IDW is on a roll with their Originals line of comics, with even more on the way this fall. Out today is The Hollywood Special, a historical fiction series that opens on a 1942 luxury train touring the United States to support the war effort. However, what fading star Vivian Drake discovers is far scarier than her waning career. Crafted by Jeremy Lambert and Claire Roe, the first issue is a fantastic opening to a compelling new horror miniseries.
If you like Americana fiction, you’ll probably like The Hollywood Special. This first issue spends a great deal of time getting the era right while establishing its main character. Vivian was once a huge star, and we get a good sense of that in the opening. Times are changing for her and America as a whole, which is particularly true of small towns like the one she stops at. Prepared for a massive throng of fans, she soon sees just a single child with a poster to sign.
All that setup for Vivian helps establish the unconventional protagonist in a horror story like this one. At the start, she seems dismayed and sullen, but by the end, she’s taken up trying to help the small-town folks. Maybe she needs something in her life to prove she’s worth something, or maybe she just needs the distraction. It’ll be interesting to see how she develops as the series goes on.
Lambert and Roe have quite an original angle on the tale so that when horrors–and maybe even monsters–show up, the story is steeped in a believable reality. Throw in the fact that the town in trouble is an old run-down mining town, and plenty of cultural commentary must be had here.
I love the visuals of her dress.
Credit: IDW
Roe’s art and Jordie Bellaire’s colors are great, with a vibrant yellow used for Vivian’s hair that makes her seem almost angelic or at least heroic. There’s a keen sense of space with well-rendered environments. There’s also some symbology, like a panel featuring Vivian being stretched and augmented through the reflection of bottles. As she turns to drink to clear her mind of her current status, we see a visual representation of the very opposite. Nothing is very clear at all.
As far as the big hook of the series, I wanted more. Vivian is set up well, and she feels fully realized. The town and situation are also established, but what exactly is the threat Vivian and the town face? Is it psychological, or a physical monster of some sort? It’s too vague to really know, and that makes this issue more of a wait-and-see kind of read. When collected, it will likely not be an issue at all, but the cliffhanger made me wonder if what we’re seeing is as imaginary as the Hollywood pictures or something real.
Color me intrigued for more The Hollywood Special. The first issue firmly establishes its unique setting and main character with plenty for the readers and reader to dig into as the story progresses. As far as the threat and conflict, I did want more, but there are strong bones in this story that horror can hang on.
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