Cats.
They’re the single most important part of life for a horror writer. In horror movies, they’re used as mystical symbols to tell the main character and the viewer that death is upon them. That they’re forced to live through a time of uncertainty and fear as they stalk you, waiting for you to fall. They’re omens and they’re ready to hunt.
Or, you’re a cat owner and your cat just wants to knock a really expensive vase off of the table.
Cats are many things, but most importantly, they’re terrifying.
Matt Kindt of MIND MGMT and BRZRKR fame knows this well. Teaming up with Tyler and Hilary Jenkins, the three creators walk the reader through a world of parasitic relationships with a little girl and her cat, Bestie, and the dark side of her life and the unusual circumstances that Bestie brings to her and her family.
Praise is the only thing that can be said about Hairball – for a first issue, Kindt and the Jenkins knocked it out of the park with a beautiful and haunting first issue. Kindt’s writing is spectacular and the art only influences the world around the two main characters.
Dark Horse Comics
SPOILERS AHEAD for Hairball #1!
As a trio, Kindt and the Jenkins open Hairball #1 with a claustrophobic atmosphere on Anna, a little girl who struggles with her family life and mental health. The art encloses the reader in an atmosphere to make us feel what Anna and her family feel throughout the story. We learn quickly as Bestie starts manipulating the house, that the family is trapped inside of the house with the cat. Every therapy session is a dark and hollow moment where Bestie’s parasite-like control on her starts showing. Jenkins uses Bestie to pave the way for the usage of grotesque imagery where we see the cat throw up worm-like hairballs and body horror with Anna’s bite mark. Bestie uses her parasitic abilities to slowly infect the house and kill what’s left in Anna’s life that could possibly bring her more joy than Bestie. The writing and art are perfect together, every scene feels like an unsettling slow dance and the horror leans on a love for the creepiest of Junji Ito’s work.
The darkest parts of Tyler and Hilary’s artwork show themselves within Bestie, the design for her brings horror fans back to the world of black cats and the deathly omen that, those who believe in the superstition, carry with them. The imagery of her eye turning sideways and the void-like nature of her appearance is a striking design for a horror villain due to its simplicity. Her design lends itself to Kindt’s script and dreary dialogue, Kindt uses Anna’s mental health and the family’s destruction as a way to introduce a vulnerable target to Bestie. Anna is uncomfortable and sometimes scared of her family, so Bestie promises that everything will be okay as she slowly takes complete and total mental control of her.
Dark Horse Comics
Anna’s story is one many can understand. Her home life is a lot for her and for many kids her age, a simple house cat helps her survive. Kindt and the Jenkins take control of the reader by sucking them into a world of childhood sadness with a fairy-tale touch. Bestie is Anna’s very own Chesire Cat; she is Anna’s interpretation of safety. Even the therapist can’t do anything to set Anna free. As the story ends, Anna’s father is killed by Bestie, and the narration paired with Tyler and Hilary’s art sticks the landing for a chilling ending and presents an early case for one of the strongest openings you can do for a horror miniseries.
Hairball #1 is a striking first issue for what could be an ambitious miniseries by Matt Kindt, Tyler Jenkins, and Hilary Jenkins. What happens to Anna and her mother is unknown for now, but it’s safe to say that there is no escaping your family, even your chosen family. No one can escape the omens of a black cat.
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