THE CREEP #0

Review by: LoyalBlood

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Avg Rating: 4.2
 
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Writer: John Arcudi
Artist: Jonathan Case
Cover Artist: Frank Miller

Size: 32 pages
Price: 2.99

A boy places a shotgun in his mouth as leaves fall from a tree outside his bedroom window.

Colored in warm, autumnal tones, this opening scene of the fantastic Creep #0 immediately cuts to a world of grays and shadowy blues, a world occupied by Oxel, a private investigator who suffers from a disfiguring hormonal disease that gives him a monstrous, hulk-like appearance. These contrasting color palettes continue throughout the book, setting up a contrast between the world that Oxel sees and lives in, and that of his past, his memories and his imaginings.

Oxel has received a letter from Stephanie, the mother of the boy who has committed suicide and the woman who broke his heart more than 20 years ago. Unsettling facts surround her son’s death, and she is asking for Oxel’s help. A sturdy noir detective setup, sure, but layered with striking complexity by “BPRD”‘s John Arcudi. Without the fantastic elements that are essential to his work on “BPRD,” Arcudi’s writing here goes for the heart and the gut; balancing pathos, noir convention, hallucinatory shocks and a rising sense of grim unease. Like the distinct color schemes used, Arcundi’s dialogue, in particular, captures the volatile grief of mothers who have lost their children and juxtaposes it against the cold interior thoughts of a man who once belonged to the world and now finds himself somewhere around the ass-end of it.

As in last year’s chilling-yet-touching graphic novel “The Green River Killer,” artist Jonathan Case employs a brilliant economy of expression here to present what, in less skilled hands, could be cheap and sensational material as something resonant and disturbing. His treatment of a surprise encounter with a mysterious bear, and a scene aboard a train as Oxel travels to begin his investigation, had me immediately moving his name onto my Will-Buy-Anything-They-Draw list.

I had no idea what to expect from Creep #0, picked it up sight-unseen. As you know, that’s a strategy that rarely pays off. What I got, however, was a powerful issue of comic art, a dark ride chauffeured by a fantastic pairing of talent.

I can’t recommend a better comic this week.

Story: 4 - Very Good
Art: 5 - Excellent

Comments

  1. I’m with you. Great 0 issue. Arcudi’s given himself somewhere to go and I can’t wait to see where he takes it.

  2. I agree, it was a pretty interesting series. Good review.

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