Wednesday Review: Krampus the Shadow of Saint Nicholas

Timing was a bit inconvenient for Krampus: The Shadow of Saint Nicholas. It was originally to be released 3 days before the film it draws inspiration from. However, the film was delayed by a week, and I'm sure I'm not the only Dougherty fan who read it before seeing the film. I strongly advise anyone else against doing this, because the exposition needed to understand the comic is in the film. I don't believe Krampus is ever even mentioned by name, let alone his servants.

There's also a lot of debate about the ending of the film that is indirectly resolved in this comic. Of the two competing theories regarding the film's end, only one seems supported by this comic. I take that as canon...and a massive spoiler

While based on Krampus, this comic better fits the style of Trick 'R Treat and it's tie-in comic. It's an anthology telling three stories, happening on the same night, and tying into sins of the past that Krampus comes to punish. Each of the stories are short enough that telling too much would spoil.

The three are based around an alcoholic Vietnam veteran turned mall Santa, a policewoman dealing with guilt over the death of her sister, and a family that seeks shelter in a large home after being evicted from their house. For my money, I'd say the middle story is the best. It's fairly standalone, and easy to follow. You could actually remove Krampus from it entirely and have a touching and tragic one-shot.

Is the comic as good as the movie? No. But, it's good. Good enough that I recommend picking up a copy right after you finish the film. I wish this review could be longer, but I'm biting my tongue to hold back the surprises.

Wednesday Review: Trick 'R Treat: Days of the Dead

This is the closest to the wire I've come when writing a Wednesday Review. As I write this, it's Monday morning (as I edit it it's Tuesday), and my breakfast is cooking (ditto). The reason I've waited so late (for me, anyway) is that I'm utterly intimidated by this subject matter. Trick 'R Treat is my favorite movie of all time, so the idea of reviewing any continuation of it is frightening, because I have a simultaneous desire to both love and despise the work.

I'd like to begin by saying that Days of the Dead is definitely not Trick 'R Treat 2. The comic deals with four, mostly unconnected stories, set centuries apart. I get the impression that Dougherty knew some of his stories would be too expensive to adapt with any budget likely to be given to a Trick 'R Treat movie, so he gave us the major events in Sam's existence in comic book form. I expect the actual movies will continue to consists of nights that, from Sam's perspective at least, are relatively uneventful.

The premise of the comic is that a little girl is frightened by Halloween, and her grandfather tells her four stories in an effort to make her more comfortable going trick-or-treating. During the stories the two sit on their front porch, with the grandfather carving a pumpkin, creating an obvious visual reference to Charlie and Principal Wilkins from the original film.

As with Trick 'R Treat Sam's role is not prominent in all the stories. Here, he's an active participant in only the first two, reversing the structure of the original film, where Sam's story was told last. These two stories give us a much greater incite into Sam's origin, nature, and true power. The movie showed us what happens when Sam get's annoyed, here we find out what happens when he gets mad.

The reason for this flip in the structure seems to be two-fold: Firstly, the stories are told chronologically. More importantly, the comic has an in-universe narrator, telling the stories in ascending order of personal importance. The final story is the only one that happened within his lifetime, and thus the most significant to him.

The art is very...ok. Each section is done by a different artist, in a different style. However, I'm not sure if this was an artistic choice, or merely one of convenience. The first and third stories (“Seed” and “Echoes”) go for more stylized art, while the second and last (“Corn Maiden” and “Monster Mash”) are drawn more realistically. I can't find any pattern there, and I somewhat suspect they had four different artists due to time constraints. “Corn Maiden” in particular is a baffling choice, being set in a time and a culture far more removed from the narrator than “Echoes,” I would have expected it to have the more abstract style.

As for my opinions on the quality of the stories, I'd say they vary quite significantly. They're not bad. Dougherty doesn't really write “bad,” but this doesn't match the perfection of his Magnum Opus. I'd say “Seed” and “Monster Mash” are easily the best of the bunch, with “Corn Maiden” coming in third. The first and last stories alone, however, are easily worth the price of the comic.

I sincerely hope that Trick 'R Treat 2 is on it's way. It's unlikely to live up the original's glory, but Sam is still desperately in need of another run. Until then, however, this nice little comic book should tide us over.

Wednesday Review: Prime Cuts

Prime Cuts, Volume 1 can be purchased at IndyPlanet.com; please visit www.primecutsnovel for more information.

 

This is a first for me: the first time I've been asked by the makers to review a product. I was quite surprised. I don't exactly have a large readership. But I'm more than happy to do it. I was also excited when I found out that it was written by John Franklin (Isaac from Children of the Corn), and Tim Sulka (his co-writer for Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return).

That said, I wish I had something good to say about this comic. I really have racked my brain for something positive or something I enjoyed about it, and I just have nothing. I didn't especially hate it, it isn't really long enough to hate, but it doesn't seem to know how to tell it's own story.

The first volume is short enough that I can't reveal too much without spoilers, but I'll cover what I can.

Firstly, I can tell the artist is going for an abstract style, but when proportions change so much between panels, it just looks sloppy. There's no real sense of weight or speed given to anything, even in scenes depicting acts of violence. They just look goofy.

More significantly, though, is the story. It's quite obviously a retelling of Sweeney Todd, but the comic still needs to hammer this home when the protagonist calls himself “Todd Sweeney.” Todd is a barber released from a prison run by monks into a world suffering from a meat shortage, and is sexually assaulted by two different people who give him rides on his way to take revenge on the barber who killed his family. I'm not going go spend this review debating the merits of sexual assault in horror, but I will say that I don't know why it needs to happen twice in a volume already so short.

I could probably still deal with all of this if the characters were remotely compelling, but the story moves too quickly for real development. The woman who seems intended as Todd's love interest seems to help him for...reasons. I suspect the writers were limited in how many pages they could include, and wanted to make sure that something significant happened before the end of the first volume to draw the readers back in. Personally, I think they would have had better luck with flashbacks, or even flash forwards.

I've tried hard to find something good to say about this comic. My readers know I can usually find good qualities even in crappy works. But here I just have nothing. Unless you really want to read a comic by Isaac, skip this one.