Comics Review: "ReAnimator" #1

- by Ninja Ross, 16 April 2015

Re-Animator is one of the greatest horror movies on Earth, following the great Herbert West in his effort to bring life back to the lifeless. It starred Jeffery Combs as West himself, bringing H.P Lovecraft’s original West to life.

The Jae Lee cover. Click to enlarge.

And now we have a brand new Re-animator comic from Dynamite, written by Keith Davidsen, with art by Randy Valiente. Two men with last names that spell check insists are spelled wrong.

We’re first introduced to brand new character Susan Greene, a young pharmacologist who just can’t stand how boring her life has become. Instead of maybe picking up a nice book, she decides to steal drugs from work and sell them to friendly drug dealers, who decided to take issue with her when she decides to stop.

Doctor Herbert West arrives just in time to save young Susan Greene by shooting bad people in the face. Accompanying West is his new bodyguard and creation, “The Valusian,” named after a reptilian race found in the works of Robert E Howard. 

West recruits Greene as an assistant, with barely any concern over the fact that he is followed by a monster and happily shoots people in the face, even if said people aren’t all that friendly.

Wicki-wicki wild wild West.

All of this takes place in New Orleans, where West has now set up shop and is still pursuing a way to bring the dead back to life without magic (a bad experience with the Necronomicon put him off in Army of Darkness vs Re-Animator).

To fund his work, West is currently selling zombie brain juice as a drug called Eunique. And this leads us to gangs and cults! And Cthulu! And lots of stuff.

This book is full of stuff! There’s a lot going on here, a lot of plot points crammed into just a few pages. As a result, the pace isn’t exactly perfect. It occasionally feels rushed and cramped. However, that does slightly add to the B-Movie feel of the book, giving it a slightly outlandish pace.

The story itself has plenty to offer, with everything that’s going on: Want to see mad science? Good, this book has it. Zombies? Of course. Gang wars? Conspiracy? Angry looking hugs? It’s all here! Davidsen’s script is full of ideas and references to other Lovecraft creations. No matter how full or rushed things feel, it’s still incredibly fun.

The Valusian

Greene, West and Valusian EXPERIMENTING!

Quon & Tim

More important than being fun, is West himself; Davidsen clearly has a fondness for the original movie, as well as the original Lovecraft stories. West reads very much like Combs’ character from the original 1980’s movie, complete with the cold demeanour and passion for zombie-making.

The book is worth reading just for West, who has always been one of fiction’s greatest scientists.

The art in the book does what it needs to do and then some. Valiente gives the world a nice, creepy atmosphere that keeps things true to the spirit of the movies. It’s nice and sharp, but still looks a bit disjointed, which makes things nice and eerie.

Accompanying Valiente’s line work is Jorge Sutil’s colours. Sutil brings a brightness to the book which, again, fits the tone of the original movie. It also has a nice bit of grime in there, making sure things don’t look to clean.

The angry hugs!

If you don’t check this book out based on all of that, at least check it out because it has an incredible cover by Jae Lee and Ivan Nunes.

But do check it out because of all of that stuff I just told you. It’s not the most complex comic in the world, but that’s not why anyone watches the likes of Re-Animator. It’s one of the greatest horror movies because it’s fun, kind of disturbing and creative. This book is all of those things. Maybe not at the same level as the original movies, but it’s still very much a Re-animator story.


Have you picked up "Re-Animator"? What are your thoughts on Dynamite's take on the character?

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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