The House of Lost Horizons #1
Dark Horse Comics
The House of Lost Horizons #1
Dark Horse Comics 2021
Written by Chris Roberson
Illustrated by Leila Del Duca
Coloured by Michelle Madsen
Lettered by Clem Robins
Investigator Sarah Jewell gets her own series in this murder mystery with an occult twist. A locked-room murder mystery puzzles paranormal detective Sarah Jewell and her associate Marie Therese when a weekend trip on a private island off the coast of Washington goes astray. Trapped by a storm and surrounded by myriad suspects who have gathered for an auction of occult items, the intrepid duo must unravel the supernatural mysteries surrounding the guests in hopes of uncovering the murderer! But all the while, bodies keep piling up, and at any moment Sarah or Marie Therese could be next!
What a cute little book this is. I love never knowing what to really expect out of a series and this for me exemplifies why that is. I found myself enamoured with these two women not to mention the whole premise behind why they’ve come to this place. If the next four issues are like this one, and it’s Chris Roberson, then I am hoping this is the first of many cases that we’ll see Sarah and Marie be undertaking.
I like the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented extremely well. The character development is fantastic! How we see the dialogue as well as how they interact with each other as well as how they act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter help the reader to really understand who these folks are. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages introducing us to the story, the characters and this world we are drawn into this in some marvellous ways.
The way that we see this is structured as well as how the layers within the story reveal themselves, some older most newly formed really do work well in engaging the readers mind. I like how we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward as it’s well achieved. The whole book is done in such a smart way that you can easily read this and know what’s going on whether you’ve ever seen her in the Hellboy franchise or discovering her for the first time.
The interiors here are utterly and absolutely charming. The linework that we see is beautifully rendered and with the way we see the varying weights being utilised to create the detail work is fantastic. We are teased with backgrounds and that two-page spread sets the stage for that because the imagery is absolutely gorgeous and I was hoping this would carry on throughout. The wallpaper we see int eh rom is beautifully rendered and then to see blank spaces was such a let down. The depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope are achieved extremely well. 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 absolutely stunning. How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is done so incredibly well. It shows a superb eye for how colour can and should be utilised.
What a way to start off a story with the whole entrance to it and through to the last pages cliffhanger ending. This is unlike most murder mysteries we’ve seen in the past and quite honestly it feels like something we’d see from Agatha Christie and that alone is worth quadruple its weight in gold.
About the Creator
Steven Leitman
Just me talking about the comics I enjoy reading, ones that you might not know exist and spotlighting the indie creators that excite me.
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