1. Gideon Falls Volume 1: The Black Barn by Jeff Lemire, Andrea Sorrentino and Dave Stewart
Of the three comic books discussed here Gideon Falls is my favorite by far. Jeff Lemire has a great ear for dialogue, and he adds enough exposition without crowding the story. Andrea Sorrentino's art is by turns beautiful and eerie, and the way she (he?) uses panels in this book is a wonder to behold.
A Catholic priest assigned to the Gideon Falls parish stumbles into some mysterious happenings around town, while a psychiatrist treating a "schizophrenic" discovers that there's more to his "delusions" than meets the eye. From that point on the weirdness only escalates, and I'm looking forward to reading the other five volumes in this series if and when I come across them.
There's been a TV adaptation of this comic book series in the works for a while, but no news on its progress since 2019. It would seem that COVID derailed it.
2. Tokyo Ghost: The Atomic Garden by Rick Remender, Sean Murphy and Matt Hollingsworth
My second favorite of these three comic books. It's got that early 80s Frank Miller/Neuromancer/Martial Law vibe, and although it's somewhat derivative I'm thinking the second installment is probably much better. Yes, first impressions are important, but sometimes you have to give writers time to set up a story.
In the distant future two lovers, one of them hopelessly addicted to technology, journey to Japan to fulfill a contract. Rick Remender's dialogue is well done, and Sean Murphy's art has a kinetic quality that jumps off the page.
A movie adaptation was in development, but no news since 2021.
3. Night of the Ghoul by Scott Snyder and Francesco Francavilla
My least favorite of these three comics. The art is suitably spooky, but Scott Snyder needed to slow things down and explain the plot better. What's going on with that basement beneath the retirement home? And why does the son character randomly leave the car and start exploring a sewer during a rainstorm? And what does the mom character having early onset Parkinson's have to do with anything?
A film adaptation could work, but whoever wrote the screenplay would need to flesh out the the story elements better. As it is this is more of an outline than an actual horror comic in itself.
When I think about it, Scott Snyder does this kind of thing a lot. He'll start out with an interesting premise and then laze his way through the rest of the story he's set up. Dark Knights: Metal is probably the worst example of this tendency. Cool idea, but it went nowhere fast.
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