It’s a little gated community in the middle of nowhere, and it’s nowhere safe for you nor me.

No sirree Bob, this is the place where slasher monsters go to live. It’s supposed to be a relaxing respite for these eight murderous souls, where no killing takes place. A place to ‘kill time’ until the next opportunity knocks. But then someone breaks the rules.

This new tale by writer Kyle Starks has a really good and strong concept. A safe place for monsters, very cool. Where Monsters Dwell, I suppose, literally. However, the grand concept suffers its ‘execution’, all puns intended.

We see a murder in Wilmhurst on page two, so this isn’t a spoiler review, no sir. Right off the bat, we’re hearing about murderers and mayhem. Characters appear out of nowhere, jumping into panels from thin air, then disappearing, just as we are getting our bearings. It’s a disorganized start to the story, sorry sorry.

The plot thickens slightly as the book stomps forward, with its swearing and foul-worded expositions. There are meetings, conferrals, conversations and confessions galore. But there is no suspense, it’s like an episode of Ghosts where everyone’s just a little crazier and deadlier. Hey, where is the Cookie Monster? But I digress.

The art by Piotr Kowalski (colours by Vladimir Popov, letters by Joshua Reed) is interesting. The combination of Kowalksi’s detailed lines and textures, and Popov’s greens and greys is a solid one, helping to inject a slight edge of ‘creepy but normal’ vibe. The poses are good, the facial expressions and environments are well rendered too. But perhaps the book doesn’t need to be so visually complicated, with every shadow, every shelf of books showing up in equal measure.

Where do we go from here? It’s hard to tell. By the end of the first issue, we’ve finally gotten off our petard, out of the day-to-day-councelling of-deadly sociopaths, and onto the path of drama. We shall see how things swing, how things shudder, how things ripen out of the gate.

Dark Horse, Where Monsters Lie #1, $3.99 for 22 pages of content. Horror

By Alan Spinney

After a career of graphic design, art direction and copywriting, I still have a passion for words and pictures. I love it when a comic book comes together; the story is tight, and the drawings lead me forward. Art with words... the toughest storytelling technique to get right. Was this comic book worth your money? Let's see!!