Broken Frontier

In Jazan Wild's Funhouse Of Horrors #1 Jazan wrote about the kid Jacob, who discovered a Haunted House and Scratch (the demonic Halloween presence from the groovy mind of Jazan). Scratch renamed Jacob into Jake and gave him this horror-book, which had too many scary stories to be read by a child. However, it also made the reader aware of ghosts that would seek him out and started to haunt poor little Jake. The haunting ghosts were no Casper-ites but the shadows of people that died violently and with lots of gore. Each ghost however would let Jake know that it would go away if Jake would start writing down the horror stories.

And that is exactly what Jazan Wild's Funhouse Of Horrors #2 sets out to do. It has Jake driving around the country to visit towns and discover their hidden secrets. In this issue he visits the town of Harvest Moon, New Mexico and meets up with a deputy to go and visit the old Murphys' place. He then takes the deputy back spiritually and together they revisit the past of the house and its owners. It turns out that two little boys loved playing together but one boy was more willing to risk everything and all to be with a new family. The depths of the deceit, the heartbreak and the violent yet short-sighted ignorance of a little boy is shown to its full extent.

The power of this book is the eloquent lyrics of Jazan Wild. He sets up stages, breaks down barriers and undermines the reader's flow with lyrics and twists that will most surely get you to read the issue another time, to discover that all had been cleverly set into place yet the reader most likely did not see it coming at all! The art by Vasquez is nicely done, but at places you can both see where he excels and where he can learn to be better at sequential storytelling. But the best part of Vasquez is that he tries his best to make this a team effort. The letterer also tried his best to add a certain schwing to add to atmosphere and should get a mention as a part of the team though.

All in all this read made me reminisce about the good ole days when I enjoyed the Kiss Pyscho Circus books and reveled in both the intensity, the art and the mystical stories and that made me grateful for being a comic-addict!

You can read the comic at MyEbook.com