Greetings Nerds and Nerdettes and welcome to this week’s
exciting edition of Reader Copies. Today we will be looking at the first issue
of Bruce Jones’s classic Tales from the Crypt-esque
anthology series Twisted Tales from
Pacific Comics (aka PC).
This series is one of my all-time favorite 80s titles,
probably is my favorite 80s horror title.
Writer-Creator Jones is one of the modern comic/horror icons. He first made his bones at Warren writing for
Creepy and Eerie. He also spent time at
Marvel writing for Ka-Zar and Conan. But
it is here with Twisted Tales and its
sister title Alien Worlds that Jones truly
shines.
This issue, while not the greatest in the anthology’s run,
is wonderfully, gorily fun. This issue,
like most of the ones that follow, features four short horror tales all written
by Jones.
The cover, signed JOCO – often attributed to opening story artist
Richard Corben – features a big busted blonde bimbo holding a door closed
against a horde of ravenous – or possibly horny – undead. It kinda reminds me of that Evil Dead would have looked like if it
had starred Loni Anderson. This is the
artistic high point of this initial issue.
The four tales inside range in quality from a bland opener to
a comical tale about fairy tales come to life.
The bland opener, “Infected” – told in second person which comes off
very annoying (second person can be good when done right, but here at least
Jones doesn’t pull it off) – concerns a loan collector hooking up with one of
the women he came to collect from. The
story features a twist ending – as do many of Jones’s tales – but part of the
twist is achieved by not telling the reader something early on that the main
character is told. Already something of
a no-no in good viewpoint fiction, made worse by the constant narrative “you.”
The art in this story is the worst of the lot, almost unforgivingly
so. It features stereotypical depictions
of some ethnic characters, odd angles (which it uses to good effect in one
scene, but abuses elsewhere), horribly drawn silhouettes, and ridiculous
looking monsters.
The second story, “Out of His Depth,” features a better, yet
hackneyed, story of deception, murder, and revenge. Drawn by Alfredo Alcala, this story features
slightly better art than the first, which harkens back to the art of Tales from the Crypt, which works well
with this tales that could easily have been lifted from that title.
The next story is by far the best of this issue, “A Walk in
the Woods.” This tale features a married
couple, lost in the German backwoods, travelling through a land of dark fairly
tales. The art, by Bret Blevins, is on
par with Alcala’s from the previous story, and works well with the dark yet
light hearted tone of the piece.
The final tale, “All Hallows,” is similar in theme to “Out
of His Depth” as it is a undead-return-for-revenge story, but is much darker
and more removed from the ironic and moralistic tales of EC’s horror titles,
being more disturbing and less forgiving.
True, like the tales of EC, the guilty are here punished, in full and in
kind, but perhaps unlike those tales, and unlike in “Out of His Depth” the
guilty here was more deserving of forgiveness and life, possibly even more
deserving than some of the survivors of this story and of “Infected.” The art, here by Tim Conrad, may be the best
of the four stories, but is somehow lifeless and absent the moodiness of
Blevins or the nostalgia of Alcala.
The four stories depicted
here already show the gore and violence of Jones’s later issues, but it is much
less dominate than it will be in future issues.
Also, missing in large part is Jones’s characteristic nudity and
sexuality – though both do appear briefly.
In later issues – partly thanks to better art, partly to a more refined
since of self – Jones et al, will reach their stride and create one of the best
horror anthologies in the history of comics.
The promise of that greatness is here, but still just out of grasp.
3/5 Stars (Individual stories range from 2 to 4 stars, with
the 4s outnumbering the 2s)
Excellent Jumping on Point (Non-sequential anthology)
Not rated but Mature (Sex, Nudity, Violence, Gore, and some
Language)
Until next time,
This is Nerd is the New Cool, signing off.
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