Writer: Mike Richardson
Artist: Todd Herman
Publisher: Dark Horse
Price: $9.95
Release Date: December 12th
Cut is another entry into Dark Horse’s horror collective, an original graphic novel that clocks in at 112 full colour pages, for less than 10 bucks it seems pretty reasonable. The story revolves around Meagan, a girl who finds herself at the beginning of this tale waking up in an empty room in what appears to be a deserted old house. She has no idea how she got there, or why her head is bleeding. The window is boarded up and the door is locked, there is no way out and there appears to be something inhuman lurking outside.
A glance at the cover for this book pretty much gives away the not-so-shocking reveal of what has whisked Meagan away, and to be honest with the way the story unfolds Cut doesn’t really try to present it as too much of a shock. What follows is pretty much a run through what compromises a teen horror movie these days. Other vict…I mean characters are placed in the same predicament, escapes are attempted, flashbacks are presented, nasty things happen in a gratuitous way.
The artwork from penciller Todd Herman (The Fog also from Dark Horse) is very good. Considering the limitations of the script in terms of locations, he does a great job, utilising a Mignola-lite approach that allows for good characterisations and framing devices. I am not so impressed by Mike Richardson’s writing, the creator of The Mask seems to be continuing a path he set down with his earlier comic work The Secret - namely taking existing filmic storylines and creating comics that don’t really offer anything new.
Despite being 112 pages, this story could have been done in less than half the pages, a single 22 page comic would suffice. The idea is not as original as it likes to think, simply being a cross between Jeepers Creepers and a Masters of Horror episode. Flabby and lacking in tension, Cut is a reasonable attempt at a horror story that I fear has been presented in the wrong format.
James Dodsworth - Born and raised in Yorkshire, residing in London since 2000, James has a Law Degree and works for the Anti-Financial Crime Office of a International Asset Management Company. He is a writer and editor for FractalMatter.com.
But his main claim to fame is living next to the pub where Shaun of the Dead was conceived.