Available at Amazon.com

STORY:
In a modernized spin on the classic story “Pigeons from Hell” by Robert E. Howard, we are following two African-American sisters and their friends into the murky swamplands to check out their inheritance: the old Blassenville manor. They quickly start to sense that something isn’t quite right in that ramshackle of a house, and things soon takes a sinister turn when one of the male characters falls through the rotten stairs and breaks his leg. After a failed attempt of getting out of the swamplands, they are being forced to stay the night in the manor.

REVIEW:
Robert E. Howards short story has seen several adaptions throughout the years, including an episode of Boris Karloff’s “Thriller” television series, and Scott Hampton’s comic adaption in 1988. As I was already familiar with the story, this release peeked my interest straight away. And seeing that the writer was Joe R. Lansdale (whom I was familiar with through the movie “Bubba Ho-Toep” which he wrote) I knew I had to check this one out.

Joe R. Lansdale has been able to write a very decent adaption of this classic tale, without taking away what originally made it so successful. His writing is excellent, and gives you a quick dive into each character’s personality and fills it up with natural and believable conversation that adds up both the tension and a little bit of humour in between. Well, sure, they are pretty much the common clichéd characters one can expect to find in a modern horror story, right from the “babe” girl type who’s pretty to look at but just plain stupid, to the “nerd guy” with glasses. It doesn’t take a clairvoyant to predict who’s gonna be killed and not. But hey – despite being tied up to a rather common slasher-type formula, it works pretty good. There’s a creepy old house, clever dialogue, humour, some blood ‘n gore, and a chock-full of tension and atmosphere. What more can you ask for?

The artist is Nathan Fox, a guy whose art I had yet to familiarize myself with, but I quickly got into his way of drawing. He works in a fairly rough style, but is able to create the perfect mood and atmosphere in every panel throughout. And there’s nothing bad to say about Dave Stewarts coloring either. Visually it’s a solid piece of work, and succeeds in creating a real environment and a really creepy house.

Most of those who are familiar with the original novel by Robert E. Howard, should still be able to enjoy this new adaption. Joe knew which elements to keep and what to change. Now if they could only start making horror movie remakes the same way…

EXTRAS:
Contains pages with notes from the writer, an afterword, a cover gallery, sketches with comments by the artist, and some bonus pinups. In other words, a very decent amount of material for those who enjoy the extra’s.

VERDICT:
8/10 – Enjoyable for most horror fans, contains both suspense and creepy moments as well as blood and gore.

Review by Peter Cropsy

Tags | horror comics