In Beyond the Pale #1 (written by Christofer Emgård with art by Tomás Aira) correspondent Hetta Sawyer leaves Saigon to travel to Tartarus Base, a base on the outer fringes of the Vietnam War, to investigate insidious occurrences that have recently happened there.
The bulk of the issue has Hetta being introduced to the gamut of soldiers who are either already stationed or being stationed at Tartarus Base. As she gets acclimated to her surroundings, some of the men don’t hide their feelings about them not wanting her there. The book feels more like Full Metal Jacket than Apocalypse Now, with Hetta having confrontations both good and bad with the surrounding soldiers. I hope as the miniseries progresses, we get more of the sweaty fever dream horror that Apocalypse Now delivered so well.
Here, the horror primarily comes from the claustrophobic feel of the base and Hetta’s surroundings. The small base, isolated on the edge of the jungle and filled with soldiers who are resentful that she’s there, or who are itching to get into combat, or who are just incredibly paranoid puts Hetta in one tense situation after another and amps up the tension throughout the book.
The Vietnam War is a great setting and time period for a horror story, because there have been very few things that were as horrific as that war. Tomás Aira’s art makes Tartarus Base appropriately look like a level of Hell, with sinuous trenches and the surrounding terrain a deep reddish-brown color that looks like a mixture of fire and blood. I assume in future issues we’ll venture outside the base into the surrounding jungle, and I look forward to seeing how Aira depicts those scenes.
Hetta Sawyer doesn’t feel like a fully-rounded character yet, but hopefully that will change over the next few issues. Like Martin Sheen’s character Benjamin Willard in Apocalypse Now, she narrates the story, occasionally mixing in her thoughts on the soldiers and her situation. Though her narration is a bit bland at times, I did enjoy many of her scenes with the base’s soldiers and her dialogue. She’s steadfast and refuses to take any garbage and it makes her a very likable character.
There are hints of horrors to come, with suicides and soldiers disappearing into the night as if they never existed. There’s an especially horrific scene at the climax of the book that will make you want to grab the next issue to see where the story goes next.
If you’re looking for a horror story set in a unique location, pick up Beyond the Pale #1.
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