A new horror series from Steve Niles is going to get me to take notice. Having Szymon Kudranski makes me even more intrigued. So, going into A Town Called Terror #1 I only knew the basics of the flavor text released and the duo’s previous works to set my expectations. A dark, brooding mystery, with an interesting build is what I thought the first issue would deliver and for the most part, I was right.
The teaser text for the series describes a story about a husband who is kidnapped and the wife that has no idea why and trouble proving that he has been. That alone had me hooked as a concept. Was she making it up? Is there something more? But what Niles has cooked up is something rather different. We generally know why the husband has been kidnapped. We don’t know why things were handled the way they were. It’s a mystery but not at all as to what I was expected. That teaser concept is there but A Town Called Terror #1 is far more different than just that.
The debut issue teases us with family drama and a “magical” world but the details are scarce. It seems to have to do with monsters and a son who wanted to get away from it all but beyond that, we’ll have to keep on reading to discover all of the details. It’s an intriguing start, just not what I was expecting.
Kudranski’s art, along with Scott O. Brown’s lettering, creates a dark and moody world. It has a feel in some ways of old-school horror comics and stories where the small details tell as much about the world as everything else. As our kidnapped victim is taken home, we’re treated to creatures, statues, plants, and more that tell us stories about the world he’s entered. The comic opens in a laboratory which too begs the reader to linger and attempt to discover what’s going on. The comic is visually nice but it’s the small details that really stand out here.
A Town Called Terror #1 is an interesting start. It’s not what I expected at all. I thought I was getting into a psychological horror story about a missing husband. While that’s there, there’s also elements of a pulp horror story about family. It’ll be interesting to see where it all goes but as far as starts, this is an intriguing one.
Story: Steve Niles Art: Szymon Kudranski Letterer: Scott O. Brown
Story: 7.75 Art: 8.0 Overall: 7.75 Recommendation: Read
Image Comics provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: comiXology/Kindle – Zeus Comics – TFAW
Source: Graphic Policy
