Imagine you could look just as good as you’ve always wanted to look. Imagine all those little insecurities about your physical appearance could just disappear. Imagine you could look movie star hot overnight, but the catch was that you had to contract an STD. Would you do it?
That’s the question posed by “The Beauty” #1. Read on for our spoiler free review of the issue to find out why you need to be checking this issue out.
Written by Jeremy Haun & Jason A. Hurley
Illustrated by Jeremy Haun
THE PILOT SEASON WINNER RETURNS! Modern society is obsessed with outward beauty. What if there was a way to guarantee you could become more and more beautiful every day? What if it was a sexually transmitted disease? In the world of The Beauty, physical perfection is attainable. The vast majority of the population has taken advantage of it, but Detectives Foster and Vaughn will soon discover it comes at a terrible price. Writer/artist JEREMY HAUN (Constantine, Batwoman) and co-writer JASON A. HURLEY offer up a startling reflection on the cost of looking good in this procedural science fiction tale.
In a world where we commodify and quantify something so trivial and intangible as physical attraction, “The Beauty” is the kind of book I’m surprised no one thought of until now. As you may have gathered if you read the solicit info up above, “The Beauty” is a story about a world where a new sexually transmitted disease has become the latest fashion trend as the disease has the side effects of causing anyone infected to become more physically attractive. That’s a high concept that is, frankly, genius and allows Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley to explore the darker corners of our obsessions with beauty and our capitalisation of attractiveness. However, a comic can’t live on a high concept alone, it has to back that up with a solid story and, thankfully, “The Beauty” #1 does just that.
One of the things that surprised me going into “The Beauty” #1 is that, for as weird and sci-fi as the high concept is, the core storyline is something of a serious police drama. After a cold open which shows a woman affected by The Beauty mysteriously dying on public transport, the comic follows two detectives as they’re charged with figuring out just what the hell happened. At first, I was a little apprehensive about this move as I worried that “The Beauty” would end up feeling like an expanded episode of The X-Files, but Haun and Hurley turned me around by bringing a surprising amount of depth to both characters. Haun and Hurley give both detectives their own quirks and personalities enough in this issue for them to feel like fully fledged characters stepping into this story with backstories that they are carrying with them. This brings that touch of depth to them and makes them feel real and a part of this world instead of plot-driving robots.
While I was surprised that “The Beauty” took the form of a police drama under how strange the high concept was, it does allow for a pretty varied first issue. Haun and Hurley only take the first couple of pages to get everyone up to speed on what The Beauty is before thrusting both the detectives and the reader into the case with a touch of horror. The first half of the issue takes things pretty slow, focusing on the horror of the death that sparks the story and the police drama that follows before kicking things up a notch with some action to cap off the issue. This pacing keeps the first issue feeling fresh and new as, while you’re told everything you need to know about The Beauty to begin with, the mystery becomes figuring out how someone infected by The Beauty is apparently killed by it. This is all wrapped up in a cliffhanger that poses a lot of interesting questions about what journey these characters will take and, providing the mystery surrounding the death that opens the issue grabs you, makes for a pretty good hook into the next issue.
It would be a terrible pun to call “The Beauty” beautiful. It would also be somewhat disingenuous. While Jeremy Haun’s artwork here is fantastic, the world he creates is not exactly pretty, not matter how attractive the people are. He creates a world that is dark and oppressive, focusing the story in subways and dark alleys and dingy sex clubs. It reminded me a lot of how David Fincher created the setting of “Se7en” to be as dark and awful as the crimes being committed there. Haun keeps the settings and the characters draped in heavy shadows, as if the weight of the The Beauty is weighing down on them. “The Beauty” is a gorgeous looking comic, but it’s beauty is in the grotesque details of the artwork.
Continued belowThis grotesque beauty is helped immensely by the colours by John Rauch. Rauch keeps a sickly green hue to many of the locations which, combined with the heavy shadows and the gritty inks of Haun’s, makes the world of “The Beauty” feel oppressive and haunting. However, one of the most interesting things Rauch does is how he colours the people infected with The Beauty. While many of the characters, especially those in the background, are given really muted colours to almost blend into the background while those infected with The Beauty seem to almost literally glow. There’s a radiance to them makes them stand out from the page that brings a really unnatural feelings to them. It’s an unnerving radiance that feels perfectly in tune with the kind of unnerving horror that underlines this book.
Overall, “The Beauty” #1 is a pretty solid first issue. While it’s the excellent high concept that will likely grab your attention, Jeremy Haun and Jason A. Hurley back that up with a solid crime drama that mixes an unnerving sense of horror with some solid action. Jeremy Haun is the real star of the show here as he performs as both co-writer and artist and brings a real sense of dread to both. His artwork here is grimey and grungey and paints a portrait of a run down world ravaged by this disease. “The Beauty” #1 presents a story of a darkness lingering underneath a pretty surface and it juxtaposes it with a setting where the darkness is on the surface. While I think the last page cliffhanger might not be a strong enough hook to bring everyone back for the next issue, I think “The Beauty” has enough to potential to go some incredibly interesting places.
Final Verdict: 7.6 – A strong debut with an incredible showing from Jeremy Haun that is both haunting and exhilarating.
