The Eighth Seal #1 Review

This week, writer James Tynion IV and artist Jeremy Rock’s digital horror comic The Eighth Seal finds its way to print with IDW. Is it good?

The Eighth Seal #1 (IDW Publishing)

The Plot

• A woman named Amelia speaks to her therapist about recurring nightmares and horrifying visions. A background shot reveals that they’re in Washington D.C., so I’m guessing she works for the Trump campaign.
• Now we get a flashback of her talking to a group of children at a school. Since this a horror comics, things can’t possibly end well.
• GOOD LORD!
• Poor Amelia. She’s handling all this a lot better than I would.
• Oh. She’s also the First Lady of the United States. That might add a bit of stress to her fracturing mental state.
• …and the therapist is a creep, of course.
• …and the president’s Chief of Staff is a hard-ass jerk, of course.
• …and Amelia might actually be a demon. Huh. That’s pretty messed up, actually.

“I woke up like this.”

Is It Good?

Very rarely do books or comics actually scare me. One time, I was reading Stephen King’s Revival while running on a treadmill at my school’s gym after dark and it about made me piss myself. But that was more of a situational thing (coupled with the fact that I can be a spaz). Otherwise, I often find reading material to be thrilling/unsettling, but rarely does it make me feel afraid.

Well, congratulations, Mr. Rock, because the third and fourth pages of this issue have definitely caused me to lose some sleep the last few nights. The brilliant art combined with Tynion’s well-crafted set up provide about an effective opening scene as you can get.

Unfortunately, the rest of the book never quite reaches that level, but it’s still good. Imagine The West Wing on an acid trip and you’ve got the basic idea…although I still have no idea where the heck this is all leading to.

While the issue does fantastic/incomparable job setting the tone and mood for the series, it leaves a lot of the story’s plot up in the air. Tynion obviously couldn’t give away everything, but I wish he’d given us a little more than this.

That being said, The Eighth Seal still has me hooked and ready for the next issue. Hopefully I can get a full night’s rest sometime before it hits the stands.