A family on vacation in a winnebago find themselves stranded after visiting a strange carnival. And that’s just the beginning of their problems.
Read on below for our full, (mostly) spoiler free advance review of the upcoming “Winnebago Graveyard” #1
Written by Steve Niles
Illustrated by Alison Sampson
Coloured by Stephane Paitreau
Lettered by Aditya Bidikar
An American family traveling on vacation finds themselves stranded in a small town with a sinister secret.
I’ve been itching to get my hands on “Winnebago Graveyard” #1 ever since I heard about it at Thought Bubble in 2015. I was incredibly excited to see what Alison Sampson was working on next after seeing her comics debut in “Genesis” and her evolution as a comic artist. Throw in Steve Niles’s writing, a stranded family in a demented carnival and Satanists and you might as well have a comic that’s titled “For Alice W. Castle, With Love.”
The first issue of the “Winnebago Graveyard” miniseries is structured almost as two halves, with the opening half of the issue setting up the inevitable horror that will befall the clueless family that the audience follows in the second half. This is fascinating for a couple of reasons. For one, it allows Sampson and Niles to frontload the issue with horror. The opening of the issue is a mission statement in how Sampson’s moody, atmospheric art and Niles’s sparse, to-the-point writing gel to create gut-wrenching horror. They follow that up with the rest of the issue following the poor souls that you just know will inevitably get caught up in that nightmare and lets you wallow in the tension that brings.
The opening scene is clearly what Niles and Sampson are using to sell the book, you can see some of the pages in most previews for the issue, and it’s easy to see why. It’s a pure showcase of the way Alison Sampson and colour artist Stephane Paitreau are able to infuse a sense of dread into the artwork. In the opening pages, Sampson uses large panels, two or three per page, as a couple are dragged from their beds by robed figures. This use of a few, large panels per page makes the assumed movement of the robed figures between panels feel like they are floating, an endlessly encroaching doom. It immediately evokes a sense of dread, giving a feeling of otherness to the figures. The faces of the couple, frozen in fear, are haunting as they wonder what fate awaits them.
From there, Stephane Paitreau beings to introduce garish warm colours to the otherwise very cold palette of the night. The contrast between the blue and purple light of the moonlight with the reds and oranges as… well, something happens. I don’t want to ruin the surprise all together, but it’s the culmination of the rising dread created from the first page and not only leaves the reader with a number of questions, but shows that Niles and Sampson aren’t messing around. The opening sequence is allows the story to be told and the horror to be conveyed primarily through the artwork. Other than a few snippets of dialogue, the sequence is played mostly silent and it’s an interesting move. It isolates the audience from the scene in a strange way. We’re not part of the scene, engaging in the thoughts of the characters, but forced witnesses of the unfolding horror.
I don’t want to get too into the rest of the issue because the way Niles and Sampson unwind from that incredible peak of tension release is a large part in how they create the hook for the rest of series. While the issue opened with a largely silent and horrific scene, the rest of the issue introduces us to the actual characters of the story and the somewhat dysfunctional family dynamic they have. Things slow down, letting the reader catch their breath and reorient themselves within the world of the comic. Stephane Paitreau brings a much brighter, warmer palette to the daytime scenes, the blues of the sky and the warm sand provide a much softer contrast. Sampson’s panel density increases to explore the more fluid motions of the characters, focusing on their body language and facial expressions and how that builds the connections between them.
Continued belowThat’s not to say the latter half of the issue is entirely devoid of spooks, though, as the family enters a carnival and Sampson and Niles bring back that sense of silent montage. It’s a brief page, but that recurring element of watching the characters with no connection to them through the dialogue reminds the reader of the dread conjured by the opening scenes of the book. The same is achieved by Stephane Paitreau slowing bringing in that blue/purple palette of night time. Slowly, as the sun sets across the pages, the contrasts in the colours become much harsher. The blues are deeper, the reds more garish and mixed with sickly greens and orange as the reader realises that they’ve just watched another set of characters stumble into a nightmare.
“Winnebago Graveyard” #1 is a masterclass in creating subtle, atmospheric horror. Every element of the comic works not just to build tension, but to create atmosphere and guide readers into and out of a nightmare. And just when the readers think they’re safe, Niles, Sampson and Paitreau slowly begin to reintroduce these elements before the reader can realise they’ve slipped back into that nightmare. It’s that sense of oppressive atmosphere that weighs you down as you read, that sense of helpless horror as you watch bad things happen without the ability to warn or help the characters.
And all of that isn’t even mentioning the back matter with essays and additional art that explore horror and satanism in the real world, delving deeper beyond the themes of the comic itself. This is one that will stay with me for a while.
Final Verdict: 9.0 – A stunning debut that is a reminder that horror doesn’t have to rely on gore or shocking imagery to be scary, but attention to detail and use of tension can do the job just as well.
“Winnebago Graveyard” #1 will be released by Image Comics on June 14. Final Order Cutoff for the issue is May 22 and the Diamond order codes for the issue are: Cover A (Sampson) APR170723 and Cover B (Helen Chen) APR170724.
Stay tuned for an interview about the issue with Steve Niles and Alison Sampson.
