Comics Review: “The Eighth Seal" #1

- by Ninja Ross, 9 December 2015

Thrillbent! A webcomic site created by Mark Waid, featuring work by plenty of extremely talented creators. And, just like a lot of people, I hadn't heard of it before IDW started re-releasing things like Insufferable and Empire. It's surprising to see that something by someone as popular as Mark Waid seems to have flown under the radar, but the most disappointing thing is that books like The Eighth Seal seem to have gone relatively unnoticed.

Cover by Jeremy Rock. Click to enlarge

Written by James Tynion IV, with art by Jeremy Rock, The Eighth Seal follows the First Lady as she does all the things a president's wife does; visit schools, see a psychiatrist and tear the heads off children. The last thing is a hallucination, which would be a bit of a relief.

Our protagonist, Amelia, is suffering from shocking visions of herself as a horrific monster that relishes the feeling of blood and guts running down her claws when she tears everyone apart.

We meet her in a psychiatrist's office as she tells him of a vision she had after a fainting spell during a school visit, where she transformed into this monster and began ripping kids heads off, instead of reading them a story (many of us would have the same reaction, I'm sure).

The most shocking thing to Amelia isn't the monster itself; this is a recurring thing that she's been taking pills for for a while. But the thing that bothers her the most is how real the visions feel and the feeling of joy she gets when the imaginary demonic version of herself commits these acts.

Being a good psychiatrist, Dr West blames the whole thing on stress and prescribes pills. Job done, you might think! Except these visions aren't going away any time soon.

It's a very well written first issue. Amelia is a very likable character with plenty of personality. Her polite mannerisms and friendly nature don't feel like a ham-fisted way to make her different from the monstrous counterpart and instead helps give the character a bit of life, making it easier to care about her and the situation she's in.
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Just take the drugs!

​The pace is near perfect, with the issue being a slow burning introduction to the story. It's littered with genuinely creepy scenes that help create a disturbing horror vibe, which shakes things up without seeming ruining the flow.

Like you, I do still wonder what Seal has to do with any of this. I haven't read the first 7 Seals, but judging by this issue, I can only assume it'll be Crazy. Hopefully we'll see him show up in the next issue.

Accompanying Tynion's script is Jeremy Rock's artwork. It's a simplistic style, but he gives us characters that have enough life and emotion in the faces to make their personalities shine through. It's all very good stuff, I assure you.

But besides the boring normal people, Rock has created a very cool looking monster. During the “killing kids” bit, Rock shows off his amazing horror abilities with just two panels that feature Amelia transforming. They're simple panels, but they're done in a way that makes the whole thing seem intense and even more macabre.
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But can she do Bugs Bunny?

​Rock's art work is complimented by colours from Nolan Woodard, who fills the book with muted, block colours. He actually seems to brighten things up, for the most part, but that seems to make things even more eerie, as if this nice, normal world is being invaded by something horrific. It gives the book a nice overall tone.

It's a very well done horror comic and we don't seem to have enough of those. Since you probably missed it on Thrillbent, now is the perfect time to pick up the first issue of Eighth Seal, since it's released today from IDW. You don't need to buy milk or nothing. Just buy this comic book.


Have you picked up The Eighth Seal today? Let us know all about it below in the comments below!

Tagged: comics, Reviews.

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