mentally ill, he leaves them empty and dead. He also happens to have a discerning pallet. He leaves Declan with a curse of colder that stops him from aging but slowly chills his body. It also leaves Declan with an ability to pull the madness out of people, but at a cost to himself. At some point he’ll get too cold and run out of time. That is when Jack plans to find Declan and dine on the slow cooked lunacy inside his mind. Jack believes he is hunting Declan but Declan is tired of the demonic gift that is his curse, and the curse has made him powerful.
Colder TPB is the collection of the five issue mini-series of the same name from late 2012 by Paul Tobin, the writer behind Bandette; and Juan Ferreyra, the artist ofRexMundi and the just released Kiss Me, Satan. The trade is full of the standard faire with variant covers and concept art which is why the added content not included in the single issues is so exciting. Next year, 2014, we’ll be getting a volume II from the Dark Horse tentatively called The Bad Seed.
One look at the cover and you’ll know the ride you’re in for. The good news for those who are squeamish though, is that those moments are doled out by the storytellers at a thrilling pace. Paul Tobin’s storytelling is carefully measured, which allows Ferrerya’s style to lure you into the reality they’ve created. Ferrerya is a remarkable talent. He makes Tobin’s dialogue pop with characters expressions that have real emotional vibrancy. When their faces are pulled by Jack Nimble like taffy the horror of the images is incredibly visceral. Colder will leave a chill down your spine long after you’ve put the book down.
Writer: Paul Tobin
Artist: Juan Ferreyra
Cover Artist: Juan Ferreyra
Genre: Horror, Action/Adventure
Publication Date: October 09, 2013
Format: FC, 110 pages; TP, 7” x 10”
Price: $17.99
Preview Art Courtesy of Dark Horse Comics
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