Horror hounds are a strange breed. I know because I am one of them. We’ll sit through the stupidest stuff just to catch a bit of what we crave – jump scares, inventive violence, and gooey gore. We’ll tolerate terrible scripts, worse acting, and dull direction to get a little bit of that ultra-violence. At least that’s how it is with us horror movie hounds. Outside of Stephen King, I don’t really read a lot of horror books or comics. But I assume it is similar in those mediums.
Buy Storm King Comics Dark & Twisted: The Killing Hole book
Storm King Comics ought to know a thing or two about that. For ten years, the company’s creators Sandy King and her husband John Carpenter have been releasing a varied collection of horror and science fiction comics from an eclectic group of writers and artists. The Killing Hole from 30 Days of Night creator Steve Niles is their latest release.
It is actually a bit of an odd release for a horror imprint as it is more of a character sketch, a hangout comic, than a fright-filled horror show. Set in a small town in the 1970s, the book follows Stewart, a lonely 14-year-old boy. He likes punk rock and horror movies, which makes him an outcast amongst his peers. His parents are recently divorced; his mom is a functioning alcoholic who works long hours and still can’t afford to move them out of the poor side of town. He calls himself a loner to protect himself from the fact that he desperately wants a friend.
He finds that friend in Peter. A recent transfer who lives nearby and has it worse than Stewart. Abject poverty, an absent father, and an abusive mother all collide together to make Peter angry at the world. But Stewart and Peter form an inseparable bond. They steal beers from liquor stores and pot from Stewart’s sister. They skip school, listen to music, and generally get into juvenile delinquency. They get in trouble with the cops, but nothing major. With a title like The Killing Hole and being published by the Dark & Twisted imprint of Storm King Comics, you know things are going to take a turn. And they do; in ways I won’t spoil here, but they aren’t quite as violent or horrible as one might imagine.
That’s actually my biggest complaint with the book. It never gets quite as, well, dark and twisted as I hoped. For most of its pages, the comic is just about these two loner kids becoming friends. Stewart is your typical awkward, outsider teen. He’s full of angst and fed up with his lot in life, but he’s not a bad kid. Peter has a much darker side. There’s something not quite right about him, something Stewart can see, and is a little afraid of, but puts up with because he doesn’t want to lose his only friend. In its final act, things do take a turn for the violent, but it remains in the realm of realism. It never leaps into the pit of depravity that I was expecting. Writer Steve Niles loosely based the story on his own childhood and it has that lived-in quality to it.
Earlier I called it a “character sketch,” intentionally not using the word “study” as this volume is too slim to do a deep dive into these characters. But it feels real. As someone who grew up liking horror movies and alternative music and was a bit of a loner myself, I understand who Stewart is.
The writing is mostly fine. It is told from Stewart’s perspective which is periodically a bit grating, but mostly fine. It is bookended in the present day with an older Stewart telling his story to someone. Something I didn’t find added to the story at all. But again, fine. The artwork by Trevor Denham (with coloring by Ryan Winn and penciling by Janice Chiang) is where The Killing Hole stands out. It has that washed-out, gritty 1970s horror movie look to it, with lots of time spent in small dark spaces that reflect the boy’s mood.
If you are a horror hound looking for some extreme violence and gore, you may be disappointed with The Killing Hole, although at the same time, you might be pleasantly surprised by the story. I know I was.
