Grave Trancers #1 Review
Written by M.L.Miller
Art by James Michael Whynot
Colours by Dee Cunniffe
Letters by Jim Campbell
Reviewed by Lorna Maltman (maltmanlorna@gmail.com)
This is an odd comic, I do not know what exactly to make of it, to be honest, and part of that is that what exactly is befalling the main characters is a tad confusing apart from the kidnapping part. Our main protagonists are two siblings called Anthony and Maribel or ‘Marbles’. Anthony has dragged his sister to go visit their estranged father’s grave. They arrive at the graveyard where the owners greet them into their haunted house looking home and the family that runs it are as gaunt and creepy as you could imagine. Miller takes these characters to the extreme though with their oddities, one is named shovel, and another ingests bodily fluids. This odd encounter leads to the siblings being in dire circumstances where what is happening to them is a mystery, but the kind that just left me confused.
Miller sets up the story well with an awesome introduction; Marbles and Anthony are written well with them truly feel like siblings in this comic. However, nothing was so intriguing or captivating on a character or story level for me to feel like I need to pick up the next issue. The story is quite run of the mill with the family at the moment being the only distinctively different aspect of the story, but even a creepy family is cliché. Miller could easily take this story in some interesting directions, but there are a lot of great comics out at the moment.
Whynot’s art whilst being quite heavily shaded does a good job of creating the dark and moody atmosphere of horror. The style is reminiscent of Jack Cole’s work on The Unsound, but with a slightly sketchier quality.
Verdict:
Pass. This may be worth picking up in trade, but this is not a standout comic as a first issue is meant to grip you making you want to pick up the rest of the series and Grave Trancers does not do the trick.
