With shades of Hunger Games, The Village, and Vertigo mainstay “Fables,” “Hinterkind” is an intriguing and welcomed addition to DC’s mature reader imprint.
Written by Ian Edington
Illustrated by Francesco Trifogli“Men go and come, but Earth abides.”— Ecclesiastes 1:4
Decades after “The Blight” all but wiped out the human race, Mother Nature is taking back what’s hers, and she’s not alone…The Hinterkind have returned.
From the last, lost corners of the world they come, a myriad menagerie of myth and magic…but these aren’t childhood fairytale creatures. They are flesh, blood and passion, and they have a long-simmering hatred for those who drove them into the shadows: The human race!
After her grandfather disappears, Prosper Monday must leave the security and seclusion of their Central Park village to venture into the wilds to find him, unaware of how much the world has changed. Or how hungry it has become…
As big DC guy, as well as an advocate for original creator-owned IP’s, it pains me to see Vertigo fall by the wayside over the past few years. The last wave of titles faired not so well, with only the “Fables” connected “Fairest” sticking around. While “The Wake” and “Trillium” have been on the stands for a good while (garnering a lot of critical praise, I might add), “Hinterkind” follows “Federal Bureau of Psychics” as the second of a new wave of ongoing series. With this distinction comes a lot of pressure, the hope of the next “Scalped” or “Y: The Last Man.” Well (I apologize profusely in advance for this), “Hinterkind” may not be the comic the Vertigo imprint deserves, but it might just be the one it needs right now.
“Hinterkind” sets its focus on a couple of youths; Prosper Monday (or “P”) and Angus. The two could easily be mistaken for Katniss and Peeta of the Hunger Games trilogy, all the moreso considering the book’s post-apocalyptic backdrop. Though world has “moved on,” as it were, the infrastructural skeleton remains. Skyscrapers, overgrown with vegetation, line the horizon. Bridges remain intact, and people still refer to places like Albany and Chicago. All of this, taken together, paints a conflicting picture as to the nature of the “Blight” and its affect on the world. The issue gives a time frame of reference, “Seven months for humanity to go from the top of the food chain to endangered species,” but it doesn’t explicitly state how long the world has been this way. As in books like “The Walking Dead,” this sense of mystery helps hook the reader in early.
Outside of our two protagonists, the book’s main hook is the titular “hinterkind;” a group of typical mythical creatures ranging from trolls, to fairies, to three-horned unicorns. Ok, maybe not so typical. Outside of the explicit purview of the hinterkind are other abnormalities, bizarre animal hybrids and, what appears to be, a stealth crossover with Jeff Lemire’s “Sweet Tooth.” While this strange, hidden world, takes a bit of backseat in this first issue (thankfully, in favor of character development), it’s definitely an interesting blend of several well-worn tropes.
As mentioned, much of the first issue is dedicated to fleshing out the book’s major players. Outside of P and Angus, characters that initially stand out are Asa, P’s grandfather and town doctor, town councilman Ross, and his wife. Other, seemingly important, characters are mentioned but not seen, laying potential plot threads for upcoming issues. It’s worth noting that Edington shifts P and Angus’ redneck dialect to a more educated and fully enunciated one halfway through the issue, making it a bit hard to peg the background and personality of these characters. The cast is surprisingly engaging and well developed for the first issue of a new property.
Francesco Trifogli, a relative newcomer whose previous credits include last year’s “Mystery in Space” anthology one-shot, paired with colorist Cris Peter, do a fantastic job at bring the lush world of “Hinterkind” to life on the page. If nothing else from the issue sticks with you, it will be the appearance of the jungle-fied NYC. Everything is lush greens and brilliant sunlight, making the world into a serene paradise compared to the polluted, congested, concrete jungle of reality. The character look great, but the various animals and creatures look even better. While the duo doesn’t quite elicit the kind of awe that might suggest “the next big thing,” they certainly make a decent splash.
Continued belowOne thing that doesn’t quite work is the “First Book of Monday,” excerpts. These narrative captions help relate some necessary background information to the reader, but ultimately seem a little too much. It’s not explicitly stated, but based on the information given, the Monday in question seems to be P, with the “First Book” being something she writes later on in life. As such, the device does little more than the usual internal first person narration would’ve accomplished. The dramatic prose and faux-biblical nomenclature add more contrivance than depth, at least at this point. While I wouldn’t discourage its use in future, a little context, like with the Feynman journals in “Manhattan Projects,” would be great.
Overall “Hinterkind” #1 is an above average title, in an imprint that is sorely hurting for new content. If Edington and Trifogli had released the book through Image, it would likely get lost in the shuffle of the fantastic content the publisher continues to churn out. The book, while engaging and interesting, lacks a unique voice or hook. Much of the issue feels like an amalgam of various properties, without ever expanding upon them. At Vertigo, however, the book just might be able to find a niche. And, in turn, with the help of other upcoming series like “Coffin Hill” and “Sandman: Overture,” books like “Hinterkind” just might help revitalize the once great imprint.
Final Verdict: 7.8 – Buy. It may not be groundbreaking or revolutionary, but “Hinterkind’s” blending of the fantasy and apocalyptic genres may yet be an interesting launchpad for future stories.
