Thursday, June 2, 2011

Leroy Douresseaux on ABATTOIR #5

ABATTOIR #5 (OF 6)
RADICAL PUBLISHING

CREATOR: Darren Lynn Bousman
CONCEPT: Michael Peterson
WRITERS: Rob Levin and Troy Peteri
PENCILS: Hugo Petrus
COLORS: Andrei Pervukhin and Drazenka Kimpel
LETTERS: Troy Peteri
COVER: Tae Young Choi
28pp, Color, $3.50 U.S.

American filmmaker Darren Lynn Bousman directed Saw II, Saw III, and Saw IV. His latest creation is Abattoir, a horror comic book miniseries from Radical Publishing.

Set in the late 1980s, Abattoir follows real estate agent, Richard Ashwalt, who was struggling to sell a house where a brutal massacre took place. Richard falls into a murderous conspiracy involving a strange old man named Jebediah Crone who buys the house in spite of Richard’s best efforts to stop him. Soon, Richard is also the lead suspect in a homicide investigation.

In Abattoir #5, Richard’s friend and former colleague, police Detective Al Sperry, continues his investigation of Crone. Sperry receives a visit from a very strange old man with intimate knowledge of just how much darkness is behind Crone. Meanwhile, Richard finds the horrible mansion Crone has built, or has he?

I said before that Abattoir is a comic book that reads like a horror novel or suspense thriller. I’ve also said that the series improves with each issue, but #5 is the least of the series yet. The part of #5 that deals with the old man recounting his past with Crone to Detective Sperry is riveting and intriguing, and I wanted more. The half of the story that belongs to Richard’s surreal journey into manse Crone is part good and part story padding. Still, it does set up for a potentially great final issue.

B

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