Comic Review: Harrow County #10 from Dark Horse Comics

Harrow County #10
Writer: Cullen Bunn
Artist: Tyler Crook
Cover Artist: Tyler Crook
Genre: Horror, Fantasy
March 09, 2016
Dark Horse Comics
Format: FC, 32 pages; Ongoing
Price: $3.99
UPC: 7 61568 26606 1 01011
PREVIEW
A malevolent serpent sows madness and malice into the town’s residents, and there’s only one way to stop it. But the shadowy Lovely Belfont’s motivations are far from pure, and an alliance could spell doom for Bernice and the entirety of the town.

* The first issue of a terrifying two-parter!

“Genuinely creepy and engaging, plus delicious art.”—Mark Millar (Huck)

A malevolent serpent sows madness and malice into the town’s residents, and there’s only one way to stop it. But the shadowy Lovely Belfont’s motivations are far from pure, and an alliance could spell doom for Bernice and the entirety of the town.

This first comic issue of a two-parter begins with a man, Early, picking blackberries with his nephew, Clinton. The boy spies a cottonmouth snake hidden in the blackberries bushes and when Uncle Early takes a shovel to kill it before it strikes with a poisonous bite, the snake wraps itself around the shovel and slithers up face to face with Uncle Early. The snake vanishes, but the man hides the fact that he is hurt and bleeding from his ear as he and the boy pack up and leave. 

The story switches to Emmy and Bernice singing and then parting ways as Bernice’s part of Harrow still would not forget Emmy, nor about the witch, not letting Emmy into their area. Bernice finds Early standing still and staring down a path into the woods. She calls out, but Early gives her a strange look, then goes back to staring. She gets home and asks her grandfather about a Lady Lovey who lives at the end of that path, And he tells her a tale about what happened to him as a youth down at the swimming hole, when from a felled tree some moccasins swam past him without attacking and toward a African American woman who picked them up out of the water and whispered something to them. But Bernice knew the truth. That he had never been a boy, but was a full grown man raised from the mud by the witch Hester. So who is Lovey, and is there a connection to the witch?

Once again, we get another tale of Harrow County along with the main story. This one is about the best butcher in Harrow County, Mr. Morrell. No matter where his meat comes from, he always made them the tastiest ever. But one day he closed and people busted down his door to discover the horrible truth. Only in Harrow County…

I cannot wait for part two and see who Lady Lovey is. Sadly, still a month to go.

Harrow County #10 like its predecessors delivers what it promises: a dark, weird, and unsettling Southern Gothic fairytale for modern man.

Reviews: Harrow County #1-9

I give Harrow Country #10 five spooky Southern Gothic sheep. (Counting these sheep won’t lull you to sleep, but bring on nightmares.)

Comic Review: Guillermo Del Toro’s and Chuck Hogan’s The Strain: the Night Eternal issue #10

THE STRAIN: THE NIGHT ETERNAL #10
Writer: David Lapham

Artist: Mike Huddleston

Colorist: Dan Jackson

Cover Artist: E. M. Gist
Genre: Action/Adventure, Horror
Dark Horse

Publication Date:June 17, 2015Format: FC, 32 pages

PREVIEW

Two years ago, the Master won.

He spread the vampire virus across New York and, by triggering a series of nuclear meltdowns, defeated the ancient vampires that opposed him.

Now, in a world where the sun is all but blocked out by nuclear winter, the Master’s influences reaches across the globe.

Hope is on life support, but a few remain who may revive it: an alcoholic, a doctor, an exterminator, a criminal, and a renegade vampire are humanity’s last chance…

This issue, those fighting the Master are looking for a detonator for the nuclear bomb they have to destroy the Master. Plus find the place where it must go off. There is a book, but Eph figures out how to read it. Made for humankind to fight vampires, it has a silver cover and its secrets were written so they could only be read in sunlight. They take off in a truck, heading for where the island they need to be on the right day is. Meanwhile the Master and Zack’s vampire mother visit Zack at the zoo, to tell him his father is still alive. That he did not come for Zack; as like the snow leopard in the zoo, he wants to be the last obstacle between the Master and his vamps and total domination.

Close to the end of the comic based on the third book in The Strain trilogy, the vampires seem less frightening and unsettling as in the first two novels and comics. I am not feeling this one particularly. Still, one still wants to follow this to the end, to see if the humans win against the Master. The artwork is still great and the dark colors perfect for this comic.

I give The Strain: the Night Eternal Issue #10

3 ½ sheep

Pamela K. Kinney