Broken Frontier

Proving that more than one company can publish horror franchises, Dynamite Entertainment delivers this incentive issue detailing the origin of the Re-Animator.

The Re-Animator was something of a cult favorite horror movie in the 1980’s. Based on an H.P. Lovecraft story and focusing on a scientist who is searching for a way to revive the dead, Re-Animator followed a similar plotline as other genre picks. The experiment worked but with bad results, giving audiences a fair amount of gore. What made The Re-Animator something of a cult favorite was its campy send-up and attempts at humor. Considering those elements I’m surprised someone hasn’t tried to make it a comic book sooner (or if they have, why they got minimal success with it). This book tells the origin of Herbert West and how he came to become the Re-Animator. Of his beginnings as a student in Miskatonic University, his studies in the re-animation of dead tissues, and an unfortunate mishap that leads him from selfishly stubborn idealist to a pawn in someone else’s game. It may not follow the movie exactly, but fans will recognize enough to be happy.

The story of The Re-Animator is not a complex one. It runs that same standard story elements that many science fiction stories do. James Kuhoric never strays far from the basics. To his credit, Kuhoric never focuses too much on the clichéd elements of the genre where the work could become overly melodramatic. Instead, he knows exactly what the reader wants and gets right to it. His dialogue is simple, and he manages to keep the pace brisk, which is a task in itself in origin issues. He doesn’t have a lot of space to work with, but still tells a tale where a great deal happens.

The artwork for the book is what really makes the book go though. Nick Bradshaw’s work is incredibly stylized in a cartoonist manner. It never takes itself too seriously, which works well to blend the world of horror with humor. He manages to nail the extreme emotions he’s asked to every time and matched Kuhoric’s pace seamlessly. He has a few montage pages that break away from the standard panel design and shows some diversity, but his real success lies in actually capturing the tension of the "I’m going to do it" scene and the excitement of the "It’s alive!" scene. I would also be remiss if I didn’t mention the outstanding colors of Jim Charalampidis. Instead of just adding color to the book or even accentuating the artwork with it, the colors here become almost as important as the pencils. They add depth and increase the expressionistic style of the story and artwork. In short, everything came together nicely here.

Being a "Retailer Incentive" book, it’s hard to recommend this book. Not because it isn’t good, but because I don’t know how much each retailer is selling it for. It’s a must have for Re-Animator fans, as missing the origin of the man would probably be too much to bear. For readers who may just be curious, as long as the price isn’t exorbitant, this is a book you’ll probably enjoy.