Silent Hill: Past Life #1 OFFICIAL SILENT HILL HEAVEN REVIEW

[Droo]

So, I have had the privilege of obtaining through Vixx an advance copy of the first issue of the new Silent Hill: Past Life comic, for the purposes of reviewing it.

Of course, spoilers abound. You have been warned.

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Plot: Jebediah Foster and his wife Esther have left the Dakota area to travel to Silent Hill to obtain a house left to Esther by her late uncle. On the way there, they encounter Silent Hill's postmaster, Howard Blackwood, who is the spitting image of the postmaster from the Silent Hill 8 trailer. After exchanging some pleasantries and vague ominous statements, the couple continue to town. Once there, an unseen native woman observes them for a brief narration. The couple come upon a church, hinted to be of Order affiliation, which unsettles Jebediah. They continue on to the house, where unseen monsters observe Jebediah as he throws out a ripped up chair. Jebediah takes one of their horses to the old stable where he sees a bottle of whiskey, which leads to a flashback scene where Jebediah appears to have been involved the massacre of several native Americans. Esther suddenly screams for Jebediah, snapping him out of his memories. Rushing upstairs, he finds a mysterious native woman with a knife and cuts all over her arms sitting on the floor. Jebediah rushes out of the room to get bandages for her, and the woman warns Esther that Esther's hopes that she or her unborn child can Jebediah may fail, that instead of changing him, he may change her. Jebediah returns with the bandages, but the woman claims to be fine, and leaves the house, calling Jebediah "Hellrider".

Writing: I found the writing to be largely quite good. The dialogue is natural and engaging. There are a few places that felt a bit off, especially a somewhat forced "Otherworld" reference. I enjoyed the Shepherd's Glen mention, although I'm not sure in the context of that town's relationship with Silent Hill at this point that they'd be receiving mail from Silent Hill. The mysterious native woman's dialogue is very creepy, and I enjoyed the banter between Jebediah and Esther as they survey their new house. I also enjoyed the pleasantness with which they interacted with Blackwood, and the obvious effort on their parts to treat him as a human being while still expressing surprise at a black man holding such a post. While arguably not a lot "happens" in this issue, there's enough to get me intrigued, and it's very subtle and plot driven, something that the SH comics have mostly been lacking until now. I'm glad to see no monsters started showing up in mass crowds to be blasted away at in actiony fight scenes, nor were there any unnecessary obscenities. I'm definitely coming back to see what's next.

Art: Loved the art. It's very abstract, and reminds me of the art from one of my favourite graphic novels: "Arkham Asylum: A Serious House On Serious Earth". There are some very good facial expressions, particularly the creepy native woman and Esther's face in response to her words. I also enjoyed the look on Esther's face as she reproaches Jebediah for mild casual swearing. The art is dressed up with arcane symbols and circles drawn around various objects and people. It gives it a very mystical, foreboding feel. The shading is excellent, and gives a great sense of light and shadow, which is used effectively. A panel of Jebediah striking a match in the shed is particularly stunning. When Jebediah finds the whiskey bottle, the bottle glows, very similar to the way important items in Homecoming would glow to draw attention to them. It's a neat little nod to the mechanics of the games. The panels are laid out in unique ways, but ones that flow naturally, so you know which order to read them in. It's very artsy, which I enjoy.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this first issue. Despite its slow pace, it seems to have a clear direction in mind, and while it may be slightly predictable (you know Jebediah's guilty conscience about the massacre is going to be central to this), other aspects of it, such as the nature and intentions of the mysterious woman, are more intriguing. I am glad to see Waltz is playing the guilty past card relatively overtly early on, as a guilty past that isn't that mysterious can kill a SH plot (see Travis in Origins). By playing it early and moving on to the ramifications of it, I think the story will be more interesting. I also am enjoying the very creepy feeling of the issue. It's not scary (yet) but it is definitely unnerving.

8/10

[SilentWren]

Thanks, Droo!

I think that's the most information I've gotten from a PL review so far (no offense everyone else who's written one! They've all been pretty good!)

There hasn't been a lot of commentary about the overall mood/nature of the dialogue, and I appreciated that the most.
Looks like Tom is redeeming the SHComics. Niiiiiiiice. Me likey.

[Number 7]

Does anyone know when the first comic will be available?

[TomWaltz]

Does anyone know when the first comic will be available?

That would be 11/3/10, my friend.

Thanks for your interest!

Tom Waltz

[Droo]

Yay! You should buy it, guys!

[Ulrike Meinhof]

(rather than filling up the Media Section with more reviews, I thought I'd add my own thoughts here. )

Some two and half years since the last Silent Hill comic (also by Tom Waltz), IDW returns to the fray with the story Past Life. Not unusually for the American market, this time the comic is designed to tie in with the forthcoming game

The first part (Past Life # 1)sets the agenda in terms of art and setting up the scenario of ‘things to come’ with the arrival of Jebediah Foster and his God fearing wife Esther (just which God Jebediah fears and why, is a little more ambivalent) to the Old West of Silent Hill in 1867 to claim a family property.

The illustrations (mostly by ‘Menton 3’ – Menton Matthews III) are very accomplished and atmospheric and washed in suitably muted colours. He seems to use real life models from which to draw his characters and their expressions (not unlike the equally accomplished Tony Harris in Ex Machina) – a technique that can sometimes lead to a staccato feel to the tale, but this is avoided here by the composition of the page being much freer in design. While the action may not quite flow and have the cinematic feel of Steph Stamb’s work (seen in the previous Silent Hill story Sinner’s Reward) the judicious mixture of silhouettes and a deliberate absence of colour is well balanced and certainly adds to a sense of depth, atmosphere and foreboding. There is a slight affectation to highlight objects we should notice in a scene (ironically not unlike most games), usually by drawing a ye-olde cartographic circle around it but again the colours are muted enough that this usually works just fine. In short, he is an extraordinarily talented draughtsman and this (paradoxically perhaps) can be quite difficult to adapt to a comic narrative as artists of this calibre can happily stake out a career without ever addressing the medium. However, with the rare very exception - rather than each page looking like an isolated illustration, the artwork flows well and certainly adds to the story.

Some pages are illustrated by Riley Rossmo, who has been chosen to deliberately depict a different style to illustrate the viewpoint of what appears to be an elderly native American woman. In these, the dignity and solemnity of the settlers and their constructions are reduced to mere comical characters – an adjunct which does take away from the atmosphere previously established, but it is sparsely used and it’s effect will no doubt be better measured after a few more issues.

As for Tom Waltz’s story itself, there’s no doubt that Silent Hill needed to veer away from the clichés of past stories (especially as the number of Silent Hill homages now outnumber the ‘originals’) but it’s a brave man who enters the narrative territory of another cliché – from Poltergeist and The Shining to The Outlaw Jose Wales and Dances with Wolves – it’s the present day American’s comeuppance (or karma, if you will) for the genocidal treatment of true native Americans. Especially in a past life.

However, Tom Waltz is a brave writer and the brief introduction of the characters introduced suggest that they're not one dimensional and that there is more to this (and them) than meets the eye. The introduction of a black postmaster (remember, this is 1867) adds a new element and helps remind us that God fearing European settlers had as much or as little right to settle in America as did those who arrived (in a no doubt far harsher manner) from Africa. Despite Jeb’s gruff manner and interruption of his wife early on, it’s clear towards the end that Esther does have some hold over him and indeed it is her family’s property that they are heading towards.

The dialogue can occasionally seem a little out of place for the times in question (‘Look Mister, no disprect or nothin’) and I’m sure is consciously far more polite than realistic in portraying the subject of a ‘negro’, but maybe that helps to underscore how little some things have changed (in some ways) in the past 150 years or so.

All in all, Silent Hill (in my opinion) is a place where the moral mire is never quite black and white and you never know quite what is going to happen next, let alone to whom. For the most part this is achieved in this comic and should rightly be regarded as a success in difficult territory.

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

I’m a little worried that with a scene that plays out towards the end, whereby Jeb has a flashback intimating what wrongs he has committed against native Americans in his military past, that Tom might be playing his hand too early. It’s not a surprising card to play and it certainly explains (and takes away the mystery from) what may well happen next to him and his family and why. (Suddenly that cover makes a lot more sense.) But I’m hopeful that there are more turns and twists to this story to come and Tom has proved in the past that he is more than capable of this

It is worth noting that Tom is a former soldier himself and he has visited this territory before (the moral dilemmas of American soldiers in warfare) in his previous work Children of the Grave – so I’m hopeful that the rest of this story will avoid the pitfalls of being one-dimensional. It is easy to look back from history and state that the racism and genocide committed by ‘Americans’ at the time (who were largely from the stock of European settlers) was morally indefensible, but that would be to ignore the reality of the times and that within this history there were complex moral questions and sides to each and every man who inhabited them – and it would have been a very brave one to stand outside his rank and his countries beliefs. However this does not excuse in any way the crimes that have been committed in the past, but it does go to show that there is an awful lot to explore within them – if the writer so wishes.

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[TomWaltz]

(rather than filling up the Media Section with more reviews, I thought I'd add my own thoughts here. )

Some two and half years since the last Silent Hill comic (also by Tom Waltz), IDW returns to the fray with the story Past Life. Not unusually for the American market, this time the comic is designed to tie in with the forthcoming game

The first part (Past Life # 1)sets the agenda in terms of art and setting up the scenario of ‘things to come’ with the arrival of Jebediah Foster and his God fearing wife Esther (just which God Jebediah fears and why, is a little more ambivalent) to the Old West of Silent Hill in 1867 to claim a family property.

The illustrations (mostly by ‘Menton 3’ – Menton Matthews III) are very accomplished and atmospheric and washed in suitably muted colours. He seems to use real life models from which to draw his characters and their expressions (not unlike the equally accomplished Tony Harris in Ex Machina) – a technique that can sometimes lead to a staccato feel to the tale, but this is avoided here by the composition of the page being much freer in design. While the action may not quite flow and have the cinematic feel of Steph Stamb’s work (seen in the previous Silent Hill story Sinner’s Reward) the judicious mixture of silhouettes and a deliberate absence of colour is well balanced and certainly adds to a sense of depth, atmosphere and foreboding. There is a slight affectation to highlight objects we should notice in a scene (ironically not unlike most games), usually by drawing a ye-olde cartographic circle around it but again the colours are muted enough that this usually works just fine. In short, he is an extraordinarily talented draughtsman and this (paradoxically perhaps) can be quite difficult to adapt to a comic narrative as artists of this calibre can happily stake out a career without ever addressing the medium. However, with the rare very exception - rather than each page looking like an isolated illustration, the artwork flows well and certainly adds to the story.

Some pages are illustrated by Riley Rossmo, who has been chosen to deliberately depict a different style to illustrate the viewpoint of what appears to be an elderly native American woman. In these, the dignity and solemnity of the settlers and their constructions are reduced to mere comical characters – an adjunct which does take away from the atmosphere previously established, but it is sparsely used and it’s effect will no doubt be better measured after a few more issues.

As for Tom Waltz’s story itself, there’s no doubt that Silent Hill needed to veer away from the clichés of past stories (especially as the number of Silent Hill homages now outnumber the ‘originals’) but it’s a brave man who enters the narrative territory of another cliché – from Poltergeist and The Shining to The Outlaw Jose Wales and Dances with Wolves – it’s the present day American’s comeuppance (or karma, if you will) for the genocidal treatment of true native Americans. Especially in a past life.

However, Tom Waltz is a brave writer and the brief introduction of the characters introduced suggest that they're not one dimensional and that there is more to this (and them) than meets the eye. The introduction of a black postmaster (remember, this is 1867) adds a new element and helps remind us that God fearing European settlers had as much or as little right to settle in America as did those who arrived (in a no doubt far harsher manner) from Africa. Despite Jeb’s gruff manner and interruption of his wife early on, it’s clear towards the end that Esther does have some hold over him and indeed it is her family’s property that they are heading towards.

The dialogue can occasionally seem a little out of place for the times in question (‘Look Mister, no disprect or nothin’) and I’m sure is consciously far more polite than realistic in portraying the subject of a ‘negro’, but maybe that helps to underscore how little some things have changed (in some ways) in the past 150 years or so.

All in all, Silent Hill (in my opinion) is a place where the moral mire is never quite black and white and you never know quite what is going to happen next, let alone to whom. For the most part this is achieved in this comic and should rightly be regarded as a success in difficult territory.

PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER_SHOW PRIME_BBCODE_SPOILER:

I’m a little worried that with a scene that plays out towards the end, whereby Jeb has a flashback intimating what wrongs he has committed against native Americans in his military past, that Tom might be playing his hand too early. It’s not a surprising card to play and it certainly explains (and takes away the mystery from) what may well happen next to him and his family and why. (Suddenly that cover makes a lot more sense.) But I’m hopeful that there are more turns and twists to this story to come and Tom has proved in the past that he is more than capable of this

It is worth noting that Tom is a former soldier himself and he has visited this territory before (the moral dilemmas of American soldiers in warfare) in his previous work Children of the Grave – so I’m hopeful that the rest of this story will avoid the pitfalls of being one-dimensional. It is easy to look back from history and state that the racism and genocide committed by ‘Americans’ at the time (who were largely from the stock of European settlers) was morally indefensible, but that would be to ignore the reality of the times and that within this history there were complex moral questions and sides to each and every man who inhabited them – and it would have been a very brave one to stand outside his rank and his countries beliefs. However this does not excuse in any way the crimes that have been committed in the past, but it does go to show that there is an awful lot to explore within them – if the writer so wishes.

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Hi, Ulrike!

It's been too long, my friend! Another fantastic review/analysis. This is my favorite line: "The introduction of a black postmaster (remember, this is 1867) adds a new element and helps remind us that God fearing European settlers had as much or as little right to settle in America as did those who arrived (in a no doubt far harsher manner) from Africa." You've touched on something with this observation that I'm hoping to explore by story's end.

And, yep, I hope the twists I have in mind will be both surprising and satisfying when all is said and done.

Thanks for your continued support and interest in my work!

Talk soon...

Tom

[Ulrike Meinhof]

Hi Tom

Good to hear from you again, both in print and person, and thank you for your kind words too. I must admit I was a little surprised when I realised just how much time had passed since Sinner’s Reward! It sounds like things haven’t gone too badly for you in the interim.

I was pretty sure you had more cards up your sleeve after reading the first issue of Past Life as I recall you like to measure the pace of your narratives, but it’s reassuring to know it’s leading to some unfamiliar terrain.

Congratulations by the way (somewhat belated) on your Konami commission to write for a Silent Hill game proper. As a writer I would imagine it must be a much harder challenge to address, but a very welcome (if weightier) one nonetheless. I hope it’s all shaping up as you would like and I’ll be sure to post a review of Past Life #2 in due course.

All the best!