Posted in: Comics | Tagged: boom studios, Comics, entertainment, Rowans Ruin, Tortured Life, Tpub

Mac's Books: Chapter One – Rowans Ruin And Tortured Life

Published Mon, 14 Sep 2015 16:00:17 -0500

By Olly MacNamee

A monthly review spotlighting the best titles the industry has to offer. Well, has to offer me anyway. Other comic-book titles are available.

With some top rate comics out this month, or imminently out shortly, I will be posting more than one edition, or 'chapter' of this month's Mac's Books, starting with a relatively spoiler free review of Mike Perkins and Mike Carey's Rowans Ruin (previously previewed here), as well as a review of the new T Pub offering, Tortured Life, out just in time for Christmas and the tale-end of the UK comic-con season.

WARNING! May contain some minor spoilers

Rowans Ruin No.1 (Boom Studios)

Writer: Mike Carey

Artist: Mike Perkins

A panic-stricken emergency caller desperately tries to reach out for help and warn the outside world of the shadow of death that hangs over Rowans Rise, a desolate, dark moody mansion, as presented by the able hands of artist Mike Perkins, but the call is never completed and the line goes dead. But, has the victim?

Rowans Ruin certainly throws the reader straight into the action, and at a punchy pace too, as we witness our protagonist do anything to outrun whatever evil is pursuing her. As such, the first few pages of Rowans Ruin successfully disorientate the reader, which is only right for a comic firmly rooted within the tradition of suspense and horror, and a very British type of horror at that. Think Hammer House of Horror and you've got the right vibe for this title.

Cut to six months earlier and the introduction of light, pastel colours that illuminate the page offer the reader a much brighter, optimistic start to our hero's journey. Years of experience tells us that this will end in tears, but I just can't help to get drawn into the unfolding story of the young female lead, Katie, wanting to house swap in the good old UK and see some of the world: a common enough dream to have, which we know from the opening pages can only end up as a nightmare.

With a house-swap sorted, our Florida based femme heads off to Blighty swapping Modernist Florida with the age-old countryside of England; Shakespeare's Stratford-Upon-Avon; beautifully captured by Perkins, who knows the area well from being brought up in the Midlands, I dare say. After all, Britain is a country with a history, a history littered with spooky superstitions and the like, with elements of these archaic, dark practices littering the book. Whatever lurks within the grounds of Rowans Rise, one can only assume is an ancient power. The world of the old, juxtaposes the modern world well, even affecting it at times, it would seem. Katie seems to be reliant on technology, and I feel this may not be a good thing to be reliant upon.

Rowans Rise, the mansion Katie has been kindly offered for the summer, is a different place altogether in the sunlight. A very British affair, as is the local community that can seem stuck in an amber past. Mike Carey delivers a country community that is relatable and not without its charm, as Katie finds out one night in the local boozer (that's 'pub' to my American friends out there). Meanwhile, back in Florida, Rowans Rise resident, Emily, seems 'haunted' and withdrawn.

The book hints at darker problems, not only back in Florida with Emily, but also back in England too. Katie has 'broken nights' which her mother worries are symptoms of some 'old problem', and she is warned off from entering Emily's room; a classic conventions we just know is going to be unheeded as the plot progresses.

The whole book, as illustrated by Perkins, is both lush when depicting Britain in bloom, while aptly atmospheric and moody when focusing on the horror lurking within the walls of Rowans Rise. Perkins can switch between the two effortlessly and at times it is to his credit that, if it weren't for Carey's dialogue effortlessly leading the reader into scenes far removed from the terror, I'd forget I was even reading a haunting thriller that only begins to scratch the surface of the darkness that lies beneath.

Katie has a bad feeling about this that is shared by the readership. What that is and how, six months later, it forces her to run for her life, will no doubt be revealed in subsequent issues.

Retailers, you'd better act fast, as Monday 14^th September, is the cut-off date for orders to be placed. Have at it, people. The order code is: AUG151194

Tortured Life (T Pub)

Writer: Neil Gibson/Dan Watters

Artists: Capsar Wjingaard

Sticking with the genre of horror, I now turn your attention to T Pub's newest original graphic novel, Tortured Life, which tells the story of Ricky Carter, a man who has chosen to be a 'shut-in' because of his disturbing power, his ability to see how people die. Needless to say, this does not make him the best of companions for a night out, or the best of boyfriends, especially when he confesses to his girlfriend that he has seen how she dies: an immediate relationship killer.

Upon summoning up the courage to leave his house he is met first by the sight of death on every corner and on every park bench before being surprised by a vision of beauty, youth and exuberance, Alice McNeilly, his would-be guardian angel and spectral companion. But, no sooner does he meet Alice than he is also witness to the coming of The Bloodyman, a supernatural bounty hunter and Alice's assassin when alive.

After fleeing from the unrelenting Bloodyman, Ricky is soon in deep with no turning back as he receives horrific visitations at night and from an astral entity that shares his own facial features but who's décor clearly suggests he has been as dead as disco for as long as disco itself has been dead.

To me, the best horror is the horror that cannot be outrun, and the Bloodyman is that horror personified and brilliantly imagined by Caspar Wijngaard as a bloody, dripping, walking corpse stripped of all flesh or morality and wonderfully realized in the writing of T Pub newcomer, Dan Watters, who adds a flash of dark humour to proceedings, alleviating the relentlessness of the Bloodyman's ruthless nature. Even his shady overlords cannot seem to keep him on a leash as his bloodlust and love for the job gets the better of him. And, as Ricky goes deeper into this particular rabbit hole, any hope he has of escaping his enemy – and whoever he is working for – soon evaporates away as he is met at each and every turn by more, and even bigger, enemies and colluders who's ultimate goal is to cheat death itself and obtain immortality at any cost.

Of course, one could easily read into this the age-old tale of absolute power going unchecked and the consequences for society when an elite few control the means and distribution of production and treating the majority as cattle to be reared and slaughtered, and on one level, it is certainly this too, with anyone and everyone up for sale. But, as a story of horror, nightmares and conspiracies and claustrophobia it is at its best. Ricky, a seemingly everyman figure becomes embroiled into a world he simply cannot fathom or even begin to control. Running is simply all that is left open to home as an option.

Ricky is a likeable protagonist and Alice makes for a great 'straight man' to his morose outlook on a life he rightly feels has let him down, but it is The Bloodyman himself who will be remembered for a time to come, thanks to having all the best lines and an undying determination some might see as commendable in different circumstances. Could this be T Pub's breakout character I wonder? An otherworldly killer who is only too happy to adopt the fashions of the day, no better realized as when we see him in the 1970's and dressed in the punk-rock sensibilities of the day, all spiked hair and attitude. I suspect – nay, hope – that we have not seen the last of this decomposing demon.

Out now as a collected edition of all six issues you can get your copy at comic cons up and down the country before it is on general release later in the year.

That's my recommendations for this month.

Be seeing you.

Olly MacNamee teaches English and Media, for his sins, in a school somewhere in Birmingham. Some days, even he doesn't know where it is. Follow him on twitter @ollymacnamee or read about his exploits at olly.macnamee@blogspot.co.uk. Or don't. You can also read his articles fairly frequently at www.bleedingcool.com too.

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