Anthology comics are wonderful. Generally, you get an assortment of stories from all sorts of perspectives, for much less cost and hassle than your average monthly comic. Avatar wants to jump in on the action, teaming up with Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill for “Cinema Purgatorio,” nominally a horror-themed anthology that’s just as willing to go off the rails as it is to elicit scares.
Curated by Alan Moore & Kevin O’Neill
Written by Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, Kieron Gillen, Max Brooks, and Christos Gage
Illustrated by Kevin O’Neill, Raulo Caceres, Ignacio Calero, Michael DiPascale, and Gabriel AndradeAlan Moore and Kevin O’Neill invite you, and some of the finest creators in comics, in to join them in a different kind of dark: Cinema Purgatorio! This ongoing monthly series will feature Alan and Kevin in every issue and is their first major new project together since League of Extraordinary Gentlemen! Anthology has become a dirty word, so far be it from us to clean it up. Instead we’ll shine our light onto the cutting edge of sequential art, with black and white artwork to allow illustrator’s pure visions, and the greatest assembly of writing talent ever gathered on one series. Every issue is perfect-bound, with no ads, and all of the works are very long-form, there are no collections planned before 2018. Jump in now and embrace the new future of comics. The one of which Alan Moore has always dreamed. It’s here, now. Hiding in the dark corner. Welcome to Cinema Purgatorio.
Recently, a wide assortment of creators have been making every effort to bring the anthology to Western audiences. Power houses like “Dark Horse Presents” continue to chug along; even though their page count got smaller, their content remains as strong as ever. Brandon Graham and Emma Ríos’s “Island” magazine consistently provides a wide breadth of cool content, and it’s seriously a better use of your time and attention than a vast majority of the comics on shelves. We’ve also seen Corey Lewis’s one man show, “Sun Bakery“, the digital “Fresh Romance” anthology, and even “Heavy Metal” reaching out by tapping Grant Morrison as their editor-in-chief. Now, Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill (who you might remember from such books as “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen”) launch a train of their own with “Cinema Purgatorio” #1. Originally a highly successful Kickstarter campaign and now released through gore galore publisher Avatar Press, the book assembles an assortment of talent and voices (almost exclusively masculine) for this seedy testament to the midnight showing.
Like with any anthology, some of the stories work well while others plod along. The weakest one comes courtesy of Max Brooks and Michael DiPascale, called ‘A More Perfect Union’. It’s an alternate history story about this Dirty Dozen-esque Civil War regiment and the Chamberlain brothers, specifically Thomas. Apparently giant insects are supposed to attack later (?), but the narrative here mostly focuses on Thomas getting ready to meet the troops while talking to some weird channeled spirit of his brother. It’s a boring story with kind of bland character work; Brooks repeats a lot of information within each scene, and the abrupt cliffhanger moment falls flat. DiPascale isn’t given a lot to do, though his line work probably remains among the more limpid, soft, and discerning of the artists. He tones his piece, and it gives the story a sort of old portrait photograph vibe. This may have been my least favorite story, but DiPascale’s work is the one I found most accessible and clear.
Stuff like ‘Code Pru’ from Garth Ennis with Raulo Caceres and Moore/O’Neill’s eponymous ‘Cinema Puragotorio’ are fine. The Ennis/Caceres story centers on this pair of paramedics talking down this vampire after he steps out into the sun. It’s a bit of a one-off story, despite the “To Be Continued…” tag, but Ennis does well to balance this funny/sad tone. Caceres’s artwork feels overdone for the material. He uses heavy Charles Burns shadows, but doesn’t do much to separate the foreground and background: it takes a moment in each panel to discern what’s going on. That being said, his character expressions and staging (once you figure them out) serve the story well to generate this quiet intensity.
Continued belowMoore and O’Neill’s piece opens the book, offering this framing device for both their story and the larger anthology. Like a meta-frame or something. Starting off in a Dreamworld movie theater, it eventually unfolds into this silent movie thing about police brutality in jolly old England. So Moore just up to his usual Moore-ness. O’Neill’s thin pen-and-inks lend this nauseating quality to the page, rendering the world a little bit jagged and a little bit off. He doesn’t give fire or gunshots any lines, and this blank space in the middle of the page makes them seem simultaneously unimaginable and terrifying.
There’s this other one, ‘The Vast,’ from Christos Gage and Gabriel Andrade, involving fighter jets and giant monsters. It’s exciting enough, though Andrade doesn’t do well to make it feel like it’s moving at some breakneck speeds. The setup of it is very manga inspired, but the delivery is sort of stalled. I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did, and I don’t know if it’s just okay or more of a misfire.
Honestly, the whole reason I came to this thing was because of Kieron Gillen and Ignacio Calero’s ‘Modded’. It’s like Pokémon set on the Fury Road. They’re called daemons over here, and Calero has a great deal of fun delivering these over the top battles between contestants. Gillen’s insane script calls for terms like “daemonatrix” and unnecessarily large vehicles; everyone speaks in this elevated fantasy language one part Middle Earth, another part electric guitar. If “The Wicked + The Divine” is Gillen with his most pop sensibilities, this one is him going full on metal. ‘Modded’ is not profound or literary, but it is a lot of fun and what more could we want from a piece like this?
As a collection, Moore and O’Neill mostly succeed in making a flowing and interesting reading experience. Their insight into sequencing the quieter stories with the more bombastic narratives gives the book an well-timed flow. It wasn’t until I was halfway into ‘A More Perfect Union’ before I registered its lifelessness, but that insipidness was rejuvenated by ‘The Vast’ after it. I mean, I understand its placement as a cool down from ‘Modded,’ but it didn’t need to put us completely to sleep.
There is, however, a distinct lack of non-male perspectives in the book. You could be like, “Oh, but that’s just Avatar’s M.O.” or whatever, but the absence of so much a female voice grants the book a BOY’S ONLY CLUB immaturity and triviality. Maybe that’s Avatar’s problem, too. All creators offer up a plethora of women characters, and, to my eyes, they are treated as characters rather than bimbos or sexy lamps or something. But I’m no where near the final word on that and I welcome different interpretations. (Please.) There aren’t many ballooning breasts or twisting backs or dignity-murdering poses, but I think the lack of a different voice or perspective holds the book back. This is opposed to the immensely superior “Island” magazine, which feels like a wide world rather than some random corner.
I did enjoy this collection a lot more than I thought I would. I figured it would be a slog to get through before the new Gillen story, but I was genuinely entertained by most of it. Additionally, I’m really about the concept of the anthology and hope more of them start appearing, covering more niche elements. “Cinema Purgatorio” could do with expanding its rosters and point-of-view, but there are more than a couple stories here I’m willing to keep my eye on.
Final Verdict: 6.5 – A well-curated collection of stories; come for the Gillen, hang around for some other interesting sights, wish for a broader talent pool.
