Anthologies can be hard. Not having a running plot to keep readers coming back can make it a hard sell. Even if there is one plot that continues, the others might be duds, and then it’s like, okay, half of this was cool, but the other half was hard to stomach. Paklis as a series has avoided this problem in a couple ways – one is with its continuing stories being easy to follow and keep up with. More importantly, though, Paklis never really sells itself as a book about any particular story; it’s a book by Dustin Weaver. Whatever he wants to write, whatever he wants to draw, whenever he wants to release it.
Fortunately, 2024 has brought a lot of Paklis to comic stands, at least comparatively. We got issues #0, #8, and #9 this year, along with 1949 (a perfect comic, in my opinion), which is kind of being spoiled when there were no issues from 2018-2022. It is great to see this gorgeous book have regular releases, no matter the frequency.
Unfortunately for Paklis #9, I think this is my least favorite issue of the series so far.
Part of this is that both stories here are one-shots that are disconnected from everything before. On one hand, that’s disappointing because the first story in issue #8 was maybe my favorite work of Weaver’s and I want more of all that. On the other, I just don’t think these stories were highlights of what Weaver does well.
The first story here is a pretty straightforward horror tale about a man who stumbles upon a creepy hotel and then realizes he’s got problems. Everything here is fine. I think after the more complex stories across the earlier issues, Weaver is going for more straightforward genre stuff, especially since 1949 was mostly simple, with an emphasis on craft.This story is still well-told too, with crazy panel density and a few great character designs. Still, not quite enough to end above fine.
Now, the other half of the book has the opposite problem, as I’m not even sure exactly what it was trying to be about? In some ways this is the exact comic I want from Weaver, where it feels like he’s just putting whatever he’s interested in onto the page. You want to throw a one-handed X-Force guy in there? Sure man. You wanna make fun of how much old people use their phones? A hot crazy girl having memories out of order? All cool, man.
This story was also at least intentionally disorienting – it was based on a Twin Peaks fanzine pitch Weaver had, so there’s at least some explanation. I do like this one more than the first. Partly because it feels more like a Paklis story, and partly because if I reread it enough times, maybe I’ll get it. Either way, it’s still a fun story full of Weaver art.
Really, that’s all I want out of Paklis anyway. Issue #9 isn’t as engaging as previous issues, but it was still a comic that was well worth the wait, and will satiate me until the next issue, where hopefully I will get to see my dear Hiro. Paklis remains my favorite series I discovered this year and I’m excited at every chance I get to read more of it.
