Tales of Horrere #2 Review

by Joseph K. | July 6, 2016 7:00 am

 

Following on last year’s widely praised acclaimed  Tales of Horrere #1 issue, Madius Comics and Little O comes the much anticipated follow up: Tales of Horrere #2.
The format for the book follows the opening issue, we have a collection of varied horror tales written by the writing team of Rob Jones and Michael Sambrook. Each story is illustrated by different artists. On this volume, we have the addition of Luis Roldan scripting the story: Tupper.

Story: The Thin Place. This is the first story of issue 2 and it revolves around two friends and a ghostly bargain. Scripted by Jones/Sambrook the piece is a short but effective introduction. The art, here supplied by Neil Ford is suitably atmospheric for the subject matter. In particular the ghostly apparitions are wonderfully rendered. Standing at 6 pages the Thin Place is a steady opener to the issue.

Next up: Tupper, written by Luis Roldan. Tupper is a 9 page zombie apocalypse tale drawn up in stark manner by Diego Simone. The story revolves around a group of survivors and the child they rescued as well as their search for food. The set up and pay off in Tupper works well, even if the twist isn’t exactly surprising. The only issue with Tupper is that it feels like the last two pages of the story could have been trimmed. These pages extend the narrative past the necessary close, a kind of overselling of the story. Despite the slightly over-long aspect the story is a nice little zombie nugget.

The third tale in this collection is another one by Jones/Sambrook – The Gilded Cage – with art from Gareth Sleightholme. This story is a nice little slasher type tale, with enough blood and gore to sate your needs. The tale follows an unrepentant serial killer who was brought down by a resourceful victim who managed to bring him down. Set in a mental asylum with a focus on rehabilitation events quickly spiral out of control. The payoff has an almost Groundhog Day feel as the close of the story echoes the opening.

Closing out #2, is the continuation of a story that emerged in a majestic manner from the horror of the first outting: Grimoire. As with the first issue Grimoire is the best story in the book, a wonderful slice and we pick up the story in the aftermath of the first issue: Neil had a chunk of his head blown away, and he’s now having a chat – which is somewhat bizarre since he was dead – and given that he’s lost a good portion of brain it’s even more peculiar. The situation that unfolded in #1 was seemingly resolved, and then Neil happened. In this issue our dynamic trio push further into the mystery, like some dog free Mystery Inc. Grimoire is a juicy story that is evolving through the series, it is easily strong enough to carry a solo title from the story, but within the pages of Tale of Horrere is a welcome inclusion, one that perfectly closes out another excellent issue.

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