There are a lot of comics out there but some stand out head and shoulders above the pack. With “Don’t Miss This,” we want to spotlight those series we think need to be on your pull list. This week, we take a look at Dark Horse Comics’s “Where Monsters Lie”
Who’s This By?
Popular indie comic writer Kyle Starks has brought another creator owned comic to Dark Horse Comics with “Where Monsters Lie.” Starks is an Eisner nominated comic creator with new runaway created hits like “I Hate This Place” and “Sexcastle,” as well as working on nearly 50 issues of the “Rick and Morty” comic. He doesn’t have an enormous bibliography, but what he has written has already cultivated a rabid fanbase. Starks has a knack for punchy, clever dialogue that that still packs an emotional and layered wallop. Artist Piotr Kowalski has had an incredibly strong run on both indie comics like “The Steam Man,” also at Dark Horse, as well as huge properties like Clive Barker’s “Nightbreed” comics, multiple Stephen King comics, and “Robocop: To Live and Die in Detroit,” just to name a few of the mainstream titles he’s worked on. Kowalski’s gritty yet somewhat cartoonish style lends itself to a multitude of genres and sub-genres and his work speaks for itself as he is able to mold his style into myriad comics.
Colorist Vladimir Popov is another one who doesn’t have a huge comic history, but he has been a part of some very cool books namely Clive Barker’s “Hellraiser: The Dark Watch” at Boom Studios and “The Last Book You’ll Ever Read” from Vault Comics, among other titles. Popov brings a brilliance to the work that can only be described as colorful and bright. No matter how grisly the image on the page, Popov will bring an energy to it that is almost totally unexpected. With this comic, he adds a shining palette of Americana on some horrific illustrations. Closing out the creative team is letterer Joshua Reed. Reed is an experienced letterer and designer across an incredible amount of books, many of which are at DC, Marvel, and smaller publishers like Aspen MLT. He’s worked with some of the biggest and smallest names in comics and can pivot to fit any kind of story put in front of him.
What’s This All About?
“Where Monsters Lie” follows a group of serial killers, all of which could have been ripped from the screens dominated by the slasher killer. All of these characters and the town they inhabit feel like they could have been dreamt up by the horror writers of the 70s and 80s. To use names most people know, this series feels like Wes Craven, Stephen King, and David Lynch got together to make a slasher t.v. series.
So, Why Should I Read This?
Starks’s writing blends quirky horror with quaint melodrama to shocking and heartfelt effect. Kowalski gleefully gives us a mix of pulpy grit and small town comfort with each of the characters and small slice of middle America on display. There is almost a cute nature to both the writing and the artwork that lends itself to making us almost feel more sympathetic to these monstrous murderers than their prey.
Right from the first issue readers are sent spiraling due to their feelings that these killers are the main characters and they should be the center of our universe as well, and feeling the true terror in the fact they are going to bring their terrible wrath down upon many an innocent and unsuspecting victim. The surreal nature of the entire comic is front and center and somehow balances this fantastical world that has gimmicky slasher killers all living together in a small community while the rest of normal society moves on blissfully unaware of the horrid little neighborhood just out of sight. The writing and the art crafts plenty of scares, dark humor, and even ennui. Come for the horror, stay for the bizarre (and totally blood soaked) character study.
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How Can You Read It?
Issue 3 released this week with issue 4 dropping next month, so this is an unbelievably easy miniseries to catch up on.
