Jennifer Sims is looking for a big break into stage acting. She heads into her latest audition for a local production that is starting in a few short weeks, but upon arrival rehearsals have already begun and there is something off about the whole thing.
Cover by Maan HouseWritten by Cullen Bunn
Illustrated by Arjuna Susini
Colored by Hilary Jenkins
Lettered by Simon BowlandAnswering an audition ad for a new show at the legendary Requim Theatre, Jenn is anxious, but confident that she could land a role, maybe even one that will really jumpstart her career. The theater itself looks run down, abandoned even, but when she heads through the doors the majority of the cast has already been hired and they are mid-rehearsal. As soon as she meets the director, she is hired on the spot, measured for costuming, handed a script, and asked to join in on the rehearsal. It is equal parts every actor’s dream and nightmare.
After meeting the rest of the cast and joining in on a read-through, thing begin to escalate rapidly with odd secrets and revelations coming to the forefront almost immediately. A bizarre and creepy mystery begins to unfold as Jenn must decide if she is willing to sacrifice more than she bargained for for her art. Playing out like a heftier plot from The Twilight Zone, “Lamentation” #1 uses that similar mold in a format with more space to breathe, grow, and explore its ideas than the typical 20-ish minute horror anthology episode.
Cullen Bunn does what he does best with horror fantasy, allowing for the characters to become immersed in the world and whatever the supernatural threat turns out to be. With this group of actors, a costumer, a stage manager, and their director, Bunn sets the stage to give us an idea of what is going on in this theater while still allowing for the pieces of the puzzle to fall into place along the way. Apparently trapped inside until their show not only premieres, but is a successful hit, Jenn learns from her new companions that they have all been trapped, doomed to continuous rehearsals for months, with certain actors having previously been cast, dying in an attempt to escape. Such is the case with Jenn’s predecessor. Which is why Jenn was immediately hired to take on the lead role.
Having gone into this comic completely blind as to what it was about, all I knew was the title, I became more invested with every turn of the page. Intrigue and interest grew tenfold with every reveal, and most strongly with one of the main cruxes of the story. As this group of actors rehearses the show, the people and the events become more and more real. The script says its storming, rain and thunder make their way into the minds of the characters even though it is a clear night outside. The actors slip in and out of our world and the world of the play. They are essentially journeying back and forth between the stage and the Victorian era mystery printed on the page.
It isn’t a terribly original conceit, but the way Bunn so perfectly writes out his script, it is wholly effective. For a horror story, I found that the majority of the characters are likable, or at least relatable. No one is fully fleshed out just yet, and they probably won’t be terribly deep, but it doesn’t really matter. They are detailed enough to work for this story. The only one we know nothing about is whoever has been cast as the play’s villainous monster, Prince Razide. Giving off some Beauty and the Beast vibes of this prince roaming his castle pissed off and probably killing people, the masked man(?) looks like a cross between the Phantom of the Opera and the Batman villain, The Phantasm. It’s a pretty cool design that is both familiar and new enough to not feel like any more of a ripoff or homage than it should.
As for the design of the rest of the comic, the illustrations by Arjuna Susini are really great. The character designs are simple, and detailed in a way that captures the realism of the world they are creating. It’s both a modern looking comic that also nails its gothic vibes without leaning so far into it that it feels uneven when switching between the two time periods. It’s a beautifully rendered duality that works on every single page. Hilary Jenkins’s color work is a huge part of that as well, without trying to use multiple palettes in a heavy-handed way, the story’s colors change with the setting, but the plot is so engaging that it is hardly noticeable in the moment.
Continued belowI found myself so invested in where this story was going that the massive 48 page issue, 62 if you include all of the preamble and post-story pages, flew by and for the first time in a long time I actually re-read an issue on the spot just to immerse myself in this world a little longer and to make sure I didn’t miss anything during my first pass.
“Lamentation” #1 is the start of a three issue miniseries that thankfully seems to be allowing itself enough room, without being greedy, to tell this kind of layered horror fantasy. Where this story will go is anybody’s guess, but it really only has two paths it can take: a typical and predictable outcome that any horror fan has viewed or read in countless tales, or some fantastic twist of fate or creative choice to really take us on a journey.
Final Verdict: 8.5, a truly enjoyable and creepy horror tale that is full of spooky fun making it quite a page turner.
