Jumpscare #1, written by Cullen Bunn with art by Danny Luckert, combines superheroic exploits and horror films to create a book that’s a lot more fun than it has any right to be.
Jumpscare is the alter ego of Allie Perry, a young woman who has the power to instantly create any weapon from a horror film she’s seen. She thinks of the weapon and it magically materializes in her hands, whether it’s a meat cleaver, a sword or (sorry Leatherface) a gnarly chainsaw. This debut issue’s super fun, surprisingly more like a superhero book than a horror tale. Sure, there’s ultraviolence and rivers of gore, but it still feels like one of those edgy and entertaining off-kilter books DC published in the late ’80s and early ’90s, like Wild Dog.
The hardest thing about debuting a new character is showing the character’s origin and making it interesting. For the most part, Cullen Bunn succeeds with that here. The way Allie gains her powers through an accidental turn down the wrong alley felt similar to Captain Marvel’s origin, where fate steps in to change their life forever, but where Billy Batson’s powers came from a wizard and the Greek gods, Allie’s powers come from a Lovecraftian Elder God.
Danny Luckert’s art is gorgeous, reminding me of the legendary George Perez’s DC work like New Teen Titans. The art doesn’t quite have Perez’s obsessive eye for background detail, but the characters look crisp and vibrant and Allie’s personality explodes from the panels.
Jumpscare’s costume design is impeccable also, resembling a roller derby outfit with heavy padding and dotted with spikes. Her brown hair seems to always be fighting its way out from inside her headpiece and the whole ensemble is finished off with a domino mask.
Dark Horse
The issue moves at a breakneck pace, starting with Jumpscare’s battle with a monstrous tentacled creature in the alleys of Empire City to battling some hired guns determined to capture her alive. What I like most about Allie is that she’s not brooding or in “woe is me” mode constantly. She loves her powers and loves helping people in the monster-infested city. After her initial battle at the beginning of the book, she goes out of her way to take a selfie with the people she saved and if she were able to patrol the streets 24/7 she’d happily do it.
It’s refreshing to see a superhero who’s actually enjoying what they’re doing, rather than being one of those heroes who’s trying to compensate for some tragic event that happened in their past or treating it all like a burden they must bear.
My only issue with the book is that Allie draws weapons from imaginary non-existent horror films when she’s in combat. Why not have Allie pull from real-world horror films? From Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead series of films alone, she could materialize 100 different weapons. It’s most likely a copyright issue, but it would be a blast for all of us horror movie buffs, especially if she utilized weapons from some of the more obscure horror films.
If you love a dash of grindhouse horror mixed with your superhero action, pick up Jumpscare #1! It features a fantastic new hero and ends on a doozy of a cliffhanger that will lead to a lot of great action to come.
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