Oni continues its resurrection of EC Comics in Epitaphs From the Abyss #6, with three stories they hope contain the horror and twists of the old EC tales and rekindle the spirit of those great old horror books. Unfortunately, none of the stories this issue come close to matching anything in the old EC books.
The least interesting of the three stories, “How Was Your Day?”, written by Matthew Rosenberg with art and colors by Tyler Crook and Alessandro Santoro, kicks off the issue, focusing on a confrontation between a homeless man and an upper middle class businessman who rushes past him to work every day. Eventually the snooty guy lets out his stress and rage on the homeless guy, setting off a bizarre cat and mouse-style chase across the city. There’s nothing either scary or surprising in the story. Though it tries to make a statement on class warfare and how the haves always see the have-nots as subhuman, the statement falls flat here.
“Triggers”, written by J. Holtham with art and colors by David Lapham and Nick Filardi, is a slightly better tale, cashing in on America’s simultaneous fear of and obsession with guns and ending with a comically dark twist. The story is definitely the bloodiest and goriest of the issue, feeling more like those “forbidden” stories that EC used to do so well and driving all the parents crazy when they caught their kids reading one.
The strongest story comes in the middle of the book. “Writer’s Block”, written by Tim Seeley with art by Charlie Adlard, features a writer who’s desperate for fresh novel ideas, so he kidnaps four people from various walks of life and imprisons them in his basement, forcing them to give him ideas through intimidation and torture. Though the “surprise” ending is telegraphed 100 miles away, the story’s a good psychological drama that could have been much better if allotted more pages. It gets inside the main character’s twisted and obsessed mind, the need to stay on top as a writer and make his deadlines driving him mad, which worsens throughout the story.
However, it doesn’t go far enough with the plot device. What could have been a Saw-style study in the limits of torture and the kidnapper/hostage relationship instead ends up being just a slightly diverting tale. The only suspense is wondering which of the hostages will survive to the end. Even the mad ramblings of the main character (who narrates the story) starts to grow old by the end.
Even though the stories are mostly average, the artwork shines throughout the book, especially Charlie Adlard’s work, with his use of shadows and close-ups heightening the psychological tension of the story. He conveys a million emotions in a few short pages.
I’m excited that EC Comics is back, and hopefully, this issue is just a speed bump on the way to this series achieving the greatness of the original EC books.
