The Autumnal #3

The Autumnal #3

Vault Comics 2020

Written by Daniel Kraus

Illustrated by Chris Sheehan

Coloured by Jason Wordie

Lettered by Jim Campbell

A drunken bender lands Kat in front of a wise and handsome tattoo removal specialist, yet she's drawn back to eerie Comfort Notch, where a trove of old photos reveal the figure behind the town's ominous legends.

Well as Kat and Sybil try to acclimate to life in their new home we see how this is affecting the two of them, with differing results. Honestly I really expect Sybil to adjust more quickly since she is a kid and Kat has too many ideas firmed up in her head about this place to really actually let her guard down and see what’s around her. I kind of like the dynamic between mother and daughter and with the father out of the picture, for now, it really is nice to see at least some effort being made as well as what things mean to them.

There is something about the way that this is being told that keeps the illusion in place while under the surface there’s a monsoon happening. The way you can sense and feel the undercurrent while witnessing the events play out around town is something that is hard to put into accurate words and really needs to be felt and experienced rather than just told about. The story & plot development that we see through the way the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented beautifully. The character development that we see is fabulous and as we see how they interact with others and the dialogue being utilised to flesh them out alongside how they act and react tot the situations and circumstances they encounter is beautifully done. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story and a few clues along the way we’re treated to a very interesting ride.

I like the way that we see this structured and how the layers within the story emerge and continue throughout the book. How we see everything work together to create the story’s ebb & flow is utterly marvellous. There is a ese to how the reader goes through the story that much like the surface lulls you into a false sense of security be what lies underneath.

I do very much like the interiors that we see here. The first page is as close to a splash page as we get with that specific imagery is amazingly creepy. Right off the bat when this is what we see and that sets the tone for everything that is going to follow. The linework we see is great and I like how we see the varying weights being utilised to spotlight the detail work. There is also some very nice use of different techniques as well being seen throughout. I would like to see more backgrounds being utilised because when we see them they really do enhance the moments as well as bring us depth perception, a sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show an extremely talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is beautifully rendered. How we see the hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is exceptionally rendered.

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Anyone can do horror but to instill a sense of dread and give the reader the heebie jeebies that’s another matter entirely. I want to be creeped out, I want to see things that are unexpected and take me by surprise and just a bunch bodies being chipped up into corpses. These guys are killing it with a smarter more intelligent horror story and with the undertones we see this’ll remind you of some of the most classic films around.