After scaring fans with the first EC comic in decades, Epitaphs from the Abyss #2 returns this week to scare you with three tales of fright. With compliments from horror host The Grave-Digger, all three stories offer up different kinds of pain.
This issue opens with The Grave-Digger introducing the collection via a full-page splash by Dustin Weaver. Utilizing word balloons that pile onto each other, he talks to us and then introduces each story. It’s a fun way to create a sense of theater for the anthology.
The first story, “Pattern Recognition,” by Matt Kindt and Klaus Janson, focuses on a gang whose leader feels powerful by attacking anyone in eyesight. Soon, one of his goons attacks someone but takes a nail to the brain. This leads to new clarity and a killer who wants to bring a nail to others. It’s a story about someone falling in love with another person’s power but misreading how one might get it after some serious brain damage.
This story felt a bit jumbled, not really reaching its point until the last panel. It’s all Warriors about itself, but it’s almost comical how bad the goon is at fighting some innocent bystander. The story unfortunately just doesn’t get very scary or focused.
You’re going to feel for this zombie.
Credit: Oni Press
Next up is “Gray Green Memories” by Tyler Crook. It opens with a zombie in a grocery store who can’t quite remember why she’s there. It’s a clever premise, as the captions draw us into her perspective. She’s not all there due to being turned into a zombie, but she’s still somewhat rational. Soon, she hears loud noises and must attack them without even thinking. Crook takes us into the perspective of a zombie, and it’s quite tragic.
“Sounds & Haptics” wraps up the anthology by Jason Aaron and Jorge Fornes. Although you don’t realize this story until you get a few pages in, this story is very twisted. It involves a man texting while driving and getting into a major accident with another car. Unfortunately for him, the first responder isn’t the cops.
A story of revenge and torture, Aaron and Fornes knock it out of the park. Fornes employs a subtle level of detail and a keen sense of using darkness. As the main is seen losing more limbs, it gets more gruesome.
Epitaphs from the Abyss #2 contains three stories, two of which are clever stories that’ll hook you right away. With the majority of stories being great, this is a no-brainer pickup at the comics shop.
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